Soft Skills Built This Startup

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Emily Long, the CEO and co-founder of Edera, a deep tech startup focused on secure infrastructure. Emily shares her unconventional journey from HR leadership into the world of high-performance computing, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Together, they explore the realities of leading a technical startup as a non-engineer, the underestimated value of soft skills in building scalable companies, and how trust, learning, and risk-taking shape leadership at every stage.

💡 Key Takeaways:

Soft Skills Scale: Emily challenges the misconception that only hard skills matter in tech leadership, showing how people skills drive team performance and product success.

Learning is a Superpower: Her career evolution was fueled by an unapologetic hunger to learn and willingness to step into discomfort and uncertainty.

The CEO as Conductor: Emily views the CEO role as orchestrating harmony across functions—ensuring each part of the company plays in sync.

Technical ≠ Only Coders: Emily has gained deep technical understanding through proximity, curiosity, and respect—without being an engineer herself.

Redefining Career Paths: She encourages others, especially in HR or non-traditional roles, to question labels and stretch into new domains with courage.

⏱ Timestamped Highlights:

(00:00) Intro to Emily Long and her transition from HR to tech CEO

(00:42) What Edera does: security + infrastructure beneath the Linux kernel

(02:07) Early career: from public accounting to people operations

(03:38) Becoming a founder by learning what others didn’t want to do

(06:10) Why she said “yes” to being CEO — and the orchestra analogy

(09:36) Relationship with CTO and deep respect for engineering

(12:51) The business acumen of HR professionals is underappreciated

(14:22) Breaking the “not technical” stigma and respecting both skill sets

(20:14) Should founders always scale with the company? A nuanced view

(23:25) Would she have jumped into tech sooner? The safety-risk tradeoff

(25:45) Where to connect with Emily: LinkedIn and edera.dev

💬 Quote to Feature:

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should. You’ve got to ask yourself—am I bringing the right energy to the next stage?" – Emily Long