Tech In Chicago

Helping Restaurants Make the Most of the Internet - Sterling Douglass & Justin McNally / Co-Founders of Chowly Apr 24, 2020

Sterling Douglass & Justin McNally, Co-Founders of Chowly, a restaurant technology company that integrates third-party online ordering platforms with restaurants' point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

The Cannabis Marketplace Bringing the Industry Online - James Yi / Founder of LeafTrade Feb 05, 2020

James Yi is the Founder and CEO of LeafTrade, a startup building a wholesale ordering platform connecting licensed cannabis vendors and dispensaries. Before LeafTrade, dispensaries were doing most of this work manually with emails, calls, and spreadsheets. With Chicago legalizing recreational cannabis it seemed like a perfect time to have James on. They also recently announced a $4.5M seed round.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Turning Data into Stories - Stuart Frankel / Founder of Narrative Science Dec 09, 2019

Stuart Frankel is the Founder & CEO of Narrative Science, which translates all the data companies produce into digestible information. The company started out producing software that turned raw baseball scores into stories for reporters. They have raised $43.4M in funding and have reinvented themselves multiples times in their decade plus in business.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Selling a Bootstrapped Startup for $22M, Building a Marketplace, Manufactured Housing - Dave Bowen / CEO of Purchasing Platform Nov 18, 2019

Dave Bowen is the CEO of Purchasing Platform, an online marketplace for real estate developers to buy products for their properties. Before Purchasing Platform, Dave was the founder of Market Maker 4 (MM4), an e-sourcing tech startup, which he bootstrapped and sold for $22M in 2016. Dave is taking a different approach with Purchasing Platform and they just raised their Series A.

Topics Covered:

Selling a bootstrapped business for $22M
Deciding to join an established business vs starting a new one
Issues with joining an established business as a CEO
Changing a startup’s culture
The revolution of mobile home communities and manufactured housing.
Building a niche marketplace
Losing & winning back their biggest customer
Focusing on internal communication as much as external

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Future of Travel, Growth Hacking Instagram, Doing Things That Don't Scale - Konrad Waliszewski / Founder of TripScout Oct 28, 2019

Konrad Waliszewski is the CEO and a co-founder of TripScout, a startup making a travel app that curates the best recommendations around the world and provides trip-planning tools. Konrad, a long time digital nomad, has visited 100 countries and Forbes has called him a “modern day Marco Polo.” Prior to TripScout, he was the COO of Speek, which raised $6m in venture capital and was acquired by Jive. Follow his adventures on Instagram.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Chicago's Next Consumer Unicorn - Steven Galanis / Founder of Cameo Aug 20, 2019

Steven Galanis is the Founder & CEO of Cameo, a startup that allows you to book personalized shoutouts from your favorite people. Cameo has raised over $65m in VC funding with a reported $300 million valuation from some big names including Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, and Spark Capital and Chicago’s very own Chicago Ventures, Origin Ventures, and Starting Line. Before founding Cameo, Steven was a film producer, account executive at LinkedIn, and an options trader in Chicago.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

The Free School Preparing Anyone for a Sales Jobs in Tech - Brian Bar / Founder of Victory Lap Jul 25, 2019

Brian Bar is the Founder and CEO of Victory Lap, a sales bootcamp empowers candidates from all different backgrounds to find success in sales.

Before launching the business, Brian served as the VP of Sales for ThinkCERCA, where he devised a national distribution strategy, while simultaneously building out the sales organization. This experience, coupled with his work creating Groupon’s sales onboarding department (overseeing the hiring and development of over 1,000 entry-level sales representatives) led Brian to start Victory Lap.

He is a sought after expert for companies hiring, training, and managing Gen Y and Gen Z sales talent. Brian lives with his wife, daughter, and dog in Chicago, and enjoys summers in his hometown of Long Beach, IN.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

From Dot-Com Bust to Late Bloomer Entrepreneur - Jeff Hunt / Founder of Snap36 Jun 21, 2019

Jeff Hunt is the Founder of Snap36, a 360° product-photography startup that works with everyone from Amazon to small, family-owned businesses to optimize their e-retail photography.

Jeff got his start in the late 70s as a Kodak salesman and worked his way up the corporate ladder to the leadership team for Adobe’s European division.

But he always had an entrepreneurial streak. He launched three startups in the 90s. Two went public. One went from zero to $55 million in two years and then $55 million to zero in two months with the dot-com bust.

In 2008, with the world economy in a tailspin and e-commerce in its infancy, Jeff made his final leap of faith, quitting Adobe to launch Snap36.

The company now has big clients in a range of industries (manufacturing and automotive to CPG and footwear) and boasts millions in revenue.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Building a Valley Company in the Chicago Way / Brian Luerssen (CEO) & Tim Grace (COO) @ DraftBit & VCs @ LongJump Fund May 26, 2019

Brian Luerssen is the CEO & Tim Grace is the COO of DraftBit, a startup building a new way to build cross-platform, native iOS and Android apps in minutes instead of months, and they are both Venture Capitalists at LongJump Fund, a first-check venture fund designed to invest in the best new founders right when they begin their journey.

Before Draftbit, Brian was a Managing Director at Techstars and Tim was Head of Product at Trunk Club.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

Disrupting the Massive Commercial Real Estate Market - Tom Smith / Co-Founder of Truss Apr 09, 2019

Tom Smith is the Co-Founder of Truss, a commercial real estate platform that helps small businesses find office space. You can think of them as Airbnb for commercial real estate.

The company's marketplace allows one to find, explore, compare, lease and tour office, industrial and retail space, immediately receive feedback on tours and spaces, manage all documents in one place, among others, providing small and medium businesses with a cost-effective way to lease space for their business.

Truss has raised about $23 million since it was founded in 2016 with it’s most recent round led by Boston-based General Catalyst, who was also an early investor in Airbnb.

Other backers include Navitas Capital, Hyde Park Angels and Hyde Park Venture Partners, along with Jeff Boyd, the former CEO of Priceline, and Robert Mylod, a former Priceline executive and the chairman of Redfin.

Sponsored by:

Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.

BenchPrep’s Amazing Turnaround Story - Ashish Rangnekar / Co-Founder of BenchPrep Feb 21, 2019

Ashish Rangnekar is the CEO and Co-Founder of BenchPrep, a SaaS learning platform for education and training companies to create and deliver personalized digital learning programs across multiple devices.

They have helped millions of people all around the world learn better and faster by leveraging the power of technology.

The world’s leading education organizations, including ACT, Hobsons, McGraw Hill Education, HR Certification Institute, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Cliffsnotes use BenchPrep to help learners improve outcomes.

The company has raised more than $22M in venture capital funding from industry leading investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Jump Capital, Revolution Ventures and Lightbank.

Ashish is interviewed by Paul Lee, Founder and General Partner of Builders VC, a $200M early stage venture fund, and formerly a General Partner at Lightbank, an early investor in BenchPrep.

From Opera Singer to Founder of the Most Successful App Kickstarter Ever - Gabriel Wyner / Founder of Fluent Forever Oct 16, 2017

Gabriel Wyner is the Founder and CEO of Fluent Forever, a startup that aims to help anyone learn a language quickly and remember it forever. He launched a bestselling book 4 years ago and now has the most successful app Kickstarter of all time for his Fluent Forever app. As of this episode, he has raised over $430,000 and he still has another week left.

Gabe is not your typical founder. He is a former opera singer/engineer who has a passion for learning new languages and just recently got thrown into the tech and startup world. He has a lot of great advice and brings a unique perspective to not only learning languages, but also building products.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Gabe had to learn multiple languages to become a better opera singer
How lying on a french test led to his discovery of spaced repetition
Why starting by translating a language is the wrong approach to learning new languages
Gabe speaks eight languages but doesn't believe he has an innate skill for it
The importance of learning pronunciation at the start
How he decided to make an app after having a successful book and flashcards
The value in making flash cards yourself
How he thinks about budgeting and spending the Kickstarter money
How Gabe approaches bootstrapping vs raising money for his company
Gabe's view on the future with translation services and whether the desire to learn languages will ever wane
Why founders need to develop a circle of advisors

Favorite Books:

Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

What Is Chris Gladwin up to After Selling Cleversafe for $1.3 Billion? Building Ocient to Revolutionize Big Data Analytics Oct 09, 2017

Chris Gladwin is the CEO and Founder of Ocient, a startup building software that enables sophisticated users of data to handle massive amounts of information fast enough to make real-time decisions.

Two years ago Chris sold his data storage company Cleversafe to IBM for $1.3 billion. Cleversafe was the largest and most strategic object storage vendor in the world. The technology he started generated over 1,000 patents granted or filed, creating one of the ten most powerful patent portfolios in the world.

Prior to Cleversafe, Chris was the Founder and CEO of startups MusicNow and Cruise Technologies, and led product strategy for Zenith Data Systems. He started his career at Martin Marietta, and holds a mechanical engineering degree from MIT.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The story of Chris’s senior prank and the lessons around forming a team, have a vision, and setting goals that translate to being an entrepreneur
The importance of not being too far ahead of the market and how you know if you have the timing right?
His experience developing a tablet computer 20 years before the iPad
Why Cleversafe was able to get a multiyear head start on everyone else in the industry
How storage worked before Cleversafe
Why Peter Barris, Managing General Partner at New Enterprise Associates, doesn’t think Cleversafe could have happened in Silicon Valley
How the sale to IBM came about
Why you want to be bought not sold
What it was like delivering the news of the sale of Cleversafe to everyone
The impact on the Chicago ecosystem of the Cleversafe exit minting 80 new millionaires
How Chris landed his first reference customer for Cleversafe
How Chicago tech has changed since his first company in geography and scale
Why we still need a Chicago tech anchor
Chris's thoughts on Chicago's potential for Amazon HQ2 and what they should be indexing on
Why Chris requires 5-8 nonstop flights a day to any satellite office location
Chicago's biggest advantages over Silicon Valley? talent cost and talent retention
The similarities between being a founder and a poker player
Why you have to put yourself in a position to realize your ambition
What Chris focuses on? Building the team, raising money, and building a pipeline of customer information and feedback into the company
The similarities between being a founder and a journalist

Favorite Books:

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet by David Kahn

Making Parents Lives Better with Healthy Kids Lunches & How a Porn Site Led to a Big Rebrand - Rebecca Sholiton & Nate Cooper / Wise Apple Sep 13, 2017

Rebecca Sholiton and Nate Cooper are the Co-Founders of Wise Apple(formally Pak'd), a startup that delivers pre-made, customizable school lunches directly to families’ homes.

They just announced their $3.6 million seed round led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Levy Family Partners with Chicago Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BoxGroup and Irish Angels also participating. Wise Apple was also part of Techstars Chicago class of 2016 which included previous podcast guests Bright and PartySlate.

Use code "chicagotech" for $20 off your first week or this link for it to be automatically applied.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The inspiration behind Wise Apple
How they made their first lunches
How they collected 300 emails from interested customers on day 1
The importance of customizations to their business
The value of hand delivering your orders and collecting feedback
How they balance healthy and tasty for kids
How a new porn site led to the name change
What it was like working with the legendary Red Antler branding agency in New York
Why Wise Apple won out as the name
Any concern around going with a name without having the .com locked down
How influential their Kellogg MBAs have been and whether they think they needed it
Why starting a business with a bunch of MBAs is a mistake
How Rebecca and Nate met
Whether copycats and competitors in the food space is a concern for them
How their space differs from the meal kit business
How they arrived at their price
The value in going through Techstars
The importance of balancing realistic numbers and unit economics with a big vision
Why we need more female investment professionals
Why Rebecca won’t look at resumes unless there are non-white/male resumes included
The value in having a big anchor tech company in Chicago

Selected Links From The Episode:

Red Antler, branding agency behind Casper and All Birds
Carter Cast, Professor at Northwestern Kellogg and Venture Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital
Troy Henikoff, Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners
Brian Luerssen, Former Techstars Chicago Managing Director
Dan Willoughby, Techstars Chicago Director
Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision

Favorite Books:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Stanford to Chicago to Raising $9 Million and Reinventing Millennial Investing - Brian Barnes / Founder of M1 Finance Sep 01, 2017

Brian Barnes is the CEO and Founder of M1 Finance, a startup making an automated investment tool that lets users put their money to work in a balanced portfolio without the hassle of actually managing it.

Just a few years after graduating from Stanford, Brian raised $9 million and moved back to Chicago to build the platform.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The motivation behind Brian starting M1 Finance
How Brian went about launching a MVP in the heavily regulated finance industry
How Brian raised $9 million pre-launch
The benefits of robo-advisors over all ETFs
What M1 Finance costs and how they plan to differentiate from other robo-advisors
How Brian got his first customers
What Brian has learned about life and business from his mom Brenda Barnes, Former CEO of Pepsi and Sara Lee?
What the most effective marketing channels have been
How M1 Finance's message has evolved over time
How to communicate a relatively complicated product to consumers quickly
The importance of design in fintech
Why Brian moved back to Chicago after going to Stanford and whether he thinks it matters
Why Chicago has to improve our risk appetite

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Books:

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst y Robert M. Sapolsky

Creating the Next Corner Store in the Age of Amazon - Michael LaVitola / Founder of Foxtrot Jul 29, 2017

Michael LaVitola is the CEO and Founder of Foxtrot, a startup that could be thought of as a curated cornerstore with on-demand delivery. It is basically what you imagine your ideal convenience store would look like with an in store cafe and a ton of super cool beer, wine, food, gifts, and basic necessities.

Use code "ab079e" for $10 off your first order

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Michael decided to start Foxtrot
What the first version of the product looked like
Why they moved away from on demand to retail
Why they splurged on pricey retail spots
Why they will be having a coffee bar in all their stores going forward
How they curate the products they stock
What are their best selling and weirdest products
What Michael thinks of Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods
What the future of retail looks like
How they plan to differentiate themselves from Amazon's offerings
Why it is important to know who your ideal investor really is

Selected Links From The Episode:

New Venture Challenge
Craig Wortmann, Professor at Northwestern Kellogg
Eater

Favorite Books:

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Building a Platform for the $112 Billion Party Planning Industry - Julie Novack / Co-Founder of PartySlate May 13, 2017

Julie Novack is the CEO and a Co-Founder of PartySlate, a startup building a two-sided platform that allows event professionals to share their work and party hosts to gain inspiration from it.

PartySlate has raised $2.6 million from investors including Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and InvestHER Ventures.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Julie's motivation for starting PartySlate
The importance of throwing a great party for fundraisers
The wildest party someone has thrown using PartySlate
How to use content marketing and promotional events to drive traffic
Why you have to "super-please" one side of the market to start a two-sided marketplace
How PartySlate decides where to focus their content marketing efforts
The biggest benefits of going through Techstars
What Julie would like to see Chicago tech improve on
How we get more women involved in tech
The importance of role models for women in tech
The hardest thing about selling
The 3 most critical elements to being a high performing salesperson
What made her leave a large company for the startup world
The value of dreaming outloud about your idea
The fallacy of being protective about your idea
How Julie decided to expand geographically before proving out the business model in one geography
What their process looks for expanding in to new geographies
The importance of owning and managing technology
Advice for planning a great wedding

Selected Links From The Episode:

WiSTEM

Favorite Books:

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years by Mark Lewisohn
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

Helping NBA and NFL Players Sleep More and Play Better - Jeff Kahn / Co-Founder of Rise Science Mar 23, 2017

Jeff Kahn is a Co-Founder and CEO of Rise Science, a sleep behavior change startup that provides sleep coaching for elite athletes. They harness the science behind sleep, and give elite athletes the power to perform at their best with the help of continuous, personalized insights, guidance and feedback.

Rise Science is currently working with many major sports organizations like the Chicago Bulls, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, West Virginia Mountaineers, and Tennessee Volunteers. Jeff's research and work has been featured in the NY Times, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How the idea for Rise Science came about
What the first version of their sleep tracking looked like
How to determine how much sleep you personally need
Comparing different sleep tracking tools
The compliance rate with professional players
Why they sell the players on sleep tracking and not the coaches
What kind of performance improvements teams are seeing
What the ideal nap looks like
Whether morning (larks) or night (owls) people exist
Do owls or larks have a performance advantage in life/sports
The most common sleep mistakes athletes make
How do justify $80-100k a year to GMs of professional teams
What Jeff’s sleep habits look like
How you can improve your sleep

Selected Links From The Episode:

Zeke Markshausen, Designer at IDEO

Favorite Books:

Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired by Till Roenneberg
The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep by William C. Dement
Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million by Mark Roberge

Revolutionizing Small Business Lending with Data & Technology - George Souri / Founder of LQD Business Finance Feb 22, 2017

George Souri is the Founder and CEO of LQD Business Finance, a startup providing quick, convenient, and affordable financing to small and medium-sized businesses that are traditionally underbanked. LQD is leveraging data to offer business loans in the $250,000 to $3 million range to help businesses scale faster.

George is a serial entrepreneur, self-taught mathematician, and musician. He got his entrepreneurial start with a string of dance clubs at 18 years old before founding his own investment bank.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

What is alternative business lending
Why you should try to disprove your idea
How George got his start in entrepreneurship
The importance of viewing failure as opportunity
The power of small efficient actions
Why banks turn down good companies
How LQD made its first loans
The differences between consumer and business lending
The value of doing an autopsy on a business
The biggest red flags LQD sees when examining a business
Why you should be trying to find people that make you feel dumb

Selected Links From The Episode:

Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist
Principles by Ray Dalio
Nash equilibrium
Al Goldstein, Founder and CEO of Avant

Books Mentioned:

A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram
The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life by Gary Becker
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Troy Henikoff of Techstars on Crafting a Great Pitch, the Power of 0, Cycling, BB8, & Transforming Startups in 90 Days Jan 18, 2017

Troy Henikoff is the Managing Director at Techstars Chicago, a Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners, and a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business. If you haven't heard of Troy yet, he is one of the biggest figures in the Chicago tech scene and has been instrumental in getting Chicago tech to where it is today. He is also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and a hard core cyclist.

Prior to launching Techstars Chicago, Troy was a serial entrepreneur. He was the CEO of OneWed.com, President of Amacai, and co-founder and CEO of SurePayroll.com. Troy built the technology for Jellyvision (creators of “You Don’t Know Jack!”), was the President of Systemetrics, and his first company was Specialized Systems and Software. Troy has an undergraduate degree in Engineering from Brown University and a Masters Degree in Project Management from Northwestern.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How cold is too cold when biking to work
The story of how Troy got into entrepreneurship
How Excelerate Labs came about
The story of creating BB8 for Star Wars
What the application process is like for Techstars
How to find the right balance between tenacious and coachable
Which entrepreneurs get the most out of Techstars
What the timeline looks like for their 90 days in the program
What goes into making a perfect pitch in front of 500 venture capitalists
What companies really excite him
Why Mark Achler and Troy started MATH Venture Partners
Whether or not there is a signalling problem by only investing in some of your accelerator companies
Why Groupon would have been impossible to build in San Francisco
Why you have to be honest with yourself first

Selected Links From The Episode:

Michael Krasny, Founder of CDW
Alex White, Founder of Next Big Sound
David Cohen, Founder of Techstars
Sam Yagan, CEO of Shop Runner
Brad Feld, VC at Foundry Group
Sphero
Fitbot
Casey Jenks, Founder of Fitbot

Favorite Books:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld

Sponsored By:

Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

How to Build a Two Sided Marketplace & Fixing Car Maintenance - Greg Tepas / Founder of CarAdvise Dec 31, 2016

Greg Tepas is the Founder and CEO of CarAdvise, a startup that makes car maintenance easy and transparent. CarAdvise acts as a personal auto repair concierge and advisor for car owners. They provide an unbiased opinion on proposed work and estimated cost to save car owners from the traditional mistrust and stress associated with car repairs.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Greg decided to build CarAdvise
How commercial car fleets typically handle repairs
How to begin building a two sided marketplace
How CarAdvise makes money
How the product has evolved
Impact of self driving cars on the car repair industry
Why you should be talking to everyone about your startup

Favorite Books:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush

Sponsored By:

Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

Building the Future of Business Intelligence, Lessons From Techstars & Value in the Imperfect - Jeff Judge / Founder of Bright Dec 07, 2016

Jeff Judge is the Founder and CEO of Bright, a startup that helps SaaS companies quickly understand their core metrics, and gives them the tools to grow faster. Bright just graduated from the 2016 Techstars class here in Chicago. Before founding Bright, Jeff cofounded and led Signal (acquired) and he was an early engineer at Orbitz.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Jeff founded Bright after selling Signal
What kind of optimizations Bright can deliver
What setting up Bright entails
Why he applied to Techstars as an experienced founder
What he got out of the Techstars accelerator
Why he is a big fan of having a distributed team
The tools Jeff finds helpful to make a distributed team work
Why he would have raised money earlier
Why he’d like to see Chicago tech be more collaborative
The motivation behind starting the Bright conference
How to plan a successful conference in just two weeks
What goes into making the perfect pitch
The importance of having the right support structure in enterprise selling
The value of submitting imperfect creations

Selected Links From The Episode:

Fredrik Olsen, CTO at Bright
Brian Flanagan, CPO at Bright
Troy Henikoff, Techstars Chicago Managing Director
Brian Luerssen, Techstars Chicago Managing Director
Dan Willoughby, Techstars Chicago Program Manager
SaaStr Annual Conference
Bright Conference

Favorite Books:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Managing Oneself by Peter Ferdinand Drucker
Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Sitting down with the Warby Parker of Furniture - Rob Royer / Founder of Interior Define Dec 03, 2016

Rob Royer is the Founder and CEO of Interior Define, a startup that builds furniture on demand and will customize everything, including the size, shape, color, fabric, filling, and frame.

Rob was one of the early employees at Bonobos and took much of what he learned over to Interior Define, which he launched in 2014. Shopping for a big purchase like a couch online without sitting on it beforehand kind of seems crazy so we talk a lot about how they have gotten people over that hesitation. We actually recorded this episode sitting on one of their sofas in their Lincoln Park guideshop.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Rob got involved with Bonobos
What he learned at Bonobos and brought to Interior Define
How he got into the furniture industry
The importance of partnerships in the lifestyle space
Why they added customization options
How they got PR in their early days
How do they convince someone to spend thousands of dollars on a sofa they haven’t seen in person
The importance of having a guide shop as an online brand
What their most effective marketing channels are today
How they picked the location of their guide shop
The benefits of having the office directly above the guide shop
How to sell a big potential hire from a larger company on working at a startup
Future products that Rob’s excited about

Selected Links From The Episode:

Maxwell Ryan, Founder of Apartment Therapy
The Everygirl
Monica + Andy
Trunk Club

Favorite Books:

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Building the Warby Parker of Men's Skincare - Mia Saini & Laura Lisowski / Co-Founders of Oars + Alps Nov 22, 2016

Mia Saini & Laura Lisowski are Co-Founders of Oars + Alps, a new e-commerce startup selling men’s skincare products that target an "athleisure guy on the go". Their first products are a face moisturizer, a deodorant, and a face wash in stick form.

Mia Saini is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School and a former reporter for Bloomberg TV. Early last year, Mia quit her job at Bloomberg and her Co-Founder Laura Lisowski quit her job at Facebook to start building Oars + Alps out of 1871.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The difference between men's and women's skin care
How they decided to start with these products
Where the name comes from
How they met on a party boat in Thailand
The benefits of being an outsider in the industry
How they choose ingredients
Why you have to set the price before making product decisions
What men are doing wrong in their grooming
How they plan to cut through the noise and get the word out
How they position their brand
Another startup brand they look up to
The value of content and influencer marketing
How they landed features in Esquire and Bloomberg within months of launching and how you can to

Selected Links From The Episode:

Sunski Sunglasses
Harvard Business Review
The New Yorker
New York Times
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Sponsored By:

Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

How 3D Carving & 3D Printing Will Shape the Future - Zach Kaplan / Founder of Inventables Nov 10, 2016

Zach Kaplan is the Founder and CEO of Inventables, which makes software and hardware for 3D carving. Their flagship products Easel, Carvey, and X-Carve are used by a new wave of makers to make everything from circuit boards to skate boards. Zach was named a “modern Leonardo” by the Museum of Science and Industry and a 40 under 40 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Inventables has the stated goal of putting a 3D carver in every classroom by the end of the decade.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The differences between carving and 3D printing
What can you make with a 3D carver
Who is buying and using these carvers
How they prepared to raise $600k on Kickstarter
How they plan to get a 3D carver in every school by the end of the decade
Why they decided to make their very expensive software free
How they plan to make money while giving away software
What the future of 3D printing and carving is
What will be the result of having all these carvers available

Favorite Book:

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

Jellyvision’s Amanda Lannert on Humor, Culture, Sharks, Diversity, Liberal Arts, Massage Chairs, and Networking Nov 03, 2016

Amanda Lannert is the CEO of Jellyvision, which makes ALEX, an interactive decision-support tool that talks you through traditionally boring and confusing human resource decisions like picking health insurance and makes them fun and engaging. The Jellyvision of today has one of the more interesting founding stories, which Amanda describes in the beginning of this episode. It was born from the ashes of You Don't Know Jack.

Amanda was named CEO of the Year at the Moxie Awards in 2014 and 2015. Under Amanda’s leadership, Jellyvision has doubled its revenue three out of the last four years.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Jellyvision got into the B2B space
The value of a liberal arts background in tech
How Jellyvision got its first customers
Keys to selling to big businesses
How their product evolved and what eventually led to growth
How important humor is to their brand
Whether their diversity is intentional or accidental
How they are trying to improve diversity
How they attempt to identity redact interviews
How to build a strong culture across team members of different generations
The impact of remote workers on their culture
How Jellyvision caters to introverts in an extroverted office
Amanda’s favorite interview questions
How they ended up with a room dedicated to a massage chair
Why Amanda would like to see more audacious dreams from Chicagoans
How to find mentors
What is the best bang for your buck networking

Selected Links From The Episode:

Harry Gottlieb, Founder of Jellyvision
Jai Shekhawat, Founder & Former CEO of Fieldglass
Troy Henikoff, Techstars Chicago Managing Director
Mark Achler, VC Math Ventures
Hyde Park Angels
YPO Chicago
ITA

A Few of Amanda's Favorite Books:

A Little Life by by Hanya Yanagihara
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

The Future of the Gig Economy With VC Turned Founder - Eddie Lou / Co-Founder of Shiftgig Oct 27, 2016

Eddie Lou is the CEO and Co-Founder of Shiftgig, a mobile, two-sided labor marketplace connecting large venues in the service and hospitality industries with locally available and previously vetted hourly workers. Shiftgig is one of the leaders in the gig economy, acting as a technology bridge connecting millions of workers with millions of shifts.

Shiftgig has raised $35M in venture funding from many local VCs including Chicago Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Corazon Capital.

Before founding Shiftgig, Eddie was a general partner with OCA Ventures, where he invested in software, consumer internet, and business services companies.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Eddie started Shiftgig after being a venture capitalist for many years
Who are the people working in the gig economy
What have been their most interesting gigs
How they got their first customers
How they pivoted away from their social network idea
How they dealt with a business model that wasn't working and struggling to raise capital
Eddie’s keys to building a two-sided marketplace
What he’s learned as a VC that has benefited him as an entrepreneur
Why he would like more series B investors in Chicago
Why he would like to see more risk taking from executives
Why Shiftgig acquired BookedOut
What's the future of the gig economy
What's next for Shiftgig
Why you shouldn't be afraid to talk about your idea
What's the best way to reach out and cultivate potential mentors

A Few of Eddie's Favorite Books:

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

Solving Big Problems With Big Data - Dan Wagner / Founder of Civis Analytics Oct 20, 2016

Dan Wagner is the Founder and CEO of Civis Analytics, a startup that helps companies, non-profits, and campaigns leverage their data to develop smarter strategy, make better decisions, and build stronger, data-driven organizations.

Before founding Civis Analytics, Dan Wagner was the Chief Analytics Officer on President Obama's 2012 campaign, overseeing a 54-person team of analysts, engineers and organizers that provided analytics and technologies for voter contact, digital, paid media, fundraising and communication. After a discussion with Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc., on election night, Dan decided to keep his team together and start a company.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Civis Analytics started with great people and no set idea
How President Obama built an empowered meritocracy in his 2012 reelection campaign
The differences between building a company and a campaign
How Civis Analytics got their first customers
What you need to do excellent data science
Why the government is getting involved in fighting cancer
The timeline for making progress on the cancer moonshot
Why they decided to build an innovative data science company in Chicago
Why Dan would like to see more risky financing in Chicago
The three things you need to ask yourself before starting a company

Selected Links From The Episode:

David Plouffe, 2008 Campaign Manager to President Obama
David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to President Obama
Civis Analytics's Cancer Moonshot Report
NCI Genomic Data Commons

A Few of Dan's Favorite Books:

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddartha Mukheriee
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
"The Future of Data Analysis" (1962) by John Tukey

Virtual Reality, the Future of Retail, & Selling to Big Business - Tracey Wiedmeyer / Co-Founder of InContext Solutions Oct 13, 2016

Tracey Wiedmeyer is the CTO and a Co-Founder of InContext Solutions, the leader in scalable virtual reality (VR) shopping and retail solutions. InContext Solutions lets manufacturers and retailers simulate real in-store shopping situations to ideate, evaluate and activate all types of merchandising, display, layout and other in-store shopping experiences within a VR store environment before implementing them in the real world. Just last month, they closed their Series E round of funding, bringing their total funding to $42.5M.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Tracey and his co-founders started InContext Solutions
How he raised their seed capital from his family over Christmas
How similarly do people behave in virtual reality vs the real world
How InContext Solutions recreates stores
How they landed their first customers
How they try to lure tech talent away from quant trading
What he’d like to see big companies improve on
Why you have to focus on ROI and business cases when selling to large enterprises
Whether we are in a simulation or not
Where the future of virtual reality is heading in 5-10 years
What the future of retail may look like
How they landed a partnership with Intel
How a partnership with a big company can benefit a startup

Favorite Books:

The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

Best Sources to Learn More About Virtual Reality:

SpotHero's Mark Lawrence on Building a Marketplace Business, Meditation, & Why If It's Not a Fuck Yes, It's a Fuck No Oct 06, 2016

Mark Lawrence is the CEO and Co-Founder of SpotHero, an on-demand parking app and website that makes drivers’ lives easier by helping them find and reserve a parking for up to 50% off. Mark along with his co-founders started the company after managing to rack up thousands of dollars in parking tickets. SpotHero is now one of Chicago's bigger consumer startup success stories. They raised $20 million in Series B funding last year, are in 15 cities, and have a team of 120 now.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why he and his co-founders started SpotHero
How the product has evolved from the initial idea
How they got their first customers
What was going through his head when competitors were raising massive rounds
Keys to growing a marketplace business
How SpotHero approaches launching in a new city
Why "If it's not a fuck yes, it's a fuck no" when hiring
The benefits of meditation and floatation tanks
Keys to keeping the culture as company grows

Selected Links From The Episode:

TechNexus
Ezra Galston, VC at Chicago Ventures

Favorite Books:

Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz
Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson
The Virgin Way: If It's Not Fun, It's Not Worth Doing by Richard Branson
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman
Shogun by James Clavell

Sponsored By:

Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

Machine Learning, Fintech, & the Future of Payments - Canh Tran / Co-Founder of Rippleshot Sep 28, 2016

Canh Tran is the CEO and Co-Founder of Rippleshot, a startup that detects payment card data breaches. They take a big-data machine learning approach, more common in search, genetics and advertising, and apply it in a novel way for the payment processing industry to help banks, merchants and processors proactively monitor suspicious fraudulent activity and implement smarter fraud risk management strategies when card compromises do occur. It is a massive industry with a lot of room for improvement.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Rippleshot catches data breaches
Why banks need outside help
Where the name comes from
What they are looking for in breaches
The ingeneious ways credit cards are stolen
How safe is our future when we pay with wearables
How they got their first customers by starting small
Why criminals target smaller banks
The differences between Silicon Valley, Chicago, and St Louis
What Canh would like to see chicago tech improve on
The differences between 1871 and Catapult
The benefits of growing up abroad
The impact a handwritten thank you letter
What the future of fraud loss looks like
What gets Canh up in the morning

Selected Links From The Episode:

Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871
Craig Vodnik, Co-Founder of C leverbridge and investor in Rippleshot

Favorite Book:

The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business; The Manticore; World of Wonders by Robertson Davies
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life by by Albert-laszlo Barabasi

Sparking Conversations One Shoe at a Time - Raaja Nemani / Co-Founder of Bucketfeet Sep 22, 2016

Raaja Nemani is a Co-Founder and CEO of Bucketfeet, a footwear startup that collaborates with a global community of artists to design limited-edition shoes.

The idea began in Argentina when Aaron Firestein gave Raaja a pair of hand-designed canvas sneakers inspired by the city blocks of Buenos Aires. On the rest of Raaja's journey, these unique looking shoes sparked non-stop conversations across six continents with people of all races, religions, genders, and cultures. Upon returning home, he decided to start Bucketfeet with Aaron.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The founding story
What the first shoes looked like
Where the name Bucketfeet comes from
How they sold their first shoes
How a party at Brian Splay's house jump started sales
Why Bucketfeet walked away from a Nordstrom deal
What is next for Bucketfeet

Selected Links From The Episode:

Aaron Firestein, Co-Founder of Bucketfeet
Brian Spaly, Co-Founder of Bonobos and Trunk Club
Context Media
Luxury Garage Sale
Threadless

Favorite Book:

The Road to Character by David Brooks

What Does the Future of Education Look Like? - Shaily Baranwal / Founder of Elevate K-12 & Classblox Sep 15, 2016

Shaily Baranwal is the CEO and Founder of Elevate K-12 and Classblox. Elevate K-12 provides digital instruction and online resources to millions of at-risk students across the US. Since launching in 2008, Elevate K-12 has provided over 1 million hours of online instruction and has averaged a 35 percent increase in student test scores. Shaily's latest product, Classblox, is for consumers and it offers on-demand, online classes taught by real teachers. Students take hour long virtual, interactive classes from vetted teachers in subjects like algebra, Spanish, and ACT prep.

Shaily and her company’s mission is to help ensure that every student gets one-on-one, online instructional support, irrespective of geography, demography and ethnicity.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Shaily started Elevate K-12 while still in school
What makes Elevate K-12 better than MOOCs
How they are able to provide personalized teaching for a reasonable price
Why Shaily started her company in Chicago
Why she hasn’t moved the company
Why she’s a big fan of distributed teams
How she was able to bootstrap for so many years
Why she decided to finally raise money
How she made her first sales
What she wished she knew when she got started
Why attitude and passion are everything when hiring
Why she likes to hire athletes

Selected Links From The Episode:

7 Semi-Serious Reasons I Chose Chicago Over San Francisco for the growth of my company by Shaily Baranwal
Why I got my first investor after 5+ years of successful bootstrapping by Shaily Baranwal

Favorite Books:

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

Sponsored By:

Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

Disrupting the Used Car Market With Data - Kayne Grau / Founder of DRIVIN Sep 09, 2016

Kayne Grau is a Co-Founder and CEO of DRIVIN, a startup changing the way used-car dealers source their used-car inventory. Before founding DRIVIN, Kayne was the CTO at Cars.com.

Using proprietary technology and actionable local market data, DRIVIN sells, sources, acquires and delivers used-car inventory for used-car dealer partners across the country. DRIVIN helps dealers understand what’s selling locally and how to price effectively. DRIVIN has raised $17.5 million from investors including Brad Keywell, Eric Lefkofsky, Mitch Golub, and Columbus Nova Technology Partners.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How inefficient the used car market is
The origins of DRIVIN
How Lightbank companies are started up
How involved Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell are after coming up with an idea
What makes Eric and Brad's new startups repeatedly successful
Why DRIVIN went the B2B instead of B2C route
How they got their first customer
The best way to buy/sell used car as an individual
What can Chicago tech improve on?
Impact of self driving cars on used car business

Selected Links From The Episode:

Eric Lefkofsky, Co-Founder of Groupon, Uptake & Lightbank
Brad Keywell, Co-Founder of Groupon, Uptake & Lightbank
Justin Mahlik, Co-Founder & COO of DRIVIN
Cars.com
A utotrader.com
Kelly Blue Book
Shift
Cleversafe
Signal
Braintree
Uptake
Tempus
Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871

Favorite Books:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell
Lincoln On Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times Kindle Edition by Donald T. Phillips

Why Join A Tech Accelerator & Why VCs Start Accelerators - Constance Freedman / VC @ Moderne Ventures Aug 26, 2016

Constance Freedman is the Founder and Managing Partner of Moderne Ventures, an early stage venture fund and accelerator investing in technology companies in real estate, mortgage, finance, insurance, and home services. These are multi-trillion dollar industries that make up well over 20% of the US GDP and are ripe for innovation. Prior to launching Moderne Ventures, Constance was the head of Strategic Investments at the National Association of Realtors where she launched and managed its investment arm, Second Century Ventures (SCV), and founded its accelerator program, Reach.

In 2014, Constance was recognized by Crain’s Business in its prestigious 40 under 40 award and was also named on Crain’s Chicago Top Tech 50. In both 2014 and 2015, Constance was recognized on Swanepoel’s Power 200 Most Powerful Individuals in Residential Real Estate and in 2015, named in Inman’s Top 101 in Real Estate.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

The most exciting tech developments for Moderne Ventures
Why venture capital firms start accelerators
How important an accelerator is for the deal flow
What the decision making process looks like for the accelerator and investments
Where they find the best companies for their accelerator
How to break into venture capital
How to find the right limited partners (LPs)

Selected Links From The Episode:

What An Ideal Startup Looks Like & Deal Sourcing With A Podcast - Nick Moran / The Full Ratchet Aug 19, 2016

Nick Moran is a co-founder and Managing Director of New Stack Ventures and Moran Capital Partners. He also started the very popular The Full Ratchet podcast, where he interviews venture capital and angel investing experts on successful startup fundraising and investing strategy. Nick asked me to interview him for his 100th episode and I thought the content was so good that I decided to repost it here.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Nick got into venture capital
Why he started The Full Ratchet
His key takeaways after 100 episodes
Where he finds his deals
What an ideal startup looks like to him
What resources he recommends to investors and entrepreneurs
Nick's investment thesis and how he evaluates startups for investment
The best and worst things about the startup ecosystem in Chicago

Selected Links From The Episode:

David Rabie, Founder of Tovala
Jeff Heitzman, Nick's Partner at New Stack Ventures
Jason Heltzer, Origin Ventures
Max Levchin, Founder of Paypal and Affirm

Favorite Books:

Lord of The Flies by William Golding
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Ready Player One by Ernst Cline

How To Deal With Bad Press & Competing In The Crowded Coffee Market - Philip Tadros / Founder Doejo & Bow Truss Aug 09, 2016

Philip Tadros is a true serial entrepreneur and restauranteur. He is the founder of Doejo, a digital agency, Dollop Coffee, a cafe and bakery, Bow Truss Coffee, a coffee roastery and cafe, The Budlong, a hot chicken restaurant chain, SPACE, a co-working space, and Aquanaut Brewing, a craft brewery. He opened his first coffee shop at 19 after dropping out of college and now runs the largest network of independently owned coffee shops in Chicago.

Crain's recently ran a special report questioning some of Phil's business practices titled "One of Chicago's most connected entrepreneurs has made more than a few enemies". We dive into what really happened in the second half of this episode and what he's learned from the experience.

listen on iTunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Phil got his start as an entrepreneur after dropping out of college
The differences between the beer and coffee community
How he differentiates himself in the competitive food industry
Phil's side of the story on the Crain's special report
What he’s learned from the experience
How he and his team handled the bad press

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Books:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Personalized Medicine, 3D Printing, Snapchat & Networking - Dima Elissa / Founder of VisMed3D Jul 20, 2016

Dima Elissa is the founder and CEO of VisMed3D, a startup providing 3D surgical patient replicas for state-of-the-art treatment and training of doctors. Based in Matter, the startup is on the cutting edge of personalized medicine. In addition to her startup, Dima devotes considerable time, energy, and guidance to other women entrepreneurs.

listen on iTunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Dima decided to pursue 3D printing
How Dima landed her first partnership with big healthcare
What the best bang for you buck networking is
The value in 3D printing for surgeons
What the future of medical 3D printing looks like
The value in snapchat for her company
What to watch out for as a first time founder

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Books:

The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women by Harriet Rubin

Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare Startups, Wearables & Diversity - Star Cunningham / Founder of 4DHealthware Jul 13, 2016

Star Cunningham is the Founder and CEO of 4DHealthware, a startup that provides artificially intelligent "nudges", SMS and email messages, to patients with chronic conditions based on data collected via 250 wearable devices like bluetooth glucometers and activity trackers. Medicare now reimburses healthcare providers $40 per patient per month for every 20 minutes spent managing care outside a doctor’s office and 4DHealthware interactions count. Star has raised $770,000 to date and is on the verge of becoming the 12th African American woman ever to secure more than a million dollars in venture funding for her tech startup. Before founding, 4DHealthware, Star was at IBM for about 10 years.

listen on iTunes listen on Google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why Star decided to found a company after working in big business
How she landed the first partnerships in healthcare
The power of nudging people in the right direction
The future of wearables and artificial intelligence
How to get more diversity in tech
The importance of getting young black girls into tech
What she thinks about diversity quotas
When founders should start thinking about diversity

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Book:

Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born by Lloyd E. Shefsky
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren

Investing In Design-Led Companies & What Chicago Tech Is Missing - John Roa / AKTA & Roa Ventures Jul 06, 2016

John Roa is a serial tech entrepreneur and long time Chicagoan. He got his entrepreneurial start by creating a computer repair business at 14 and hasn't stopped since. Last year, he sold ÄKTA, his tech-consulting and design firm, to Salesforce. Now John is planning to invest in other Chicago startups via Roa Ventures, a fund that focuses on "early-stage investments, projects and experiments". He has also created the non-profit, Digital Hope, and enjoys playing competitive poker and traveling extensively.

listen on iTunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How John got started as an entrepreneur
Why he started AKTA and where the name comes from
What John attributes the success of AKTA to
How John made the the decision to sell AKTA?
If he would take venture capital if he could do it again
Problems he sees in taking venture capital
Why he's investing instead of starting another startup
John's criteria for his next startup
What draws John to travel? He has been to 50+ countries.
How to build a brand as a new angel investor?
Similarities between poker and startups
What Chicago tech is good at & what we could improve on
Why John doesn’t believe in giving advice

Selected Links From The Episode:

6 Ways Playing Poker Can Help You in Business (and 2 Ways It Can't) by John Roa
The Grand Voyage
Robert Nand, Founder of The Grand Voyage

Favorite Book:

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus

Livestreaming, Virtual Reality, E-Sports & Hiring Your Biggest Critic - Stu Grubbs / Founder of Infiniscene Jun 29, 2016

Stu Grubbs is a Co-Founder and CEO of Infiniscene, a startup building the easiest way to livestream video. They enable gamers, and now Facebook and Youtube streamers, to easily create beautiful live broadcasts in their web browser without any experience or expensive hardware. As Stu mentions during the show, a lot of Chicago startups are new tech solving old problems so it is awesome to to have a startup empowering live streamers being built here. It is definitely both a cutting edge problem and solution.

listen on itunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How difficult it is to setup a lifestream today
Why quality will always be the differentiator with content creators
How big e-sports is today? Hint: a lot bigger than you think
How e-gamers make more money on content then competition
What Infiniscene got out of Techstars
Why starting a company is the real way to see if you are good at something
How a landlords faith in him allowed Infiniscene to survive
What kept him going when he was penniless
How he ended up hiring his biggest critic
Whats the most exciting stuff he saw at E3
How live streaming may work in virtual reality
How they have developed culture early in the company
The importance of one-on-one's for culture
Why they founded Infiniscene in Chicago
Why every call should be a video call on a distributed team
Why he looks for cultural fit first when hiring

Selected Links From The Episode:

2015: The year it all blew up
Manus VR - first consumer VR glove
VREAL - Native virtual reality streaming
MK Capital
Pritzker Group Venture Capital
Mark Achler, VC Math Ventures
Aaron Hassell, COO and Co-Founder at Infiniscene
Dan Trocchio, CTO and Co-Founder at Infiniscene
Ryan Forquer, CMO and Co-Founder at Infiniscene

Favorite Books:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook by Dan Shapiro
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

The Future Of Food Tech & How To Raise $100k In Your First Day On Kickstarter - David Rabie / Founder of Tovala Jun 22, 2016

David Rabie is the Founder and CEO of Tovala, the creator of a smart oven that cooks perfectly made meals by baking, boiling and steaming them in under 30 minutes. The meals can either be delivered prepackaged from Tovala or be made using a crowdsourced recipe. Last winter, Tovala graduated from Y-Combinator and a few months ago Tovala launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $255,603 with over 1,000 backers. Before starting Tovala, David was an MBA at Chicago Booth, and he worked for the co-founder and CEO of Veggie Grill and ran Groovy Spoon – a bi-coastal chain of frozen yogurt stores. He also spent time working at Google and Foundation Capital.

listen on iTunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Why he decided to pair food delivery with a smart oven
How they came up with the name Tovala
How David found his first engineer
How they decided on the price of the oven and the food
How they prepared for their successful Kickstarter campaign
What they got out of Y-Combinator?
Why they decided to come back to Chicago after Y-Combinator?
Why he wishes he had found a co-founder earlier
How to test for cultural fit and avoid mishires
The importance of establishing connections with VCs before you need money

Selected Links From The Episode:

Michael Seibel, Co-founder of Twitch & Partner at Y-Combinator
Jason Heltzer, VC at Origin Ventures & Professor at Chicago Booth

Favorite Books:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

How To Decide If Your Idea Is Worth Pursuing & How To Sell Your Product - Landon Shoop / Co-Founder of Fizz Jun 10, 2016

Landon Shoop, along with his wife Jennifer Shoop, started Fizz, a team management tool that makes developing employees easy. At his old job, Landon became frustrated while preparing for another yearly performance review and he decided there must be something better. Together they developed a HR tech platform that allows for real-time employee/employer feedback. Landon and Jennifer haven't raised any outside money yet, but they already have some impressive traction. It was great to talk product with promising entrepreneurs just getting started.

listen on itunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How to decide whether your idea is worth pursuing
How to sell your product
Why they decided to build upon Slack
How they came up with the name? Hint: Focus is your scarcest resource
How they approach work/life balance as a husband/wife founding team

Selected Links From The Episode:

David Kelley, Founder of IDEO and Stanford's d.school
Email Hunter - Find email addresses in seconds
Rapportive - Info on your contacts right inside your inbox

Favorite Books:

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat by Grant Achatz

Social Impact, Helping Clinton Beat Trump & Engaging Communities - Michael Slaby / Founder of Timshel Jun 03, 2016

Michael Slaby is the Founder and Head of Mission of Timshel, a startup that has developed a platform called The Groundwork to give organizations and brands more powerful digital tools to analyze all the data they are producing, help them organize supporters, get their message out, and raise money. According to Federal Election Commission records, Hillary Clinton has spent almost $500,000 on Timshel’s services since announcing her candidacy last year. Before starting Timshel, Michael was the CTO of Obama for America in 2008 and Obama’s Chief Integration Officer in 2012, overseeing the campaign's integration of technology, digital strategy, and analytics.

listen on iTunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How an "argument of violent agreement" got Michael into politics
The differences between the 2008 election and 2012 election
What the team took from the 2012 campaign to Timshel
How Timshel balances being a for profit company and having a social mission
How Timshel is helping Hillary Clinton's campaign
Why they started a podcast
Why we need to improve the availability of early stage capital here in Chicago (None of Timshel's investors are from here)
Why Michael thinks Chicago has a bright future in impact analytics
How entrepreneurs can balance the line between optimism and insanity

Selected Links From The Episode:

Dick Durbin, Illinois Senator
Joe Rospars, Founder & CEO of Blue State Digital
Harper Reed, Former CTO at Obama For America
Dan Wagner, Founder and CEO of Civis Analytics
UN Refugee Agency
The Hive, digital arm of UN Refugee Agency
Impact Engine
The way we think about charity is dead wrong by Dan Pallotta,
Stephanie Hannon, CTO of Clinton Campaign
Edelmen, Marketing Agency
Fabretto Foundation
Bright Pink
I Am That Girl
Food Tank
Elevate Purpose, Timshel's podcast
Rayid Ghani, Director of the Center for Data Science and Public Polic y
Kevin Willer, VC at Chicago Ventures
JB Pritzker, VC at Pritzker VC
Matter
Data For Social Good
University of Chicago Crime Lab
UN Sustainable Development Goals

Favorite Books:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck (where the name Timshel comes from)
This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (given to every new employee)
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Working with Obama, Empowering Non-Profits, & How Bands Are Like Startups - Jason Kunesh / Co-Founder of Public Good May 23, 2016

Jason Kunesh is a co-founder and CEO of Public Good Software, a startup aiming to make donating to non-profits as easy as ordering something on Amazon. Before starting PGS, Jason was the Director of UX for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and part of the founding team at The Point, which later became Groupon. Jason is also a member of the adjunct faculty at the Starter School, owner of the best Fu Manchu in Chicago, a mentor at Impact Engine, and an advisor to the American Design and Master-Craft Initiative and UX for Good.

listen on iTunes Listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How he got involved in the Obama campaign?
What it is like demoing your product for the president?
What the team learned on the Obama campaign and then applied at Public Good?
Why charities for animals outperform charities for the homeless?
Why non-profits are scared of innovation?
How he got into tech?
Why you should be public about your failures?
Why Chicago is the best place to start a non-profit focused company?
What we need to to do to take Chicago tech to the next level?
How startups are like bands?
How to get a team to work together? Hint: Encourage transparency/dialogue/dissent
Why you really have to understand your motivations as a founder?

Selected Links From The Episode:

Dan Ratner, Co-Founder of Public Good
Sittercity
The Point
Chris Gansen, CTO of Public Good
Paul Smith, saved Healthcare.gov
Mark Balding, Partner at Fuzzy Math
Ben Ihnchak, Partner at Fuzzy Math
Harper Reed, Former CTO at Obama For America
Project Narwal
Eric Weinheimer, President & CEO of Forefront
Daniel Ash, CMO of The Chicago Community Trust
Terry Mazany, CEO of The Chicago Community Trust
Candice Kislack, Former CEO of TOMS
Chuck Templeton, Founder of OpenTable and Chairman of Impact Engine
Jessica Meagan, CEO of Impact Engine
Designation.io
The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
Blue 1647
Jason's Reading List for Startups
Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application by Jason Fried
John Tolva, Former Chicago CTO
Daniel X. O'Neil, Executive Director of Smart Chicago
Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871
JB Pritzker, VC at Pritzker VC
Troy Henikoff, Techstars Chicago Managing Director
Impact Engine
Hyde Park Angels
Braintree
Avant
Christoper Alexander, Designer

Favorite Books:

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Kurt Vonnegut
John Steinbeck

How To Land A Job At A Startup & The Biggest Mistake 1st Time Founders Make - Gale Bowman / Founding Director of Irish Angels May 16, 2016

Gale Bowman is the founding director of Irish Angels, an angel network dedicated to early stage investments in which a founder, board member, or active investor is a student, graduate, parent, or faculty member of the University of Notre Dame. After graduating from business school in 2012, Gale launched Irish Angels and has since grown the angel network to 150 investors and invested $10 million in seed and Series A investments.

Listen on iTunes listen on Google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

Where Irish Angels sources their best deals?
What is the biggest mistake that first time founders make?
What is the future of university-affiliated angel networks/vc funds?
What are the benefits of an angel network over a venture capital fund?
What an ideal founding team looks like?
What abilities an ideal CEO has? Hint: Sales and Metrics
What a typical week looks like for VC/angel network director?
How to land your first job at a startup?
How build relationships in the startup community?

Favorite Book: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Selected Links From The Episode:

Bootstrapping to 300+ Employees & Offices on 3 Continents - Craig Vodnik / Co-Founder of Cleverbridge May 05, 2016

Craig Vodnik is a co-founder of C leverbridge, a global subscription billing provider. Founded in 2005, Cleverbridge has grown to 300+ employees with offices in Cologne (Germany), Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo. They have done this all without raising any outside money. At the beginning of his career in 1995, Craig served as the Webmaster of the Chicago Tribune, where he launched its first website. Outside of Cleverbridge, Craig helps develop other entrepreneurs as a mentor at 1871, Catapult Chicago, Junto Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Enterpriseworks Entrepreneur-In-Residence and as a board member of Hyde Park Angels.

listen on iTunes listen on google play

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How they maintain their company culture with offices in different countries?
Why you should bootstrap for as long as you can?
When is the right time to take venture capital?
Why we need more risk taking in Chicago?
What fantasy football can teach you about business?
How to go about finding and cultivating mentors?
Why he decided to join Hyde Park Angels and become an angel investor?

Favorite Books:

The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World by Michael Wheeler
On China by Henry Kissinger
Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors by Brad Feld

Selected Links From The Episode:

Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder and President of ContextMedia
Chicago Venture Summit
John Pletz, Tech Reporter at Crain's Chicago Business
Illinois Tech Associate (ITA)
Geofeedia
Rippleshot
Occasion
Marcin Kleczynski, Founder and CEO of Malwarebytes

How To Steal Business Away From Multi-Billion Dollar Competitors - Jacob Babcock / Founder of NuCurrent Apr 21, 2016

Jacob Babcock is the founder and CEO of NuCurrent, a wireless power company that has designed the world's fastest, smallest, and most efficient wireless power antennas. If you have ever wondered why we still have to deal with all these charging cables, this is the podcast for you.

listen on iTunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Jacob made the transition from law school to founder of a very technical startup?
What a future with wireless power will look like?
How NuCurrent is stealing business away from multi-billion dollar competitors?
Chicago's storied history as the birthplace of wireless power
How to test if someone will make for a good startup employee?
The one big thing he wishes he knew when he started NuCurrent

Favorite Books:

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

Why Pornographers & Criminals Make For Great Customers & Chicago Tech History - Jeff Carter / VC at Hyde Park Angels & West Loop Ventures Apr 14, 2016

Jeff Carter is a co-founder of Hyde Park Angels, one of the most active angel groups in the United States, and he is currently raising a VC fund, named West Loop Ventures. Before becoming an angel he was a trader for over 25 years and he continues to trade independently.

listen on itunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Hyde Park Angels started?
Why traders make for good angel investors?
Why having pornographers and money launderers latching on to your product early is a great sign?
Why it has been easier to find LPs for West Loop Ventures outside of Chicago?
Why you have to be a great analyzer of people and not just ideas for seed investing?
Why it's important to have a vision for the future as a seed investor?
Why VCs can bet on ideas, but angels have to be on people?
Why being coachable is so important for entrepreneurs?
How an entrepreneur/investor relationship is like dating?
Why he makes a point of blogging everyday?
What we have to do to keep growing the Chicago tech scene?

Favorite Blogs:

Streetwise Professor by Craig Pirrong
AVC by Fred Wilson
Feld's Thoughts by Brad Feld
The Musings of The Big Red Car by Jeffrey Minch

Favorite Books:

City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornfischer
The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan by Carroll V. Glines
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
Personnel Economics in Practice by Edward P. Lazear, Michael Gibbs

Selected Links From The Episode:

Kenny Estes, VC at West Loop Ventures
Vishal Verma, Co-Founder of Hyde Park Angels
Steve Kaplan, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Kathleen Swan, startup attorney
Raman Chadha, Co-Founder of Junto Institute
Irish Angels, Notre Dame inspired angel group
Jason Kunesh, CEO of Public Good
Dan Ratner, COO at Public Good
Marc Halpin, CEO of Kapow Events
Daniel McCormick, COO of Kapow Events
Sam Rosen, Founder of Deskpass
Jay Swoboda, CEO of Dabble
Robert Rosenberg, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Mark Tebbe, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business
PJ Media, conservative news site
Rick Santelli, Editor at CNBC
Sean Chou, Founder of Catalytic
Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision
Dick Costello, former CEO of Twitter
"The Nature of the Firm" (1937), an influential article by Ronald Coase
Merton Miller, deceased Professor from University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Bryan Johnson, Founder of Braintree and OS Fund
Matt Maloney, Founder of Grub Hub

How Clean Eating Helped Beat Chronic Illness & Launch Her Startup - Katlin Smith / Founder of Simple Mills Apr 07, 2016

Katlin Smith is the founder of Simple Mills, a food startup that only uses simple, whole food ingredients. While working as a consultant, Katlin discovered she had a gluten-sensitivity and started experimenting with her almond-flour baking mixes on the weekends. Shortly after launching her almond flour muffin mix, it became the best selling muffin mix on Amazon. Simple Mills is now in over 2,000 stores nationwide, including in Whole Foods and Mariono's in Chicago.

listen on itunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How she came up with the idea for Simple Mills?
Why it's important to be the "chief sales officer" as the founder of a startup?
Why she started with baking mixes?
Why nuts are so expensive?
What she loves about being an entrepreneur?
What the process is like to bring a new food product to market?
How she has found and cultivated her advisors?
How the challenges of being a founder change as your startup grows?
How she approaches getting into new stores?
Why she thinks Chicago is the easiest city to network in?

Favorite Books:

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith

Miscellaneous Things Mentioned:

From Professional Poker Player To Chicago's Fastest Rising VC - Ezra Galston / Chicago Ventures Mar 31, 2016

Ezra Galston is a VC at Chicago Ventures. At CV, Ezra focuses on consumer facing investment and is actively involved with BloomNation, Kapow Events, Luxury Garage Sale, Shiftgig, SpotHero, Zipments, and Havenly. He writes one of my favorite VC blogs at BreakingVC.com and his thoughts on startups have also been published in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Re/code. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Ezra was a professional poker player and the Director of Marketing for CardRunners Gaming.

Listen on itunes listen on stitcher

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How Ezra got into angel investing?
What motivates Chicago Ventures?
What's the one question every founder should ask of their VCs?
Why Ezra prefers growing a business over starting one?
Where Ezra sources his investments from?
Why producing content as a VC is important?
How they look for outliers in the entrepreneurs they back?
How Ezra finds and cultivates his mentors? Hint: cold emailing
Why Ezra thinks e-commerce companies are underestimated?
What Ezra wishes he knew when he first got into the venture industry?
Why some venture capital investments never get announced?
Why Ezra thinks Chicago is so good at building great business?
What we can do to make Chicago even better for startups?

Favorite Books:

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Ayn Rand
Sweet Pickles by Richard Hefter
Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights by Gary Klein

E-Commerce Companies:

Investors Ezra Admires:

Miscellaneous Things Mentioned:

Building A New Media Company & Why Critical Feedback Is The Best - Neal Rothschild / Founder of Rooster Mar 24, 2016

Neal Rothschild is the founder of Rooster, a 6-minute daily podcast that updates you on all the news you need to know. Neal just launched Rooster at the beginning of this year and it was great to interview a founder just getting started on a really promising startup. Neal initially came up with the idea while walking back and forth to the school he was teaching at in Romania. Before Rooster, Neal was also a journalist with pieces published in the New York Times and USA Today.

listen on itunes listen on stitcher

In this episode we cover:

Why he decided audio is the most effective and efficient way to get information?
How he landed on the name Rooster?
Why critical feedback is the best feedback?
What the process is like producing a daily podcast?
How he stays on top of all the news in the world? Hint: Twitter lists

Neal’s Idols in New Media:

Neal’s Favorite Books:

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heinemann
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Goldfinch: A Novel by Donna Tartt

Disrupting the Eye Exam Industry & Raising Money in a Down Market - Aaron Dallek / Co-Founder of Opternative Mar 07, 2016

Aaron Dallek is a serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Opternative - the world’s first online eye exam. The exam can be taken from anywhere, at anytime, and a doctor issued prescription can be used to shop everywhere. The exam only takes 25 minutes and a digital prescription is delivered in 24 hours or less. listen on itunes listen on stitcher In this episode we cover: -How to raise money in the current down market - In February 2016, Opternative closed their Series A ($6 million) from Jump Capital, Chicago Ventures, Pritzker Group, Tribeca Venture Partners, Corazon Capital, and NextGen Partners. -How they built an online eye exam that rivals the traditional phoropter -How to recruit the best talent against larger companies with deeper pockets -Why you have to take things one step at a time as an entrepreneur Aaron’s Favorite Book: The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

Making The Jump From Investment Banking to Startups - Ryan Coon / Founder of Rentalutions Mar 07, 2016

Ryan Coon is the founder of Rentalutions and a former investment banker. Rentalutions provides all-in-one landlord management software. Whether you manage one unit or multiple buildings, Rentalutions gives you the ability to receive electronic rent payments, manage leases, find the right tenants, and deal with maintenance issues. Listen on itunes listen on stitcher In this episode we cover: Making the transition from investment banking to entrepreneurship Starting a company for the right reasons How the Chicago tech scene has changed Finding your first customers Ryan’s Favorite Book: The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living by Randy Komisar

Why You Should Ask For Advice Instead Of Money - Rod Rakic / Founder of OpenAirplane Mar 07, 2016

Rod Rakic is the founder of OpenAirplane, a plane sharing marketplace. OpenAirplane makes it easy for pilots to find, book, and pay for aircraft rentals online or on their phones. Renting an airplane is now as easy as renting a car. Listen on itunes listen on stitcher In this episode we cover: The benefits of private aviation over commercial travel The secret to avoiding parking fees at airports Why you ask for advice instead of money Making things work as a distributed team Rod’s Favorite Book: The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience for Your Brand by Sarah Hatter

What Makes A Great Brand & How To Cut Through The Noise - David Gardner / Founder of ColorJar Mar 05, 2016

David Gardner is the founder and CEO of ColorJar, a Chicago-based creative tech agency. Before founding ColorJar, David was a professional basketball player and a founder of a social network in India. ColorJar specializes in branding and creating custom websites and mobile apps and has worked with everyone from Fortune500 corporations, to venture-funded startups. Listen on iTunes listen on stitcher In this episode we cover: Why he decided to start an agency What makes a great name and brand How to approach building a new brand to cut through all the noise Why user personas are better than talking about demographics How the Chicago tech scene has changed in his 8 years since founding ColorJar The surprising benefits of having a distributed team Why employees and employers should date (contracting) before marrying (full time) Why he prefers to hire freelancers Why you should follow your instincts David’s Favorite Book: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected