Tech In Chicago

Latest Episodes:

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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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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

Show notes

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.

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In This Episode You Will Learn: