Tech In Chicago

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.

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 va

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 o

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 v

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

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 redac

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 cap

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

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 W

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 Chi

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 growi

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

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 com

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 o

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

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

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

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: WiSTEM Ms.Tech 1919 at Blue1647 Chicago Innovation Exchange Favorite Books:  The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women by Harriet Rubin 

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 te

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 b