Rich Rudzinski always had an entrepreneurial spirit and found different ways to express that while growing up. He has been infatuated with computers since he first locked eyes on the sweet 486 Windows machine his uncle got his family in the early 90s. He broke, fixed, and gamed on that computer until he saved enough to build his own machine from scratch.

The top of his class in high school, Rich followed his passion for computers while studying at UCSD where he graduated early with an innovative art/technology major (ICAM), with a focus on building interactive experiences with new technologies.

Rich started his current venture, Tragic Media, in 2009 after working as a technology consultant for a variety of digital agencies. He saw a common theme of project overages, disappointed clients, and outsourcing went awry; and sought to build a company to solve that problem. Initially, a white-label solution for other agencies, Tragic Media now helps businesses of all sizes avoid technology tragedies. Over the years, the logo and frameworks have evolved, but Tragic still focuses on providing sound technical leadership for non-technical organizations. From the web to apps to the cloud and beyond! They partner with their clients to help them build a technology foundation built to scale. Rich is also in the process of building out a SaaS product for software team reporting and working to grow a sub-brand focused on helping organizations with IoT integrations and system implementations.

I chat with Rich about entrepreneurship, pivoting a business, building processes with technology. We also discuss what emerging technologies excite him.