Tech In Chicago

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

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

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

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 Policy
• 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

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

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:

• Tony Wilkins, Angel Investor
• Illinois Corporate Startup Challenge
• Feld's Thoughts by Brad Feld

Craig Vodnik is a co-founder of Cleverbridge, 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

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

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

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:

• 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:

• Simple Mills Pancake & Waffle Baking Mix
• Simple Mills Sea Salt Almond Flour Crackers
• John Foraker, CEO of Annie's Homegrown