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