Tech In Chicago

Solving Big Problems With Big Data - Dan Wagner / Founder of Civis Analytics

 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 ideaHow President Obama built an empowered meritocracy in his 2012 reelection campaignThe differences between building a company and a campaignHow Civis Analytics got their first customersWhat you need to do excellent data scienceWhy the government is getting involved in fighting cancer The timeline for making progress on the cancer moonshotWhy they decided to build an innovative data science company in ChicagoWhy Dan would like to see more risky financing in ChicagoThe three things you need to ask yourself before starting a companySelected Links From The Episode:David Plouffe, 2008 Campaign Manager to President ObamaDavid Axelrod, Senior Advisor to President ObamaCivis Analytics's Cancer Moonshot Report NCI Genomic Data CommonsA Few of Dan's Favorite Books:The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddartha Mukheriee Meditations by Marcus AureliusChronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez"The Future of Data Analysis" (1962) by John Tukey  

Virtual Reality, the Future of Retail, & Selling to Big Business - Tracey Wiedmeyer / Co-Founder of InContext Solutions

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 SolutionsHow he raised their seed capital from his family over ChristmasHow similarly do people behave in virtual reality vs the real worldHow InContext Solutions recreates storesHow they landed their first customersHow they try to lure tech talent away from quant tradingWhat he’d like to see big companies improve onWhy you have to focus on ROI and business cases when selling to large enterprisesWhether we are in a simulation or notWhere the future of virtual reality is heading in 5-10 yearsWhat the future of retail may look likeHow they landed a partnership with IntelHow a partnership with a big company can benefit a startupFavorite Books:The Grand Design by Stephen HawkingGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim CollinsHappiness Advantage: The Seven Principles That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn AchorThe Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray KurzweilBest Sources to Learn More About Virtual Reality:Unreal VRNextVRSamsung VRMicrosoft HoloLensGoogle VR

SpotHero's Mark Lawrence on Building a Marketplace Business, Meditation, & Why If It's Not a Fuck Yes, It's a Fuck No

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.  LISTEN ON ITUNES LISTEN ON GOOGLE PLAY In This Episode You Will Learn:Why Mark and his co-founders started SpotHeroHow the product has evolved from the initial ideaHow they got their first customersWhat was going through his head when competitors were raising massive roundsKeys to growing a marketplace businessHow SpotHero approaches launching in a new cityWhy "If it's not a fuck yes, it's a fuck no" when hiringThe benefits of meditation and floatation tanksKeys to keeping the culture as company growsSelected Links From The Episode:TechNexusEzra Galston, VC at Chicago VenturesFavorite Books:Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard SchultzLosing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard BransonThe Virgin Way: If It's Not Fun, It's Not Worth Doing by Richard BransonMultipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz WisemanShogun by James ClavellSponsored By:Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.

Machine Learning, Fintech, & the Future of Payments - Canh Tran / Co-Founder of Rippleshot

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.  LISTEN ON ITUNES LISTEN ON GOOGLE PLAY In This Episode You Will Learn:How Rippleshot catches data breachesWhy banks need outside helpWhere the name comes fromWhat they are looking for in breachesThe ingeneious ways credit cards are stolenHow safe is our future when we pay with wearablesHow they got their first customers by starting smallWhy criminals target smaller banksThe differences between Silicon Valley, Chicago, and St LouisWhat Canh would like to see chicago tech improve onThe differences between 1871 and CatapultThe benefits of growing up abroadThe impact of a handwritten thank you letterWhat the future of fraud loss looks likeWhat gets Canh up in the morningSelected Links From The Episode:Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871Craig Vodnik, Co-Founder of Cleverbridge and investor in RippleshotFavorite Books:The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business; The Manticore; World of Wonders by Robertson DaviesSnow Falling on Cedars by David GutersonLinked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life by by Albert-laszlo Barabasi

Sparking Conversations One Shoe at a Time - Raaja Nemani / Co-Founder of Bucketfeet

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 storyWhat the first shoes looked likeWhere the name Bucketfeet comes fromHow they sold their first shoesHow a party at Brian Splay's house jump started salesWhy Bucketfeet walked away from a Nordstrom dealWhat is next for BucketfeetSelected Links From The Episode:Aaron Firestein, Co-Founder of BucketfeetBrian Spaly, Co-Founder of Bonobos and Trunk ClubContext MediaLuxury Garage SaleThreadlessFavorite Book:The Road to Character by David Brooks