With more information on the shortcomings, as well as the promise of the gig economy, it invites the question: Is on-demand shift work failing, or is it the future? Last year a reported 57 million Americans — over a third of the population — were a part of the gig economy. If…
Petal – the sparkling water infused with flowers and other botanicals Last spring, when Candice Crane was preparing to launch her botanical-infused sparkling water brand Petal, she didn’t play small. She knew that her product –– a certified-organic, 15-calorie, caffeine-free “better for you” beverage, was poised to bloom in a market thirsty…
To borrow a phrase from Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. If you’re a business that doesn’t value data and analytics, you’re flying without instruments. That’s the core idea behind Civis Analytics, the six-year-old Chicago-based startup that’s using a data-driven approach to helping organizations optimize their outreach and engagement. It’s never…
TruePublic Offers an Alternative That Won’t Make You Feel Bad There’s no shortage of controversy around social media companies. From damning revelations about online privacy on Facebook to rampant harassment on Twitter, user skepticism has increased. There’s growing recognition that these platforms — supposedly designed to bring us closer together — actually make…
Transit planners call it the “first mile/last mile” problem. There’s usually a gap between one mode of transportation and your ultimate destination. It’s a headache, but it’s a fact of life in most urban areas, particularly Chicago. Chances are, you already know this. The El is a 20-minute walk from your apartment. Your…
Financial services companies are interesting. At scale, success or failure depends on how willing you are to push the boundaries. That can be through technology or hiring better people or building a culture –– or all three. American Family Insurance does that. It’s one of the coolest insurance companies. That sounds weird, I…
I’ve been thinking about content creation for as long as I can remember. I spent most of my childhood walking around manufacturing plants with my dad. Even then, I couldn’t believe they weren’t capitalizing on the coolness factor of the machines. Everyone has this misconception of manufacturing as a murky, dirty, undesirable environment.…
How does a big corporation with a 160-year-old brand invest in the future? Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual spends a lot of time and resources building its entire brand around people. At the same time, we’re in a world where tech is central to just about everything. How do they innovate while still putting people…
My wife says I eat like a toddler. But as I gear up for fatherhood, I want to step up my culinary game. It seems as if there’s no shortage of kitchen tools on the market, from the ever-popular Instant Pot to blenders that can juice, chop and pulverize your iPhone as well as…
Cybersecurity is one of the greatest issues of our generation. With so much of our lives online, we are only as safe as our data: our Instagram accounts, Lyft profiles, and Google searches. And at the end of the day, our passwords are the only barrier between us and the cyber criminals who…