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…
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…
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…
Our listeners can get $10 off at Trust & Will by entering TECHNORI at checkout. Before his wedding, Trust & Will co-founder Cody Barbo sat down for an “adulting conversation” with his then-fiancee. Setting up joint checking and life insurance was fairly straightforward. But he quickly noticed there was something missing. “Being…
APPLY BY APRIL 14TH!! In the decade since the Founder Institute was established, it’s grown into the world’s premier pre-seed startup accelerator with over 3,500 companies launched across the globe, with program graduates having raised over $800 million. Co-Directors Jason Randolph and Jason Jacobsohn have played no small part, having built the Chicago branch…
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…
Nick Hamburger is a good egg. At just 21, he’s whip smart ready to scale his healthy-snack startup into the next big food brand. Quevos is a snack chip made from egg whites. “It’s a combination of the words quick and huevo,” Nick says. “Spanglish for ‘quick huevos.’ Eggs on the go. They’re…
A lot of wellness apps out there seem to be missing one very important ingredient: doctors. When you’re dealing with something as critical as health, it’s not enough to create an app that offers a temporary fix, or leaves users browsing aimlessly for medical answers. There needs to be a clinical professional to…
Colum Donahue’s IT management company Genuity is built on a simple concept: the less you understand, the more you par. The market is designed that way, says Colum, Genuity’s co-founder. Telecom service providers and SaaS companies, for example, often profit from keeping customers in the dark. Labyrinthine contracts with incomprehensible pricing structures, surcharges,…
Death: it’s a universal part of life. But grieving is complicated. For the deceased’s immediate family, it often means making difficult, expensive decisions during their darkest days. For the rest of us, it’s hard to know what to do, what to say, how to help. Funeral traditions and customs vary widely between…