Dima Elissa is the founder and CEO of VisMed3D, a startup providing 3D surgical patient replicas for state-of-the-art treatment and training of doctors. Based in Matter, the startup is on the cutting edge of personalized medicine. In addition to her startup, Dima devotes considerable time, energy, and guidance to other women entrepreneurs. 

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In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How Dima decided to pursue 3D printing 
• How Dima landed her first partnership with big healthcare
• What the best bang for you buck networking is
• The value in 3D printing for surgeons
• What the future of medical 3D printing looks like
• The value in snapchat for her company
• What to watch out for as a first time founder

Selected Links From The Episode:

• WiSTEM
• Ms.Tech
• 1919 at Blue1647
• Chicago Innovation Exchange

Favorite Books: 

• The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women by Harriet Rubin 

Star Cunningham is the Founder and CEO of 4DHealthware, a startup that provides artificially intelligent "nudges", SMS and email messages, to patients with chronic conditions based on data collected via 250 wearable devices like bluetooth glucometers and activity trackers. Medicare now reimburses healthcare providers $40 per patient per month for every 20 minutes spent managing care outside a doctor’s office and 4DHealthware interactions count. Star has raised $770,000 to date and is on the verge of becoming the 12th African American woman ever to secure more than a million dollars in venture funding for her tech startup. Before founding, 4DHealthware, Star was at IBM for about 10 years. 

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In This Episode You Will Learn:

• Why Star decided to found a company after working in big business
• How she landed the first partnerships in healthcare
• The power of nudging people in the right direction
• The future of wearables and artificial intelligence
• How to get more diversity in tech
• The importance of getting young black girls into tech
• What she thinks about diversity quotas
• When founders should start thinking about diversity

Selected Links From The Episode:

• IBM Smarter Planet
• Seth Kravitz, Founder of Technori
• Black Girls Code

Favorite Book: 

• Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born by Lloyd E. Shefsky
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
• Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren 

John Roa is a serial tech entrepreneur and long time Chicagoan. He got his entrepreneurial start by creating a computer repair business at 14 and hasn't stopped since. Last year, he sold ÄKTA, his tech-consulting and design firm, to Salesforce.  Now John is planning to invest in other Chicago startups via Roa Ventures, a fund that focuses on "early-stage investments, projects and experiments". He has also created the non-profit, Digital Hope, and enjoys playing competitive poker and traveling extensively. 

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In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How John got started as an entrepreneur
• Why he started AKTA and where the name comes from
• What John attributes the success of AKTA to
• How John made the the decision to sell AKTA? 
• If he would take venture capital if he could do it again
• Problems he sees in taking venture capital
• Why he's investing instead of starting another startup
• John's criteria for his next startup
• What draws John to travel? He has been to 50+ countries. 
• How to build a brand as a new angel investor?
• Similarities between poker and startups
• What Chicago tech is good at & what we could improve on
• Why John doesn’t believe in giving advice

Selected Links From The Episode:

• 6 Ways Playing Poker Can Help You in Business (and 2 Ways It Can't) by John Roa
• The Grand Voyage
• Robert Nand, Founder of The Grand Voyage 

Favorite Book: 

• The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus