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Tech In Chicago

Tech In Chicago takes you inside the Chicago tech world. Each week Colin Keeley is joined by Chicago’s top startup founders and venture capitalists to talk about the amazing companies being built right here. Visit TechInChicago.co for more information.
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Now displaying: November, 2016
Building the Warby Parker of Men's Skincare - Mia Saini & Laura Lisowski / Co-Founders of Oars + Alps 0
Nov 22, 2016
Mia Saini & Laura Lisowski are Co-Founders of Oars + Alps, a new e-commerce startup selling men’s skincare products that target an "athleisure guy on the go". Their first products are a face moisturizer, a deodorant, and a face wash in stick form. 

Mia Saini is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School and a former reporter for Bloomberg TV. Early last year, Mia quit her job at Bloomberg and her Co-Founder Laura Lisowski quit her job at Facebook to start building Oars + Alps out of 1871.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

  • The difference between men's and women's skin care
  • How they decided to start with these products
  • Where the name comes from
  • How they met on a party boat in Thailand
  • The benefits of being an outsider in the industry
  • How they choose ingredients
  • Why you have to set the price before making product decisions
  • What men are doing wrong in their grooming
  • How they plan to cut through the noise and get the word out
  • How they position their brand
  • Another startup brand they look up to
  • The value of content and influencer marketing
  • How they landed features in Esquire and Bloomberg within months of launching and how you can to

Selected Links From The Episode:

Sponsored By:

  • Propllr: a Chicago public relations firm that helps startups and innovators build credibility and awareness for their companies, people, products and services.
How 3D Carving & 3D Printing Will Shape the Future - Zach Kaplan / Founder of Inventables 0
Nov 10, 2016

Zach Kaplan is the Founder and CEO of Inventables, which makes software and hardware for 3D carving. Their flagship products Easel, Carvey, and X-Carve are used by a new wave of makers to make everything from circuit boards to skate boards. Zach was named a “modern Leonardo” by the Museum of Science and Industry and a 40 under 40 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Inventables has the stated goal of putting a 3D carver in every classroom by the end of the decade.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

  • The differences between carving and 3D printing
  • What can you make with a 3D carver
  • Who is buying and using these carvers
  • How they prepared to raise $600k on Kickstarter
  • How they plan to get a 3D carver in every school by the end of the decade
  • Why they decided to make their very expensive software free
  • How they plan to make money while giving away software
  • What the future of 3D printing and carving is
  • What will be the result of having all these carvers available

Favorite Book:

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

Jellyvision’s Amanda Lannert on Humor, Culture, Sharks, Diversity, Liberal Arts, Massage Chairs, and Networking 0
Nov 3, 2016
Amanda Lannert is the CEO of Jellyvision, which makes ALEX, an interactive decision-support tool that talks you through traditionally boring and confusing human resource decisions like picking health insurance and makes them fun and engaging. The Jellyvision of today has one of the more interesting founding stories, which Amanda describes in the beginning of this episode. It was born from the ashes of You Don't Know Jack. 

Amanda was named CEO of the Year at the Moxie Awards in 2014 and 2015. Under Amanda’s leadership, Jellyvision has doubled its revenue three out of the last four years.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

  • How Jellyvision got into the B2B space
  • The value of a liberal arts background in tech
  • How Jellyvision got its first customers
  • Keys to selling to big businesses
  • How their product evolved and what eventually led to growth
  • How important humor is to their brand
  • Whether their diversity is intentional or accidental
  • How they are trying to improve diversity
  • How they attempt to identity redact interviews
  • How to build a strong culture across team members of different generations
  • The impact of remote workers on their culture
  • How Jellyvision caters to introverts in an extroverted office
  • Amanda’s favorite interview questions
  • How they ended up with a room dedicated to a massage chair
  • Why Amanda would like to see more audacious dreams from Chicagoans
  • How to find mentors
  • What is the best bang for your buck networking

Selected Links From The Episode:

A Few of Amanda's Favorite Books:

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