Podcasts about pritzker group venture capital

Sonia worked for Amazon 15+ years ago as part of the team that launched the clothing category. She then co-founded a venture-backed mobile shopping startup that was acquired by RetailMeNot, at the time the largest digital coupon marketplace in the U.S.She led the mobile team at RetailMeNot for 2 years before joining Pritzker Group Venture Capital where she was a General Partner. At PGVC her marketplace investments included Backlot Cars, Cameo, Coinbase, ShopThing, Machinery Partner, Maisonette, Yay Lunch, Batch and FuelMe. Sonia started her career as an engineer at General Motors in their advanced engineering group.GUEST: Sonja Nagar

In this episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Steve Brotman, a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and fund manager with an impressive track record in the world of venture capital and startups. Steve is the founder and Managing Partner at Alpha Partners and a Strategic Advisor to the Pritzker Group's venture arm, Pritzker Group Venture Capital.Steve's venture capital journey began as the co-founder and Managing Director of Greenhill SAVP, a venture capital unit of Greenhill & Co that later became Tribeca Venture Partners. Managing a fund with $100 million in assets, Steve focused on technology and business information services, becoming an early institutional investor in successful companies like LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN) and Medidata Solutions (Nasdaq: MDSO). Beyond venture capital, Steve's entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found AdOne, an online classified advertising platform that originated as a class assignment at Columbia Business School but grew to serve over one-third of the newspaper industry, ultimately being acquired by a consortium led by Hearst. Steve's outstanding contributions have earned him accolades, including being named a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, recognition in Crain's Tech 100, and inclusion in the Top 40 under 40 among New York business leaders.Steve Brotman's extensive experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and fund manager makes him a valuable guest, and we look forward to delving into his insights and experiences in the world of venture capital and entrepreneurship in this episode.Key Takeaways:The Blackjack analogy - how to double down on the winners.Green lights and red lights in investments;AI is here to stay, how to get ready for it.Ready To Scale? But not ready to invest in a CFO? One of our bespoke packages can help you. Free Starter Membership Non-Profit Enterprise Package For-Profit Enterprise Package Connect with us because we love new friends!LinkedIn | Twitter |YouTube |Website

Download the “65 Investment Terms You MUST Know to Reach Your Financial Goals” for FREE by going to https://TodaysMarketExplained.com/ Brian Smiga (https://alphapartners.com/), a serial entrepreneur and seasoned marketer, is a Partner at Alpha. Brian also advises Pritzker Group Venture Capital on deal origination and relationships. In this episode, Brian and Brian Smiga discussed: Private Asset Prices And The Venture Capital Bubble Tech Has Outperformed in Creating Value Why Mid-Stage Investment Is a Safe Bet For Your Money The Ultimate Guide to Finding Local Venture Capital Funds Why You Should Participate in The Asset Class https://www.linkedin.com/in/smiga/ https://twitter.com/bsmiga https://www.facebook.com/bsmiga https://www.instagram.com/bsmiga/ Follow us here to see short videos of all our best investing tips: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@todaysmarketexplained Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TodaysMarketExplained YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@todaysmarketexplained Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TodaysMarketExplained Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastTME Website: https://todaysmarketexplained.com/ DISCLAIMER: This podcast is provided by FourStar Wealth Advisors for the general public and general information purposes only. This content is not considered to be an offer to buy or sell any securities or investments. Investing involves the risk of loss and an investor should be prepared to bear potential losses. Investment should only be made after thorough review with your investment advisor considering all factors including personal goals, needs and risk tolerance. FourStar is an SEC registered investment advisor that maintains a principal business in the state of Illinois. The firm may only transact business in states in which it has filed or qualifies for a corresponding exemption from such requirements. For information about FourStar's registration status and business operations please consult the firm's form ADV disclosure documents, the most recent versions of which are available on the SEC investment advisory public disclosure website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov

Bach, an app for planning bachelorette trips and group travel experiences, has announced $9 million in Series A funding led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital.

Few early-stage companies combine as many distinct components as Tovala. Based in Chicago, the company pairs a smart oven with a meal subscription service. It truly makes foolproof food. Weekly meals are delivered fresh to the your door. Scan the barcode & you're done. Home-cooked meals that cook themselves. And clearly Tovala is onto something big.  They're venture investors include: Comcast Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Left Lane Capital, New Stack Ventures, Origin Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, RiverPark Ventures, Service Provider Capital, Y Combinator Mike Mason is Tovala's Talent Acquisition Manager, which puts him in the crucial role of scaling this hypergrowth organization. I just had the change to speak with Mike about how he puts a Rockstar in every seat. (And how you can do the same.) Yum.  

 Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures, a digital health-focused venture capital firm, where she invests in technology and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to become better stewards of their health. She currently sits on the board of Ayogo Health and Higi and is a board observer with Zerigo Health, NOCD, Jasper Health, RecoveryOne, Brightline, and MedArrive.  Alyssa's prior experience in venture capital includes as an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Hyde Park Angels, and Healthbox. She was also the co-founder of TransparentCareer, a company focused on helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Alyssa also served as Senior Director at the Advisory Board Company, where she was responsible for expanding new business through the sales of technology platforms.

Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures where she focuses on investments in digital healthcare and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to be better stewards of their health in today's changing healthcare ecosystem. Alyssa sits on the board of Ayogo Health and Higi and is a board observer with Zerigo Health, NOCD, Jasper Health, and RecoveryOne. Alyssa's prior experience in venture capital includes her time as an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Hyde Park Angels, one of the Midwest's largest angel organizations, and Healthbox, an early-stage healthcare innovation firm, supporting their accelerator program called the Studio. Alyssa is also a Co-Founder of TransparentCareer, a 2016 NVC winning company focused on helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Alyssa holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business. In this episode, Alyssa discusses her career path into digital healthcare investing and what she looks for when making investments. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theia-hc/support

Nothing lights me up more than a meaty conversation with a successful entrepreneur. I just bagged the elephant (You can thank me later.) Godard Abel is one of the most successful SaaS entrepreneurs you'll meet. And G2 is his Unicorn baby. After wrapping his studies at Stanford MBA and MIT Engineering, Godard was Co-Founder & CEO of BigMachines, a pioneer of the Configure, Price, Quote software category. He scaled the business from scratch to $50M revenues & 300 people, before its acquisition by Oracle. As CEO of SteelBrick, the leading Quote-to-Cash software platform, he built the team from 5 to 200 people, before its acquisition by Salesforce. And currently, Godard is Co-Founder & CEO of G2, which makes B2B tech buying easy by connecting buyers to vendors. It's “Yelp for Business Software & Services” with 1 million customer reviews & real-time ratings. 5 million tech buyers visit each month. And he's onto something big… G2 has raised over $200M from top investors: Accel, Chicago Ventures, Emergence, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, IVP, Permira, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Salesforce Ventures, HubSpot Ventures. I was curious to understand how Godard makes it look so easy (It's not.) He attributes not some… but ALL… of his success to “hiring & nurturing incredible people.” In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals step-by-step how to build your Unicorn team.  

Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with David Rabie of Tovala.com, an AI powered oven and meal kit subscription business. In this episode, David talks about raising capital for a hardware startup, going through Y Combinator, doing an Angellist Syndicate, what has changed between the Series A and Series C rounds, the Chicago startup scene, and much more. The Company most recently raised a $30M Series C funding round led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from previous investors Finistere Ventures, Comcast Ventures, OurCrowd, Origin Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Joe Mansueto. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $3 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at https://www.foundersuite.com/

We discussed: 1. How the local and national startup ecosystem is faring during this crisis 2. Investment outlook in short and medium term 3. Advice for entrepreneurs in these unprecedented and challenging times 4. Vroom IPO Jay Bhatti is a founding venture partner with BrandProject Capital. Jay is also an active angel investor in New Jersey start-ups. Due to Jay's work in the startup community in New Jersey, Jay was nominated for Venture Capitalist of the Year in New Jersey in 2017 by the New Jersey Tech Council. Jay has given a TEDxAsburyPark talk on innovation and has been featured in various publications such as Time Magazine, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, ABC News, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, World News, and the Financial Times. Prior to BrandProject, Jay was the co-founder of spock.com, the leading social search engine in the world based in the heart of Silicon Valley. Spock raised over $10m in venture funding and powered search for leading social networks like bebo, hi5, friendster and tagged. ---- Brian Smiga is the co-founding partner at Alpha Venture Partners, an innovative late-stage venture fund that invests growth capital in category-leading technology companies sourced from a network of 400+ early stage venture firms. Brian also serves as an advisor to Pritzker Group Venture Capital, a twenty-year old venture firm that's invested in 200+ technology companies. He is founder of TEDxAsburyPark, the largest TED conference on the east coast. Prior to Alpha Venture Partners, Brian was the CEO and founder of Preclick, (sold to Smilebox), where he developed popular photo software licensed worldwide by HP, 3M, Sandisk, Walmart, Costco, CVS, and Walgreens. Prior to Preclick, Mr. Smiga was CEO at 3Path, (sold to Cadmus), an Intel and Goldman-Sachs backed early “Dropbox”, and the SVP of Product & Marketing at 1ClickCharge, an early “Paypal”, where his leadership resulted in a profitable exit to CMGi.

Carter Cast is Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He is also an operating partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and a senior advisor at Pritzker Group Private Capital. Carter was formerly CEO of Walmart.com, founding chief marketing officer of Blue Nile, Inc. and director of marketing at Frito Lay. He is the author of the book, The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made – and Unmade.We connected with Carter as we share a common passion for developing talent and wanted to learn more about the ideas and advice he developed in his book The Right (and Wrong) Stuff.  We talk about Carter's own career journey, how and why talented people experience career derailment, the importance of feedback and how students are supported in their journey toward a fulfilling career. Links from the episode: Carter's personal websiteCarter's Linkedin profileCarter's book The Right—and Wrong—Stuff  Take Carter's Career Derailment AssessmentThanks for listening!Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.comIf you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast

Craig Fuller is the founder and CEO of FreightWaves which is a data and content forum that provides market participants with near-time analytics. The company has raised over $75 million from investors such as Revolution, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, 8VC, Hearst Ventures, Story Ventures, and Ascend Venture Capital to name a few.

Craig Fuller is the founder and CEO of FreightWaves which is a data and content forum that provides market participants with near-time analytics. The company has raised over $75 million from investors such as Revolution, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, 8VC, Hearst Ventures, Story Ventures, and Ascend Venture Capital to name a few.

Craig Wortmann, the Founder and CEO of Sales Engine, has been a professional sales person for 25 years. He is the author of What’s Your Story?, a book that looks at how leaders and sales professionals use stories to connect, engage and inspire. Craig is also a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the Founder of the new Kellogg Sales Institute. Craig designed, developed and teaches the award-winning course called “Entrepreneurial Selling,” ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the “Top Ten” courses in the country. In this episode, Craig explains how salespeople can become exceptional virtual sellers.    Here are some of the topics covered in this episode: Why prospecting should be increased during this time Tips for keeping virtual meetings with prospects snappy How to stop a prospect from ghosting you The secret ingredients in a great virtual presentation    About the Guest:  Over the last twenty-five years, Craig has developed a set of sales and leadership tools critical to delivering results. This became the cornerstone of  Sales Engine Inc. At Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Craig won the Faculty Excellence Award, given to the professor who has had the most positive impact on the students.   In May 2018, Craig launched The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process, a four-part Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Specialization with Coursera. The purpose of the online MOOC is to become as efficient and effective at selling as possible. In addition, he serves as an Operating Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital where he helps grow the sales engines of its portfolio companies.   LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigwortmann/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/craigwortmann Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/craigwortmann/     Listen to more episodes of the Outside Sales Talk here and watch the video here!

Adam Jiwan is a serial entrepreneur and most recently the co-founder and CEO of Spring Labs which is a transformative and centralized infrastructure for credit and identity data. The company has raised $38.8 million from investors such as RRE Ventures, August Capital, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Jump Capital, General Motors Ventures, and GreatPoint Ventures to name a few.

Adam Jiwan is a serial entrepreneur and most recently the co-founder and CEO of Spring Labs which is a transformative and centralized infrastructure for credit and identity data. The company has raised $38.8 million from investors such as RRE Ventures, August Capital, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Jump Capital, General Motors Ventures, and GreatPoint Ventures to name a few.

Where are your blind spots? What vulnerabilities might derail your career? Carter Cast (former Walmart.com CEO) is the author of “The Right—and Wrong—Stuff: How Brilliant Careers Are Made and Unmade.” Carter interviewed over 100 talented managers who were fired, demoted, or frozen in their career trajectory. In this interview, Carter shares the insights and secrets he uncovered. To protect your career, grow as a leader, and accelerate business growth, schedule a FREE Velocity Call with interviewer and executive coach Allison Dunn! https://my.timetrade.com/book/DY6LN Carter started his career at PepsiCo, where he became Director of Marketing for their Frito Lay subsidiary. He went on to lead Walmart.com as CEO from 2000-2007 and Hayneedle, Inc, from 2007-2011. Today Carter teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at Northwestern University and invests in early stage tech companies through Pritzker Group Venture Capital. His book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Right-Wrong-St... Are you ready to take your career or business to the next level? You can schedule a FREE 30-minute Velocity Call with executive coach Allison Dunn! Before the call, please plan to discuss: Your biggest goal for the next 90 days • Your top long term business goals • The biggest opportunity in your business right now • Obstacles preventing the growth you want to achieve At the end of the call we’ll help you determine 5-7 goals to focus on. We’ll also see whether there’s an opportunity in your business to help you grow faster that justifies the cost of further business coaching. Space on our calendar fills up quickly. Please check our calendar today to see what time we have available. https://my.timetrade.com/book/DY6LN Deliberate Directions also offers: • an online mastermind program https://deliberatedirections.com/whet... • corporate executive coaching https://deliberatedirections.com/coac... • public speaking for events https://deliberatedirections.com/spea... • interactive workshops for events https://deliberatedirections.com/work... • FREE business success guides https://deliberatedirections.com/guides

Did you know that $300 of supplies are wasted & thrown away during a typical surgery? Not to mention the occasional instrument that’s accidentally left inside the body cavity :-O Not anymore. Jennifer Fried is CEO & Co-Founder of Chicago-based ExplORer Surgical. They’ve created workflow management software for the operating room. Which helps docs & nurses avoid mistakes, achieve better clinical outcomes, save lives, save money on wasted supplies, and avoid patient lawsuits. She’s raised millions from top VC’s including Aphelion Capital, Elliott Management, M25, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Wasson Enterprise, SymphonyAlpha Ventures, HBS Alumni Angels, and The George Shultz Innovation Fund. In this 20-minute conversation, Jennifer reveals how she’s scaled the team. How she hires. Plus, how she took maternity leave from her own startup (…and what she found when she returned.)

Jett McCandless is Founder/CEO of Project 44, the most comprehensive global supply chain visibility platform. If you buy anything, you’re touched by P44. Because it’s used by manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and everyone in the supply chain to know what products will arrive where & when. By any measure, it’s one of Chicago’s fastest-growing companies. Along the way, he’s raised over $100M in capital from Sapphire Ventures, OpenView Venture Partners, Emergence Capital, Insight Venture Partners, Chicago Ventures, and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. What I love about Jett is his candor & humility. In this 20-minute conversation, he shares how he’s built the 200-person team, including the challenges & how he’s overcome them. That includes how to keep the team’s passion at a high level as you scale your business.

Interview begins: 07:58Insight begins: 1:03:34Debrief begins: 1:20:42Erik Nieves is the Founder and CEO of Plus One Robotics. Plus One Robotics develops computer vision software to enable robotic automation in supply chain applications. The integration of off-the-shelf high-performance manipulators with Plus One's advanced vision capabilities enables robots to bridge the gap between steady state volume and surge. Plus One's technology mitigates the persistent shortage of manual labor and allows warehouse personnel to flow from monotonous tasks to higher-value work. Plus One's novel approach to human-robot collaboration and supervised autonomy ensures the systems are scalable, flexible and fault-tolerant.They've received $10.6M in funding to date from Pritzker Group Venture Capital ($8.3M Series A) and Schematic Ventures ($2.4M seed) Plus One Robotics was founded in 2015 and based in San Antonio, TX.Learn more about Plus One Robotics: https://plusonerobotics.com///Nick Solaro is an investment partner at the Columbus venture capital firm Drive Capital. One of Nick's focuses for Drive is its investments in robotics companies, of which the firm has made a handful in recent years.Learn more about Drive Capital: https://www.drivecapital.com/Learn more about Devol's Dance: https://www.devolsdance.com/Follow Nick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nsolaro//This episode is sponsored by Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, a full-service law firm known for assisting entrepreneurs across the Heartland.Learn more about or get in touch with Taft: https://www.taftlaw.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm

I created this class after my friend Matt McCall (who helps run the Pritzker Group Venture Capital fund) asked me to do a talk for 60 of their portfolio CEOs. He was thinking “Optimizing for Supheroes 101.” I loved that idea and decided it would be the perfect context to share my absolute best stuff and here we are. In this extra-long class, we start by connecting “Optimizing” and “Hērō” to their ancient Greek philosophical roots then we proceed to walk thru how to go about integrating ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools to harness our soul force to build strength for two such that we can create our best, most heroic lives.  

I created this class after my friend Matt McCall (who helps run the Pritzker Group Venture Capital fund) asked me to do a talk for 60 of their portfolio CEOs. He was thinking “Optimizing for Supheroes 101.” I loved that idea and decided it would be the perfect context to share my absolute best stuff and here we are. In this extra-long class, we start by connecting “Optimizing” and “Hērō” to their ancient Greek philosophical roots then we proceed to walk thru how to go about integrating ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools to harness our soul force to build strength for two such that we can create our best, most heroic lives.  

Growing portfolio companies must focus on their sales, messaging, and go-to-market. Craig Wortmann of Sales Engine consulting reveals the key to sell more: networking. People may roll their eyes, but it’s true! Networking is all about prepping beforehand, being crisp, articulate, compelling, and magnetic in the moment, with unbelievable follow-through. Try studying the follow-up that companies have from trade shows and events. When we're selling, it’s not about knowledge. It’s about skill and discipline, networking, and talking to 30 people in the room so you can find five that will materially impact your consulting pipeline’s next quarter. Craig Wortmann is also a venture partner with the Pritzker Group Venture Capital out of Chicago. As a consultant, Chris also runs a decade-old sales consulting firm called Sales Engine. Now he shares valuable tips on how he continues to slay in consulting – and you can, too!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How »Join the Consulting Success Community today:consultingsuccess.com

Growing portfolio companies must focus on their sales, messaging, and go-to-market. Craig Wortmann of Sales Engine consulting reveals the key to sell more: networking. People may roll their eyes, but it’s true! Networking is all about prepping beforehand, being crisp, articulate, compelling, and magnetic in the moment, with unbelievable follow-through. Try studying the follow-up that companies have from trade shows and events. When we're selling, it’s not about knowledge. It’s about skill and discipline, networking, and talking to 30 people in the room so you can find five that will materially impact your consulting pipeline’s next quarter. Craig Wortmann is also a venture partner with the Pritzker Group Venture Capital out of Chicago. As a consultant, Chris also runs a decade-old sales consulting firm called Sales Engine. Now he shares valuable tips on how he continues to slay in consulting – and you can, too! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Consulting Success Community today: consultingsuccess.com

Growing portfolio companies must focus on their sales, messaging, and go-to-market. Craig Wortmann of Sales Engine consulting reveals the key to sell more: networking. People may roll their eyes, but it’s true! Networking is all about prepping beforehand, being crisp, articulate, compelling, and magnetic in the moment, with unbelievable follow-through. Try studying the follow-up that companies have from trade shows and events. When we're selling, it’s not about knowledge. It’s about skill and discipline, networking, and talking to 30 people in the room so you can find five that will materially impact your consulting pipeline’s next quarter. Craig Wortmann is also a venture partner with the Pritzker Group Venture Capital out of Chicago. As a consultant, Chris also runs a decade-old sales consulting firm called Sales Engine. Now he shares valuable tips on how he continues to slay in consulting – and you can, too! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Consulting Success Community today: consultingsuccess.com

Carter Cast is a business professor at Northwestern University and the author of the award-winning book, The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made - and Unmade.  Business Insider  called it "one of 17 must-read books for 2018." Also a venture partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Cast has played pivotal roles are some of the most iconic consumer brands including Walmart.com, PepsiCo and Frito-Lay. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Carter discuss: Why good people sometime sabotage their own career.The need for self-awareness.Getting in the habit of asking for feedback, and how that helps you.How to co-exist and compete with a disruptive, large company such as Amazon.  Key Takeaways:How ego can lead to a career reboot.How adaptation to your company can increase collaboration.What you don't know can hurt you, identify your weak skills.What helped you succeed in the past may not help you in your current role.  "They start to think they have the answers and stop listening to the people who actually have the answers." - Carter Cast Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'll learn something new with every episode and will be able to implement positive change far beyond sales. Connect with Carter Cast:Email:  ccast@pritzkergroup.com  Connect with the hosts of Manage Smarter:Website: ManageSmarter.comTwitter: @ManageSmartPodLinkedIn: Audrey StrongLinkedIn: C. Lee Smith  Connect with SalesFuel: Website: http://salesfuel.com/Twitter: @SalesFuelFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/salesfuel/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early in her career, Sonia Nagar founded a mobile shopping app called Pickie. After much success, the app was acquired by Retail Me Not, where she became the vice president of product and head of mobile apps for the coupon shopping site — and earned a Webby Award for Best Shopping App! Upon relocating to Chicago with her husband, Sonia was preemptively meeting with VCs about future potential investments when one thing led to another and she was offered a position that was too good to refuse. Today, Sonia is the Vice President at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and is responsible for sourcing the firm's investments in consumer enterprise and emerging technology. If you're thinking of pitching an idea to investors or toying with the idea of starting an app for your brand, you're going to want to listen in. Sonia and Monica discuss the best way to capture the attention of a venture capitalist and what qualities Pritzker Group looks for in a founder and their company.

Kellogg professor Carter Cast provides his research on career derailment--and how to prevent it!   You'll Learn: Two questions to ask yourself to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses Frequently-occurring risk factors to watch out for The two critical things that put you in the 98 percentile of your company   About Carter: Carter Cast is a clinical professor at the Kellogg School of Management. Previously he’s played a pivotal role in building numerous iconic consumer brands including Tostitos Scoops and The Sims. He served as CEO of Walmart.com, growing it to the third largest online retailer in the world. Carter is also a venture partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital, where he assesses potential investments and advises portfolio companies.   View transcript, show notes, and links at http://AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep262

Kellogg professor Carter Cast provides his research on career derailment–and how to prevent it!You'll Learn:1) Two questions to ask yourself to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses2) Frequently-occurring risk factors to watch out for3) The two critical things that put you in the 98 percentile of your companyAbout Carter Carter Cast is a clinical professor at the Kellogg School of Management. Previously he's played a pivotal role in building numerous iconic consumer brands including Tostitos Scoops and The Sims. He served as CEO of Walmart.com, growing it to the third largest online retailer in the world. Carter is also a venture partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital, where he assesses potential investments and advises portfolio companies.Items Mentioned in this Show:Sponsored message: Save on shipping with Pitney BowesCarter's Book: The Right (and Wrong) StuffCarter's Article: 6 Ways to Take Control of Your Career Development If Your Company Doesn't Care About ItBook: Anam Cara by John O'DonohueBook: The Extraordinary Leader by John H Zenger and Joseph FolkmanBook: What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall GoldsmithStudy: Setting the Stage for Success Korn/Ferry Study: For Your Improvement Korn/FerryPrayer: Prayer of St. Francis of AssisiView transcript, show notes, and links at http://AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep262. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

J.B. Pritzker of Pritzker Group Venture Capital joins Nick to discuss his impact on tech in Illinois, where he gets his motivation and why he's running for Governor. In this episode, we cover the following questions: Take me back to your childhood...What was it like growing up in your family and what did you learn from your parents? Your father and uncle famously built and managed Hyatt Hotels...Who was your biggest inspiration in the family? You could have gone in many directions with your career... hotel industry, education, straight into politics. Why'd you choose the path you did? Who were your primary inspirations in tech? Looking through your accomplishments, you're clearly a builder, a creator, you've got internal drive. Where do you get your motivation? What's the greatest lesson you've learned from your career in venture that informs your bid for governor? If you could go back and talk to young J.B... a J.B. in his teens, what would you tell him? What's the best lesson that you've learned from your kids that has changed the way you approach business and/or politics? We've got Donald Trump in the office of the president and Bruce Rauner in the office of Illinois Governor...Do we really need another rich guy in office? The talent vacuum is real and everyone experiences it. In Illinois, the best and brightest in rural areas, leave for the metro areas. In Chicago, many of the best in tech leave for the coasts. How do we approach talent suck more thoughtfully and address a real problem? Can you highlight your plans for tech and innovation, if you are elected?   To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Rebecca Sholiton and Nate Cooper are the Co-Founders of Wise Apple(formally Pak'd), a startup that delivers pre-made, customizable school lunches directly to families’ homes. They just announced their $3.6 million seed round led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Levy Family Partners with Chicago Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BoxGroup and Irish Angels also participating.  Wise Apple was also part of Techstars Chicago class of 2016 which included previous podcast guests Bright and PartySlate.  Use code "chicagotech" for $20 off your first week or this link for it to be automatically applied.    In This Episode You Will Learn: The inspiration behind Wise Apple How they made their first lunches How they collected 300 emails from interested customers on day 1 The importance of customizations to their business The value of hand delivering your orders and collecting feedback How they balance healthy and tasty for kids How a new porn site led to the name change What it was like working with the legendary Red Antler branding agency in New York  Why Wise Apple won out as the name Any concern around going with a name without having the .com locked down How influential their Kellogg MBAs have been and whether they think they needed it Why starting a business with a bunch of MBAs is a mistake How Rebecca and Nate met Whether copycats and competitors in the food space is a concern for them How their space differs from the meal kit business How they arrived at their price The value in going through Techstars The importance of balancing realistic numbers and unit economics  with a big vision Why we need more female investment professionals Why Rebecca won’t look at resumes unless there are non-white/male resumes included The value in having a big anchor tech company in Chicago Selected Links From The Episode: Red Antler, branding agency behind Casper and All Birds Carter Cast, Professor at Northwestern Kellogg and Venture Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital Troy Henikoff, Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners Brian Luerssen, Former Techstars Chicago Managing Director Dan Willoughby, Techstars Chicago Director Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision Favorite Books: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Eddie Lou is the CEO and Co-Founder of Shiftgig, a mobile, two-sided labor marketplace connecting large venues in the service and hospitality industries with locally available and previously vetted hourly workers. Shiftgig is one of the leaders in the gig economy, acting as a technology bridge connecting millions of workers with millions of shifts.  Shiftgig has raised $35M in venture funding from many local VCs including Chicago Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Corazon Capital.  Before founding Shiftgig, Eddie was a general partner with OCA Ventures, where he invested in software, consumer internet, and business services companies.  In This Episode You Will Learn: Why Eddie started Shiftgig after being a venture capitalist for many years Who are the people working in the gig economy What have been their most interesting gigs How they got their first customers How they pivoted away from their social network idea How they dealt with a business model that wasn't working and struggling to raise capital Eddie’s keys to building a two-sided marketplace What he’s learned as a VC that has benefited him as an entrepreneur Why he would like more series B investors in Chicago Why he would like to see more risk taking from executives Why Shiftgig acquired BookedOut What's the future of the gig economy What's next for Shiftgig Why you shouldn't be afraid to talk about your idea What's the best way to reach out and cultivate potential mentors A Few of Eddie's Favorite Books: The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance