Podcasts about Shiftgig

AI is at the forefront of work, tech, and global development – and it's here to stay. While there are ongoing dilemmas and fears surrounding the future of AI, renowned neuroscientist Vivienne Ming sees it differently. For over a decade, she has harnessed AI to enhance human potential, designing systems to treat her son's diabetes, predict manic episodes in those with bipolar disorder, and reunite orphaned refugees with extended family members, among many other initiatives. Vivienne has emerged not only as a leading scientist in the field but also as a passionate advocate for using AI as a powerful tool to unlock human ability.Vivienne Ming is a renowned theoretical neuroscientist and AI expert. She is the co-founder and CEO of the think tank Socos Labs, as well as chief scientist at Dionysus Digital Health and The Human Trust. Her research has been showcased on TEDx, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, the New York Times, BBC Radio 4, and NPR. In this episode, Dart and Vivienne discuss:- Vivienne's diverse background in AI and research - AI's qualitative advantages over humans today- How AI can predict and influence individual success- Metalearning and perspective taking- Building stronger teams and social networks with AI- The moral limits of markets- How minority opinions can reshape collective market intelligence - And other topics…Vivienne Ming is a renowned theoretical neuroscientist and artificial intelligence expert. As the co-founder and CEO of the think tank Socos Labs, she consults on AI, neuroscience, and education reform, exploring the future of human potential. She also serves as chief scientist at Dionysus Digital Health and The Human Trust. Her AI inventions have launched multiple companies and nonprofits, all centered on unlocking human potential. Vivienne's research has been showcased on TEDx, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, the New York Times, BBC Radio 4, and NPR. Vivienne received her B.S. in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California at San Diego and her M.S. and PhD in Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. She then held a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford and UC Berkeley, where she later joined as a research scientist and visiting scholar. Vivienne sits on boards of numerous companies and nonprofits including StartOut, The Palm Center, Cornerstone Capital, Platypus Institute, Shiftgig, Zoic Capital, and HUMM.Resources mentioned:How to Robot-Proof Your Kids, by Vivienne Ming: https://academy.socos.org/ Geek Heresy, by Kentaro Toyama: https://www.amazon.com/Geek-Heresy-Rescuing-Social-Technology/dp/161039528X Connect with Vivienne:www.socos.org www.dionysushealth.comwww.optoceutics.comwww.thehumantrust.org “The Tax on Being Different” video: https://glginsights.com/videos/decisions-in-hiring/ Work with Dart:Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what's most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

Welcome to Coffee with Closers! On today's episode, we have Jeff Pieta, CEO of AIS Inc., a man who dropped out of college and rose from working-class roots to become a successful entrepreneur. We'll talk with Jeff about his entrepreneurial journey from how he founded AIS and managed to build a strong executive team despite limited resources to how he built and successfully exited Shiftgig. Jeff has plenty of insight into the importance of innovation for driving progress in business, managing investor expectations when growing a business, and getting talented people when money is tight. We'll also learn about servant leadership, leader vs. manager roles in business, company culture, productivity hacks, and what motivates him to keep learning and growing. Tune in for an engaging conversation with our guest as he shares valuable insights on creating success through hard work. Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ►Find Jeff Pieta on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpieta/ ►Visit AIS at https://www.aislabs.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff Pieta is the CEO of AIS Inc, an IT tech firm founded in 2002. For the majority of his life, he only knew about computers. In the interview, Jeff talks about how, as a college dropout, he was able to start his own company to survive the early 2000s recession and how he got into the real estate investment industry.Today in the episode, he shares his incredible journey in real estate and his current ventures. From figuring out how to properly and safely use a nail gun to some selling mishaps, this tech-pro has plenty of astonishing real estate stories and insights about the human psyche to share. Don't Forget To Reach Out To Jeff Pieta:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpieta/Quotes “It's fun every now and then to help people out. And, I like being able to find better solutions to problems. I think a lot of times people just have fixed ideas, and they don't actually consider like is what I'm doing is it necessary.”“And don't let the absence of perfection impede progress because so many people either get overwhelmed because they can't do it the way that they want to do it or they don't know how to do it to completion. And so they just freeze up or they don't start at all or they lose motivation.”“What the timing of innovation is recognizing when something new exists or creating the adoption of that which enabled what previously couldn't be enabled.”“I would describe it [Shiftgig] as growing a business organically out of cash flow. It's like running down the street. You're limited by your own oxygen. If you trip and fall, get back up. No big deal.”“Failure is often just a limit of what someone was willing or able to do wasn't enough to succeed, and failure is just a measure of that limit.”“People tend to do what hurts the least and do what's painful less painful when presented with two options.”“A problem well defined is a problem nearly solved.” Benjamin Franklin“Strategy is the art of creating luck.” “If you understand something, you can explain it simply. If you're good at something, then you make it look easy.”ConceptsBe diligent when transacting in real estate since a lot of things can happen under your nose.If you are able and willing, helping other people with their problems opens an opportunity to learn new things.Some people might do things in a fixed way because it's all they ever knew. So it's important to ask questions and see the problem in a different light to find new and better solutions.Seek help from mentors who have a ton of experience to share, and pay the learnings forward.You should not be afraid of innovation and change. Adapting to change is a part of growing your business.Recognize new trends for their value and use your learnings to your advantage.Think about what you want to be, what you want to do, and what you want to achieve. Having a mentor to guide you and show yourself through a different lens will help you see yourself for your potential.Be patient. Do not be greedy in your business. Understand how you can maximize your assets. Time Stamps 0:00 Introduction0:28 Nail gun and selling mishaps2:17 Learning to fix a basement3:50 Helping someone with their water heater4:46 The ham story5:13 Heterodoxic quality6:51 Founding a company at 189:00 Unconventional parents and support10:19 Finding the right mentors11:40 Offering professional services13:00 Why? Why Uber? Why?15:34 Uber but for staffing17:14 Mentors' advice19:00 The evolution of real estate–”uberification” or flexibility catered for customers22:17 People in the manufacturing industry are good mentors25:45 The importance of recognizing yourself26:52 Collecting observation notes for a book30:12 Leadership and connecting with people33:40 Recognizing people as you get older35:43 Catering to people's happiness39:15 New paths and old paths42:00 Strategy is the art of creating luck, more about the book44:00 Experts make it look easy45:00 CIA profiler47:00 Wild human psychology and human nature51:26 Running a marathon53:28 Feelings make us comfortable 54:00 Brain hack - imprinting on the things you want56:13 Jeff's current venture1:00:00 Big companies vs startup companies1:02:00 “Sometimes innovation can be backward.”1:04:00 Tiktok1:07:00 Maximizing your gains with a system1:08:14 Jeff's new hobby - BacktestingSources Mentioned Peter Field on being “Heterodoxic or going against convention.”

Leslie Vickrey is an enterprising Chicagoan with a keen entrepreneurial spirit, and is focused on making a difference in the tech and business community. Seeing a need for business-minded marketing solutions that were as agile as the industries they served, she founded ClearEdge in 2006. ClearEdge has helped technology software, professional services and staffing clients differentiate themselves from competitors through services like Branding, Messaging, PR and Digital Marketing. The result? A portfolio of happy clients who have seen their businesses grow, attracted top talent and emerged as thought leaders. Leslie is also passionate about attracting, retaining and advancing women in technology and business, and is a proud co-founder of ARA. What began as a quarterly dinner among friends has grown into a national organization 6,000 people strong focused on supporting women in technology. In addition to working with business leaders through ClearEdge and ARA, she serves on the Board of Advisors for Chicago Innovation and also as the Senior Executives Subcommittees Chair for the American Staffing Association's Women in Leadership Council. Leslie is also a judge for the Chicago Innovation Awards, which recognizes the most innovative companies in the region. In October of 2015, she was named to the UIC Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, an honor that recognizes social and commercial contributions to Chicago's diverse economy, and in 2016, was named to the Enterprising Women of the Year list by Enterprise Women Magazine. Leslie enjoys public speaking and covers everything from marketing to business to diversity initiatives. She recently joined companies such as Kenshoo, Allegis Global Solutions, Upwork, Apex, and Shiftgig to keynote company kick-off meetings, speak during supplier summits, or address their leadership, client, and consultant teams. Show Topics Include:  Parent-Friendly Work Cultures, Women in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Virtual Offices, Building Trust In Your Team, Business Relationships, Supporting Pregnant Team Members, Women's Networking Groups, Women in Tech. FOLLOW LESLIE:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lvickrey/ FOLLOW DIANA:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianamitchell716/ FOLLOW SSI People:  Website:  www.ssipeople.com Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/SSIpeople Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ssipeople/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/56833/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ssipeople Podcast: https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/momswholead

To increase diversity in technology, step one is acknowledging that there is a problem. Step two is to put in greater effort to create new pipelines of applicants. Thulasi Kethini, CTO of Shiftgig, believes that there are highly qualified women ready to take on leadership in the tech space but most tech companies don’t take the time to go to the places where these women can be found.On this week’s edition of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Patrick and Shelli talk to Thulasi about how companies can create pipelines that encourage diversity as well as ways to encourage more women to enter the tech space. Listen to the episode for more of Thulasi’s ideas.(01:39) - Shiftgig(02:50) - Women in tech(05:42) - Hiring for diversity(10:30) - Creating kismet(17:22) - Technical vs. business awareness(23:12) - Research & duplicate(26:28) - Unlearning(30:03) - Batteries included(34:13) - The MotiveThulasi Kethini is a Chief Technology Officer at Shiftgig, a workforce technology company focusing on empowering people to find local employment opportunities that fit their lifestyles, schedules and career objectives. Thulasi is responsible for the company's technology, infrastructure, web and mobile applications, security, product engineering and software architecture.Thulasi has an impressive track record of designing and implementing large scale enterprise SAAS as well as B2C products, leveraging modern, agile development practices and building high performing engineering teams. She joined Shiftgig to drive their engineering strategy and help the company continue to grow as a technology organization.Thulasi brings 16 years of technology experience and previously served as director of technology at Morningstar. She holds an MBA from Central Michigan University and is very close to finishing her MBA at Northwestern University. She also spends time volunteering for Green House scholars. If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to Innovation and the Digital Enterprise in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Wade Burgess (@wadeburgess) is the Chief Revenue Officer at Rev.Com. Wade was an early employee at LinkedIn and has held numerous leadership roles in his career, including being CEO of Shiftgig. Before his business days, Wade wrestled at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Please enjoy! TEXT the SHOW! --Keyword: Wrestle --Number: 224-54 * SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by Spartan Nutrition. Shop Tea, Energy Capsules and Hydration now: https://mbsy.co/3bGr27 * FANS If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews! * FOLLOW the PODCAST Twitter: @Ryan_N_Warner Instagram: Wrestling Changed My Life Facebook: Wrestling Changed My Life Website: wrestlingchangedmylife.com Shop merchandise at our Online Store: Store.WrestlingChangedMyLife.com *** ABOUT: Hosted by Ryan Warner, the Wrestling Changed My Life Podcast features in-depth interviews with wrestlers and coaches to learn how the sport shaped and molded their lives. By stitching together stories of sacrifice, triumph, defeat and perseverance, the Podcast takes the listener deep inside the world’s oldest sport. New episodes are released every Monday and Wednesday.

S01E04 Interview with Thulasi Kethini, Chief Technology Officer at Shiftgig - UNBOSSED - Chicago Female CTOs --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marina-malaguti/support

Welcome to another all-new edition of the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, sponsored by Beeline. This week, we chat with Rick Bowman, CEO of Shiftgig. Rick and I discuss how the current pandemic is affecting the global workforce, how digital staffing solutions can play a pivotal role during disruptive times, and the new expansion to Shiftgig’s flagship platform (Deploy).

Dana has always left a legacy behind. She believes strongly in leaving things better than she found them, and her record shows it. While working at SIA as Senior VP of Strategy and Solutions, Dana co-launched the industry’s first-ever buyside conference, research council, advisory practice, and speaker bureau. This resulted in a complete organizational structure change to scale and ultimately sell the founder's company, along with the CEO and Chief Analyst, to Crain Communications. During her time as Global Vice President at TAPFIN, Dana designed, collaborated, and led the Global Managed Services (BPO) Center of Excellence for TAPFIN. By working with 66 country experts across sales, finance, legal, tax, operations, back office, and implementations, her team delivered standardized methods across Fortune Company clients while honoring nuances within each region, country, and province. Dana also directed a team of market intel and thought leader experts, mining proprietary data and correlating it with externally available market and economic data, to create and launch the first-ever company Contingent Workforce Index. Today, this is not only a Global Index but the basis for a new revenue model. Dana left TAPFIN to join ICon Professional Services (now TalentWave), where she served as COO and President of Alliances and Advisory Services. As COO, she led growth initiatives that resulted in the final transaction to a substantial private equity exit for the owner/founder of ICon within 18 months, doubling the company’s revenues by developing and executing against a three-horizon plan ahead of timeline by ten months. As President, she was an architect of change and led the industry’s first alliance and advisory practice. She was responsible for the team of experts who jumpstarted TalentWave’s growth engine with the vision of revolutionizing the way companies and freelancers take the first step to becoming compliant.The aforementioned successes and her 20+ years of experience led her to be recognized as a Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2015 Woman of Influence, a judge for the 2016 and 2017 Stevie Awards in the Individual/Female Executive Award categories, and a member of SIA’s Global Power 150 for the Women in Staffing category in 2018. She has also spoken at a variety of international keynotes and expert panels within the talent ecosystem for such notable companies as Fieldglass, PeopleFluent, Allegis, and TAPFIN. She has also presented at industry events such as SIA’s CW Solution, SIA’s Executive Forum, and the TechServe Alliance Annual Conference. Not satisfied to only talk about her opinions and thoughts, she has published pieces in SI Review, CW 3.0, HRO, Compliance Week, The Fordyce Letter, and Institute Supply Management Magazine, among many others. Helping companies anticipate “what’s next” is a specialty of hers.Today, Dana has started her own consulting and advisory firm, Phoenix5, embarking on the next phase of her career as an advisor, coach, speaker, and mentor, evangelizing a new mindset: Stop Settling®. Phoenix5 transforms individuals and organizations holistically in an accelerated way with maximum return. Stop Settling builds on that vision by offering a sustainable alternative to the work-life balance myth through a simple composite StrataGEM® charting that frees companies and professionals from giving in and giving up on sustainable success. With that in mind, Dana has begun coaching and advising an elite and like-minded team of Fortune, Staffing, and Digital Platform leaders, while collaborating with thought leaders and innovators of all kinds, to revolutionize the way we work and lead the voice of the new talent movement. She is a Founder and Global Staffing Evangelist for SOAR and also serves as a member of the advisory boards for Opolis, Reboot Accel, VNDLY, Shiftgig, and LNQ Systems.https://phoenix5th.com/

more funding for Smartians, a new acquisition for Indeed and a CareerBuilder rumor in the news. Special thanks to our sponsor Hiretual.com Recruit Holdings Co., parent company of Indeed.com has announced that its HR Technology SBU (Strategic Business Unit) has signed an agreement to acquire Syft Online Limited (“Syft”) through Indeed Ireland Operations Limited. Syft is a leading recruiting platform for the hospitality, events and industrial industries in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2015, Syft’s proprietary technology provides a simple, effective recruitment solution and shift management tool for part-time and flexible work, connecting and matching qualified and vetted jobseekers with available shifts through its desktop and mobile app. Chris Hyams, CEO at Indeed, commented: “At Indeed our mission is to help people get jobs. Syft’s simple and transparent approach to shift work hiring is an innovative solution to the growing demand for part-time and flexible work. We look forward to supporting the Syft team as they continue to improve the hiring experience.”   So here’s my take: indeed wants in on one of the hottest segments of online hiring today. They are currently way behind an an already crowded field that includes players like Wonolo and Shiftgig. With Google encroaching on their turf and facing increased compeition from Linked and Facebook they are broadening their offerings. Will have to wait and see if they can make it successful. I am curious if they are bringing it to the usa https://recruitingheadlines.com/recruit-holdings-announces-acquisition-of-recruiting-platform-syft/ EW YORK, May 29, 2019 — Careerlist Inc., a recruiting technology company, today announced the completion of a $3.7 million round of seed funding. Launched one year ago, Careerlist is changing the recruiting industry by combining the world’s best recruiters with the greatest minds in technology to transform how companies access and hire the most remarkable talent. Careerlist corporate customers include WeWork, Yext, AB InBev and more than 100 others. Investors in this round of funding included BreakawayGrowth, Grid Ventures, Garage Capital and a number of notable individual investors. Funds raised in this round will be used to accelerate the attraction of recruiters, unique talent and employers as well as to advance technology investments. “Careerlist is building the infrastructure, data and tools that will power the next generation of recruitment and job search,” said Michael Scissons, Chairman and CEO of Careerlist. “This new funding is only the beginning of a massive expansion in technology that will attract the world’s best recruiters to amplify their businesses with us. Our mission is to open doors for the world’s most remarkable talent.” https://recruitingheadlines.com/new-york-based-careerlist-raises-3-7-million/   For Recruiters A better financial model through increased opportunity, efficiency and talent representation. For Talent An alternative to the traditional job search process allowing easy, confidential exposure to opportunities and self-marketing tools. DHI Group, Inc….announced today that Dice, the career site for technology professionals, has launched their latest innovation, Candidate Match™, a powerful tool that uses intelligent automation and machine learning to surface the most qualified candidates for tech jobs. “Our Candidate Match solution is tailor-made for tech, using our robust understanding of the technology marketplace and the needs of both professionals and recruiters,” said Art Zeile, President and CEO of DHI Group, Inc., parent company of Dice. “Our proprietary skills data model and taxonomy, Knowledge Graph™, uses sophisticated algorithms to uncover interrelationships among skills to provide the most relevant recommendations to employers hiring tech talent. It’s another step demonstrating Dice’s commitment to developing best-in-class matching algorithms to make recruiting top candidates easier.” Candidate Match… Goes beyond traditional keyword matching by looking at job and candidate data to provide the best match. Allows recruiters to sort applicants by match within five classification levels, while many competitive services offer only one or two levels of classification. Learns by leveraging the input and expertise of tech recruiters, HR professionals, tech professionals, and tech hiring managers to continuously improve the outcomes of its machine learning algorithm. Intelligent automation results in better matches and removes unconscious bias Candidate Match assigns a match level to each applicant, which helps recruiters quickly assess an applicant’s fit to a job posting, allowing recruiters to focus on engaging the most qualified candidates first. https://recruitingheadlines.com/dice-launches-new-candidate-matching-tool/ Recruiting platform SmartRecruiters, announced it has raised a $50M Series D round, led by repeat investor Insight Partners and joined by long-time investors Mayfield Fund and Rembrandt Venture Partners. The round follows a year marked by strong performance, including 100 percent year-over-year enterprise growth and the launch of SmartAssistant, the first native AI product ever offered within a talent acquisition product suite. SmartRecruiters will invest the funds into accelerating its product roadmap, including deepening the abilities of SmartAssistant through AI and machine learning; geographic expansion in Europe and Asia Pacific, to include hiring 100 people; and broadening the components of SmartRecruiters’ Hiring Success methodology, specifically process optimization, strategy and customer workshops. “Fortune 500 companies don’t have the luxury of letting critical positions go unfilled – they need to maintain their competitive advantage through effective sourcing of quality talent,” said Jerome Ternynck, CEO and Founder of SmartRecruiters. “With this funding in place, we see an accelerated product development trajectory, allowing us to build on our record of delivering what we call Hiring Success: better hires, better hiring velocity, better candidate quality, and enhanced candidate experience for enterprise customers.” https://recruitingheadlines.com/smartrecruiters-raises-50-million-in-new-funding/ Congrats to my friends at SmartReceuiters - i used to be a client of theirs back in 2015 and it’s great to see them doing so well Finally for whats its worth...Just heard Careerbuilder is coming out end of June with an entirely new platform. Contact info on Linkedin, facebook and google. Supply and Demand portal, job postings under $50, recruitment edge and other features. They are changing the focus from the old standard job board. Follow Recruiting Headlines on social media: @recheadlines on Twitter Facebook Linkedin

Rick Bowman, CEO of Shiftgig, joins Scott in-studio at WGN Radio in the heart of downtown Chicago. The gig economy is the best place to find experts in any field, and the popular form of employment will soon rival the traditional methods of hiring.

Today on Crain's Daily Gist, host Amy Guth talks with Crain's manufacturing reporter Claire Bushey *about more trouble for Boeing: This time, it's a report on problems at a Dreamliner factory.* Plus: Kraft Heinz names a new CEO; produce market Stanley's, next to the Lincoln Yards, abruptly shuts down; Chicago startup Shiftgig sells its staffing business to focus on technology, and 21 are charged in the Car2Go car-sharing fiasco. Follow host Amy Guth on Twitter @AmyGuth, or continue the conversation with #CrainsDailyGist.

Podcast sponsored by Hiretual.com IN THIS EPISODE RigUp Raises $60 million https://recruitingheadlines.com/rigup-raises-60-million-in-funding-for-energy-industry-job-market/ Hirevue forms AI Advisory Board https://recruitingheadlines.com/hirevue-is-first-hr-tech-company-to-form-advisory-board-for-ethical-ai-development/ Best Ever Entry Level Job Market https://recruitingheadlines.com/its-the-best-entry-level-job-market-of-all-time-says-collegegrad-com/ ShiftGig Launches New Tool for Staffing Firms https://recruitingheadlines.com/shiftgig-announces-new-software-platform-for-staffing-firms/ DHI Group Earnings. https://recruitingheadlines.com/dhi-group-inc-reports-latest-earnings-down-4/ Thanks for listening!

How do you develop young leaders and entrepreneurs in this fast-paced world? What is the power of investing and building multi-million dollar companies? Jeff Richards sits down with Christopher Lochhead to answer these questions and discuss why it's smart to invest in China and Silicon Valley. "There's 7.3 billion people in the world. There's only 300 million in the US. So if your market opportunity is 300 million, you're missing the other 95% of the world." - Jeff Richards Three Things We Learned It's tough for kids these days Because kids have access to social media at an early age, they have a broader preview of the world out there compared to generations past. While it's very encouraging for them to find ways to become successful apart from the traditional get-educated-land-a-job scheme, being exposed to these things as a teenager can be a pitfall. They're hit with the pressure to be creative, innovative, and get together with the right crowd early, existential crises adults back then would often encounter not until after college. Pace of play nowadays is fast Technological advancements have made it quicker to build businesses and make them successful. However, with this quick pacing comes the added pressure that trickles down to entrepreneurs who are throwing so much into the fire in very little time in order to keep up. They have no time to catch a break, and risk many other aspects of their lives because of the swift turnover of things in the tech industry. We need to go back to building brick by brick The satisfaction of building a product with a great foundation springing from doing it right can't be undermined. People need to learn how to build businesses brick by brick, painstaking piece by painstaking piece. We need to slow down and revel the process of becoming successful. So much is going on in the tech world right now that people are compelled to constantly pit themselves into the fray. We must pause and zoom out of the small corner of the world that we're building in order to gain true insights of the world at large. If we're not trying to glean and learn as much as we can, then all our efforts and money will easily go up in smoke. Bio / Story:  Jeff Richards  A Managing Partner at GGV Capital, Jeff joined the firm in 2008 after spending 13 years as an entrepreneur and operating executive in the US and Asia. Prior to joining GGV, Jeff founded two venture-backed companies, one a success and one a “huge failure” in his own words – “I learned a lot.”   His background as an entrepreneur gives him a unique perspective on the challenges of starting and running a venture-backed company, and he works closely with the GGV Talent team on Founders+Leaders.  Jeff focuses on the Software and Internet sectors, and currently sits on the boards of or is a board observer at BigCommerce, one of the top ecommerce software platforms, Boxed, a rising star in the ecommerce space, Brightwheel, the leading SaaS provider for the early education vertical, Gladly, a next generation SaaS platform for customer care, Percolate, a leading marketing SaaS platform for global brands,PlushCare, a mobile platform for consumer healthcare, Reebonz, Southeast Asia's leader in luxury ecommerce, Slice, a market network for the pizza industry, and Tile, the platform for location. Jeff also led GGV's investments in Appirio (acquired in 2016 by Wipro), BlueKai (acquired in 2014 by Oracle), Buddy Media (acquired in 2012 by Salesforce), Citrus Lane (acquired in 2014 by Care.com), Evolv (acquired in 2014 by Cornerstone OnDemand), Flipboard, HotelTonight, ShiftGig, Voicera and Zylo, and has been actively involved in GGV's investments in Domo, OpenDoor, Square and Wish.  Jeff is a frequent guest on CNBC and often writes on topics like startup management and leadership, venture-backed IPOs and shifts in tech trends across the US and China.  Before GGV  Prior to joining GGV, Jeff founded two software companies: R4,

Another all new episode of Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast (sponsored by ZeroChaos) features a thought-provoking discussion with CEO of online talent platform Shiftgig, Wade Burgess.

Wade Burgess is the CEO of Shiftgig former LinkedIn Exec. In this episode, he shared his philosophies on leadership and investing in yourself. Wade also told us about an absolutely crazy week he once had (and he wrote about it here). In “one week in November”, Wade: Lost his job Bought a house Found out he was expecting his first child Had a vehicle explode Hosted 16 people for Thanksgiving dinner “Other than losing my job, buying a house, having a vehicle explode, finding out we were expecting our first child, and hosting 16 people for a holiday dinner, it was a pretty normal week.” Wade sets a great example of “zooming out” from a situation to detach himself and remain cool under the pressure. If you’re feeling stressed due Q4 pressures, upcoming holiday festivities and 2018 planning, this could be helpful to keep things in perspective. Huge thanks to Wade for sharing his stories with us! Sign up for the weekly Millennial Momentum Newsletter. No BS, All hustle

Welcome to episode 179, this week the main topic is something I seem to be coming across a lot…employee advocacy on LinkedIn. For those who haven’t come across this before, it simply means utilising the employees of a company to be ‘advocates’ of the organisation to help with marketing, sales and recruitment. The problem is, I’m really not sure it works on LinkedIn….I will explain more later. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week Artificial intelligence just made guessing your password a whole lot easier Carl who sent this article in uses Password Safe https://pwsafe.org I also noticed another two key people at LinkedIn have recently left the organisation. I have met many LinkedIners in my time but the one who has impressed me the most was Wade Burgess. Wade is a massive talent and will be a huge miss to LinkedIn. Keep an eye on his new employer Shiftgig, if Wade is convinced enough to join them as CEO, they are likely to be going places! If you are listening Wade (highly unlikely) - my very best wishes for the future. LinkedIn have also lost another key person who is highly respected. Pat Wadors was the SVP of global talent. Both individuals were key players for LinkedIn, these must be testing times for the CEO Jeff Weiner. This got me thinking and I checked back at my connections at LinkedIn and remarkably another 10 (in addition to the above) have resigned since the announcement of the Microsoft takeover. Employee Advocacy. Does It Really Work on LinkedIn? I have had several conversations recently with companies who want to know how to use LinkedIn more effectively as an employee advocacy tool. This got me thinking about the whole subject and I have to say, I’m somewhat sceptical as to whether this really is a good idea on LinkedIn (possibly anywhere). My thoughts; Does it actually work? It seems a hot subject but I remain sceptical that is actually has any tangible benefits. Most content seems to be external links which are pretty much a waste of time posting on LinkedIn anyway. Sharing company page posts doesn’t seem to work either - company posts get very little engagement. Average figures for Cisco (number 4 in LinkedIn top company pages for 2017) are 135 likes and 3 comments and Schneider Electric (number 2) get 300 likes and 2 comments. The vast majority of likes are from employees (advocates). A comparable set of stats from a really strong personal user is 135 likes and 15 comments! Experts in this subject talk about providing ‘guidance’ to employees but I suspect this either puts them off being active or means they feel ‘directed’ which leads to a huge lack of authenticity. Why not educate employees to use LinkedIn (voluntarily) in a way that allows them to be authentic individuals and not mouth pieces for the marketing or recruitment function? Most companies (and advocates) are guilty of the McFly syndrome …It’s all about you! If employees are happy, motivated and active on LinkedIn then they will naturally be advocates. They actually don’t need to talk about the company at all…just show that they are interesting, switched on individuals. Here is the post I did on this subject (click on it to see the comments); You can see the LinkedIn #LifeAtSAP posts here and the #WeAreCisco posts here These week we have a first! ….a live question recorded today! Lorraine Bow is a Ukulele instructor based in London and has been struggling to find ways of using LinkedIn to win new clients. She asked me to help her and this is what you can hear in the episode You can view Lorraine’s recent activity by clicking here Here is her original ‘Goosebumps’ post which, as you can see didn’t get much traction  

In this episode we look at what it takes to grow, build and retain a development team and how software developers identify product opportunities in the marketplace. Our guest Andy Abbott is technology entrepreneur in Chicago who has co-founded multiple startups including BookedOut, which was acquired this past fall the Chicago based firm Shiftgig. Andy is also the founder of the Chicago .NET Developers group (http://www.chicagodev.net). Andy talks about his latest project Heretik (heretik.io) and how him and his team were able to identify opportunity in the marketplace and also shares his experiences of building out software teams for startups and enterprise firms.

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

Ezra Galston is a VC at Chicago Ventures. At CV, Ezra focuses on consumer facing investment and is actively involved with BloomNation, Kapow Events, Luxury Garage Sale, Shiftgig, SpotHero, Zipments, and Havenly. He writes one of my favorite VC blogs at BreakingVC.com and his thoughts on startups have also been published in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Re/code. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Ezra was a professional poker player and the Director of Marketing for CardRunners Gaming.  Listen on itunes listen on stitcher In This Episode You Will Learn: How Ezra got into angel investing?  What motivates Chicago Ventures? What's the one question every founder should ask of their VCs? Why Ezra prefers growing a business over starting one? Where Ezra sources his investments from? Why producing content as a VC is important?  How they look for outliers in the entrepreneurs they back? How Ezra finds and cultivates his mentors? Hint: cold emailing  Why Ezra thinks e-commerce companies are underestimated? What Ezra wishes he knew when he first got into the venture industry? Why some venture capital investments never get announced? Why Ezra thinks Chicago is so good at building great business?  What we can do to make Chicago even better for startups?  Favorite Books: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Ayn Rand Sweet Pickles by Richard Hefter Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights by Gary Klein E-Commerce Companies: Stitch Fix Trunk Club Wayfair Zulily Investors Ezra Admires: Bill Gurely, VC at Benchmark Fred Wilson, VC at Union Square Ventures Brad Feld, VC at Foundry Group Stuart Larkins, VC at Chicago Ventures Miscellaneous Things Mentioned:  Taylor Caby, founder of CardRunners Chris Fargis, founder of Instant Fantasy Sports  John Tough, COO at Choose Energy Report Says Chicago Has the Highest Percentage of Female Entrepreneurs The Little Prince (2015 film) The Counterintuitive Thing About Counterintuitive Things by Startup L. Jackson Tilt (poker term) The Big Short (2015 film) Dear Brad, Fred & Mark: How The Hell Do You Do It? by Ezra Galston

Ezra Galston is a VC @ Chicago Ventures, where he focuses on consumer facing and marketing tech investments and is actively involved with Blitsy, BloomNation, Kapow Events, Luxury Garage Sale, Shiftgig, SpotHero, and Zipments. Ezra’s thoughts on startups, have been published in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and Re/code.Prior to Chicago Ventures, Ezra was a Young Entrepreneur at Foundation Capital. Before business school, Ezra served as the Director of Marketing for CardRunners Gaming – the parent company of CardRunners, Hold’em Manager and DraftDay – and before then earned a living as a professional poker player. If that wasn't enough he is also the author of one of our fave VC blogs www.breakingvc.com. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How Ezra became a Poker Player and then transitioned to the world of Venture Capital? What is the mission with Chicago Ventures? Average ticket size? Preferred sector?  How important is it for startups to be close to their investors, geographically and relationship wise? For marketplace startups, what metrics does Ezra really deep dive on? With the likes of Instacart raising huge rounds, why are we seeing this huge increase in food tech? In hugely crowded markets, how does Ezra sort the wood from the trees? What advice would Ezra recommend to individuals looking to enter the VC industry? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ezra's Fave Book: The Little Prince Ezra's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Stratechery by Ben Thompson, Carpool.vc Ezra's Fave Productivity Tools: Rapportive, Bitmoji Ezra's Most Recent Investment: Luxury Garage Sale, Attendant Bill Gurley: 10 Factors To Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces HungryRoot: Charlie O'Donnell, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ezra on Twitter right here! 

Today's interview is with Eddie Lou, CEO and Co-Founder, Shiftgig.  Shiftgig is the (yeah we italicized "the") online community for the service and hospitality industries. Eddie started out slanging burgers at a Jack-in-the-Box, so he knows about workin' the shifts. He and his co-founder wanted to create a proactive platform for potential employees and hiring managers to court each other. The result is a database of over 100K jobs  and workers nationwide. And while Eddie knows the service and hospitality industry, he's also crazy versed in VC and fundraising, having spent some time working at OCA Ventures before blowing out Shiftgig. This week's music feature is Chicago's own The Symposium.