Technori Podcast With Scott Kitun

Buying a home is one of the most symbolic ways we have to establishing the "American Dream". However, the process by which we do by and sell via listings, real estate agents and brokers, is too often a struggle and leaving you with less money than you deserve. Danyal Ali has found a way to make real estate transacting equitable for all with his platform AnyCurb. AnyCurb helps home buyers find homes that are both on and off the market, while helping home sellers appraise their homes, list them online (for free), identify the right time to sell and get at least market rate for their homes. Danyal initially came up with the idea while watching his father struggle to sell their family home over the course of four years with no luck. Danyal joins the show to share how he identified the hole in the market, how his data-heavy background set him on his current path and why AnyCurb isn't aiming so much to disrupt the real estate industry as much as bring it together.

The last time we had John Roa on the show, he was dressed for success and brimming with confidence. He had recently sold Akta to Saleforce, was launching his VC firm Roa Ventures and appeared living what universally could only be considered "the good life." Turns out, the reality was far from the perception. John catches up with Scott to talk about his new book "A Practical Way to Get Rich … and Die Trying" which he dives into a lot of personal struggles, specifically his physical and mental health that were sharply deteriorating the more "success" he achieved. The book and the podcast conversation are a referendum on entrepreneurial culture in all its toxicity, why John is dedicated to changing that stigma, who is cut out to be an entrepreneur and his next steps beyond his book and podcast "The John Roa Show" he launched this year.

Fast has swept through the tech ecosystem at a speed befitting its name. And thus far it has been able to do so effectively because of a few factors, addresses an obvious need -no need to type in your address, payment info, log in info into a million different sites- and because the company needs lots and lots of consumers to use the product to net Fast sustainability. Fast co-founder and CEO Domm holland joins the show to talk with Scott about the launch, how he met his cofounder Allison Barr Allen, jumping from Australia to NYC and what's the next step to becoming a mainstay fast-tracking e-commerce sales.

It's 2020, everything is supposed to be online..and you'll still be surprised how many functions of our society are still on the outside looking in at E-commerce. Construction, an essential business these days, is no exception and Ben Preston and his cofounder Luke Powers saw a huge opportunity to address a major problem for contractors all over. His company, Gearflow, is an online marketplace for constructions equipment and parts. Typically contractors have to go to all different suppliers and sites to what Ben Preston calls "an information blackhole". When they realized that about 80% of the equipment suppliers were independently-owned businesses, the foundation for Gearflow - bringing all these suppliers under one umbrella - was set. Ben joins Scott to talk about the state of construction, injecting E-commerce into a fragmented industry and how the effects can impact real estate.

Lockdowns, shrinking economy, closed gyms and offices have left people to get creative on maintaining their core business or building a new one altogether. It's part of the reason individuals, small businesses and "solopreneurs" are flocking to Podia, a platform provides a digital storefront to maintain memberships, online courses and transactions. In its own way, Podia is stabilizing the idea of the gig worker by removing barriers to entry to build your own revenue stream without the help of a larger company. Founder and CEO Spencer Fry joins the show to talk about how Podia's growth has exploded - up from 5% month over month to 20% - since the pandemic started, how its subscription model differentiates itself from Patreon and how he wants to create a space for entrepreneurs to have sustainable careers, not just one-time gigs.

Insurance tech has been an industry ripe for disruption with a slew of companies like ClearCover, CoverWallet, Kin and Vouch making waves recently. Obie, a combo insurance brokerage and risk management platform is geared to join the fray by focusing on serving real estate investors from multiunit to single family residences (SFRs). Aaron Letzeiser, founder and CEO of Obie, joins the show to share with Scott how he identified the pain point, the emergence of millenials rapidly joining the real estate investment market, why tech is expected to solve problems and how they are making management clean.

Proxfinity, like almost all companies in the event space, got slammed by the consequences of the COVID-19 spread. However unlike most other event companies, Proxfinity had an existing product, their wearable tech badge that lights up when around people with like-minded interests at networking events, that they could reimagine to help achieve contact tracing and warnings for social distancing. As companies slowly get back into offices, Proxfinity badges called resCUE can help protect employees as they return to the workplace and provides data on movement to make informed decisions. Founder and CEO Lisa Carrel joins Scott on the podcast to run through the pivot, how she came up with the idea for the switch and what the pandemic means long-term for events businesses.

Bryce Conlan and Scott share something of a kindred spirit, cleverly termed the "unemployable". That's not to say anyone is actually unemployable, but there's a certain type of a person that naturally gravitates towards new ideas, better ways to perform a service and work independently to do so that doesn't always jive with a corporate structures. Namely, this is their definition of an entrepreneur. Listen to Scott and Bryce talk about the lifelong pursuit of true entrepreneurship that allows you to building something from nothing with others in the service of others.

Founder Danielle Drabkin and COO Jennifer Wei join the show to catch up with Scott about the growth of Pear Chef, a private-chef service amenity serving fresh meals and spirits. The service is geared towards modern luxury apartment buildings, and already in 25 buildings in the Chicago area.

Ben Shack of BMO Harris and Shayna Atkins of ExpandHR join the podcast with Scott to talk about what founders truly need from a program, how the 1871 Innovation Program evolved into the female-founder driven program it is today. Shayna elaborates on her experience with the program and expectations going in, and how her company ExpandHR works with its unique approach to onboarding, compliance, health tracking and easy to access regulatory information.

Ever wanted to benefit monetarily from watching your favorite sports teams and players? Sport BLX is pioneering a way for you to do that by investing in the teams and players themselves. Sport BLX CEO Joe De Perio joins the show to talk to Scott about how their platform lets you share in the profits of the athlete or team, how it's equitable for all parties and creating generational wealth.

Jamie Hodari, co-founder and CEO of Industrious, joins the show to talk with Scott about the rapid change in office space and why momentum was already turning towards increased remote work pre-COVID. Industrious provides premium flexible workspaces with a unique model that allows month-to-month terms and fully furnished, customizable spaces for your company needs.

There's been a reckoning coming for the tech incubator space, and the pandemic has only accelerated that. Without the ability to host events or provide workspace, the value for founders to join these programs has declined. Workbox CEO John Wallace shares how they are providing more than a coworking space with services geared to help connect founders with other founders, investors and industry experts to put their best foot forward.

Purchasing Platform CEO Dave Bowen joins the show to talk about their marketplace of vendors makes it easy for clients to get what they need for their communities and save money at the same time. Dave also dives into how he joined Purchasing Platform and Scott coins the term "refounder": someone that doesn't found companies, but finds existing companies and gives them a reboot. 

As a young founder it's easy to overlook how important HR, payroll benefits, compliance etc are what really make you standout to hire - and keep- top tier talent in your company. Paylocity CEO Steve Beauchamp joins the show to talk about how the company serves these needs for companies and the journey and moving from a small startup with a modest $6 million raise in 2014 to a publicly traded company today.

Brian Barnes, CEO of M1 Finance, joins the show to talk about his journey into building M1 to solve a problem he was having himself - managing his investments. M1 essentially combines a lot of the aspects of managing your personal finances or your money into "personal finance super app" that lets you invest, borrow and store your funds in a separate checking account.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no longer a small trend or fad, but increasingly accepted currency growing into the mainstream. Beaxy takes the next step in the legitimization process: a platform for retail investors to quickly and easily trade cryptocurrencies.  Bay Abbott joins the show to talk with Scott about how Beaxy works to ease the crypto barrier-to-entry, appealing to general consumers and making trading available to everyone. "We wanted to take all of the complicated parts of trading and make it easy," said Abbott.

2020, everything is indoors, which means we are constantly online even more than before (if that's possible) and shop online now more than ever. BlackCart lets you pick out clothes from your favorite stores, get it shipped to try on at home for free, and only pay for what you keep. Chief Business officer and friend of the show Jason Komosa hops on to share what BlackCart is faring in the 2020 and practicing wellness is proving its worth in the pandemic world.

With our lives so dramatically increased remote and online due to the pandemic, cyber security has never been more tested. Our friend Darren Guccione from Keeper Security joins the show to tell Scott how they have seen huge spikes in cyber attacks, including ransomware and phishing attacks since we've all moved indoors.

Marie Trzupek Lynch knows job placement - or just getting a job in general - is tougher than it it should be for employers and prospective employees. The pandemic has only further put a spotlight on glaring holes in the job market - namely: there isn't much of one. As the founding President and CEO of Skills for Chicagoland's Future and previously lead Chicago Career Tech, Marie has made aligning the underemployed and unemployed with jobs that fit their skill level. She joins the show to talk about working with the state and city governments, the overwhelming disparity between job openings and job applicants, what companies can do to better fill their openings and the critical importance of education for the jobs of the future.