As always, Built In Chicago looks to foster the growth of local digital companies by helping entrepreneurs connect and learn from each other. Here are five veterans of Chicago's digital ecosystem that have helped to make it what it is today - and here's your opportunity to take a few pointers from them. To recommend a CTO for this series, contact [email protected].
Patrick Crosby, StatHat
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Custom stat tracking tool StatHat processes 12 billion data points per week - peaking at 100 million per hour or 30,000 per second. This is what CTO Patrick Crosby deals with every week, every hour, every second. Data is in the blood of this Chicago techie: he previously dealt with the massive amounts of data that OkCupid processes as CTO of the company. These days at StatHat, he is working on the company's custom time-series dataset storage system and their native iPhone app so users access their stats quickly.
Tracey Wiedmeyer, InContext Solutions
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Just about five years ago, Tracey Wiedmeyer made the move from consulting to a co-founder of a SaaS-based market research company: InContext Solutions. Today, he serves as InContext's CTO and is helping the company to push the envelope with its technology, specifically 3D technology. The 3D virtual stores that InContext provides to retailers and manufacturers have caught the attention of investors recently (they closed a $6.35 million round from local Hyde Park Venture Partners). Built In Chicago caught up with Wiedmeyer to hear about how this funding boost will affect the tech behind InContext this year.
Fred Lee, Enova
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Financial services company Enova employs over 1,000 people and provides online-based loans to over 2 million people worldwide. Enova has been named a top employer for Gen-Y Emerging Talent in the Chicago area by Brill Street. They also earned a spot on ComputerWorld’s 100 Best Places to Work in IT in 2013.
Despite size and success, CTO Fred Lee said Enova is relatively unknown in Chicago’s digital startup scene. But through Enova's tech, he is working to change that. (Did you know his team works on one of the largest applications of Ruby and Rails in the U.S.?)
Sanjib Sahoo, tradeMONSTER
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Sanjib Sahoo, CTO of online trading platform for stock and option traders tradeMONSTER, has won numerous awards for his leadership and team building in and outside of Chicago over the past seven years that he's held the postion (for example, he was granted the 2013 CIO Award by the Executives Club Chicago).
When Sahoo isn't speaking publicly or contributing to publications like the Harvard Business Review or WIRED, he said you can find him hitting the blackjack table at Rivers, Horseshow or Harrahs for some gab and gambling.
Built In Chicago caught up with Sahoo and learned why he constantly pushes for change and innovation: without it he said "you will die because somebody else will pull forward."
Greg Goff, Morningstar
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Since 1984, investment research firm Morningstar has been working to make technology a seamless part of investors' experiences, CTO Greg Goff said. To do this, data is critical. It is what powers Morningstar's applications and what available through its APIs.
"Our technology supports the exploration and discovery of our data and research to unlock insights that empower investors," Goff said. Built In Chicago sat down with Goff to hear about the specific data projects his team is working on this year to make investors even more empowered.
