A Brother with Autism led to this Software Startup - INFINITEACH - AN 1871 ALUM

A brother with autism led to this software startup

By: Will Thwaites

Photo by Will ThwaitesKaite Hench

Katie Hench's younger brother was diagnosed with autism at the age of 6. The diagnosis came late for how severe his characteristics were, but in rural Ohio where they grew up in the '90s, understanding of the disorder was limited. “I watched my parents struggle to find the right resources for him and struggle to help the school understand the needs that he had,” Hench says.

Parents and teachers struggle today, too, as the number of diagnoses of autistic children rises—1 of every 68 is diagnosed with some degree of autism. To help them, Hench took her expertise as a special-education teacher and applied it to a scalable pursuit: developing educational iPad apps for children with autism. Along with co-founders Christopher Flint and Lally Daley, Hench, 32, launched Infiniteach in 2013.

Though none of Infiniteach's founders knew how to write software, Hench's master's degree from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business gave them the confidence they needed to dive into entrepreneurship. Using money from family and friends, they hired contract developers to do the initial coding. Since then, Infiniteach has garnered nearly 60,000 downloads of its first app, Skill Champ, which teaches 10 lessons, such as recognizing emotions and matching colors.

“We led with our passion,” says Hench, the startup's CEO.

What makes the company attractive to investors—it received $320,000 in a second round of funding in May—is that social impact and financial success are inseparable. This also is why Infiniteach was admitted into Impact Engine's 2014 class of startups and given a total of $40,000 by the accelerator.

“We look for companies where the social impact is baked into the product,” says Jessica Droste Yagan, CEO of Chicago-based Impact Engine. “The more they sell their product, the more they are creating affordable access to early-intervention autism resources.”

This year, Infiniteach doubled its headcount to six. It also moved into Literacenter, a new workspace in West Loop “focused exclusively on literacy organizations.” And this month, it will launch its second application, Infiniteach: Autism Core Skills. The application, which costs $100 a year, features activities, such as counting objects or matching shapes, that cover three areas of development: academic (reading and math), social and communication.

It will compete with digital products geared toward children with autism, such as VizZle from Monarch Teaching Technologies and Camp Discovery from the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, as well software for a more general audience of early learners, such as Starfall from Starfall Education Foundation.

While Infiniteach: Autism Core Skills is customizable and Common Core-aligned, one of app's biggest assets is backend data collection. Parents, educators and therapists can track a student's progress, adjusting their approach accordingly.

As for Hench's brother, he's now 27, works at a day program and competes in Special Olympics sports. “He still faces challenges,” she says, “but overall is doing really well.”

How Chicago edtech companies are rising to the head of the class

Brad Spirrison

3/23/2015 @ 2:15:07 PM

You could put it on the blackboard! Yes, Chicago is an epicenter for educational innovation.

Earlier this month, two Chicago-based education technology companies - ThinkCERCA(who we told you about last year) and Classkick - raised institutional venture capital rounds. And while both companies are individually impressive and already influential in the burgeoning edtech sector, they have a lot of corporate classmates in the Windy City that are also attracting strategic and pure venture capital.

As we write about regularly, instructional delivery models in education - particularly within K-12 - are rapidly transforming. Educators have access to more digital resources than at any point in history and are using a combination of apps, videos, and websites to flip their classrooms, personalize instruction, and assess student performance both individually and in aggregate.

Startups, often founded by educators who sense opportunity amidst all of this disruption, smell blood.

“Big companies with top-down approaches and highly paid sales teams don’t get what startups are good at,” explains Howard Tullman, longtime entrepreneur (edtech and otherwise) and CEO of Chicago’s digital media incubator 1871. “But what startups need to understand is that they have to solve the adoption issue (of their product) first, and then they can worry about writing a giant contract.”

Combining the best of both worlds

In recent years, several 1871 edtech companies have raised angel, institutional and corporate venture capital.

ThinkCERCA, which creatively couples informational text and reading assignments for students grades 4-12 with Common Core-aligned assessments, in March raised $3.2 million in venture capital in a round led by the venture capital arm (managed by Atrium Capital) of Chicago area educational publishing pioneer Follett. Other investors included Chicago-based Math Venture Partners, Amicus Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and angel investor/OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton. ThinkCERCA has previously raised $1.5 million from individual investors.

Beyond the capital from Follet, which will be deployed to sales and engineering talent, ThinkCERCA CEO Eileen Murphy (a former Chicago public school teacher and administrator) sees relationships to tap into from a company that was founded two years after the Chicago fire (1873).

“One thing that Follett can bring today is a lot of credibility with customers, which helps us stand out.” We have yet to work out all of the details of the partnership, but we are figuring out how to leverage their enormous network of schools.”

Follett CEO Mary Lee Schneider concurs.

“Follett works with more than 70,000 schools across the country,” she said, “and through this partnership, we’ll be able to expand ThinkCERCA’s reach, as well as foster developments that will make the technology even more effective and easier to use.”

ClassKick, another Chicago edtech company to recently raise venture capital, has already attracted customers nationwide and in 75 countries around the globe with its slick technology that lets teachers individually monitor students in their classrooms as they are working on problems on their iPads. The company raised a $1.7 million seed round led by leading edtech investor Kapor Capital, Lightbank, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Yammer founder Adam Pisoni. ClassKick’s founders hail from Teach for America and Google.

Other 1871 edtech companies that have either recently raised significant outside capital or are expected to include Learnmetrics (an analytics company that aims to do for educational data what Mint.com does for financial data), NextTier Education (which is reimagining the college application process) and Infiniteach (developer of the Skill Champ app for students with autism).

Beyond funding

Edtech companies springing up at 1871 and other Chicago locations are also benefiting from local organizations like Leap Innovations and DV X Labs. Founded by former New Schools for Chicago CEO Phyllis Lockett, Leap Innovations is based in 1871 and helps educators discover the best new educational innovations (while also providing feedback to edtech developers). DV X Labs, a joint venture between 1871 and DeVry, is an accelerator for edtech companies seeking to pilot and market their offerings.

Of course the best resource for an early stage edtech company (in Chicago or otherwise), explains 1871’s Tullman, is a good customer relationship management system.

“They need a good CRM program to find champions and advocates within schools, and not spend too much time on marketing to everybody,” he says. “I wouldn’t even call it viral. It’s simply class warfare.”

Game Changers in Education at 1871

Present Game Changers in Education A Showcase of Educators, Entrepreneurs, and Funders Leading Chicago's Education Technology Community Date: February 25, 2015 Time: 6-8:30 pm Place: 1871 Auditorium 222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1212 What:  Food, drink, and program $10 Tickets Chicago is setting the bar for the nation when it comes to innovation in education. Come meet those blazing the trail, including speakers:   Entrepreneurs Christopher Flint, Infiniteach Brian Hill, Jail Education Solutions Eileen Murphy, ThinkCerca   Educators Steve McWade, Spencer Tech Academy Melissa Zaikos, IntrinsicSchools   Funders Mark Achler, Math Venture Partners Heather Anichini, The Chicago Public Education Fund Courtney VanLonkhuyzen, Motorola Mobility Foundation With special thanks to our sponsor: And deep appreciation of our partners:

Women at work: Creating opportunity, adding voice in tech industry at 1871

By Sandra Guy Staff Reporter May 24, 2014 8:30PM

Two women spearheading digital startup companies at the 1871 tech hub say their new, male-dominated environment poses challenges, but ones that enliven and inform them.

Jamie Migdal, a serial entrepreneur who has grown three successful brick-and-mortar pet-care companies, in late July is launching an online career and networking site for the pet-care industry — think Match.com for pet-care businesses, employees and would-be workers.

The site, FetchFind.com, now in private beta, aims to improve professionalism in the industry by letting businesses find qualified, passionate and dedicated employees.

After working almost exclusively with other women throughout her 18-year entrepreneurial career, Migdal said she has met only a couple of other women who have founded their own companies since she moved to 1871 in January.

She has learned to be OK with seeing few other women in the shared space, and has turned it to her advantage.

“I feel accomplished, special and like I can make a huge difference because I’m bringing a voice to the tech industry,” she said, adding that she has mentored men and women for many years and values having both on her company’s board.

There’s another incentive: her 21/2 year-old daughter, Sadie.

“I feel I’m building a legacy for her,” Migdal said. “I really want to show her what women can do to challenge assumptions and create opportunities.”

Migdal, 43, is creating FetchFind after pet-care business owners begged her to help them deal with high worker turnover, and ambitious pet owners sought her advice for starting their own firms. “The pet-care industry is a $60 billion industry that has very little technology or sophistication to help move it forward,” said the Elk Grove Village native, who lives in Wicker Park.

FetchFind employs three and just closed on a $275,000 round of friends-and-family fundraising.

Her status comes from starting Out-U-Go!, a now nationally franchised pet-sitting company; AnimalSense Training and Behavior and CanineLink Training and Career Academy. Migdal sold Out-U-Go 14 years ago, and marvels at its growth. She sold AnimalSense to former student and employee Lindsay Rapp, who in May sold it to Paradise 4 Paws, a national airport-based pet hotel firm.

Katie Hench is CEO and co-founder with friend Christopher Flint, of Infiniteach, a digital learning platform that sells interactive, individualized lessons for people with autism.

Hench, 31, of Lincoln Park, spent her career in the female-dominated world of education, including as a special education teacher and training specialist for families with children with autism at the Chicago Children’s Museum and Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago.

That changed a year ago, when Infiniteach launched its first iPad app, Skill Champ. A key player in the app’s creation is Infiniteach partner and chief networking officer Lally Daley, the youngest daughter of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and a clinical community psychology doctoral student at DePaul University.

Company founders have raised $550,000 in a friends-and-family fundraiser. They moved into the 1871 tech hub in early September.

Hench said her new status as part of a female minority, where she often is the only woman at a table of 10 men, has made her appreciate the value of both perspectives. “When you speak up (as a woman), there is maybe something new here that the other 10 brains didn’t think of.”

Hench has seen it when co-founder Flint proposes a big idea for a product or service, and she quizzes him about how it would fit in families’ day-to-day lives.

“I will never be a (software) coder, but I will continue to be one who investigates what I’m asking of others,” she said, noting that being an entrepreneur is foreign to her risk-averse nature.

Hench is encouraged by the willingness of women at 1871 to mentor and help one another. “It makes this a stronger community,” she said.

Neither Migdal nor Hench plans to move to 1871’s new female-focused FEMtech incubator for women-owned startups because of the valued role that men play in their companies — though Migdal hasn’t ruled it out.

Migdal and Hench are among 28 percent of companies who work out of 1871 that have a woman on the founding team. Nationwide, 5 percent of of tech startup founders are women, according to Shaherose Charania, co-founder and CEO of Women 2.0.

Wale Taiwo, a senior recruiter at Chicago-based ITADMN, an IT resourcing firm, says women locally often experience a tough time finding jobs because they don’t have enough experience, and he has seen many start their own businesses.

Email: sguy@suntimes.com

Twitter: @sandraguy