1871 and MATTER included in huge WBC FORTUNE Magazine spread on Chicago Bull Market

 CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE PAGE 

An open letter to women and men in tech from Maria Katris - CEO of Built In Chicago

I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT POST TO SHARE.  I HAVE WORKED WITH MARIA  ON PROJECTS AND AS A MEMBER OF HER ADVISORY BOARD AND ON MORE LATE NIGHTS AND FRANTIC WEEKENDS THAN ANYONE SHOULD EVER HAVE TO. SHE IS ALWAYS THERE WHEN YOU NEED HER. THAT'S JUST THE NATURE OF THE START UP WORLD. THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, SHE HAS BEEN A COMPLETE PROFESSIONAL, A GOOD FRIEND AND A TREMENDOUS AND TALENTED LEADER. 

An open letter to women and men in tech

posted by Maria Christopoulos Katris

on 06/05/2014 11:22 am

To all women and men in tech,

For those who know me well I am not one to come out publicly on many issues, yet given the commentary, articles and actions of both sides regarding the Techweek email sent earlier this week I honestly felt it was my obligation as a mother, entrepreneur and female CEO to respond and share my personal experience and advice with other female and male entrepreneurs. The below may not be what you expected but I do hope it resonates and helps to move everyone forward. Everyone is responsible.  

Why I am writing this? I am a mom to two (soon-to-be three) girls, a wife to a successful husband raised by a single, working mother and grandmother, sister to a female plastic surgeon and a daughter to immigrant parents who are both pharmacists and entrepreneurs. In our family, male or female, we were taught to work hard, stay humble, pay our dues and reach for the stars - regardless of sex. So yes, it does start with parenting and how you choose to raise your kids from a young age. Nothing matters more and this is why I feel strongly about the below.

What Works (to promote female entrepreneurs)

1. At Home...

• Raising daughters to believe they can be anything they want to be and pushing them in this direction.
• Raising sons who respect their mothers, sisters, aunts and female friends as equals.
• Having fathers and mothers alike co-parent their kids and get as involved irregardless if one parent stays home (because let's be honest here, being a stay-at-home parent is a fulltime career). 

2. And In The Workplace...

As investors, invest in entrepreneurs regardless of sex-actually write a check!

I recently went through the fundraising process (consider this the most formal announcement but yes, we raised a seed round from some awesome investors including Joe Mansueto, Dundee VC, The Pritzker Group, David Cohen, Ellen Carnahan and Jumpstart Ventures) and look forward to growing the Built In network) and feel confident I can speak intelligently on this one as I encountered it all. 

I was fortunate to have Ellen Carnahan, a female investor, be the first "yes" to invest in our round before even seeing a full deck. Why? Because Ellen has known me personally for over three years, has watched me grow Built In and immediately saw the vision for the company. This wasn't philanthropy and this wasn't Ellen being nice. She saw the potential and could see my passion. She had a successful career in Venture Capital and now spends all of her time investing in, and mentoring, the next generation. And she was willing to write a check.

On the other end, both Joe Mansueto (Founder & CEO of Morningstar) and Mark Hasebroock (Partner, Dundee VC) said "yes" after meeting and hearing the Built In story, progress and vision because of the business, our team and the metrics - not because they knew me well personally-they judged the business on its merits. Joe has been following Built In through quarterly updates provided by Matt Moog (Built In Founder and Chairman). Once, at an event, Matt Moog shared with me that Joe stood in a boardroom of mostly male CEOs and said how every business should be built like "Built In".  Now, that works. Joe looks at metrics, is humble and hardworking. Joe did not care nor did he comment on the fact that I am the CEO - he was commenting on the success of the company. It is these discreet moments that help to define a company and propel female CEOs forward.  It is a highly respected male CEO publicly touting the success of a female-run company. Needless to say, Joe led our round and I will never be able to fully articulate the incredible amount of respect I have for him. 

As a female, surround yourself with males and females who support your career and steer away from those who don't

So it's been written about before, but as a female it is super important to surround yourself with males who view you as an equal, and women who are not threatened by your success.  Let me elaborate...

Matt Moog hired me to run something he started after knowing me for less than six months. Matt saw my passion for Built In and took a chance.  Why? I personally believe it has a lot to do with Matt's innate respect for successful females and mothers. Matt's wife, Lucy, is incredibly bright and had an amazing career in politics before choosing to stay at home and raise their three boys. Matt also has a track record of working with successful women and mothers as he had Jolie Fleming as his right hand for years at both CoolSavings and Viewpoints.  

But why I have an incredible amount of respect for Matt's support of my career is in the details: 

• He gave me the title of CEO because he wanted everyone else to understand that I ran the company, not him.
• When a certain reporter in town kept referring to Matt as "running Built In Chicago" Matt was the first to correct him and say, actually "Maria is the CEO."
• When male CEOs in the community sent emails introducing Matt as the CEO of Built In Matt would quickly correct them and bring me into the conversation..it took about a year for everyone to accept this fact but had it not been for Matt, all would continue to view me as an event planner or Matt's assistant:)
• When Matt was invited to moderate a panel of Governors and could not attend, he volunteered me into this role. 
• When Matt could not participate in a panel event with the Mayor, he volunteered me again. 

And this is why I have a tremendous amount of respect and gratitude for Matt and why more males need to take cues from his actions.  

On the flipside, I surround myself with other successful female entrepreneurs and leaders such as Amanda Lannert and Desiree Vargas Wrigley.  Why? Because they are mothers, wives and CEOs who have built successful businesses and I admire them because we talk about our respective businesses, challenges, etc.  We don't sit around and discuss how it sucks to be a female CEO and how we got the short end of the stick.  We all had the same opportunities (albeit a lot of inappropriate comments along the way) as our male counterparts and are all facing the same challenges (with some additional challenges like being pregnant while fundraising).

So here you have concrete examples of what works.  It is not about having conversations, isolating women, establishing all-women groups, panels, forums, incubators, etc.  It's about treating women as equals and SHOWING it by investing in them, inviting them to attend events mostly male-dominated, supporting their careers, etc.

What doesn't work and the challenges we have...

1. Segregation

I've heard multiple points of views throughout the years on "women in tech" and promoting female entrepreneurs and to be honest, each time, I roll my eyes and stay far away from the conversation.  It's not because I don't think women need to be supported it's because these tactics DO NOT work.  I have once in my career sat on an all-female panel and vowed to never do it again.  Why? Because it doesn't help, it actually hurts.  Separating out women and men further perpetuates the issue.  The whole point is to treat us as equals. Have you ever seen a panel titled "men in tech". 

2. Oh, the inappropriate comments.

While running Built In and also going through the fundraising process I encountered a lot of interesting comments which included the following:

"Is this a hobby?"

"Where do you want to be in 3 years, personally?"

"This is going to be hard, you will have to travel a lot"

"I really like you, and want to be supportive...."

"Hey hottie"

"You look good"

So what do I do? I stay far away from the males who treat me as their girlfriend or daughter (you will figure this out quickly as a female) and instead stay close to those who treat me as an equal and have productive conversations with me regarding business, life, investments, etc. 

Now, do these comments offend me and/or bother me? Sure. Do they stop me from running my business, accomplishing what I want to do, etc? No. And they never will. I would rather keep my head down, build a successful company and end my career mentoring and investing in younger entrepreneurs.  I do believe these comments are a distraction and unproductive. Everyone needs to talk less and act more.  And women and men alike need to recognize that the best progress will be made by continuing to build and operate successful businesses that are inclusive and treat men and women equally.

So with that, I will get back to building Built In and helping all of you build your businesses. Let's focus on content, not parties.  Let's focus on action, not words.

Maria

Who made the list? Techweek Chicago reveals its Techweek 100

Brenna Berman, Commissioner and CIO – City of Chicago – Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology (More on Brenna Berman ) (City of Chicago photo )

‹›

Email

448

10

By Amina Elahi, @aminamania , Blue Sky Reporter
June 3, 2014, 10 a.m.

The Techweek Chicago 100 list announced Tuesday includes 142 names, a nod to previous honorees who said recognition should be shared among an organization's top players.

The list previously featured 100 individuals; now it covers 100 organizations.

Techweek chairman Iain Shovlin said the Techweek team combs nominations submitted through its website for winners who have had “some sort of event or momentum in the last year.” 

The list features newsmakers such as Braintree CEO Bill Ready, whose company was bought by PayPal for $800 million last fall, and Matt Maloney, the CEO and co-founder of GrubHub, which made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in February.

Newcomers include Aaron Dallek and Dr. Steven Lee, co-founders of Opternative, a startup that’s preparing to offer online eye exams this summer; Larry Baker and Charlie Tribbett, co-founders of bolstr, a platform that connects accredited investors to local businesses; and Brenna Berman, commissioner and CIO for the city of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology.

Those recognized are startup founders, investors, government officials, corporate innovators and members of the media. Andrea Hanis, editor of Blue Sky Innovation, is on the list.

“We recognize at Techweek that an ecosystem comes from multiple facets, and we try and recognize the entire ecosystem,” Shovlin said.

The list includes just 18 women, or 13 percent of the total. Shovlin said improving diversity in tech is an important goal, but nominees are not evaluated based on it.

“The reality is, we look across lines; we don’t look at gender or race or anything, we look at leaders,” Shovlin said. “If there’s not as much diversity on that list, we’re needing to make more progress and make sure there’s diversity in the community.”

Techweek is a for-profit company based in Chicago. The 2014 list, which is presented unranked, also features 21 names from the technology festival’s 36-person executive advisory board. Microsoft is the Chicago conference’s presenting sponsor, and there are dozens of others, including Tribune Media Group. The Chicago Tribune is a media partner.

View the schedule for the fourth annual Techweek Chicago conference, which runs June 26 to June 28, here. 

The Techweek 100 full list:

• Mark Achler, Managing Director, Math Venture Partners L.P.

• Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CSO, ContextMedia

• Ethan Austin, Co-Founder & President, GiveForward

• Larry Baker, Co-Founder, bolstr

• Jerry Bednyak, Co-Founder, CTO & CMO, Vivid Seats

• Brenna Berman, Commissioner and CIO, City of Chicago Dept. of Innovation and Technology

• Ben Blair, Co-Founder & CTO, MarkITx

• Don Bora, Co-Founder & Principal in Technology, Eight Bit Studios

• Rona Borre, Founder & CEO, Instant Technology

• George Bousis, Founder & CEO, Raise Greg Buchholz, founder & CEO, SpringCM

• Gabriel Burt, CTO, Civis Analytics

• Jeff Conlon, Co-Founder & CEO, Everspring

• Andrew Cronk, Co-Founder & CEO, TempoDB

• Brandon Cruz, Founder, President & CTO, GoHealth

• Zak Dabbas, Co-Founder CEO, Punchkick Interactive

• Aaron Dallek, Co-Founder & CEO, Opternative

• Linda Darragh, Executive Director, Northwestern University Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative

• Sarah Doherty, Founder & CTO, telehealthnow

• Jim Dugan, Co-Founder, CEO & Managing Partner, OCA Venture Partners

• John Dugan, Co-Founder & General Partner, OCA Venture Partners

• Rahm Emanuel, Mayor, City of Chicago

• Aaron Firestein, Co-Founder & Chief Artist, Bucketfeet

• Brian Fitzpatrick, Engineering Manager, Google

• Jeffrey (Jeff) T. Foland, Executive Vice President, marketing, technology and strategy, United

• Jason Fried, Co-Founder & CEO, Basecamp

• Gian Fulgoni, Chairman Emeritus and Co-Founder, comScore

• Jim Gagnard, Venture Partner, Hyde Park Venture Partners

• Rich Gallun, CEO, bswift

• Chris Girgenti, Managing Partner, Pritzker Group Venture Capital

• Chris Gladwin, Founder & Vice Chairman, Cleversafe

• Jodi Glickman, Founder & President, Great On The Job

• Sarah Gray, Senior Developer, Trunk Club

• Gabe Greenbaum, VP, Pritzker Group Venture Capital

• Ken Griffin, Founder & CEO, Citadel Inc.

• Brian Hand, Co-Founder, FireStarter Fund

• Andrea Hanis, Editor, Blue Sky Innovation

• David Heinemeier, Hansson, Co-Founder and CTO, Basecamp

• Barney Harford, CEO, Orbitz Worldwide

• Jason Heltzer, General Partner, OCA Ventures

• Troy Henikoff, Executive Director, Techstars

• Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association

• Justyn Howard, Founder & CEO, Sprout Social

• Dave Husain, Co-Founder & CEO, Leapfrog Online

• Peter Ianello, Co-Founder & general partner, OCA Venture Partners

• Amit Jhawar, COO, Braintree

• Sean Johnson, Partner, Digital Intent

• Clint Jones, Co-Founder & CEO, GoHealth

• Steve Kaplan, Professor/Faculty Director, University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

• Maria Katris, CEO, Built In

• Brad Keywell, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lightbank

• Marc Kiven, Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, BrightTag Inc.

• Jeremy Klein, Co-Founder & CEO, TableSAVVY

• Scott Kluth, President & Founder, CouponCabin.com

• Steve Koch, Deputy Mayor, City of Chicago

• Rana Komar, General Manager Chicago, Weber Shandwick

• Mark Koulogeorge, Managing General Partner, MK Capital

• Seth Kravitz, Co-Founder, Technori

• Logan LaHive, Founder & CEO, Belly

• Amanda Lannert, CEO, Jellyvision Lab

• Stuart Larkins, Partner, Chicago Ventures

• Paul Lee, General Partner, Lightbank

• Dr. Steven Lee, Co-Founder & EVP, Opternative

• Eric Lefkofsky, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lightbank

• Peter Liu, Founder, Chairman, VentureUp

• Maya Lopuch, director of Learning & Analytics, eSpark Learning

• Rob Lowe, CEO, Wellspring

• Katy Lynch, President, SocialKaty

• Jessica Malkin, Executive Director, Chicago Ideas Week

• Matt Maloney, Co-Founder & CEO, GrubHub

• Joe Mansueto, Chairman & CEO, Morningstar

• Michael Marasco, Clinical Full Professor and Director, Northwestern University - Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

• Justin Massa, Founder & CEO, Food Genius

• Serge Matta, CEO, comScore

• Bret Maxwell, Managing General Partner, MK Capital

• Matt McCall, Partner, Pritzker Group Venture Capital

• Mike McGee, Co-Founder, The Starter League

• Ben Milne, Founder & CEO, Dwolla

• Matt Moog, Founder & CEO, Viewpoints

• John Morris, President & CEO, Cleversafe

• Jon Morris, CEO, Rise Interactive

• Dirk Mueller-Ingrand, Co-Founder and CEO, tradeMONSTER Group, Inc.

• Frank Muscarello, Co-Founder & CEO, MarkITx

• Raaja Nemani, Co-Founder & CEO, Bucketfeet

• Mark F. O'Connell, President & CEO, SAVO Group

• Jim O'Connor, Jr., Interim CEO, CEC

• Bill (William) Oesterle, CEO and Co-Founder, Angie's List

• Paul Pagel, CEO and Co-Founder, 8th Light

• Deepika Pandey, VP, Online strategy & customer experience, Walgreen

• Andrew Parkinson, Founder, Chairman, President & General Manager, Peapod

• Jack Philbin, Co-Founder, President, & CEO, Vibes Media

• John Pletz, Senior Reporter, Crain's Chicago

• J.B. Pritzker, Co-Founder & Managing Partner,  ritzker Group Venture Capital

• Dhiraj Rajaram, Co-Founder & CEO, Mu Sigma

• Aaron Rankin, Co-Founder & CTO, Sprout Social

• Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree

• Harper Reed, CEO, Modest

• Dylan Richard, Founder & CTO, Modest

• Thomas Richards, Chairman & CEO, CDW

• Shawn Riegsecker, Founder & CEO, Centro

• Sam Rosen, Founding Partner, One Design Company

• Kristi Ross, Co-CEO & President, Dough / Tastytrade

• Ellen Rudnick, Executive Director, University of Chicago - Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

• Doug Ryan, President San Francisco & Chicago, Digitas North America

• Tom Ryan, CEO, Threadless

• Michael Sachs, Co-Founder, bswift

• Sanjib Sahoo, CTO, TradeMonster Group, Inc.

• Neal Sales-Griffin, CEO, The Starter League

• Mike Sands, President & CEO, BrightTag Inc.

• Jon Schepke, CEO, SIM Partners

• J Schwan, Founder & CEO, Solstice Mobile

• Rishi Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, ContextMedia

• Irv Shapiro, CEO & CTO, Ifbyphone

• Eric Sheinkop, Co-Founder, President, & CEO, Music Dealers

• Jai Shekhawat, Co-Founder & CEO, Fieldglass

• Wes Shepherd, CEO, ChannelIQ

• Andrew Sieja, President & CEO, kCura

• Jeff Silver, CEO, Coyote Logistics

• Michael Small, President & CEO, Gogo, Inc.

• Tom Sosnoff, Co-CEO, Dough / Tastytrade

• Brian Spaly, CEO, Trunk Club

• Emerson Spartz, CEO, Spartz Media

• Bobby Stephens, President & COO, Bucketfeet

• Sheila Talton, President, CEO, Grey Matter Analytics

• Chuck Templeton, Chairman of the Board, Impact Engine

• Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Vivaki

• John Tracy, CTO, Boeing

• Charlie Tribbett, Co-Founder, bolstr

• Howard Tullman, CEO, 1871

• Guy Turner, Managing Partner, Hyde Park Venture Partners

• Craig Ulliott, CTO & VP Product, Belly

• Ryan Unger, Co-Founder & CTO, Punchkick Interactive

• Eric Vassilatos, Co-Founder, Vivid Seats

• David Vinca, Founder & CEO, eSpark Learning

• Dan Wagner, FFounder & CEO, Civis Analytics

• Tony Weisman, CEO, Digitas North America

• Jim Wicks, CVP, Consumer Experience Design, Motorola

• Kevin Willer, Partner, Chicago Ventures

• Craig Wortmann, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and CEO and Founder, University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

• Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Co-founder & CEO, GiveForward

• Sam Yagan, CEO, Match.com

• Michael Yagley, Co-Founder & CTO, TempoDB

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN APPEARS on WHAT WORKS CHICAGO PANEL with MAYOR EMANUEL and other mayors

What Works: Chicago

Register here

In conjunction with POLITICO Magazine's yearlong reporting project, POLITICO will host its inaugural What Works event, the first in a national series of conversations around the future of cities. Can the Rust Belt really become the Tech Belt? Can robots save a city's economy and reinvent its jobs? Why isn't my city the next Silicon Valley?

 

We’ve lined up speakers who will explore how technology and data are redefining and rebuilding cities. Headline speakers include: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, with special guests Maria Katris, CEO of Built In, Prof. Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871.

 

When: April 9; 8:30 a.m.

Where: Chase Towers; 21 S. Clark St.; Chicago, Ill.

 

Join the conversation: Tweet @POLITICOEvents using #WhatWorks and for more information about the series, visit POLITICO Magazine's What Works hub.

 

Should you have any questions about the event, please e-mail: whatworks@POLITICO.com.

 

A message from our partner:

For more information on New Skills at Work Visit: www.newskillsatwork.com.

BUILT IN CHICAGO DESIGN CONFERENCE AT MORNINGSTAR

BUILT IN CHICAGO - TOP 12 POSTS OF 2012

 

Blogs

The Top 12 Posts of 2012

posted by Adam Calica

 

 

	Hire Passionate People and Get Out of Their Way By: Howard Tullman
	Pitching at Excelerate’s Demo Day By: Guillaume Martin
	1871 - Let's Build Something By: Matt Moog
	Code Academy Evolves into The Starter League and Partners with 37signals By: Amina Elahi
	The Top 100 Digital Companies in Chicago [INFOGRAPHIC] By: Maria Katris
	Why Would Anyone Abandon the White Hot Subscription-Based Business Model? By: Sharon Schneider
	3 (correct) Predictions Saved By the Bell Made About the 2012 Startup Scene By: JC Garret
	Top 10 Tactics To Marketing Your Product Launch With $0 By: David Albert
	Videos of The Moxie Award Winners! via NBC 5
	Why I Sold My Startup Instead Of Taking VC Money By: Ross Gordon
	How to Do Everything Wrong & Win Startup Weekend By: Jennifer Thomas
	The Women Driving Chicago's Digital Renaissance By: Amina Elahi