1871 CEO Howard Tullman
–December 2013 Founders’ Stories—
The vastly talented entrepreneur has spent his life creating companies. Here’s why 1871 is the next place to take his heart.
Our December 2013 guest was Howard Tullman, the new CEO of 1871 and an accomplished entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He’s held the title of CEO of a number of companies, including Tunes.com, CCC Information Services, and Cobalt Group — and that’s just the beginning of the list. And believe it or not, his first ten years in the professional world years were actually spent practicing law.
In this edition of Chicago Founders’ Stories, we spent some time learning about some of his early startups, Cobalt Group (which recently sold to ADP for $400M) and Tunes.com, and hearing what brought him to 1871 and why Chicago is a great place for startups.
Don’t miss his thoughts on how to implement grand “whiteboard ideas”, the importance of hard work and passion over anything else, and why he believes Chicago’s premier tech incubator is a very special place.
Content Breakdown:
0:00 Howard’s backstory
15:45 How Howard moved from being a lawyer to working in the auto insurance technology industry
22:40 What to do when a perfect whiteboard idea doesn’t work out
36:06 On Cobalt and managing the vertical chain
44:08 On founding Tunes and finding the future in digital music
49:15 Q+A
Essential Quotes:
“When you raise money, if things go super well it will cost you 10x more money.” @tullman with @patryanchicago http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“Tunes was one of the worst adventures and best adventures of my life.” @Tullman at @ChiFounders with @PatRyanChicago http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“You think it’s easy to construct 30 years of reviews, photographs, etc. No one can do that.” @Tullman on Tunes http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“Hard work wins over just about everything, including native brilliance and fabulous ideas.” @Tullman at @ChiFounders http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“We may not outsmart everybody, but we will outwork them.” @Tullman to @PatRyanChicago at @ChiFounders http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“You can train people to do things, but you can’t train them to care.” @Tullman at @ChiFounders with @PatRyanChicago http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
What @Tullman looks for in promising entrepreneurs: “Work ethic and passion.” @ChiFounders @PatRyanChicago http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE #startups Tweet this
“I couldn’t be more excited about #Chicago. I think both of the coasts suck.” @Tullman on #startups at @ChiFounders http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“I don’t think there’s a better place you could be right now to start a company [than #Chicago]” @Tullman on #startups http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“Everything in the world is an iterative process.” @Tullman to @PatRyanChicago at @ChiFounders http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
“I think @1871chicago is a completely special place.” @Tullman at @ChiFounders with @PatRyanChicago #startups http://bit.ly/1b9xgeE Tweet this
