1871 MEMBER COMPANIES PRESENT AT HIGHTOWER APEX CONFERENCE SHARK CAGE COMPETITION

OPTIONS AWAY

OPEN AIRPLANE

RIPPLESHOT

VESTED WORLD

                                                  OPTIONS AWAY - THE WINNER

HighTower Hosts Visionaries and Iconoclasts at Apex

Jeffrey Gundlach Predicts No Fed Interest Hike in 2015; Daniel Pink Upends the Art of Sales, and Attendees Pick Shark Cage Winner at Second Annual Apex Conference

CHICAGO — June XX, 2015 — HighTower’s second annual Apex conference, held June 2-4, brought provocative insights from the financial services industry and beyond to over 300 attendees at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago. Keynoters Jeffrey Gundlach and Daniel Pink set the pace for a high-powered roster of speakers, addressing the trends and challenges that will shape the industry for years to come.

“When brilliant thinkers and industry iconoclasts come together, new opportunities for disruption emerge,” said HighTower CEO Elliot Weissbluth. “Our second annual Apex event captured the dynamic culture of innovation, growth and collaboration that drives HighTower’s elite advisors.”

Mr. Gundlach, CEO and CIO of DoubleLine Capital, predicted the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in 2015, contrary to popular belief. “When hourly earnings are rising, that’s a good signal the Fed will raise rates,” he said. A renowned expert in bond and fixed-income investments, Mr. Gundlach also countered the notion that junk bonds do well in a rising interest-rate environment, stating that the data does not back up that belief.

Mr. Pink is the author of five provocative books, including the long-running New York Times bestsellers “A Whole New Mind,” and “Drive.” Discussing his latest bestseller, “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others,” he offered a fresh take on the art and science of sales. “Having access to information doesn’t give you an advantage – the ability to curate information does,” he said, stressing that careful listening is key to understanding a client’s interests.

In addition to the keynote speakers, this year’s event included a session entitled “The Power of Brand,” featuring Mr. Weissbluth and Steve Hayden, co-creator of the famous “1984” campaign for Apple and one of the most celebrated and admired creative leaders in advertising. Mr. Hayden, who worked closely with Mr. Weissbluth on the development of the HighTower brand, said brand building is a “steady investment…brands are more important than ever [because they] are ownable. They save us time and money.”

The HighTower Shark Cage featured four startup companies in Chicago’s 1871 incubator for digital designers, engineers and entrepreneurs, who presented their companies’ value propositions and offerings to the financial services industry. They were then judged by a panel of three innovator executives: Howard Tullman of 1871, Jud Bergman of Envestnet and Steve Hayden of Ogilvy. The audience vote went to Robert Brown’s “Options Away,” which offers airline options as a cheap and convenient way to hold the best airfare price while you finalize travel plans.

For media inquiries, please contact Melinda Brodbeck, Jennifer Connelly Public Relations (JCPR), at 973-850-7348 or mbrodbeck@jcprinc.com.

About HighTower

HighTower is an industry-leading financial services firm offering a unique platform that blends objective wealth management advice with innovative technology. Our dedication to transparency in wealth management for investors and comprehensive support for independent advisors sets us apart. See www.hightoweradvisors.com.

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1871 Company Rippleshot Selected for SixThirty Accelerator in St. Louis

SixThirty Announces Spring 2015 Accelerator Cohort

St. Louis

Accelerator

 

Will Schmidt

@WJS1988

April 22, 2015

 

SixThirty might not invest in as many companies as other accelerators, but that’s because they give each of their selected startups a $100,000 investment. And it’s not like there are only a few people applying for the young, but powerful, accelerator either: this year close to 100 applications for the Spring 2015 class came in.

To date they’ve made 18 investments in 15 different companies, 11 of which are located outside of St. Louis and two of which are international startups. They also opt for later seed-stage fintech startups with working products.

In exchange for the $100,000 investment, each company exchanges a negotiated percentage of equity, usually between three and ten percent. And three of the six companies in this class also participated in the Fall 2014 cohort.

Selected participants will receive hands on training, mentoring, and networking opportunities with the top financial services companies in the region. The cohort will run from April 14 to July 16 and will be housed in the T-REx incubator space in downtown St. Louis. Companies will have a direct pipeline to follow-on funding, as well as opportunities to pitch to business leaders and potential clients.

SixThirty’s Spring 2015 class is:

• Bandura, St. Louis, MO: Bandura is a revenue­-producing cyber security software company delivering automated IP threat intelligence technologies to stop network cyber attacks and data leakage for Financial Services, Healthcare, Energy, Government.
• DAVO Technologies, Portland, ME: DAVO Technologies has a patented process that automatically collects, files, and pays sales tax for brick and mortar merchants.
• FinLocker, St. Louis, MO: FinLocker is a consumer-enabled financial locker, which reduces costs and risks for lenders via actionable financial information throughout the entire loan lifecycle.
• New Constructs, Nashville, TN: Stock, ETF, and mutual fund research based on uniquely thorough review of SEC filings, especially footnotes. New Constructs does the homework their clients do not have time to do.
• Public Funds Investment Tracking and Reporting (PFITR), St. Louis, MO: Investment accounting, analytics, and treasury management on fixed income portfolios. PFITR provides the technology for internal controls for compliance and transparency.
• Rippleshot, Chicago, IL: Rippleshot detects payment card data breaches, usually long before credit card issuers or merchants have any idea of the breach occurring.

1871 Member Company Rippleshot wins 2015 MET Most Innovative Award

Fraud protection company Rippleshot aims for bigger clients

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Small Business and Entrepreneurship Advertising and Marketing 1871

JOHN R. BOEHMRippleshot co-founder Canh Tran

Rippleshot

A fraud protection company for banks, credit unions and retailers

THE COMPANY: "Virtually every single breach you heard about last year, we've known about it weeks ahead of time," says Kaleigh Simmons, the marketing manager at Rippleshot. Her boss, co-founder and CEO Canh Tran, had worked in the fraud detection industry for more than a decade when a large credit card company approached him in 2010 with a problem: Half of all credit card fraud stemmed from data breaches, and that percentage was growing rapidly. Tran and his team developed an algorithm that determines the common point of purchase among compromised cards. Rippleshot's portal then sends out alerts so clients—banks, credit unions and retailers—can shut fraud down quickly.

Launched in early 2013, Rippleshot received an $800,000 round of seed funding from Chicago investment banker Dick Kiphart's KCG Capital. Today, the 13-person company is cash-positive (Tran declines to provide exact revenue) and has clients in four states. Rippleshot's "bread and butter" clients are credit union and small banks because they have limited in-house fraud protection and are hit with a disproportionate amount of the crime. (Data from small and midsized institutions sell for more on the black market than data from a Chase or Citi card—thieves know they won't be detected as quickly.) But Rippleshot wants to gain traction with bigger players. It just inked a deal with Mastercard. But it isn't clear how to keep that momentum going.

THE RECOMMENDATION: Before, Rippleshot's marketing approach was to wax rhapsodically about the technology's details. But after meeting with a marketing team comprising of reps from Payless ShoeSource, United Airlines and U.S. Cellular, a new strategy emerged. The company needs to stress brand protection. It also needs to partner with middlemen that have established relationships with Fortune 500 contacts to get in front of top executives.

THE RESULT: Simmons is compiling a list of third-party companies that sell data and operations tools to big clients.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Rippleshot should partner with a third party that has relationships with Fortune 500 companies.

1871 hosts marc usa chicago marketing sparks hackathon with 1871 member companies

MARC USA Chicago Partners with 1871 to Host Marketing Hack Event

Marketing Sparks Event Brings Together Chicago Startups and Marketers to develop communications and business development strategies

CHICAGO (December 4, 2014) – Four promising Chicago startups will be matched with leading Chicago marketing executives in the first local Marketing Sparks event. This three-hour marketing hack on Thursday, December 4th will be led by MARC USA’s Chicago office in partnership with 1871, the entrepreneurial hub for digital startups.

Marketing leaders from McDonalds, United Airlines, Caterpillar, US Cellular, Grainger, Payless ShoeSource, Buddig and CDW, among others, will join MARC USA’s Chicago leadership in developing actionable strategic and tactical marketing communications and business development ideas to help increase each startup company’s chances of success.  

MARC USA has hosted two Marketing Sparks events in Pittsburgh in partnership with local universities and incubators as a way to provide that city’s most innovative startups with critical advice on how to market their ideas.

“Young companies have very distinct needs, and our experience shows that when they can put innovative marketing ideas to work early in the business development process, it maximizes their opportunities for growth,” explained Jean McLaren, President of MARC USA Chicago.  “We recognized how successful our Marketing Sparks program was in Pittsburgh and saw an opportunity to bring it to Chicago’s growing startup community. We’ve invited senior marketers who enjoy getting together with their peers and working with young companies as a way to give back to their communities.” 

The Chicago Startups who are participating include: 

•         ParkNav, creators of an app that finds open parking spaces in cities 

•         Fetchfind, a match.com-like program for pet sitting companies seeking employees

•         Rippleshot, a credit card fraud detection company

•         Double Helix Group, real-time, cloud-based programs to support patient engagement between regular visits to health care providers

MARC USA selected 1871 as its partner in Chicago, recognizing its deep roots and success in developing and supporting innovative local entrepreneurs. The startups participating in the event were selected based on their readiness to act on the advice presented.  

“By providing quality, personalized support throughout our member companies’ development, 1871 ensures that our members have access to every resource they might need to help them succeed,” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman. “We are excited to partner with MARC USA in Chicago to offer this opportunity to our startups.”

The marketers who are joining the session represent a diverse pool of leaders across disciplines (PR, strategy, digital, creative and more) who are passionate and eager to share their knowledge. The Chicago Marketing Sparks will be held at 1871 in Chicago on December 4th from 6 – 9 pm. A website to support the effort has been launched at http://marketingsparks.org.  

About MARC USA

MARC USA is a national full-service integrated marketing communications firm known for uncovering radical insights that incite powerful reactions through a deeper understanding of whole-brain behavior. With offices in Chicago, Miami, Boston and Pittsburgh, 270 employees and more than $370 million in annual billings, it is one of the largest independent agencies in the country. Services include advertising, strategic planning, research, public relations, social marketing, media planning and buying, digital marketing, direct and customer relationship marketing and sales promotion.  

About 1871

1871 is an entrepreneurial incubator for digital startups. Home to over 300 companies, the 75,000-square-foot facility in The Merchandise Mart provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. Recently ranked 9th in the world in the 2014 UBI Index list of top university-associated business incubators, 1871 has become a global leader in the entrepreneurial community. 1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Marc USA Chicago brings in marketing mavens to give 1871 startups a leg up

Dec 5, 2014, 2:59pm CST

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Howard Tullman is the new CEO of Chicago tech hub 1871.

Lewis Lazare

Reporter-Chicago Business Journal

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Four startups housed at Chicago-based tech incubator 1871 got a very generous helping hand last night from Marc USAChicago. The local ad agency sponsored a "Marketing Sparks" confab to assist the select group of startups in expanding and sharpening their business development and marketing game plans as they begin to move out into the larger marketplace.

The four startups chosen by 1871 to participate in the three-hour session included ParkNav, a company with an app that finds open parking spaces in cities; Fetchfind, a Match.com-like program for petting-sitting companies seeking employees; Rippleshot, a credit card fraud detection company; and Double Helix Group, a company that develops cloud-based programs to support patient engagement between regular visits to health care providers.

At the invitation of Marc USA, marketing executives from a range of high-profile, well-established companies, including McDonald's, United Airlines, Caterpillar, U.S. Cellular, Grainger, Payless ShoeSource, Buddig and CDW, participated in the event and worked one-on-one during the session with staff from each startup.

Noted Jean McLaren, president of Marc USA Chicago: "Young companies have very distinct needs, and our experience shows that when they can put innovative marketing ideas to work early in the business development process, it maximizes their opportunities for growth."

The Chicago "Marketing Sparks" event comes in the wake of two similar successful events Marc USA sponsored earlier this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania., where the ad agency is headquartered.

"Marketing Sparks" is one of the newest ways 1871 is helping to boost the chances of its start-ups to actually make it beyond the start-up phase. Added 1871 CEO Howard Tullman: "By providing quality, personalized support throughout our member companies' development, 1871 ensures that our members have access to every resource they might need to help them succeed."

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN TO LEAD DELEGATION OF 1871 BUSINESSES TO WHITE HOUSE

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN TO LEAD DELEGATION OF 1871 BUSINESSES

TO WHITE HOUSE

Five 1871 Businesses to Join National Meeting on Entrepreneurship on Thursday;

Will Meet with Congressman Jared Polis Earlier in the Day

CHICAGO, IL (April 8, 2014) -- Five of 1871’s most successful businesses will join 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman on Thursday, April 10th to visit the White House as part of a national summit on entrepreneurship. This will mark the first ever formal trip by 1871 members to the White House.

“It is always exciting to be at the White House with the opportunity to help the administration understand the challenges facing technology entrepreneurs in the Midwest,” said Howard A. Tullman, CEO of 1871. “This will be a great event and a wonderful way to showcase five of 1871’s most talented companies on the national stage. And spending time with Jared Polis – probably our “techy-est” representative – will also be a great learning experience for our members. He’s been a good friend for a long time and a powerful supporter of 1871 as well.”

The entrepreneurs and businesses that will visit the White House are:

·       Feyi Olipade, CancerIQ

·       Lotika Pai, Q-It

·       Corbett Kull, 640 Labs

·       Canh Tran, Rippleshot

·       Rajesh Karmani, Zero Percent

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to visit the White House and talk about the many opportunities facing entrepreneurs here in Chicago and how the government can help us,” said Corbett Kull of 640 Labs. “I expect to see some valuable examples about how things are working for entrepreneurs elsewhere in the country that can be useful as we continue to grow and expand our business. And, I’m sure we can teach them a thing or two about Chicagoness while we’re there.”

Business Forward is organizing the event. The day will start with a roundtable discussion with Congressman Jared Polis, of Colorado. Polis is the founder of bluemountainarts.com and ProFlowers. 1871 CEO Tullman spoke recently in Denver to several hundred entrepreneurs assembled there by the Built in Colorado team, which is an outgrowth of the Chicago-based media and community start-up, Built in Chicago.

In the afternoon, Tullman and the entrepreneurs will proceed to the White House, where they will meet with administration officials as well as officials from other cabinet departments. Past events have included officials from the Department of Commerce as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration. Past participants in the White House briefing have included Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President; Steven VanRoekel, U.S. Chief Information Officer; and Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer.

What: Roundtable Discussion on Capital Hill followed by White House Business Council briefing

When: Thursday, April 10^th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Where: Rayburn House Office Building and The White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.

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About 1871

1871 is an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Located in the famed Merchandise Mart, the 50,000-square-foot facility provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. 1871 is the flagship project of the CEC.