1871 CEO Howard Tullman Speaks on Tech Trends at NFHS Winter Meeting

Final Class Video from Dyett Eagle Entrepreneurs Class

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN ON WTTW CHICAGO TONIGHT

WATCH THE SHOW http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2018/01/02/1871-ceo-howard-tullman-cryptocurrency-skeptic

The pace of technological change grows ever faster and leaves many people bewildered. Now it’s even changing how we view money.

In the past year, many investors have piled into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in search of easy profits. They do so because they have faith – or at least have been told – that cryptocurrencies and the technology that underpins them will change our world.

But there are some skeptical voices out there.

One of them is serial entrepreneur Howard Tullman, CEO of the tech incubator 1871 at the Merchandise Mart.

“We are in a kind of euphoric period for a lot of people,” said Tullman. “I see it every day because I see people running around our offices here saying they are investing in these crazy cryptocurrencies. This is as bad as it was during the dot-com era when taxi drivers were telling you about the positions they were taking in stocks.”

Tullman noted in a recent blog post that he was reminded of the old adage that “the biggest mistakes in business are made during good times, not when the going gets rough.” He says that access to cheap capital has allowed “a bunch of really bad ideas and crappy businesses to get funded.” But he cautions that while investing in new ideas and businesses is to be encouraged, not every idea makes economic sense.

“We want to encourage people to create new businesses and invest in new businesses but I think we also have to understand that some amount of this activity is not sustainable economic activity,” said Tullman.

While he is skeptical of cryptocurrencies, Tullman does believe the so-called “blockchain” technology that makes them possible could be hugely influential in shaping future commerce.

“My take is that the underlying technology, the blockchain technology, could be the next major advance in technology in the world,” said Tullman.

Blockchains are essentially a digital, decentralized public ledger tracking transactions. Each time a new transaction occurs a “block” is created and these blocks are “chained” together to become chains of records.

“The attributes are it’s time-stamped, it’s transparent, decentralized, it’s durable and it’s a documentation system. That’s what it is,” said Tullman. “The function as opposed to the definition – and this is what’s so critical – is that it permits for the first time, worldwide, almost instantaneously for users to transfer unique pieces of digital property or information to others – and this is where we are all taking an enormous leap of faith – but the description at least is the transfer is safe and secure.”

Tullman joins Phil Ponce to discuss cryptocurrencies and other technology trends that could shape our world.

New INC Magazine Blog Post by 1871 CEO Howard Tullman

The New Year's Hangover That Startups Can't Shake

For too many entrepreneurs, the end of the year becomes less a celebration of what they've accomplished and more a sad review of what they've messed up. Try this remedy to cheer up a little bit.

By Howard Tullman

CEO, 1871@tullman

The end of the year is always a tough time for entrepreneurs. You'd think that, after a few years, it's a time that even a first timer starter-upper would get used to suffering through, but that's not how things work in the business of building new businesses. Even the very best entrepreneurs are "glass half empty" folks who are always focused on what didn't get done in the last 12 months and-- even more importantly (or depressingly) -- what remains to get done on the long, winding and bumpy road ahead. The pressure never lets up; everyone eventually learns that there's no finish line.

I've said before that entrepreneurs are lousy at graceful gratitude and even worse at saying "thank you," not because we're ingrates but because we barely believe in our own successes and good fortune.  And also because we're forward-focused:  always climbing the next hill or facing the newest challenge instead of reflecting on, or celebrating, the past. (See This isn't always a bad thing and it's part of the psychology--or pathology if you prefer-- that also makes it possible for entrepreneurs to quickly get over their past hiccups and get on with their main job of making history and changing the world.

It also turns out that this seasonal entrepreneurial malaise is not a condition that anyone else can really help you get over. Friends, family, faculty and even most "mentors" aren't gonna make much of a difference. Mentors especially can be a mixed blessing. You won't actually know if a one-hit winner was smart or just lucky to be in the right place at the right time.  And it's especially hard to gain much great guidance from someone who "sold" their startup six minutes before the sheriff came to take away their keys and shut the doors. You never want to ask for directions from someone who hasn't been there and, with too many mentors, it's very hard to effectively convert their particular experience into something that means much to you. 

Whatever they bring the table, or try to, they're not living through it right now, so they really just don't understand.  All the empathy, good will and best intentions won't make up for the fact that you're the one in the soup and they're sitting on the sidelines. You learn in this business that money doesn't really care who makes it and that having a bunch of bucks says basically nothing about your brains or your business sense.

So, if there's no help elsewhere, you're pretty much stuck with looking inward. That's not the worst thing in the world because at least when you're alone you're with someone you love. I think about this a lot when New Year's Eve rolls around and I'm making a command appearance at any place that I'd rather not be, which is basically every place you can imagine. Yes, I know that it sounds like an inverse testimonial ad for Visa. And, if this admission cuts down on my future NYE invites, it's a price I guess I'll just have to happily pay. 

Okay. You're stuck with talking to yourself and what can you say to help get over the year end blues and back to business? I wrote a pretty good piece on this a while ago that's worth revisiting and, in case you're too lazy to link back, the three main suggestions are: (1) Get Past the Past as Soon as Possible; (2) Call on Your Customers While You Still Can; and (3) When You're Thinking About Quitting, Remember Why You Started.

But it was the last few lines in the post that were the most important to me - then and now:

            "...there's nothing in the world that a true entrepreneur would rather be doing than exactly what you're doing every day. Working on a dream, and doing it with a group of people who are as excited and enthusiastic about what they're doing as you are is the greatest privilege anyone can have. And it's you that's making it possible...."

 Being a leader is lonely work - always has been. You've taken on an enormous responsibility to yourself and your family, to your investors and your employees, to your customers and clients. They all look to you and depend on you, day-in and day-out, to make their lives different and better in important ways.

This is a journey that you take all by yourself, even as you find yourself constantly surrounded by others. You may go fastest by yourself, but you go furthest with a strong and dedicated team beside you.

And ultimately you will find that, even when and if your faith in yourself falters from time to time, what really matters and gets you through is the faith, the confidence, and the trust that you place in others that makes all the difference. You aren't a real leader until others believe that you are putting them first and serving a purpose greater than yourselves.   

       

Great leaders don't create followers, they create new and better leaders. Make that your most pressing project for the New Year.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

PUBLISHED ON: JAN 2, 2018

Chicago Tech Outlook at the Executives' Club with 1871 CEO Howard Tullman

Watch how these Chicagoans change the business world in 2018

Howard Tullman, former CEO of 1871. Earlier this year, Tullman said he planned to step down as chief of the city’s high-profile tech hub once a successor is found. Tullman’s involvement with 1871 won’t end — he’ll stay on as a board member and a member of the executive committee — but he won’t say what’s next. Tullman hinted that there are “a couple” of new initiatives he plans to roll out next year, but he declined to share any details.

New INC Magazine Blog Post by 1871 CEO Howard Tullman

In a Year of Crypto-Craziness and A.I. Everywhere, It's Time for a Little Caution

These new technologies have generated the headlines, but don't get sucked in by their allure.

By Howard Tullman

CEO, 1871@tullman

As we are about to begin the new year, I was reminded of the old adage that the biggest mistakes in business are made during the good times, not when the going gets rough. And, although it may just be me and Taylor Swift who think this, I'd say that from the perspective of the stock market and its reflected glow-- which has certainly made it easier for startups to come by cheap capital and especially easy for a bunch of really bad ideas and crappy businesses to get funded-- these are pretty heady days.  A fair number of financial folks are feeling pretty fat and happy, too. So, I'd say now's the time for a word or two of caution.

First, do whatever you want about investing in cryptocurrencies, but if you insist on doing it, do it directly and for your own account. Don't be stupid enough to pay someone to help you become a bitcoin miner (whatever you think that means these days) or let anyone convince you that there's anything easy or trivial or even well understood about the entire process. Stick to something you know something about. And, if you're still on the fence and your greed still threatens to overwhelm your good sense, there's another rather simple test you can use when these bozos try to foist their "farms" on you and rent you a piece of the future. Ask them why they're still hawking this junk if they're so prescient and far ahead of the crypto curve. Or, more simply stated, if they're so smart, how come they're not already rich. The guys who made the most money in the Gold Rush didn't strike gold; they sold deeds to the dopes and shovels to the suckers. Try not to be either in the year ahead.

Second, on the same subject, don't do your friends and especially your family the favor of helping them into this particular swamp. FOMO fever is rampant, but just remember that you barely understand what's going on and you have absolutely no business trying to talk someone else (who maybe can't focus on the likely prospect of, or afford, the eventual losses) into jumping into the puddle with you. I get that misery loves company, but you'll have to live with some of these people for the rest of your life-- if they don't kill you first. The pain of all those future lectures isn't worth the few moments of pride you get for being "in the know."  I've already said my piece on the merits of the whole bitcoin subject and I sold my bitcoins a while back (once I figured out how to find them and re-gain access to my account) when I was reminded of another old market adage:  you never lose money taking a profit too soon. Sure, you may leave some shekels on the table, but unlike the pigs who will eventually get stuck holding the empty poke, you'll have plenty of dry powder for next time.

Third, nobody you know actually knows anything about artificial intelligence.  Notwithstanding that fact, 99% of the startups you'll see business plans and proposals from over the next year --along with all of those painfully pivoting to the proposition as well-- will tell you that they do. They don't.  The last thing you want to spend your time and money on is funding their on-the-job-training while they try to figure things out. A.I. is not business process automation. It's not predetermined pattern recognition. It's not accelerated data retrieval. Building a behind-the-scenes bot or a series of macros or tagging a bunch of pix as a library for future image recognition isn't A.I. Also, the fact that your CRM program knows my shoe size doesn't constitute machine learning.

This is another one of those conversations in which it's hard to know where to start complaining because, in so many of these cases, even if they had the remotest idea of what they were talking about, the tools and technologies that they're bragging about have little or nothing to do with the business they used to say they were in and maybe even less to do with where they say they're heading. They spew all these annoying acronyms and exaggerate their exactitude with a bunch of assertions that are really fantasies of false precision.

We used to say that, whatever your engineers think, it's clear that not every product, service or application needs to be larded up with an email function for no good reason. Your dog doesn't need email and it's not really clear to me (while we're just talking here) that an 8-year-old needs a Facebook account either. Sadly, we're very likely to see these things happen.  And, today, I feel that we are seeing the same bad behavior and all the associated BS with virtually every company (young and old) now claiming that their product or service incorporates powerful machine learning and A.I. systems. Here's a flash: if you have to tell it what to do, it might be augmented intelligence or a good supplementary tool for decision support, but it ain't A.I. when the primary "I" in the equation is you.

Some of these claims may be real and accurate, but a bunch are just smoke and mirror stories that are likely to give us all the bad name. Can we put a stake in it before the conversations go completely crazy? It'll save us all a lot of headaches and heartaches down the line. My barber needs predictive A.I. tools like a fish needs a bicycle.

Finally, while you are changing your smoke alarm batteries, change your passwords to something secure, or get a password security system like Keeper in place for your business because getting hacked these days isn't a matter of if, it's just a question of when. Happy Healthy New Year.

1871 CEO Howard Tullman Speaks at City Club