“Opening Acts” featuring Cartavi Founders’ Glenn Shimkus and Paul Koziarz (VIDEO)

by Pat Ryan
June 17, 2013

(This was originally posted on Pat’s blog: www.coolerbythelake.com)

We were pleased to have Glenn Shimkus and Paul Koziarz, founders of Cartavi as our first “Opening Acts” guests to share the story of their new start-up. Opening Acts is a new interview series that takes place before we start the monthly Chicago Founders’ Stories interviews and introduces exciting new start-ups to the Chicago entrepreneurial community.

Cartavi is solving a big problem: document management. Picking up where the Dropbox’s of the world stop, Cartavi uses vertical expertise to create a true document management solution. Cartavi Cloud is a document sharing platform designed for real estate transactions. It helps facilitate the back and forth of document exchanging. Its purpose is for agents, brokers, inspectors, attorneys, and consumers have one place to go.

Glenn came up with the idea when he noticed all of the obstacles his wife faced as a realtor. Glenn began looking for an easier route for his wife. Neither founders knew much about real estate but took advantage of working with leaders in the industry like the National Association of Realtors and the Council of Residential Specialists. They spent 15 months having top producers test their prototype. By doing that, they noticed the value of being mobile for realtors.

Since our interview, Cartavi was acquired by DocuSign, a leader in e-signature. Glenn and Paul will remain working for Cartavi and keep its office in Chicago. Please join me in congratulating Cartavi on a successful exit.

[video:http://vimeo.com/68159317]

Pat Ryan is a business and social entrepreneur who has created several high growth software companies as well as several innovative urban education initiatives as a social entrepreneur. Pat’s first company, FirstLook, was recognized by Inc Magazine in 2008 as the #4 fastest growing software company in the U.S. in its Inc 500 rankings – the highest ranking ever for a Chicago based software company. Pat is also the Founder of MAX as well as the Founder and CEO of INCISENT Labs, a platform and incubator for innovative, industry-changing technologies that spin out into high growth companies. MAX was created in INCISENT Labs where Pat and a team are currently incubating their latest start-up. Pat blogs at Coolerbythelake.com and can be reached on Twitter @INCISENTLabs.

 

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