Tech In Chicago Episode #10: Bootstrapping To 300+ Employees & Offices On 3 Continents - Craig Vodnik / Co-Founder Cleverbridge

Craig Vodnik is a co-founder of Cleverbridge, a global subscription billing provider. Founded in 2005, Cleverbridge has grown to 300+ employees with offices in Cologne (Germany), Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo. They have done this all without raising any outside money. At the beginning of his career in 1995, Craig served as the Webmaster of the Chicago Tribune, where he launched its first website. Outside of Cleverbridge, Craig helps develop other entrepreneurs as a mentor at 1871, Catapult Chicago, Junto Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Enterpriseworks Entrepreneur-In-Residence and as a board member of Hyde Park Angels.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How they maintain their company culture with offices in different countries? 
• Why you should bootstrap for as long as you can?
• When is the right time to take venture capital?
• Why we need more risk taking in Chicago?
• What fantasy football can teach you about business?
• How to go about finding and cultivating mentors?
• Why he decided to join Hyde Park Angels and become an angel investor?

Favorite Books:

• The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World by Michael Wheeler
• On China by Henry Kissinger 
• Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors by Brad Feld

Selected Links From The Episode:

• Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder and President of ContextMedia
• Chicago Venture Summit
• John Pletz, Tech Reporter at Crain's Chicago Business
• Illinois Tech Associate (ITA) 
• Geofeedia
• Rippleshot
• Occasion
• Marcin Kleczynski, Founder and CEO of Malwarebytes