About Earshot

Our Story

Relevance isn’t static. It changes every minute. Consider the ’28-38 year old active woman who likes yoga’ profile. It would appear that she is perfect for a brand like Lululemon to target continuously through multiple media channels. But consider this same woman with the flu. Wouldn’t Vicks or Walgreens have a better chance of ‘hitting the mark’ with her while she’s in this condition?

Earshot was founded with the goal of synthesizing location-based insight and unique real-time information to provide brands with a smarter approach to real-time precision-based marketing. Our goal from the beginning has been to bring brands and consumers together through proper timing and context. Through social media, we can unlock new clues to make this a reality, where consumers ultimately feel more connected and trusting of those brands seeking to win them over.

Our Commitment to Privacy

Earshot believes consumer privacy interests should be the top priority of any campaign. Our approach to both data collection and messaging techniques is built on a shared belief with clients that being helpful and relevant will outdistance any short-term, transactional strategies that may be perceived as unwelcome or intrusive. Our goal at Earshot is to equip brands with the tools to pick up on consumer needs and emotion when timing and context translates into real value, and to help them avoid location-based tactics that the consumer may not want or expect.

Meet the Team

Our Team
Our Advisors
Our Investors

David Rush

CEO & Co-Founder

David has over 20 years of operational experience with early-stage companies in digital media, software, and technology services. Previously in his career, David held senior management roles at companies such as Akamai (AKAM), Gartner Group (IT), PostX (acquired by Cisco), and Iconoculture (acquired by CEB) where he helped build and lead high-performing teams across the businesses. David’s diverse experience also includes time in private banking and private equity where he helped raise capital, manage assets, and acquire a business. He holds a BBA from Southern Methodist University, where he was also a scholarship member of the men’s varsity golf team. David resides north of Chicago with his wife Stevie and their 3 kids, Lucy, Thomas, and Emma. Twitter LinkedIn

Chris McAvoy

CTO

Before joining Earshot, Chris was the Director of Technology for Mozilla Open Badges, a project to recognize learning wherever it happens. He continues to work on the Open Badges project as a volunteer for the Badge Alliance, working with the W3C to build an international standard for badge issuing and accreditation. Chris was also the VP of Technology for Threadless, a Chicago crowdsourced t-shirt company, and the VP of the Open Source consulting practice at PSC Group. Chris is the founder of the Chicago Python Users Group, a mentor at Techstars and a technology leader in the Chicago open source community. He lives in Chicago with his wife and son. Twitter LinkedIn

Zernyu Chou

Senior Software Developer

Zernyu is a software developer who literally grew up thinking in code. Zernyu wrote his first lines of code in fifth grade and never turned back, ultimately receiving a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He spent his first two years out of college at a digital marketing agency developing its next-generation content management system, but he knew his heart lay in the risky, uncertain, and fast-changing world of startups and exciting ideas. In his spare time, “Z” spends a lot of time cycling and co-founded the up-and-coming local bicycle-racing club, Bonkers. Twitter LinkedIn

Alex Sward

Senior Software Developer

Alex is a software developer with over 6 years’ experience creating applications in digital marketing, content management and data management. Before joining the team at Earshot, Alex was a Senior Developer at Isobar developing their data analytics platform. Alex graduated from Northern Illinois University with a B.S. in both Computer Science and Mathematics. When he isn’t creating software, Alex is busy homebrewing his own beer. Twitter LinkedIn

Domingo Meneses

Account Executive

Domingo launched into the digital entertainment space the moment he called Tropicana for an event sponsorship at the age of 15. Prior to joining the accounts team at Earshot, Domingo co-founded and ran CrowdNoize, an experiential marketing and analytics software startup servicing brands, agencies and event production companies. He received a Management degree in Entrepreneurship and Database Infrastructures from Depaul University and currently is a Community Advisory Board member of Future Founders Foundation. Born in Santiago, Chile and raised in Madison, WI, Domingo now resides in Chicago. Twitter LinkedIn

Nishita Kavadia

UI/UX Designer

Nishita is an interactive designer with over 8 years experience in multi-platform design, spanning applications in print, web and mobile. She graduated from the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in India and has since worked with cross-disciplinary teams in building digital products and services across industry — technology, food, telecom and retail. Before Earshot, Nishita was lead designer at Redrawn Labs, NYC where she designed Emotish. She loves travel, nature, stories and old buildings. Twitter LinkedIn

Neil Soni

Account Executive

Prior to joining Earshot, Neil lead the sales / growth team at MomTrusted.com, a platform connecting moms with trusted businesses. He also previously founded a company called CollegeZen, for which he was named a finalist for 2012 College Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine. Neil earned his degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University where he was also a member of the men’s tennis team. Twitter LinkedIn

Erika Patching

Client Success Manager

Erika is an accomplished sales and account management professional with over 7 years of experience. Prior to Earshot, she held positions at TEKsystems and ADP where she received numerous accolades and awards for outstanding sales and account management performance. She is a volunteer as an Angel for Imerman Angels and is also actively involved in the Illinois Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. An Arizona native, she is an Arizona State University graduate with a degree in Journalism with a focus on Public Relations & Strategic Media. Erika resides in the Gold Coast area of Chicago. Twitter LinkedIn

Join the Team!

We’re always looking for talented, hard-working people to join our growing team. If you think you have what it takes to be a part of a fast-paced startup that’s changing the way brands and consumers connect, we’d love to hear from you!

Ravi Singh

VP of Mobile at MarkitX

Ravi leads the mobile development for several companies ranging from early stage start up to Fortune 100 companies. Ravi has worked on over 70 enterprise and commercial applications for the iOS, Blackberry, Android, and Windows Mobile platforms. Ravi also has extensive experience writing native applications for all flavors of Windows and Mac operating systems and has won in dozens of national hack-a-thons including Morningstar Chicago and iOS decamp.

Sean Chou

CTO, Fieldglass

Sean is currently the CTO of Fieldglass and provided the strategy and vision for their award winning cloud solution that was ultimately acquired by SAP in 2014. Under his leadership, Fieldglass has received important product-related recognition from Organizations including The Stevie Awards and the Chicago Innovation Awards. Previously in his career, Sean was a project manager for Giant Step (now Arc Worldwide) and senior consultant at Andersen where he helped clients explore and define their formative Internet strategies. Sean attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he graduated magna cum laude.

Leon Chism

CTO, Rewards Network

Leon has more than 20 years of experience in the development and delivery of innovative, game changing technology products for businesses in many industries. Leon’s experience includes building the technology teams and products at Orbitz, Viewpoints Network, and Analyte Health. He has built numerous high performance teams and designed development processes that deliver business-impacting results quickly and reliably.

Alex Vetter

Senior Vice President, Cars.com

As one of the original members of the Cars.com team, Alex has helped steer the company’s growth strategy from concept into a multi-faceted sales and distribution model that spans all aspects of internet marketing, including local, mobile and social media. He has operated in nearly every capacity at Cars.com, spanning product development, customer service, training, operations and currently oversees all revenue generating activities for the local online retailer. Vetter received his bachelor’s degree from Providence College and in 2007, was named one of the 40 under 40 executives by Crain’s Chicago business.

Marc Gorlin

Co-Founder & Chairman, Kabbage

In 1996, Mr. Gorlin was a co-founder and an original board member of Pretty Good Privacy (“PGP”). After PGP, he co-founded VerticalOne Corporation, a content personalization service that was sold to S1 Corporation in 1999 for $166 million. He also co-founded and remains as the Chairman of Lanta Technology Group, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in the executive staffing of core management teams and high-level professionals. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Mark Williamson

Founder, Zoodles

Prior to founding Zoodles, Mark was a co-founder of Shelfari, a social network built around reading (acquired by Amazon) and Director of Product Marketing at Dash Navigation, a connected GPS service (acquired by Research in Motion). In 2004, Mark and his wife Tara, also launched MyTinyHands, a business centered around keeping babies healthy. Mark has an engineering degree from the University of Illinois and a Masters in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management.