zWORKS entrepreneur turns hobby into business

What do you want to do when you retire?

The answer to this question has many guises but rarely is the answer to start a business. Despite its rarity, this is the route one zWORKS member went.

“The reality is that when I decided to retire, I quickly learned I wasn’t ready to sit around,” Tom Greer said.

Thomas R. Greer started TRG Web Designs after he had retired from his career in business leadership. He was looking to do something entrepreneurial when he decided to turn his hobby into a business.

Greer started programming before there was a world wide web. For programmers out there, think COBOL in the 1970s. He had been creating websites for friends and family over the years and even maintained his own blog.

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Burgeoning startup combines textiles and technology

Their mission is in their name. Predictive Wear focuses on making connected clothing that monitors your health.

Dane Albaugh, the CEO, and Pablo Argote, the CTO, are Purdue graduates and are working together with six other graduates to make their mission a reality.

The team of eight met while studying biomedical engineering at Purdue. They melded their various expertise after cofounding a student organization and eventually started the company, Predictive Wear.

“We created a solution both as a service and product that can center around the patient and have an ecosystem focused on predictive analytics, health informatics and wearable technology,” Argote said. “We believe the future is going this direction, especially in medicine.”

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Pilot by night, web designer by day

He wakes up for work at 1 in the morning. Flies to another part of the country. Sleeps for a few hours. Then works on websites the rest of the day before he flies back home.

David McArdle is a pilot for FedEx Express and flies the night sort shift. Packages are loaded between 2 to 3 a.m., then he flies out by 4 a.m.

His company, Indy Web Designers, is something he started after receiving compliments on the website he created for another of his startup companies. When he saw the positive response, he decided to make it his day job.

“I like learning new things,” McArdle said. “I learn something new with every project.”

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Congratulations to all the award winners from this year’s MemberFest awards!

• Newcomer of the Year: Tom Greer (TRG Web Designs)
• Best Connector: Michael Marlowe (ChaseTek)
• Hungriest Member: Tyler Riffe (Greek InterVarsity)
• Multi-tasker of the Year: Whitney Vredenburgh (Nested Spaces)
• Frequent Flyer: Brandt Voight (Salesforce)
• Grinder: Safekeeping
• Star Graduate: Clear Software
• Startup of the Year: Try It Tiny / DefCon Cyber
• Partner of the Year: FullStack
• Member of the Year: Tim Conrad (Stimulus)

Check out some pictures from our most recent events including our Happy Hour Media Panel, MemberFest luncheon and Workshop for Podcasting Beginners!

Thanks to Rae Hostetler with Hostetler Public Relations for hosting the Media Panel which included Inside INdiana Business, Indianapolis Business Journal North of 96th, Current of Zionsville and Zionsville Times Sentinel. Thanks to Nameless Catering Co., Luke Kite Musician, The Scoop, Celebration Central, Cartoon Ups, Ryan Woodall Photography, Save the Date Event Planning, and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. for sponsoring the MemberFest luncheon. And thanks for Sean Sullivan, our Resident Podcaster, with Converge Coffee to hosting the Podcasting Workshop.

PNC provides resources for zWORKS startups

What makes Ryan Blakley so perfect for his job? He’s been there. And done that.

Blakley grew up helping his parents transform Blakley’s Flooring into a flourishing company on the northside of Indy. He was there when they didn’t have the keys to their brand new building. One of the garage doors was cracked and he crawled under to let them in. He was there for the good times and bad and knows what startups go through.

You have probably seen him around zWORKS on Wednesdays during PNC’s office hours. Or perhaps at different Happy Hours. Blakley is the Business Banking Center Manager and VP at Zionsville’s PNC branch. He specializes in businesses who earn less than a million annually.

And he can relate to those businesses.

“I got to learn what it’s like when your last name is on the outside of the building,” Blakley said. “And how much harder you have to work than everybody else just to be even. Having watched that small business turn into something bigger was inspiring.”

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zWORKS startup offers high-tech answer to event emergencies

It might be a marathon, it might be a concert or it might even be election day. One zWORKS founder wants to make sure events like these are as safe as possible.

Whether it’s as dramatic as a shooting or hurricane, or as simple as a power outage or verbal altercation, President and Founder of Venue Intelligence, Jim Martin, wants people to feel safe, and know the answer to “what to do if…”

Emergency planning is a top-of-mind issue for event managers and venue owners worldwide, and increasingly, that awareness isn’t limited to just the paid professionals.

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