Sridhar Deivasigamani and his friend enjoyed working on a smart, semiautonomous motorcycle in their free time. But then the water heater at Sri’s home broke, creating a life-changing 'aha' moment. The tinkerers began applying controls they’d been developing for the motorcycle to water heaters, and Intellihot was born. The Galesburg, Illinois maker of tankless water heating systems and other smart technology devices has more than 100 employees and has raised more than $60 million of funding.
Zach Halmstad saw fairly early into his job managing the Apple computers on a college campus that colleagues who worked on Windows had many more tools at their disposal. He realized there was an opportunity to develop comparable tools for Apple devices. The result was Jamf, a software company whose products help IT professionals manage Apple devices in corporate environments. Now based in Minneapolis, Jamf raised $468 million in a 2020 initial public offering and has more than 2,300 employees.
Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. Ele Ellis produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and NPR One. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.
