Nominee Name/Nominee Company NameOutstanding Tech CEO Award: John Williamson, Songfinch
Finalist for the:Outstanding Tech CEO
About the Nominee:John Williamson is a serial entrepreneur with a history of being early to massive industry movements, first with Music Dealers in the late 2000's introducing the idea of brand partnerships to independent artists, which became a launching pad for dozens of successful Chicago entrepreneurs, then SportsLock prior to the big sports gambling/fantasy sports boom that spawned dozens of companies worth billions of dollars and now with Songfinch, which is forever changing how musicians are made and paid. John is a self taught professional with no college degree and zero access to wealth or funding. His perseverance and ability to learn on the fly is extraordinary. As CEO of Songfinch, John has scaled the company by nearly 20,000% over the past 3 years; growing revenue from $150k to more than $30M, while also growing headcount from 4 to more than 50.
Why they should win:John Williamson's focus on operational excellence and diversity is unparalleled -- his mission in life is to remove the barriers to entry in music and entrepreneurship and he displays this with his actions by building a company, artist community and leadership team that is truly diverse. With more than 1/3 of the team and artist community identifying as female, minority or LGBTQ. From an operational standpoint, John has built a data-driven, high growth company that offers tremendous opportunity for growth at both the company and industry level, proving that inclusion can be at the center of a winning corporate strategy.