Mark Schneider, Chief Technology Officer at Zipscene

WHAT WE DO:  

“We work with data from many sources. Right now we’re dedicated to the restaurant space and we’re one of the only companies that can take data from point of sale and marry it with data from payments and from all the other places where we leave breadcrumbs on the internet. Then, using some very sophisticated algorithms, we develop a person’s affinity to do things within certain contexts. For instance, if it’s a rainy day, do you eat an appetizer or desert? Does the fact that there’s a ballgame or a concert affect your eating habits? We then rate, score and index all of those, and we build segments off of it that can be marketed to. So we’re not only looking for programmers with a specific background, but they also have to deal in and understand the concepts of big data, machine learning and deep learning - all buzz words - but very hard to find. UC and Xavier have a couple very good programs around that and we are seeing some very good design come out of NKU. Some of the smaller schools have more of the artistic user interface development, and that’s important to us because we’re trying to show concepts that aren’t really tangible, they’re contextual things.” 

To what extent does our recreational use of technology drive innovation in business? Is business taking the lead or lagging behind?

“I think that recreational technology is great because it brings “kids” into technology earlier than ever. My first introduction to computers was in college, but we have brought in kids to shadow here at Zipscene as young as 13, and they already have more knowledge than I did after my freshman year in college. With the advent of smart phones, iPads and toys like LeapFrog which mimic laptops, kids are starting earlier with games that are so much more sophisticated and educational, than say Pong was.  Recreational technology brings it in so that by the time kids are entering school, they already have one programming language – they’re learning programming language like my generation learned a foreign language.”