Mike Shannon

Mike Shannon Email and Phone Number

CEO at Impruve.com where AI puts your "stuff" to work for you @ Impruve
Mike Shannon's Location
Greater Chicago Area, United States
About Mike Shannon

Hi, I'm Mike. Dad of 2 under 4, loving husband of Morgan, winner of 0 NBA Championships, and here's 5 things that you and I might have fun talking about over Chai teas: 1.) First startup ($0 - $20m ARR & exit): a few friends and I started Packback in college with a wild idea that totally failed, nearly died, pivoted, and arduously became the leading AI-assisted writing practice tool in US higher education. That's a long story involving Shark Tank, Mark Cuban, a cease-and-desist letter from our own campus bookstore, textbook publishers, open mic office poetry, & a silly dog named Pepper. 2.) Chicago Bulls: spent seven seasons tenaciously serving in a seldom-understood role called "ball boy" as a grown adult during the Bulls' near-championship D-Rose & Joakim Noah era (Jo and I were rookies together in '07, so, I like to think that we grew our NBA careers together. He feels the same, probably.) PS - in between seasons I worked for, studied, and learned from the man behind MJ + Kobe: NYT bestselling author, Tim Grover. Yes, TG is as authentically relentless as seen on TV. #MambaMentality3.) Weird upcoming book: ^ my last 3 seasons in "Ball Boy Land" secretly overlapped with my first 3 years in "Startup Land" until these two worlds collided when we aired on Shark Tank and shook Mark Cuban's hand for a deal. I wrote a comedy-drama about that and more, which is currently in the late editing stage for Q1 2025 release. 4.) Startup #2: Impruve.com is the tool I wished for yet could not find while scaling my first company past 100 employees & 3,000 clients. Curing "execution leak" with a personal AI-sidekick that lives atop your existing workflows and makes your meeting transcripts go to work FOR you via Smart To-Do's, Calendar Assist, Progress Memos, and more. ...try it FREE at Impruve.com5.) Podcast: when my longtime investor & board member, Corey (3x CEO + angel investor + board director) hit me up with an idea, I couldn't turn down "Opening the C-Suite" with him. Details below, come hang with us. Anyways, for other writings & musings, catch me at: www.MikeShannon.co

Mike Shannon's Current Company Details
Impruve

Impruve

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CEO at Impruve.com where AI puts your "stuff" to work for you
Mike Shannon Work Experience Details
  • Impruve
    Co-Founder | Ceo
    Impruve Jun 2023 - Present
    Chicago, Illinois, United States
    Let your existing meeting transcripts & chats go to work for you via Smart To-Do's, Calendar Assist, Progress Memos, and more. Let's turn on your personal AI-sidekick for FREE at Impruve.com
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  • Opening The C-Suite
    Co-Creator
    Opening The C-Suite Jun 2024 - Present
    Chicago, Illinois, United States
    Ever wonder what keeps the CEO up at night? Climbing the ladder yet still left in the dark about what's being debated in the board meeting? Or are you an active CEO, feeling alone at the top, and craving another perspective?Welcome to Opening the C-Suite , a series in which a multi time CEO & investor (Corey) teams up with a recently exited entrepreneur (Mike) to chew on the situations & duties that sneak up to punch CEOs in the face and give others an inside view on how the C-suite actually works.In lightning fast 15-20 minute episodes, you'll capture decades worth of CEO nuggets as Corey & Mike expose a no-filter glance at the business world through the lens of the top seat. You might be surprised by what you see.
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  • Future Founders
    Board Member
    Future Founders Sep 2024 - Present
    Chicago, Illinois, United States
    Future Founders is building the nation’s largest inclusive community of intentional young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial-minded leaders. My favorite part of being involved is the time I get to spend with our vast array of incredible entrepreneurs. Founders - feel free to reach out any time and we'll chat!
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  • Packback
    Co-Founder | Ceo
    Packback Nov 2011 - Jun 2023
    Chicago, Il
    Co-founded an AI-enhanced writing practice software company through the path from $0 → $20m ARR. Acquired in 2024. Ok, now that the boring-version descriptor is done, here's the messy stuff that you and I might have fun chatting about (in no order): - Learning to become a much-less-bad entrepreneur/CEO through a decade+ of trial & error, while receiving intensive executive coaching and wide-ranging (generous!) mentorship from some of the best pros in the game. - Refining & packaging that knowledge set by undergoing a year+ process of handing off the reigns to a new internal CEO successor (a wonderful teacher-at-heart by the name of Kelsey Behringer). - Failing & pivoting out of the original business model - while being publicly celebrated for its apparent success - at age 25 after nearly 4 years of trying (that’s a long & weird story about what happens when the college kids call up the textbook publishers).- Shook Mark Cuban’s hand on TV and then checked into my other job folding towels in the Bulls locker room the next day. - Being young, dumb, and raising capital from far more angel investors than I have fingers & toes to count (while compiling an even longer list of VC rejections). - Finally getting to the VC investment …by way of a major (& necessary) “down round.” - Managing multiple iterations of a company Board of Directors as CEO.- Scaling to 100+ employees. - Distilling all fancy talk about building startups down to one simple yet enormously challenging math equation: LTV / CaC Most special of all = being part of a team far more talented than me, hellbent on awakening curiosity. Accolades earned by that team include: Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America, Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Companies in Education”, Forbes’ “30 under 30” in education, Chicago Crain’s “Twenty in their Twenties”, Shark Tank deal w/ Mark Cuban, Chicago Innovations Awards.
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  • Makespace
    Open Mic Host
    Makespace Mar 2016 - Mar 2020
    Chicago
    Because I still thought I might make it as a rhymer, I was trying to understand how to grind out Chicago’s open mic circuit. Asked another entrepreneur in the music space about it. He told me (whether true or not), “there isn’t really one.” So we teamed up to start an open mic, using Packback’s office as a home. That evolved into a whole thing. We eventually called it Makespace. At its peak, we had audiences of a hundred folks coming out to see poets, musicians, and comedians take the mic. Beyond the headliners were ordinary folks working ordinary jobs who happened to have honed exceptional creative talents and didn’t have many avenues to let ‘em out. My favorite moment ever was the time when a soft spoken new engineer at Packback surprised a packed house when he stepped up to the piano for a solo keys/vocals act. Everybody knew Brian after that. I talked about what I think that kind of stuff can do for a company culture in this Tedx talk back in 2016 (botched most of the rhymes, oh well): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv3IN8D4AoI
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  • Chicago Bulls
    Ball Boy
    Chicago Bulls Sep 2007 - May 2014
    Chicago
    Deng inbounds the ball to Jimmy Butler. 10.5 seconds left. Butler passes it to Rose. Joakim sets the high pick on Felton. Derrick Rose drives baseline right. Tyson Chandler meets him there. Both players elevate. Rose floats the ball just barely over Chandler’s outstretched fingertips, and, “...he scores!” Bulls win. That’s me pumping a fist in the background, kneeling on the hardwood next to Adam. Another Rose-era Bulls 'W' in the bag. Time to go get the post-game luggage ready.
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  • Attack Athletics
    Coaching Staff Intern
    Attack Athletics May 2011 - Sep 2011
    Greater Chicago Area
    Years before Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant’s famed trainer, Tim Grover, wrote his two NYT best-selling books (“Relentless” & “Winning”), he hired a small cohort of interns to work at his private gym on Chicago’s west side.My intern colleagues were mostly hoops team managers at D1 programs like Indiana, Butler, Memphis, etc. I was the lone “ball boy” of the cast. The other bosses surrounding Grover came from a host of coaching & athletic training roles across the NBA.When Durant came to town for his portion of the Nike camps, my friend George beat him in HORSE, twice. Swear to God. I never got past H. I basically moved in for the summer. By the end of it, I was doing video editing work for a few pros, playing scout D on Will Bynum, and owning the skills workouts for a host of junior clients. But, whatever, a lot of the staff did that too. Where nobody rivaled me was in the art of mixing the Gatorade. Anecdotes aside, the lasting knowledge that my time with Grover & crew instilled in me is this: the difference between how the “pros” (as compared with the “amateurs”) approach deliberate practice, and how the best coaches in the world make sure of it. As Kobe’s game film guru, Mike Procopio, says: “Dominate Simple, [insert swear word]”

Mike Shannon Education Details

Frequently Asked Questions about Mike Shannon

What company does Mike Shannon work for?

Mike Shannon works for Impruve

What is Mike Shannon's role at the current company?

Mike Shannon's current role is CEO at Impruve.com where AI puts your "stuff" to work for you.

What schools did Mike Shannon attend?

Mike Shannon attended Illinois State University, Fenwick High School '08.

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