Welcome to Tech In Chicago! 

The Future Of Food Tech & How To Raise $100k In Your First Day On Kickstarter - David Rabie / Founder of Tovala

DavidRabie.Tovala.TechInChicago.Podcast

David Rabie is the Founder and CEO of Tovala, the creator of a smart oven that cooks perfectly made meals by baking, boiling and steaming them in under 30 minutes. The meals can either be delivered prepackaged from Tovala or be made using a crowdsourced recipe. Last winter, Tovala graduated from Y-Combinator and a few months ago Tovala launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $255,603 with over 1,000 backers. Before starting Tovala, David was an MBA at Chicago Booth, and he worked for the co-founder and CEO of Veggie Grill and ran Groovy Spoon – a bi-coastal chain of frozen yogurt stores. He also spent time working at Google and Foundation Capital. 

In This Episode You Will Learn:

  • Why he decided to pair food delivery with a smart oven
  • How they came up with the name Tovala
  • How David found his first engineer
  • How they decided on the price of the oven and the food
  • How they prepared for their successful Kickstarter campaign
  • What they got out of Y-Combinator? 
  • Why they decided to come back to Chicago after Y-Combinator?
  • Why he wishes he had found a co-founder earlier
  • How to test for cultural fit and avoid mishires
  • The importance of establishing connections with VCs before you need money

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Books: 

Sponsored By:

  • Bevy: a Chicago startup delivering everything you need, but don’t want to own, for amazing experiences. Own Less. Live More. 

Livestreaming, Virtual Reality, E-Sports & Hiring Your Biggest Critic - Stu Grubbs / Founder of Infiniscene

How To Decide If Your Idea Is Worth Pursuing & How To Sell Your Product - Landon Shoop / Co-Founder of Fizz