Tom Shea from Adgile Media Group

Tom Shea, from Adgile Media Group, joined me today to discuss the newest form of advertisement: mobile billboards. His company turns last mile delivery trucks into billboards, and then tracks their efficacy by collecting nearby user data. It sounds like something out of a sci-get movie — or 1984 — but it’s the way of the future. 

 

A native of Long Island, New York, Tom started his first company while a junior in high school. He attended college at BC, graduated with a degree in Computer science, and got a job at McMaster-Carr that eventually led him to Chicago. It was in Chicago that he attended UChicago and met his Co-founder, Max. Originally Adjacent Media, a slightly - but drastically - different idea, they went through Venture Challenge, UChicago's version of Y Combinator. At the end, they were posed with two main problems, which prompted an entirely different course of action. After several months of changes, in March of 2020 they were ready to launch Adgile Media Group – the new and improved version of Adjacent. But the pandemic happened, and they postponed launch until Autumn of 2020. One year later, their company had snowballed. They did $5 million in funding, which allowed them to expand. Now, as of Dec 23, they have done $10 million in lifetime sales, and have even partnered with Sabrina Carpenter. Who knows where Adgile will lead the world next, but wherever it is, Tom will be at the forefront.