Shyam Rao, co-founder and CEO of marketing automation platform Punchh Inc., is a veteran of the mobile industry committed to developing solutions that leverage the platform to benefit businesses while improving customer relationships. Punchh is Shyam’s second entrepreneurial venture, the first being LoCognition, which was a pioneer in location-based services. Shyam started his career at Motorola, where he advanced through the ranks and achieved the position of Lead Engineer. Between entrepreneurial ventures he worked with the Principal Investments Team at Merrill Lynch and was vice president of business development at media-services company Prime Focus. Shyam earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from the University of Toronto and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.