When Code Meets Creativity
By: Cornell Research
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Startup, Business, Cornell University, Technology

After graduating from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in English, Michael B. LaVista ’94 toured with a rock band. It was an opportunity he could not forgo, given his love of music. While on tour, the band needed a website. LaVista built it. After all, he had grown up programming with his grandfather and cousin. Given five years on the road with the band, he began to think of pursuing other ways of using his total set of skills more broadly. He tried a number of entrepreneurial paths, but the right opportunity appeared with the dot-com boom.

“I love to make things. When I started in music, I was creating songs. When Caxy started, I initially focused on creating the software…Creating a great company and great teams was more fun than anything I’d done before.”

He and a couple of friends started a digital business, selling door-to-door interactive technology. The business changed with the ever-evolving digital market and soon became multimedia, growing into a company that works in e-commerce, content management, and custom software.

“I love to make things,” says LaVista. “When I started in music, I was creating songs. When Caxy started, I initially focused on creating the software. Eventually it dawned on me that creating a great company and great teams was more fun than anything I’d done before. And it’s never been a problem for me to find energy for the company.”

LaVista founded Caxy Interactive in 1999. Caxy supplies its clients with custom web solutions — strategy, development, design, support, and management. The company has developed hundreds of successful customized digital solutions for corporate and other clients, serving such industries as financial services, higher education, startups, nonprofits, and manufacturing. It is a top-rated software development company that creates products specific to customer needs, whether websites, applications, progressive web apps, or other digital needs.

Caxy’s mission is to help companies solve their thorniest organizational problems with technology. To accomplish this, Caxy concentrates on being the best place to work, learn, and grow for Chicago’s premier software teams. Caxy has been ranked a Top 5 software development company in the Chicago market for both 2018 and 2019. Regarding the future, Caxy is moving toward machine learning and IoT — the internet of things, such as household appliances, talking to the cloud and each other.

LaVista’s entrepreneurial verve was evident when he made the decision to make a living as a rock musician. When the time came to pivot, he did so and was ready to continue an entrepreneurial trek in a different direction. He says, “I’ve always been drawn to solving interesting problems. The digital market is constantly changing. For some, that’s scary. For me, it’s what gets me up in the morning.”

LaVista believes that entrepreneurs have a greater tolerance for risk than most people. “You have to be willing to fail and make nothing at first, or you can’t succeed,” he explains. “Failure is how your business tells you that you are doing something wrong. Those who make it are just too stubborn to quit.”

He continues, “When I hear about some Silicon Valley failure stories, it’s all about how much capital they burned through. I don’t hear enough about the lessons. Could they have done something sooner to fix the problem?”

Upon reminiscing about his Cornell experience, LaVista says, “Cornell puts you in a cohort of overachievers, which forces you to stay sharp and want to excel. I remember thinking I was kind of a hot shot in high school only to be immediately humbled by my peers at Cornell. Being an entrepreneur is sink or swim. I got my understanding of what excellence is from Cornell.”