# Adam Calica

> Adam Calica is a Chicago-based co-founder and the senior vice president of product and growth at Built In. His public record traces an unusual product arc: an early local social network and blogging platform noticed that its job-posting threads were the busiest part of the community, became a recruiting and employer-brand platform, expanded across American tech hubs, and later moved into global hiring and AI-era employer intelligence.

- **Role:** Founder and Senior Vice President of Product and Growth at Built In
- **Organizations:** Built In
- **Education:** University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Co-founded Built In and helped guide its evolution from a local Chicago startup community into a global recruiting, employer-brand and employer-intelligence platform., Created an early data visualization of Chicago’s digital-company ecosystem that Forbes featured in 2012., Helped develop the content-and-community model that Built In used to connect technical professionals with employers.

## Career timeline

- **2011** — Began working at Built In as a co-founder; the early company operated as a social network and blogging platform for Chicago startups.
- **2012** — Built an infographic from Built In Chicago data that mapped the city’s growing digital-company ecosystem and was featured by Forbes.
- **2013** — Identified publicly as Built In Chicago’s product manager and supplied WBEZ with data on startup outcomes in the city.
- **2015-2020** — Published reporting and practical guides across hiring, company culture, diversity, remote work, engineering and data topics for Built In.
- **2019** — Built In raised a $22 million Series C led by Updata Partners, with participation from MATH Venture Partners.
- **2020** — Documented Built In’s expansion from a two-person operation running three markets to more than 130 employees, 1.7 million monthly visitors and over 1,800 clients.
- **2025** — Built In announced global expansion, reporting more than 5 million monthly visitors worldwide and more than 2 million monthly international visitors.
- **2026** — Served as senior vice president of growth and product as Built In launched an Employer Intelligence Platform focused on employer visibility and reputation across AI and search.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Built In and helped guide its evolution from a local Chicago startup community into a global recruiting, employer-brand and employer-intelligence platform.
- Created an early data visualization of Chicago’s digital-company ecosystem that Forbes featured in 2012.
- Helped develop the content-and-community model that Built In used to connect technical professionals with employers.
- Contributed to Built In through product leadership, growth work and published reporting across the company’s expansion.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Built In launched its Employer Intelligence Platform for employer visibility and reputation across AI and search.
- **2026-02** — Built In detailed the measurement and management framework behind its AI Employer Intelligence platform.
- **2025-05** — Built In announced global expansion and said the platform reached more than 5 million monthly visitors, including more than 2 million outside the United States.

## Links

- Website: https://builtin.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-calica

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/adam-calica
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27