Luke Closs began by summarizing his background working on various hacks and open data projects. He then discussed how he started a hack called VanTrash that inspired him to pursue bringing such projects to more people. However, cities were often reluctant to embrace hacks. This led to the realization that cities were missing out on cheap solutions. To address this, he decided to transform ReCollect, one of his hack projects, into a vendor product that could provide meaningful value and services to municipalities. This involved redesigning, rebuilding and growing ReCollect into a successful collaboration with cities and an international business with customers across North America. In summary, open data and hacks can lead to innovations but taking the steps to build products