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Jan 06, 2013 | Post by: kevin 2 Comments

2012 felt a lot like 1871

2012 felt a lot like 1871.

Chicago’s startup community came together last year to open a home for early-stage startups to build their businesses side-by-side, to have access to education and mentorship, and to meet customers and investors.  Building the next-generation of high-growth Chicago companies captured the spirit of the year 1871 that was defined by an incredible period of innovation, entrepreneurship and using technology to build the modern city we know and love today.

A year ago, 1871 was not even announced yet – it was an idea, a plan on paper.  Today it is a thriving center where over 200 early-stage startups are building their high-growth companies.  We have hundreds of expert volunteers teaching Workshops or sharing their knowledge through individual Office Hours.  We have hosted well over 100 events at 1871 welcoming over 12,000 visitors through our doors.  We have valuable partnerships with leading organizations like Excelerate Labs and the Starter League as well as with many of our top universities like Northwestern, the University of Illinois, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola, and the University of Chicago.  1871 really has become the hub of startup activity – putting a spotlight on local startups and on Chicago – welcoming government and business leaders like Mayor Emanuel, Governor Quinn, British PM Cameron – and the CEO’s of Twitter, Caterpillar, Walgreens, Northern Trust, Allstate, Groupon, and the co-founder of AOL.

So what will 2013 bring?

In 2013, 1871 will work to create an even better experience for our startup members and partners.  We will work to create an even more welcoming home for our startup community.  We will invite leaders and investors from around the country and around the world to come see what is happening in Chicago.  Please refer any great startups you know to apply – we’re always looking for amazing new members!

My hope for Chicago’s startup community in 2013 is that we fulfill the promise from all we’ve done in 2012.  We need startups to execute on their strategies and create growing, sustainable companies.  In 2013, I hope we have more big successes –- maybe an IPO or two.  I also look forward to seeing how the city invests in wired and wireless infrastructure.  And hopefully we’ll have a few “graduates” from 1871 who are growing so quickly that they need to get their own office space (nearby please!).

We look forward to working with the entire startup community to grow Chicago in 2013.



Nov 26, 2012 | Post by: kevin No Comments

CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, Visits 1871

Last Monday, the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, paid 1871 a visit when he was in town for a speaking engagement at the Economic Club of Chicago.  Dick is a great Chicago entrepreneur having started a number of companies – including Feedburner which was acquired by Google – along with folks like Eric Lunt, who is now CTO of local growth company, BrightTag.

We showed Dick around the space and shared a bit about the resources available at 1871 for the 200 startup members.  He connected with some old friends like Chuck Templeton, Steve Olechowski, and Matt Shobe – as well as met some of our partners like Mike & Neal from The Starter League and Maria from BuiltInChicago – and some of the CEO’s of startups working from 1871.  Hopefully he gained a new appreciation for all of the great momentum Chicago’s startup community has compared to when he was building Feedburner here.

We look forward to welcoming additional CEO’s to 1871 in the future from digital companies both local and from across the country.  Please let us know if you have any ideas or can make a connection.



Nov 05, 2012 | Post by: kevin 2 Comments

6 months of 1871: Member Infographic

On May 2nd, 2012, we celebrated the official Grand Opening of the new home for Chicago’s digital startups, 1871. Now, in honor of our 6-month birthday and in the interest of sharing more about the member startups of 1871, we’re releasing this awesome Infographic that the folks at Lab42 helped us create.


Thanks to all of our partners in 1871 for an incredible first six months: Excelerate Labs, The Starter League, the University of Chicago, the Illinois Institue of Technology, Sandbox Industries, the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, New World Ventures, the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition, the I2A Fund, Impact Engine and the more than 200 startups that call this place home. 1871 is a community effort and would not be possible without all of you.



Oct 29, 2012 | Post by: kevin 1 Comments

A big night for entrepreneurs in Chicago: the 2012 CEC Momentum Awards

Chicago’s entrepreneurial community had a great night last Wednesday evening at the 5th Annual CEC Momentum Awards dinner in Millennium Park .  Over 750 Chicago leaders came together to celebrate our past, present, and future entrepreneurs and the people and corporations who support them.

The night kicked off with a networking reception presented by KPMG on the Harris Theater Rooftop where entrepreneurs, corporate execs, government leaders, and venture capitalists reconnected with old friends and made new contacts.  Guests then made their way down to the dinner presented by JP Morgan Chase in a huge white tent in Millennium Park.  With late October temperatures of 70+ degrees, parts of the tent were left open, so it felt like a mid-summer night in Chicago.

The dinner began with an awesome video highlighting Chicago’s great entrepreneurial history.  Then our MC, Anna Davlantes from FOX Chicago took the stage to get things going.  I made a few remarks about the incredible energy and momentum happening in Chicago over the last year and specifically talked about our progress at 1871 in terms of members (200!) and programming (60 workshops, 150 office hour sessions each month, 90 big events since opening).  I also laid out why the funds raised from tickets and sponsors of the Awards dinner were needed to make the programming at 1871 possible.  Every dollar raised from the Momentum Awards will go back into supporting entrepreneurs in Chicago through 1871 and beyond.

I then had the honor of introducing Mayor Rahm Emanuel who has been such a huge supporter of Chicago’s startups through efforts like ThinkChicago and various jobs announcements.  The Mayor eloquently spoke about why Chicago should be the best city in the country to build a startup and why more companies should be moving downtown like Motorola Mobility recently announced.  He talked about how Chicago has all of the pieces in place, along with organizations like the CEC who are providing the support our early-stage companies need to be successful.

Photo Gallery

After dinner was served, CEC Co-chair, Jim O’Connor, took the stage to introduce our Entrepreneurial Champion, Michael Ferro.  An awesome video was played featuring business leaders as well as Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd , old friends to Michael.  An incredibly successful entrepreneur who brought his company Click Commerce public at the age of 33, Michael has also served as a past chairman of the CEC.  Michael has since started a number of businesses and invested in many more, and has been a mentor to numerous entrepreneurs. Today he is taking on the challenge of turning around the Chicago Sun-Times.  He’s a civic treasure and a true entrepreneurial champion.

Jeff Bennett, Managing Director, at Merrick Ventures then introduced the 3 finalists for the Merrick Momentum Award: Trunk Club, Narrative Science, and Braintree.  We played a great video about each of the companies and their path to their current success as well as their plans for the future.  At the conclusion of the video, Jeff ripped open the envelope and revealed the 2012 winner, Braintree!  Bryan Johnson, the founder of Braintree, accepted the award and passionately spoke about his entrepreneurial journey and shared advice with the entrepreneurs in the audience on the importance of what they are doing.

The Corporate Champion award was next and one of the founders of the CEC, JB Pritzker, had the pleasure of introducing our inaugural winner, JP Morgan Chase & Midwest Chairman, Glenn Tilton.  Glenn spoke about the many contributions JP Morgan Chase has made to support entrepreneurs in Chicago, both philanthropically through 1871, Chicago Ideas Week, and Technori, and through their business efforts as the top lender to small businesses in the country.  Glenn is a captain of industry (energy, transportation, and now banking) who understands the importance of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in driving a 21st century economy in Chicago.  He is a civic leader and has co-chaired the Chicago Plan for Economic Growth & Jobs.  We are lucky to have him committed to Chicago.

The evening concluded with a few thank you’s from yours truly and the announcement by our dinner co-chairs that the evening had raised $1.5M to support Chicago entrepreneurs.  But the night wasn’t over, many in the audience joined 150 entrepreneurs at the Momentum Awards Afterparty back on the Harris Theater rooftop presented by AON. The theater was incredibly transformed into a nightclub with a full stage for a concert performed by our startup band – the 1871ders!

 

 

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 was an amazing night of celebration and fundraising for Chicago entrepreneurs.  Many people commented that this night may be a point in time we look back on a few years down the road as the moment our community came together and showed that Chicago truly is the best place in the country to start a business.



Oct 11, 2012 | Post by: kevin No Comments

10/11/1871: “All gone but wife, children, and energy”

A few days before we officially opened 1871 in the Merchandise Mart on May 2nd, 2012, Scott Kluth, the Fouder and President of local entrepreneurial success story, CouponCabin, gave us an incredible gift to mark the occasion.  I’d like to mark this historic day for Chicago with the writing from this lithograph – which you can see next time you visit 1871.

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On October 11th, 1871, the day after the Great Chicago Fire ended, William Kerfoot set up an office at 89 Washington Street to continue his real estate business, the first building to appear after the fire.  He hung this sign in front of his little shack: “All gone but wife, children, and energy”.  Just four day’s after the fire started in the O’Leary barn, the people of Chicago showed their spirit and began to rebuild their beloved city.

This is a Original 1893 halftone print of a drawing of the first building erected after the Great Chicago Fire that burned from October 8 – 10, 1871 and destroyed much of the city.  This print was sold at the World’s Columbian Exposition (also known as the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair) which was held from May to October 1893 in honor of the 400th Anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the new world.

Good luck to all those at 1871 who are resetting the boundaries of what’s possible in Chicago.



Oct 03, 2012 | Post by: kevin 2 Comments

Help a Local Startup Win Free Tickets to the CEC Momentum Awards

I think we can all agree 2012 has been a momentous year for the local startup scene.

The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) is honored to be a hub of this city’s expanding entrepreneurial community and is thrilled at the local and national attention generated by our flagship project, 1871.

We believe the growing spotlight on Chicago makes this year’s Momentum Awards—an evening that recognizes the past, present, and future of entrepreneurship in this city—a special night indeed.

It’s a night where leaders from the business, civic, and education sectors come together with successful entrepreneurs and the next generation of breakout startup companies to celebrate the growth of ideas in this city and the recognition that Chicago can compete with either coast and the rest of the world.

We at the CEC would love to see more young companies on the cusp of greatness at this event rubbing shoulders with the people who make Chicago the thriving mecca it is.

And here’s what we’re doing to make that possible…

Starting today, the CEC is collecting nominations for a local startup to win two free tickets to the Momentum Awards.

Nominated companies should be thriving Chicago-based startups with under $250,000 in annual revenue. We’ll accept nominations through 11:59pm, Tuesday, October 9, 2012. Later that week voting will take place to pick a winner and runner up from the top nominated companies.

So, spread the word, and get your nominations in today.



Aug 30, 2012 | Post by: kevin No Comments

Excelerate Demo Day – wow!

1871 is all about bringing the Chicago ecosystem together to support and grow the startup community, and there is no better example of that same effort then in what Troy Henikoff, Sam Yagan, and Excelerate have built over the last 3 summers.  I remember when there was talk of an “accelerator” program in Chicago and many folks were skeptical, but a small group of leaders got it done and it’s only improved each year!  Ranked the #3 accelerator in the country by Forbes, Excelerate just graduated an incredible class of 10 startups from around the country and the globe.  Wednesday was Demo Day at the House of Blues and the presentations by the graduating companies were amazing – the clear result of excellent coaches and mentoring help over the last 3 months. Here’s a run-down of the 10 startups for you to check out:

The startup presentations were complemented by two exceptional keynotes – the great national leader of startup ecosystems, Brad Feld of TechStars and Foundry Group and Phil Wickham, President of the Kauffman Fellows Program.  Thanks to both of them for sharing their knowledge and support for Chicago’s momentum.

We at 1871 are proud to have Excelerate as a partner and congratulate them on another successful year.  We can’t wait to see the next class in Summer 2013!



Aug 20, 2012 | Post by: kevin 3 Comments

100 Days of 1871

Back on May 2nd, we opened the doors to a new 50,000 square foot center for digital startups in the Merchandise Mart.  We named this place 1871 to reflect the great spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship following the Great Chicago Fire.  We hoped that a place like this would become a hub for startup activity in Chicago – and would provide a supportive community of like-minded entrepreneurs building early-stage companies alongside one another.  We hoped that bringing together incredible partners like Code Academy, Excelerate Labs, Impact Engine, and the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC) – as well as top local universities and venture capital partners – would provide access to the talent, capital and mentorship startups need to grow their businesses.  We hoped for so much and so far it has exceeded our expectations!

1871 has 149 startups working in the space today including the brave few who moved in while we were still in “beta” back in April like MarkitX, Media Chaperone, ProOnGo, Toodalu, and SimpleRelevance.  And who can forget the first event – Code Academy’s Demo Day where we really tested the 1871 auditorium early.  Since then, we’ve hosted 80 events at 1871 and have welcomed over 10,000 people to come and learn, network, and engage.  The CEC team has programmed over 30 Workshops for over 400 entrepreneurs and complemented this with over 170 Office Hours sessions with local experts volunteering their time and expertise.   At the beginning of August, 1871 celebrated our first company to “graduate” to their own office space when Food Genius moved nearby. I’m happy to say that they will continue on as members of 1871 so they can stay connected to the community.  We’ve also had some high-profile visitors including the Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, as well as Governor Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Today, we are welcoming in new startups each week and still have capacity in our Shared space for amazing entrepreneurs.  We’ve recently started to welcome in Associate Members to 1871 – companies or organizations that want to be part of the 1871 community but are larger, have their own office space and don’t need the same type of membership as a startup.  Please welcome Loyola University, Microsoft, Doejo, and Technori for being some of our first Associate Members.

In the first 100 days of 1871, we have seen an incredible response to this new startup center and the community has really come together to support these early-stage startups.  We’ve been humbled by the huge response and are committed to making 1871 better each day going forward.

As we look forward to the next 100 days, I’d like to give a huge thanks to my CEC team: Una, Caity, Brian, Kristi, Mike and Melissa – not to mention our many awesome interns this summer.  Thanks also to our incredibly supportive CEC Board of Directors, co-chaired by Bryant Keil and Jim O’Connor.   And a special thanks to the core team who built the plan for 1871 – Steve Collens, Dan Lyne, Matt Moog, and JB Pritzker – none of this would be possible without your leadership.



Jul 13, 2012 | Post by: kevin No Comments

Data collaboration for social good

Originally posted on Google’s Policy by the Number blog and the event was hosted at 1871 (@1871Chicago)

Governments making more data available to the public could create a new, data-driven society in which we all govern and are governed more effectively. Cities could use the data to become more efficient, governments could improve their shared practices, and both new kinds of citizen engagement and private sector opportunities could take root.

Yet, open data does not immediately mean useable data, and few know what to actually do with the growing wealth of open government data. Contributing this problem is the fact that important stakeholders are often not plugged into what data is available or why—that is, the data scientists who know how to process and analyze data aren’t necessarily asking the right questions, while the nonprofits and foundations who ask the right questions don’t necessarily know how to process and analyze.

At DataKind, we’ve started working toward solutions. We were thrilled to support the Safety Data Initiative recently launched by the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy and the US Department of Transportation to hold a DataDive in Chicago in May, a weekend event at which non-profits, data scientists, and government employees worked together to solve social problems with non-profit and open government data.

We’ve teamed non-profits with data scientists before, but this event added a new element. The White House and the US Department of Transportation had just recently launched safety.data.gov, a government portal to an extensive amount of safety data, including data sets on everything from pedestrian safety to food safety. Members of the White House team worked with non-profits ahead of time to bring safety data into their problem definitions. By fostering cross-domain collaboration from the beginning, non-profits could ask their questions of the data, government pointed stakeholders to the “right” data, and data scientists found answers to the non-profits’ questions. We invited three high-impact non-profits who could benefit from this work:

  • The Chicago Red Cross wanted to use data to understand where fires were likely to occur. We gave them data on local building safety and fire occurrences, and they built a map showing locations of likely fires and analyzed the demographics of those neighborhoods.
  • Children’s Memorial Hospital wanted to build a database of youth violence prevention programs. We pointed them to data sets on violence in the city, from which they were able to scrape together an automated list of youth violence prevention programs.
  • Enlace wanted to understand the correlations between education and crime in their neighborhood of Little Village. From 311 call data about abandoned buildings, Enlace got their first looks into how neighborhood wellness correlated with their efforts.

More important than the visualizations and insights that came out over the weekend were the collaborations. These micro-communities of non-profits, government officials, and statisticians made for dream teams that were able to utilize government data to solve real problems. Many of the teams continue to work together and will carry the projects beyond the weekend. We are only at the beginning of a revolution in data’s valuable applications for social change. We are heartened to see the government working not to be the authority, but an equal player and a leader in coaxing the value out of open data.

Jake Porway is the Executive Director of DataKind.



Jul 12, 2012 | Post by: kevin 1 Comments

Silicon Valley Bank Chicago releases HALO Report at 1871

This morning we hosted a breakfast at 1871 for entrepreneurs and members of the investment community in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank in Chicago, the Angel Resource Institute, and data powered by CB Insights.  The most recent edition of the Halo Report was shared with the audience – a project that highlights angel group investment activity and emerging trends throughout the United States and provides more sought after data that has not been previously available to entrepreneurs or early stage investors.

Check out this infographic for a summary:



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