A peak at Built in Chicago's May startup pitches at 1871
May 16th, 2012 in Events, Friends of Doejo, Entrepreneurship, Startups We Love
The Built in Chicago Launch provides an opportunity for startups to present their companies in front of local investors, techies and fellow entrepreneurs. More than 300 people came out last night to support the five startup founders' innovative visions.
Liz Eavey from startup Stork Stack probably best sums up the localized community feeling of the night: “They say it takes a village to raise a child and we certainly think it takes a village to raise a start up—Chicago has been our village.”
Doejo client Stork Stack was founded in an effort to overcome one of the major challenges facing busy parents today: researching and finding the right products for their children at a time when there are more products on the market than ever before. To provide the best products in a simple format Stork Stack offers curated “stacks” of five hand picked items. The monthly subscription-based service is aimed at mothers and babies from newborn to 36 months. And since the parent community is built on sharing, Stork Stack has incorporated a "Stork Stack Gives Back" program, a charitable component to the startup, that donates a stack to families in need every time a subscription is ordered.
Who’s In founder Nate Lassiter has a simple vision for his start up: to help you "do more fun shit with your friends." To make this as simple as possible, he has created an iPhone application that allows you to share what you want to do. Founded on the basis that we all have places we want to go, Who’s In helps you easily unlock this information by creating a list of the locals you want to go while allowing you to see which of your friends are also interested. When you decide you want to have some fun, the app helps you create connections and set these plans into motion.
Started by an English teacher on the premise that kids need help with grammar, NoRedInk is an adaptive learning tool that replaces red ink marks on a paper with actionable, differentiated feedback allowing them to improve. Jeff Scheur created NoRedInk inspired by low national test scores in grammar/ writing and teacher salaries being linked to these test scores. This platform takes kids interests, favorite celebrities and Facebook friends to generate custom sentences that allow kids to practice their grammar skills. NoRedInk data mines the results to produce tutorials and generate color-coded heat maps that help young students focus on what they need to improve. This allows teachers to focus on instructional decision-making and school districts to track improvements.
Elixserve is a restaurant management system that combines employee scheduling, staff communication and online training tools into one web-based application. Created by alumni of the restaurant world, Elixerve allows restaurants to run as smoothly behind the scenes as possible. The application streamlines work responsibilities, improves employee productivity and solves managerial challenges, founders say. It also provides automated scheduling, allowing restaurants to focus on customers, private messaging functions and a public newsfeed for easy communication between employees. But that's not all. Elixerve is also a platform for efficient internal training: users can upload study materials, create quizzes and access performance metrics.
bethie b. is an online boutique for recycled interiors, allowing clients and small businesses to sell quality recycled furniture and helping you turn your house into a home. The founder of behtie b. recognized that furniture, accounting for 9.8 million tons of waste, was the number one least-recycled household item and ran with it. The ecommerce site hosts a curated and hand chosen selection from stylish locals and small boutiques. Currently in beta, the $10 listing fee is waived. They believe in promoting green living while paying forward style and goodwill.
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Monique Copy Intern |
Snackpot Launch Party!
May 15th, 2012 in Clients, Events, Launch Parties
Last Thursday was the launch party for The Snackpot. Did you make it out? Everyone enjoyed good music, tasty food, and hilarious commentary on the world of snacks. Check out a few of the photographs from that night and the recently lauched website at thesnackpot.com.
All photos were taken by Murphy Welch.
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Richelle Intern |
Social co-working club, Jelly Chicago finds new home
May 14th, 2012 in Friends of Doejo, Entrepreneurship, Startups We Love
(photo courtesy of JellyChicago.com)
It seems self-employment is the loneliness job, especially for laptop-bound freelancers, designers and writers on the coffeeshop circuit. And good luck networking.
The goal of Jelly Chicago has always been to remedy this lack of social interaction and camaraderie, meeting twice a week in public spaces, most notably, the shuttered Noble Tree in Lincoln Park.
Luckily, the 5-year-old group just announced its new meeting spot: The Whole Foods in Lincoln Park, 1550 N. Kingsbury St. Perfect for its free Wifi, parking, plethora of power outlets and gigantic coffee bar. What more could you ask for? There’s even outdoor seating, a diner, wine bar and all the other Whole Foods amenities. But, of course, those aren’t the only benefits you’ll find here.
Founder Sean Johnson describes Jelly Chicago as “unnetworking” in that you’re not standing in a banquet hall handing out business cards. The informal group is much more organic than that, he says.
“The benefits are getting plugged into a community of folks who are smart, creative, and usually getting off their feet, eager to meet others,” Johnson says. “We've had a ton of folks who were Jelly regulars who've gone on to do awesome stuff.”
And interestingly, a Jelly Chicago meeting is where Doejo co-founders Darren Marshall and Phil Tadros’ first met, while at Noble Tree—so, we’re big proponents of the group’s co-working model.
Other founders and entrepreneurs rooted in Jelly Chicago, according to Johnson, are Jeff and Allie Siarto, who started social analytics company, Loudpixel together (now in Michigan); Rishi Shah, who started e-commerce platform, Flying Cart (now in SF); Willy Franzen, who started entry level job post site, One Day, One Job; Jessica Lybeck, who started mini class discovery network, Dabble; Pek Pongpaet, who just launched Pinstagram (now in SF); and David Kadavy who wrote Design for Hackers and tours the world speaking about design; among others. Finding yourself in good company here is a give-in.
If you’re looking for the perfect public co-working space to make new friends (hit up a happy hour every once and a while) and informally network out—check out our friends at Jelly Chicago. In their new space to start, they meet on Thursdays from 12pm – 4pm. And follow them on Twitter.
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John Scribe |
DePaul FoundersWeekends start tonight, inspiring future of entrepreneurialism
May 11th, 2012 in Events, Phil Tadros, Entrepreneurship
DePaul University’s entrepreneurial acceleration booster, DePaul C.E.O. kicks off its four-week FoundersWeekends tonight as a program for first-time entrepreneurs and recent graduates with a venture idea looking to establish the right team.
Tonight’s opening event pulls together 14 young CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs to share their startup stories to budding students looking to follow in their footsteps. With DePaul C.E.O. President, John DeOrian, organizer and serial entrepreneur Elbert Clayton designed the discussions to be roundtable style, believing panel discussions to be less authentic and accessible, Clayton says.
He also wanted more opportunities for students to hear success stories organically and be inspired beyond the classroom.
“We want to be that hub that generates innovation outside of DePaul,” Clayton said. “The goal is to have a conversation with a new person, hopefully one that may offer them an opportunity or a job or even give advice for their idea.”
Speakers include Doejo founder and CEO Phil Tadros, who bought his first coffeeshop at 19 and has been building businesses and his digital agency ever since; Kris Petersen, CEO of DealsGoRound, a secondary marketplace for daily deals; Jonathan Pasky, co-founder of midVentures, on the helm of tech startup business and legal strategy; and others.
Each table will have a separate speaker with seating for up to 12 individuals at each table for a one-on-one discussion around our four principle topics: Building A Brand That Breathes Your Company Mission (with the above mentioned speakers), Recruiting Great Co-Founders For Your Start-Up, Creating A Disruptive Business Model On Day One, and Launching A Product From A Napkin Idea.
At the end of each 20-25 minute discussion, the event attendees will be able to rotate to another table to listen to another speaker, according to FoudnersWeekends.com.
“This allows the students to ask the questions that they want to get out of this event,” Clayton said.
The events are open to the public if you go to FoundersWeekends.com and register. Tonight’s kickoff, “Listen, Learn & Launch” will be held at DePaul University’s downtown campus, 1 E. Jackson, 9th Floor, from 6pm – 9pm with an after party mixer (with food provided) at Pazzo’s Cucina Italiana from 9pm – 1 am. For more information contact FoundersWeekends@gmail.com.
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John Scribe |
Founder Stories kick off at 1871 with GrubHub
May 9th, 2012 in Events, Friends of Doejo, Entrepreneurship
Last night 1871 kicked off its Chicago Founder Stories event, a monthly series that will feature the most successful local entrepreneurs taking the audience through the good, the bad and how they ended up where they are today. The inaugural event featured GrubHub co-founders Matt Maloney and Mike Evans.
Maloney and Evans shared tips they acquired since launching GrubHub in 2004. For those that have been living under a rock, GrubHub is the #1 food ordering service and reached 300,000 unique individuals last month alone. They took the audience through their scrappy start, which included buying Selling for Dummies and working out of a spare room in Evans' apartment, to present day successes like signing a lease for a new office space in downtown Chicago next to City Hall.
What worked for GrubHub? “Sell before you have a product, then think about the overall benefit,” said Evans, explaining the value of launching in beta and adjusting as you grow. “Everything that GrubHub does is to benefit the restaurants. If they make more money, we make more money. You don’t have to build a bunch of bullshit markets – just do what is fundamental.”
Staying focused has been vital, he says. Despite consumer requests for GrubHub to branch out internationally or tap into other delivery markets they have stayed focused. “Less than 1 percent of all food pick-up and delivery is placed online. There is still so much growth in what we are doing here,” said Maloney. This focus has helped them to find product market fit and build what the customer wants while avoiding becoming too abstract.
Satisfying the customer was a re-occurring theme throughout the event. Evans recommends always ending the conversation with the consumer by asking ‘what can we do for you better?’ He acknowledges that “the answer may be ‘oh, we won’t get to that in two or three years’ but it’s never ‘we will never get to that’”
With the events' Chicago location and GrubHub being a Chicago-based startup, the city played a large role in last night's conversation. Maloney described the city as a “great cross-section of the U.S.,” explaining “if you start and succeed here, that success will translate across all of the U.S.”
For startups looking for funding, they recommend staying close to home and put an emphasis on the fact that you are taking on investers as a part of your team – it’s not just about the money. Investors also provide strategic guidance, executional strategy, help with hiring, partnership and mergers and acquisitions.
“Starting close to home will give you a higher touch relationship … it’s very helpful to be able to call someone and have them in your office that afternoon,” said Maloney.
The ongoing series takes inspiration from Chris Dixon’s Founder Stories on TechCrunch. With no shortage of local inspiration, this event allows us to hear the story straight from the mouth of the Founders. Instead of broadcasting interviews online, 1871 is conducting them in front of a live audience using Twitter and GoSoapbox, to field questions. GoSoapbox is a web-based app that joins event attendees in the digital space, allowing them to ask questions or vote up existing questions, ensuring the presenter answers them.
If you want to know more about the event 1871 will be posting the full discussion online on their website.
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Monique Copy Intern |