About 1 year ago, a small group of folks from Chicago’s startup community started researching the possibility of an ambitious, dynamic, flexible, digital startup center.
Today, this vision is a reality. Today, we officially launch 1871.
There have been so many folks involved with this effort – over 200 entrepreneurs plus a core team including Steve Collens, Matt Moog, Dan Lyne, Jack Keenan, Jim Plummer, Todd Heiser, Carlos Martinez, Ray Kennedy, Katy Ruscitti, Lina Chiu, Luke Galambos, the Jasculca Terman team, the Skender team, Suzanne and the ROI Ventures team, VSA Partners and JB Pritzker. Special thanks to my CEC team – Una, Caity, Kim, Melissa, Heidi, Mike, and Chris – as well as our incredible CEC Board of Directors for their leadership. Thank you for all of your efforts in making this dream a reality. We will make you proud.
To honor this day, I’d like to share 1871: By the Numbers
50,000 square feet of space
500-person capacity
65 companies already accepted
85 Code Academy students
10 Excelerate Labs companies
36 events and educational programs scheduled for the month of May
200 members of the digital community consulted on design
18+ miles of communications cabling
3,200+ linear feet of light fixtures
3,400 square feet of glass
143-foot-long glass whiteboard
5,000 carpet tiles
28 conference and phone rooms
63 lockers
1871—(1) catalyzing moment in Chicago history, when the most brilliant
engineers,
architects and inventors came together to build a new city; (2)
where Chicago’s brightest digital designers, engineers and entrepreneurs
are shaping new technologies, disrupting old business models
and
resetting the boundaries of what’s possible
Join as an 1871 Early Stage Member.
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