Memo to Grads: Life’s Too Short to Be a Bore (or Chore)

May 5, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

It’s getting to be graduation season again. Every year I’m asked to speak and the temptation to save time by repurposing my prior talks is substantial — especially because I’m personally convinced that those prior words of wisdom were not only invaluable, but timeless as well. But being consistent (or lazy) requires you to be just as ignorant today as you were a year ago and I’d like to think that — even at my advanced age — I’ve learned, re-learned and unlearned a few new and important things.

April 27, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

The bond between the best entrepreneurs and their businesses is often so tight and all-encompassing that they can make the easy mistake of confusing who they are as people with what they do for a living. They lose sight of some of the more important things that distinguish earning a living from having a life. And because they take the ups and downs of business so personally, there’s virtually no separation between work and what little time is left for the rest of their life (not to mention family and friends). Everything suffers as a result.

April 27, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

How is Chicago’s startup scene measuring up to current investment trends?

April 22, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

1871 Says: Our partners at Sage are gearing up for their annual Sage Summit, the largest gathering of small and medium-sized business in the world. The 1871 community can attend Sage Summit at a special rate using code 1871PROMO here. Ahead of the event, Sage has contributed a guest blog to the 1871 site, highlighting Sage Summit speaker Daymond John’s entrepreneurial journey. Learn more below:

April 20, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

We’re constantly rushing from one thing to the next. All of us, all of the time. The days are ever longer and the nights are even worse. I call it a life of “playing the entire game in overtime.” You might be kidding yourself and calling it masterful multi-tasking, but I’d say it’s mostly just a mess. We’re constantly trying to make time for everything and we’re discovering that not only is this an impossible dream, but we end up spending too much of our time on the urgent, rather than the important. We lose sight of what really matters in our lives and businesses. Our inboxes (calls, emails and especially texts) are driving us instead of the other way around. You’ll never get into the flow if you’re fighting non-stop fires all day long.

April 19, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 19, 2016

April 14, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

[rev_slider alias=”steve-case-aol”][/rev_slider]

April 12, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

1871 Member Company MyChild Will Be the Fourth 1871 Company to Compete; Third Annual Demo Day For Google For Entrepreneurs North American Tech Hub Network

April 12, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

For the last year or two, it’s been fairly easy for the naysayers to continually predict the imminent demise of Facebook. The latest rants focus on the alleged slippage in the sharing by FB users of their “personal” news and details. For me, even if true, this falls somewhere between “who really cares anyway?” and “TMI” to begin with. There’s plenty of this kind of crap to go around and we should all actually be grateful to hear that the over-sharing is abating even if Kayne and the Kardashians are still killing us with just their shameless alliteration alone.

April 8, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

New Program to Provide Night and Weekend Courses in Data Science; First Course to Begin at 1871 in April

April 7, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

I can’t tell you how often I’m in a conversation or presentation with a major corporation’s senior management team and the first topic to arise is frustration with a lack of effective internal communication and information sharing.

April 5, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Future Founders Moves Headquarters to 1871; Both Organizations Launched Through Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center

April 4, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

@startupinstitute hosting a Meet & Greet over breakfast today, introducing their current students to 1871 member companies who are looking to hire!

A photo posted by @1871chicago on Apr 1, 2016 at 1:12pm PDT

Thanks for coming to 1871, @futurefounders!

A photo posted by @1871chicago on Mar 31, 2016 at 12:22pm PDT

Congrats on a great pitch at @technori to 1871 #WiSTEM member @Proxfinity! #Repost @mstechgroup with @repostapp ・・・ #technori #startupwomen #entrepreneur #femalefounders #networking #events #makers #chitech #1871chicago

A photo posted by @1871chicago on Mar 30, 2016 at 12:18pm PDT

Orbit Media Co-Founder Andy Crestodina @crestodina on the importance of making every decision based on data during his #GoogleAnalytics talk at 1871! @chicagoamamarketing @orbiteers

A photo posted by @1871chicago on Mar 29, 2016 at 11:51am PDT

Congratulations to the most recent graduates of @anyonecanlearntocode ! From their first-ever cohort here at 1871 in May 2014, they’ve now grown to 3 cities and graduated 83 new coders, with a 90% job placement rate in full-time #tech positions. Way to go, ACLTC!

A photo posted by @1871chicago on Mar 29, 2016 at 7:54am PDT

April 2, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

I wanted to provide you with my thoughts on my first 30 days as an 1871 Mentor. Jim Dugan, J.B. Pritzker, and Ellen Rudnick were certainly right about the energy and enthusiasm of the entrepreneurs associated with 1871!

Thus far, I have conducted four days of office hours (18 total slots), met with 14 different companies with only one no-show. My discussion areas: 1) concisely presenting a company’s competitive advantage to capital providers; 2) how to divide equity among startup founders; and 3) the unique challenges women entrepreneurs face in raising capital appeared to have resonated with the entrepreneurs.

This week I was told that my ideas may have already had an impact with two entrepreneurs. One company, Starchup, met with a company that I had consulted with previously, to discuss my thought that their respective business models were complementary. After meeting, they are in the process of finalizing a deal that could substantially increase their respective revenues. A second company, SpaceHQ, utilized my suggestion to create a competitive sales force model to generate increased salesperson attention to SpaceHQ’s product. I was told that potential customers have embraced this idea enthusiastically.

Other Mentors, such as Maria Burud of Zanon Group, have been very helpful in introducing me to 1871 companies they have been mentoring where my expertise and experience could be a fit. I must compliment you on the 1871 staff, especially Rhonda and George, who have been generous with their time and have been very patient in answering my many questions.

Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to be a part of this excellent business effort.

About the Author
Jerrold B. Carrington, President and COO, TurnerPatterson
Jerrold B. Carrington is President and COO of TurnerPatterson, LLC.where he oversees all operations and financial activities for TurnerPatterson. In addition to joining TurnerPatterson, Mr. Carrington is a co-founding general partner of INROADS Capital Partners, L.P., a $50 million private equity firm in the Chicago area that invests in middle to later stage companies, particularly those targeting the urban consumer. He is also the founder of Carrington Partners, LLC a financial advisory firm that specializes in providing private equity investment advice and counsel to middle market companies.

March 29, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Technology columnist Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times recently argued that the UBER model doesn’t translate very well and can’t be reliably applied to the thousands of businesses that have rapidly appeared in virtually every industry claiming to be the “UBER” of whatever. He thinks these companies are being started and run by people who are either irrational or sadly deluded and that a massive shakeout looms. There’s one UBER and that’s UBER– end of story. He’s not entirely wrong, but his view is too simplistic.

March 29, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

1871 member Peeptrade launched at SXSW earlier this month. We sat down with them to find out more about the experience:

March 23, 2016 by J Blaszczykiewicz

1871 Says: Our partners at Sage are gearing up for their annual Sage Summit, the largest gathering of small and medium-sized business in the world. The 1871 community can attend Sage Summit at a special rate using code 1871PROMO here. Ahead of the event, Sage has contributed a guest blog to the 1871 site, highlighting keynote speaker Sir Richard Branson’s entrepreneurial journey. Learn more below:

Subscribe

Questions?