Founder’s Five: Checking In on Crazy Ideas and the Startup Rollercoaster with Dennis Crowley of Foursquare

August 2, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Dennis Crowley’s company was built on the concept of “check-ins,” and the Foursquare founder absolutely had chances to check out during his entrepreneurial journey. But after selling his first location-based company — Dodgeball — to Google and watching it fold, Crowley set a vision for his business and stuck to it. For anyone who is struggling to stick it out, Crowley’s keynote on August 1 and subsequent Q&A with Kevin Willer of Chicago Ventures packed some serious wisdom.

August 2, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

With a network of more than 300 professionals from every industry, the mentor program is the crown jewel of 1871. Every day, mentors dedicate their time and expertise guiding our members from issues ranging from legal to tech and everywhere in between, forming valuable relationships and producing concrete outcomes. We highlight members of our mentor program on an ongoing basis, and this week, we say hello to Jill Salzman of The Founding Moms.

August 1, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

This past weekend, I attended the Fear Paradox Summit, an event geared towards helping women expand their minds and channel their fear into fuel. Every woman who attended said “yes” to embracing tough challenges and living out their dreams. It was a truly amazing experience: not only because of the workshops and activities, but the incredible energy that you can only feel in a group of women determined to rise.

July 31, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

The 1871/IHCC Hispanic Technology Incubator is a cohort-based accelerator that provides Latinx-led businesses with programming and mentorship. We asked each of the participating entrepreneurs about what makes them tick, and this week, we say hello to Dan Taneja, CEO and Founder of BevAnalytics, an app that converts smartphone pictures to survey data.

July 28, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

The 1871/IHCC Hispanic Technology Incubator is a cohort-based accelerator that provides Latinx-led businesses with programming and mentorship. We asked each of the participating entrepreneurs about what makes them tick, and this week, we meet Mayra Khan, founder and CEO of iDrivio– an online platform that connects individuals and businesses trusted and reliable drivers education services in their area. [Read more…] about Hispanic Tech Spotlight: Mayra Khan of iDrivio

July 27, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Haley Hebert and her team have spent a lot of time with boots on the ground getting AirProxima off of it. If Hebert — a co-founder of the fifth WiSTEM cohort company — and her team have their way, snagging a chartered flight is going to be a lot like ordering an UberPOOL.

July 27, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

“Let’s make a deal.” If negotiating was that easy, the three professionals who took the stage on July 26 at 1871 wouldn’t have made careers brokering deals and transactions for global corporations. At the inaugural Women at The MART (WAM) event, our powerhouse panelists shared tips and tactics to help women (and men!) win at everyday workplace negotiations.

July 26, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Project Decibel founder and President Dr. Jenna Paley, Au.D., specializes in helping the music community preserve their hearing, but one thing she won’t listen to is “no.”

July 26, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

The 1871/IHCC Hispanic Technology Incubator is a cohort-based accelerator that provides Latinx-led businesses with programming and mentorship. We asked each of the participating entrepreneurs about what makes them tick, and this week, we meet Nika and Pauly, founders of Hermit– an online platform that connects art lovers with amazing art.

July 25, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Not everything worth doing is worth doing to the nth degree. Just like you can overthink and over-engineer your technology, you can foolishly try to achieve levels of immediacy, proximity and precision that frankly no one really needs or cares about — except maybe a few of your geeky engineers. Pursuing perfection is a perfectly good way to burn through lots of cash, waste a lot of time and energy, and frustrate your own people in the process.

July 25, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

It’s not just about a newspaper or morning TV headlines, anymore. With media being made available instantly at our fingertips, startups need to make careful decisions about how they tell their story to ultimately capture the attention of the customer. 1871 mentor and independent media consultant Mark Daniel offers some solutions.

July 24, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Just like the life of an entrepreneur, being a parent can be unpredictable, challenging and sometimes, require some outside advice to make sure you’re doing everything right. In the spirit of World Parents’ Day July 23, we reached out to the members of our community juggling both parenting and living the startup life for their insights, counsel and lessons learned.

July 21, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Earlier this month, we were excited to co-host our fourth Corporate Innovation Summit with Microsoft. The Summit brought together several of 1871’s corporate partners to share best practices around engaging with entrepreneurial ecosystems and startup technologies, as well as how to create a culture of internal corporate innovation.

July 21, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

For a founder referred to as the “Rockstar of Finance,” Tom Sosnoff looks the part. Donning a “Tastytrade” branded Kangol hat and button down and a faded pair of jeans, the legendary Chicago serial entrepreneur took the stage Tuesday, July 19 at 1871 to sit down for one of 1871’s longest running events, Chicago Founders’ Stories hosted by 1871 Board Member Pat Ryan, Jr.

July 19, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

The 1871/IHCC Hispanic Technology Incubator is a cohort-based accelerator that provides Latinx-led businesses with programming and mentorship. We asked each of the participating entrepreneurs about what makes them tick, and this week, we say hello to Ricky Regalado, CEO and Founder of RozaRoute, a B2B app solution for the commercial cleaning service industry.

July 19, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

Livio Bolzon of 1871 member company Codemoji has developed a platform to help students learn HTML and CSS using curriculum written in a language nearly everyone can recognize: Emoji.

July 19, 2017 by J Blaszczykiewicz

These aren’t the best of times for the tech industry. Every day another jerk emerges as the latest poster boy of ego and entitlement, someone who can’t figure out how to keep his hands to himself and/or his ugly mouth shut. And the many feeble attempts and faux justifications made in the name of speed and scale doesn’t really advance the discussion or explain the situation, either.

Subscribe

Questions?