Zero Percent Taps Postmates To Help Reduce Food Waste (And Give You $10 Off An Order)

Not every solution or app needs to set the entire world on fire or to be built on a platform just slightly less grand than the Taj Mahal. It’s not always “smart” to build your app to run on the hottest and newest smart phone and nowhere else. You might get some buzz and some early adopters, but being in the shiny new thing biz isn’t the path to building a big business when ready access and broad availability trump haptic feedback, VR capabilities and other gee whiz features. Mass ultimately always matters–there are millions more Fords than Ferraris– and when the real value and design of your business is to touch and impact as many people as possible, the lower the bar to use and adoption, the better.

[Read more…] about Tullman: mRelief: The Beauty of a Powerfully Simple App

As I take a moment to reflect on #GivingTuesday, I cannot help but put pen to paper and attempt to articulate a theme we saw represented in many Chicago events this Fall – the idea of “Chicagoness” or “Conscious Chicago,” as coined by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and YWCA Metropolitan Chicago respectively. Two months ago, my co-founder Rishi Shah and I were standing on stage at 1871’s Momentum Awards, receiving the generous inaugural recognition of representing “Chicagoness.” This challenged me to distill my thoughts and inspired me to share them here.

[Read more…] about Chicagoness – Learning from the Past, Building in the Present, Investing for the Future

1871 expresses its deepest condolences for the loss of Hank Williams, who passed away in mid-November. Hank was a long-time partner of Google For Entrepreneurs, whose network of tech hubs and organizations benefited tremendously from his passion for promoting diversity in the innovation economy. 1871 is honored to be a part of the GFE family and is saddened by Hank’s loss.

[Read more…] about Celebrating the life of GFE partner and veteran entrepreneur Hank Williams