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Anecdote: My recruiter told me that the Chicago tech startup scene is the second largest in the country, behind SV. Not sure how true it is, but Groupon was pr

Anecdote: My recruiter told me that the Chicago tech startup scene is the second largest in the country, behind SV. Not sure how true it is, but Groupon was pretty good for the scene.

timjahn 14y ago
I live in Chicago and am heavily involved on the tech startup scene here. Our scene is growing rapidly and changing by the month. Is it the second largest in the country? I dunno. Probably not, I would think that'd be New York. I don't really care though. I'm too busy contributing to the scene and working to keep that tide rising. :)
- rubberband 14y ago
  Do you have any suggestions on how to "get involved" in the Chicago startup scene? I'm in the burbs, and I'd love to drive in for meetups or any garden variety "Chicago startup" thing, but I haven't had much success finding anything worthwhile.
  - timjahn 14y ago
    I live in the burbs too, so I know the feeling. (Actually moving closer to the city in a week). There are loads of startup related happenings regularly now. I produce some myself. :) Shoot me an email (tim ATatAT entrepreneursunpluggd DOTdotDOT com) and I'd be happy to give you some suggestions.
  - fumar 14y ago
    Check out Technori.com Once a month they have a showcase for startups. I know www.nextdoorchi.com has startup gatherings once per week.
  - rstevenson542 14y ago
    1871 is probably the best co-working space I have ever seen. There are many great Chicago startups that share office space in their office down at Merchandise Mart. They offer many different entrepreneurship courses as well. Code Academy is an excellent startup to check out. Their offices are located at 1871 in Merchandise Mart. Someone above already said Technori. A ton of great Chicago startup people show up to the networking event held before the actual Technori presentation. I have heard good things about the Chicago Lean Startup Circle meetup group. If you are either a web developer or designer you should checkout Refresh Chicago as well. Every Refresh meeting I have been to was definitely worthwhile. The presentations are normally pretty technical though. Code and Coffee meetup group is worthwhile for developers that don't mind waking up early. I've paired with some great developers and learned a lot. I would highly recommend checking out all of the above. Chicago definitely has a great startup scene. Being pretty introverted, I initially had to really push myself to get out and meet people. TRUST ME, it is worthwhile.
mrkurt 14y ago
The Chicago tech startup "scene" is infuriating because it's a self aware scene, rather than being a result of a high density of tech people. This results in a bunch of people who are more interested in promoting the city and/or rah rah groups, and less people just doing cool stuff. The most amazing people I know in Chicago have nothing to do with the startup fans and are reasonably insular (probably because it's less irritating to be insular).

Anecdote: My recruiter told me that the Chicago tech startup scene is the second largest in the country, behind SV. Not sure how true it is, but Groupon was pretty good for the scene.

timjahn 14y ago

I live in Chicago and am heavily involved on the tech startup scene here. Our scene is growing rapidly and changing by the month. Is it the second largest in the country? I dunno. Probably not, I would think that'd be New York. I don't really care though. I'm too busy contributing to the scene and working to keep that tide rising. :)

rubberband 14y ago
Do you have any suggestions on how to "get involved" in the Chicago startup scene? I'm in the burbs, and I'd love to drive in for meetups or any garden variety "Chicago startup" thing, but I haven't had much success finding anything worthwhile.
- timjahn 14y ago
  I live in the burbs too, so I know the feeling. (Actually moving closer to the city in a week). There are loads of startup related happenings regularly now. I produce some myself. :) Shoot me an email (tim ATatAT entrepreneursunpluggd DOTdotDOT com) and I'd be happy to give you some suggestions.
- fumar 14y ago
  Check out Technori.com Once a month they have a showcase for startups. I know www.nextdoorchi.com has startup gatherings once per week.
- rstevenson542 14y ago
  1871 is probably the best co-working space I have ever seen. There are many great Chicago startups that share office space in their office down at Merchandise Mart. They offer many different entrepreneurship courses as well. Code Academy is an excellent startup to check out. Their offices are located at 1871 in Merchandise Mart. Someone above already said Technori. A ton of great Chicago startup people show up to the networking event held before the actual Technori presentation. I have heard good things about the Chicago Lean Startup Circle meetup group. If you are either a web developer or designer you should checkout Refresh Chicago as well. Every Refresh meeting I have been to was definitely worthwhile. The presentations are normally pretty technical though. Code and Coffee meetup group is worthwhile for developers that don't mind waking up early. I've paired with some great developers and learned a lot. I would highly recommend checking out all of the above. Chicago definitely has a great startup scene. Being pretty introverted, I initially had to really push myself to get out and meet people. TRUST ME, it is worthwhile.

mrkurt 14y ago

The Chicago tech startup "scene" is infuriating because it's a self aware scene, rather than being a result of a high density of tech people. This results in a bunch of people who are more interested in promoting the city and/or rah rah groups, and less people just doing cool stuff. The most amazing people I know in Chicago have nothing to do with the startup fans and are reasonably insular (probably because it's less irritating to be insular).