I attended midventuresLaunch this week. The conference organizers designed the content to be informative and a rallying cry for entrepreneurship in Chicago and the Midwest. I'm glad to see Chicago entrepreneurs gaining confidence unlike the situation in 2008 when I wrote this blog post.
Several initiatives came out of the conference. Brendan Mulligan, founder of Artist Data, which was recently purchased by SonicBids, challenged 40 Chicago angel investors to sign up for Angelist by November 1st. Chicago currently has only 8 angels on the list compared to Silicon Valley's 201 angels.
Also, the members of the Keynote Panel entitled "The 3 Stages of Not Being Silicon Valley" started a blog to discuss the panel topic before the panel presented. They had over 12,000 participants from all over the world participate in the discussion.
I'm going to add a suggestion to the mix. Why not have a blog with a list of companies from Chicago/Midwest that get Angel/VC funding? Freshwater Venture was a good start, but it hasn't been updated. I'm thinking something simpler - just a list with Company/Angel/Fund names and amounts. Maybe Chicago Tech Scene or the ITA could add a page to their current sites? A comprehensive list really shows that Chicago firms are getting funded and highlights angels and funds that are active in the Midwest.
A page with listing exits would be great, too. According to Matt McCall in a Fast Company article about start ups in Chicago:
I don't want to misspeak here, but for the last five years, there were I think $23 billion worth of exits out of Chicago and in this region in general.Publishing a list or chart highlighting the successful exits could be a great boost to entrepreneurs here.
Off to Potbelly (oh yes, another successful Chicago start up) to grab a sandwich for lunch.
