As I have been saying for some time, the Midwest is ripe for a tech rebirth. The technology is here and the customers are here. Technology is commoditizing and inexpensive, but domain/industry expertise is worth its weight in gold. The key is finding the right entrepreneurs to lead the charge (they are here, just hiding out building their businesses) and better national connectivity. Julie Johnsson and Shruti Singh wrote two great pieces on the "The New Face of Technology Part 1" and "The New Face of Technology Part 2".
In fact, the mainstream in the Valley is beginning to take note as well as indicated by Om Malik’s post from these articles (thanks to Anjali Gurnani of TiE and LisleTech fame for forwarding this onto me). Om is one of the senior writers at Business 2.0 out west.
TicketsNow, FeedBurner, 37 Signal and Hostway are just the beginning here…
Agreed.. as an entrepreneur, some of the stuff I’m doing is coming along well, and I have started getting a customer base and some interest from potential customers. There’s really lots of interest. It’s amazing and exciting how tihngs are turning around! Although writing about it is good, we must make sure that the investors play more of a supportive and encouraging to entrepreneurs then that of a defensive role.
This is Chicago’s biggest downfall compared to the Valley. In the Valley, entrepreneurs and investors work together to make everyone successful. Here, investors, generally speaking, have a very defensive instead of a nurturing attitude. This was even true back in 2000.
Agreed.. as an entrepreneur, some of the stuff I’m doing is coming along well, and I have started getting a customer base and some interest from potential customers. There’s really lots of interest. It’s amazing and exciting how tihngs are turning around! Although writing about it is good, we must make sure that the investors play more of a supportive and encouraging to entrepreneurs then that of a defensive role.
This is Chicago’s biggest downfall compared to the Valley. In the Valley, entrepreneurs and investors work together to make everyone successful. Here, investors, generally speaking, have a very defensive instead of a nurturing attitude. This was even true back in 2000.
It’s great to see that. Thanks for posting.
I am a Chicago defector after 2 years of thrashing around – trying to build a couple ideas into a company after almost 10 years in the Bay Area. I’ve met or tried to do business with all these guys and they each have a different “culture” to explain their attitude about Chicago.
Bottom line: You can build a great business anywhere in today’s marketplace. I think what holds Chicago back sometimes is a collaborative spirit. A lot of these guys mentioned are “squirrely” and don’t readily trust others to help them. They are heads down like the article says – but that doesn’t help anybody except themselves. They can be “heads down” in Alaska or Alabama – what’s the difference?
For the trend to snowball, it has to start with people inviting more people to participate – whether they “think” they can accomodate them or not. There’s a difference between “open headcount” and finding a spot for bright, experienced, motivated people.
My personal experience in Chicago seemed to be about the org chart and hierachy – you needed to build $145M in sales on your own because is no one is going to help you. Hire “doers”, not thinkers who challenge AND do the work – and make it better. This attitude and reality fosters a heads down paranoia that many entreprenuers seem to have in Chicago. That’s why it’s “cool” now to eschew VC.
37 Signals loudly perpetuates this notion. Tell that to Google, Yahoo, SUN, Cisco, MySpace…the list goes on. Those guys don’t really give a $%## about a cash flow web app business. It’s great for them – don’t get me wrong. I’m sure a few of the big guys have taken notice. But what does it do for Chicago when your goal is stay heads down and throw off cash for yourself.
Nothing.
It’s not a big enough dream to capture anybody’s immagination such they will leap tall buildings to make it happen.
That’s the spirit that built Google. The the spirit that built MSFT. That’s the spirit that is the engine of Silicon Valley.
In the Bay, it always starts with – are you smart? How hard are you willing to work? Are you willing to do whatever it takes? Do you have big dreams? “Yes”, “very hard”, “yes” and “yes” should count for something and these companies (and Chicago or any city struggling with this) should recognize that.
But that’s where the rubber meets the road. It’s safer to stay heads down. Take care of yourself. Get the cash machine going.
I, for one, would love to come back to Chicago and settle down. There are many more like me from cities all over the country. But for now, we live in San Francisco, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
We’re interested in more than cash flow – we want to change the world.
It’s great to see that. Thanks for posting.
I am a Chicago defector after 2 years of thrashing around – trying to build a couple ideas into a company after almost 10 years in the Bay Area. I’ve met or tried to do business with all these guys and they each have a different “culture” to explain their attitude about Chicago.
Bottom line: You can build a great business anywhere in today’s marketplace. I think what holds Chicago back sometimes is a collaborative spirit. A lot of these guys mentioned are “squirrely” and don’t readily trust others to help them. They are heads down like the article says – but that doesn’t help anybody except themselves. They can be “heads down” in Alaska or Alabama – what’s the difference?
For the trend to snowball, it has to start with people inviting more people to participate – whether they “think” they can accomodate them or not. There’s a difference between “open headcount” and finding a spot for bright, experienced, motivated people.
My personal experience in Chicago seemed to be about the org chart and hierachy – you needed to build $145M in sales on your own because is no one is going to help you. Hire “doers”, not thinkers who challenge AND do the work – and make it better. This attitude and reality fosters a heads down paranoia that many entreprenuers seem to have in Chicago. That’s why it’s “cool” now to eschew VC.
37 Signals loudly perpetuates this notion. Tell that to Google, Yahoo, SUN, Cisco, MySpace…the list goes on. Those guys don’t really give a $%## about a cash flow web app business. It’s great for them – don’t get me wrong. I’m sure a few of the big guys have taken notice. But what does it do for Chicago when your goal is stay heads down and throw off cash for yourself.
Nothing.
It’s not a big enough dream to capture anybody’s immagination such they will leap tall buildings to make it happen.
That’s the spirit that built Google. The the spirit that built MSFT. That’s the spirit that is the engine of Silicon Valley.
In the Bay, it always starts with – are you smart? How hard are you willing to work? Are you willing to do whatever it takes? Do you have big dreams? “Yes”, “very hard”, “yes” and “yes” should count for something and these companies (and Chicago or any city struggling with this) should recognize that.
But that’s where the rubber meets the road. It’s safer to stay heads down. Take care of yourself. Get the cash machine going.
I, for one, would love to come back to Chicago and settle down. There are many more like me from cities all over the country. But for now, we live in San Francisco, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
We’re interested in more than cash flow – we want to change the world.
Mike’s post hit home with me. The part that is alarming is that much of the country has turned into a “as long as i get mine then that’s okay” mentality. Yet if we look at most statistics we see that most people are still dissatisfied with their careers, work and life overall the last 6 years or so despite still getting theirs. I think what differentiates the west coast is not only the collaborative spirit but ideas that shift the earth beneath us and the WORLD. Though I’m not quite sure where or when it happend, at some point America turned from a country of pursuit of collective positive change into a country where individual material wants/needs are pursued as means to an end at the expense of changing the world.
Mike’s post hit home with me. The part that is alarming is that much of the country has turned into a “as long as i get mine then that’s okay” mentality. Yet if we look at most statistics we see that most people are still dissatisfied with their careers, work and life overall the last 6 years or so despite still getting theirs. I think what differentiates the west coast is not only the collaborative spirit but ideas that shift the earth beneath us and the WORLD. Though I’m not quite sure where or when it happend, at some point America turned from a country of pursuit of collective positive change into a country where individual material wants/needs are pursued as means to an end at the expense of changing the world.
Great comments. Investors clearly need to be willing to role up the sleeves and work along side entrepreneurs. One historical challenge is that VC’s are trained to manage risk. It is difficult to find that fine line between being constructively critical and downright invasive. As a result, communications lines can break down very quickly. I have had a few implosions myself.
Regarding aspirations, the venture business is built upon 10x returns. You have to think big to do this. There is good money to be made turning $2M into $30m sale events, but they don’t leave as significant a legacy as one big homerun. San Diego is the biotech hub because of the managers that spun out of Hybritech. Look at Microsoft, Dell, etc. We need to aim high if we are going to move the needle here.
Lastly, one of Buffett’s tests of CEO’s is what makes them get up in the morning. If it is to build a business and take care of their employees, they are backable. If it is just about money, you will have trouble. I would argue that one of the valley’s key challenges (especially around raising kids) is how to not let the wealth and success lead to warped values, entitlement and other issues (see my Reilly quote at the top of my Entitlement post)…
Great comments. Investors clearly need to be willing to role up the sleeves and work along side entrepreneurs. One historical challenge is that VC’s are trained to manage risk. It is difficult to find that fine line between being constructively critical and downright invasive. As a result, communications lines can break down very quickly. I have had a few implosions myself.
Regarding aspirations, the venture business is built upon 10x returns. You have to think big to do this. There is good money to be made turning $2M into $30m sale events, but they don’t leave as significant a legacy as one big homerun. San Diego is the biotech hub because of the managers that spun out of Hybritech. Look at Microsoft, Dell, etc. We need to aim high if we are going to move the needle here.
Lastly, one of Buffett’s tests of CEO’s is what makes them get up in the morning. If it is to build a business and take care of their employees, they are backable. If it is just about money, you will have trouble. I would argue that one of the valley’s key challenges (especially around raising kids) is how to not let the wealth and success lead to warped values, entitlement and other issues (see my Reilly quote at the top of my Entitlement post)…
Just caught this post. Very true that Chicago is bursting with new companies. I recently posted about the Chicago scene on my blog. Businesspov.com has some great video on what is going on.
Just caught this post. Very true that Chicago is bursting with new companies. I recently posted about the Chicago scene on my blog. Businesspov.com has some great video on what is going on.
*The person who thinks himself is happy can enjoy happiness!
*The person who thinks himself is happy can enjoy happiness!