Keith Schacht and his cohorts at Freshwater Venture (no "s" on the end) have an interesting effort underway in Chicago. They are marrying known entrepreneurial efforts with a Google map mash-up, family trees and profiles.
One of the challenges with the Midwest region (and many other regions for that matter) is not that talent or resources are not there, but that no one knows where they are. In Chicago, it is particularly glaring given the depth of resources and people here. One of the Valley’s strengths is that people are perpetually networking and self-forming groups. It is either the Midwest show-me attitude or the response to cold, long winters, but entrepreneurs and techies stay in their gopher holes here. They tuck their heads, don’t self-promote much and let their results speak for them. They have not historically reached out to their peers since, well…they don’t know where they are. Only in Chicago do you have a company with a $3B market cap, has a near monopoly on its space and nearly everyone uses or looks at their product. But, alas, Navteq, hidden in the Merchandise Mart here, is virtually unknown to others even in the tech community here. There are quite a few similar stories.
I love the concept behind Freshwater and their array of secondary activities that they are working on. I look forward to seeing how their efforts continue to grow and take shape.