THE DREAM IN ACTION

What I’d like to see more of in Chicago is…

1) VC’s and Angels who blog – so that they communicate what is interesting to them and so that they are more accessible or even appear more accessible to the areas entrepreneurs.

2) An increase in the understanding that failure won’t kill you – in the Valley, as well as in NYC, people understand that successful businesses often come from trial and error. Here in Chicago, with the strong industrial goods trading culture, failure is BAD. We need to get over that.

3) Midwest cities need to stop fighting for control – none of you are as big as the hubs (SF & NYC) so work together so that you can pull resources to create a single, strong, job pool and start to create really solid companies.

Next week I’m speaking in Milwaukee about a startup that I started and how/why it failed. That’s my first step.

The reason why I’d like to see more of these 3 things is because from what I’ve seen through the people that I’ve talked to here in Chicago, there is absolutely no reason that Chicago shouldn’t have as strong of a startup culture as any other ecosystem outside the Valley (like NYC or Boulder). People always ask the question, “can you start a successful tech company or web company outside of Silicon Valley?”

Hell yes. Here’s why.

All huge companies with extremely large exits. Here are some other reasons.

Two awesome Venture Capitalists wrote about this topic back in July 09. Fred Wilson (who made this list of companies) argues that it’s a ‘crock of shit’ to think that great tech companies can’t start outside the Valley. And Matt McCall talks about the higher deal valuations in the Valley, hyper-competition, and other factors, that actually hurt entrepreneurs.

I completely agree with Matt and Fred’s point of view on this topic. Which is why my mind immediately wanders to the question, “What’s the solution?”. So these 3 issues serve as my proposed solution, but I can’t do it alone.

We need Chicago’s tech & entrepreneurial & investor folks to understand our challenges and act to fix them! There is no reason that a failed venture should be such a huge negative, other companies should be chomping at the bit to retain your experience within their companies. Out in the Valley it’s almost encouraged to try and fail or at least easier to explain and embrace. Starting a startup and not being successful is all part of the process to starting a startup and being successful!

We desperately need more VC’s and Angel investors like Matt and Fred, accessible and blogging, talking about the challenges from both an investment perspective and a entrepreneurial perspective. We need to close the gap between money and entrepreneurs with ideas and businesses. Chicago VC’s need to start giving talks and attending entrepreneur meetups and events. Be in the community and help foster it.

Hey Milwaukee folks, I lived their and enjoyed my time there, but you have to stop having younger brother syndrome toward the Chi. There is an incredible community of creative talent in Milwaukee and Chicago companies should be tapping that pool. This day and age employees don’t have to be in the office 5 days a week so jump on the train and get down here 2 or 3 times and lets work together to build a strong Midwest startup culture. Also, don’t give me this bunk about universities. Mark Andreeson went to U of I and so did Max Levchin, there are brilliant technologists in this area, just give them a reason to stay.

image via sergilvs