Chicago Tech Meetup & FounderFire are igniting Chicago’s web/tech community
In my short time in Chicago, I’ve realized that there are more folks into tech startups than many people realize, however our smaller but still passion startup community doesn’t quite have the “presence” and sense of availability of other startup hubs (ie. Bay Area & NYC). Hubs have events that pull these communities together and individuals who help to cultivate those communities. They realize that the more events, networks, and connections that people in the community are able to make the better off for everyone. We’ve also realized that the gap between the investment community and the entrepreneurial community is too large. These events seek to break down those gap and bring people together for mutually beneficial relationships. To that end we’ve decided to do something about it…
A few weeks ago John Fairley and I launched FounderFire, a meetup for web startup founders and executives, modeled after Dave McClure’s Startup2Startup in Silicon Valley. The goal of this group is to get people who are working on/in their startups together for a time of knowledge sharing and promoting the young. We want experienced entrepreneurs to help the less experienced in an effort to give back to and cultivate the startup culture in Chicago.
We call FounderFire a startup campfire with ghost stories and all. If you’re interested in attending FouderFire, we’re holding our first event on Thursday October 22nd. The venue has not been settled yet so please look to FounderFire.com for updates. Also, if you’ve like to attend please email me and let me know ryan[at]renliv.com
I’m also helping out Justyn Howard in organizing the Chicago Tech Meetup. We’ve recognized the success of the New York Tech Meetup and we hope to pull together our community in a similar, powerful fashion. The Chicago Tech Meetup is described on the meetup.com site as…
A new meetup group for Entrepreneurs, Developers, Tech Companies, Investors and anyone in the technology space in our great city. Location be damned – we’ve got the talent and tech savvy, it’s time to create a community around it and put Chicago on the tech map!
Our sister meetup in NY has grown to over 10,000 members with 500+ attending fantastic events. We’d like to do the same here in Chicago. We are planning to introduce formal monthly meetups with presentations from Chicago startups, guest speakers, investors and more. In addition we’ll be coordinating frequent social events and special interest meetings.
Whether you’re looking to launch a product, meet investors, find developers, business partners, a job or just keep tabs with the pulse of Chicago’s technology culture – this is the place. It’s all about who you know!
We’re currently working on putting together a great kick-off meetup. Join today and stay tuned!
If you’re in Chicago please pass this along to other Chicago tech folks. We want to hear from you and for you to get involved!
image via iceman9294
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