The Kellogg Tech Conference was held on April 9th and had an accompanying Chicago-wide hackathon that started on April 8th and wrapped up at the end of the conference. The theme for this year’s conference was Connecting Through Innovation and had talks on everything from mobile development to networking, business memes to social change, startup…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was contributed by Washington, D.C. based Glen Helman, an angel investor and serial entrepreneur, who works for venture capitalists as a turn-around specialist. Glen is regular contributor to Tech Cocktail. There is no denying it that when it comes to fashion and investing, DC is a conservative town. We’re not fashion trendsetters, and…
Read MoreKevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour, began his foray into entrepreneurship as a University of Maryland undergrad and walk-on football player. While at school, he and his future wife developed a business playing cupid for budding student romances by selling and delivering flowers on the College Park campus. Once a year in honor…
Read MoreAnnounced today, the inaugural TechStorm conference will be the first national event focused exclusively on matching innovative university technologies with entrepreneurs and seed funding opportunities. The event will take place on June 2, 2011 in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. Co-host of the event, Amplifier Ventures will provide up to $250,000 in seed funding for…
Read MoreThis is the third part of our three part series that looks at the private equity market and what it means for your startup. In part I, we looked at the private equity market prior to and during 2009. In part II, we analyzed the expected behavior of private equity markets in 2011. 2009 v. 2011…
Read MoreThis is part two of a three part series that looks at the private equity market and what it means for your startup. In the first post, we looked at the state of the equity market prior to and in 2009 and the impact it had on startups. What does the market look like in 2011? The…
Read MoreThis is part one of a three part series that looks at the private equity market and what it means for your startup. The equity capital market is a space that exists between companies and financial institutions that works to provide capital for those companies. The financial crisis has had significant effects on the market and…
Read MoreeBay, Etsy and Amazon have been the catalysts for millions of successful online businesses. In 2009, online sales accounted for 6% of all retail sales, and Forrester projects this number to rise to $250 billion by 2014, representing 8% of all retail sales. Yet these online sellers face a unique funding dilemma when they are…
Read MoreOn Friday we published part 1 of this article, focusing on various ways to leverage your own cash and credit for your new venture. In today’s post, guest author Michelle Hoffman covers opportunities to fund your business with other people’s money. Other People’s Money – Background Basics Before seeking the money of others, it’s important…
Read MoreStartup businesses need cash to operate. At the very least, an entrepreneur needs sufficient cash to pay bills, and buy some equipment or server space while things get up and running. For entrepreneurs, available capital, aka money, can be broken into two broad categories: Your money and other people’s money. In today’s post, we’ll explore…
Read MoreTap Me, a Chicago-based, in-game advertising platform, which we covered previously, announced today that they have just closed over $1 million in Series A funding. The funding came from lead investors Hyde Park Angels, the i2A Fund, and David Cohen (CEO and Founder of TechStars) to continue the development of their mobile in-game advertising platform, iComplishments. Tap.me offers…
Read MoreBack in October, we produced a full day conference called Startup Mixology in Chicago. Over twenty amazing entrepreneurs, investors and experts took stage to share their advice. We knew that this was a special event and wanted to capture some additional words from our experts before and after they hit the stage. For this video…
Read MoreStarting up, you may not know exactly how you are going to get your idea funded. It could start out as a simple bootstrapped project which gets traction and takes on a life of it’s own. Or you could start with a specific funding goal in mind to bring your dream to life. Whatever your…
Read MoreLast March the Tech Cocktail crew rented a house in Austin for SXSW and was happy to have some entrepreneurs from both coasts stay at the TC Headquarters. One of whom was Dave Lifson, Founder and CEO of NYC-based Postling. Dave came to Austin with a mission – to meet with a number of investors…
Read MoreIn just a few short weeks, Tech Cocktail is hosting its 2nd conference geared towards starting and running a business: the Startup Mixology Conference in Chicago. Seats are extremely limited so don’t miss this special opportunity! On October 28th, the Startup Mixology Conference will break down the most important aspects of starting and running a…
Read MoreI first got a chance to meet Jessica Mah at a post conference event in San Francisco in 2007. She was a bright eyed, young entrepreneur who had just moved to San Francisco to pursue her dreams of starting her own company and living the dream. No average teenager, Jessica was only 16 or 17…
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Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More