Today was the culmination of the second 13-week summer program for Excelerate Labs, the top ranked startup accelerator program in Chicago led by Troy Henikoff (of SurePayroll) and Sam Yagan (of OK Cupid & Sparknotes). The Excelerate Labs Demo Day showcased the 2011 graduating class of 10 startups, which we previewed previously (you may notice 3…
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Five years ago today, Tech Cocktail hosted its first mixer event in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Over two hundred folks attended the event, where we showcased a handful of local Chicago startups. It’s been amazing to watch Tech Cocktail grow from that single event into a full-fledged media company covering the latest tech…
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Bootstrapping – the startup metaphor for a self-sustaining business that proceeds without external help. This is a story about bootstrapping – real bootstrapping, like, live with your parents, and rent a crappy office bootstrapping. It’s holding out on paying yourself until you start making money, on the way to a multi-million dollar revenue business bootstrapping….
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Just a few hours ago in Chicago, over 100 of Illinois’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs gathered for the unveiling of the new Illinois Innovation Network. Among the announcements were the creation of Startup Illinois and the formation of the Illinois Innovation Network, both efforts to support and accelerate growth of Illinois’ high-growth entrepreneurs. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn…
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Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would be fun to do a quick poll. While Chicago has birthed a number of start-ups over the years from 37signals and Threadless and SitterCity to Feedburner and Groupon, we wanted…
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Everyday, people are posting social media messages, photos and videos, loading the Internet with their own personal “social breadcrumbs”. With all this data out there floating around, there’s a lot of interest in how it can be utilized. Products like PeopleBrowsr, Rapleaf and qwerly help brands, companies and marketers sift through the data. Radian6, also…
Read MoreNext Saturday, April 9th, the Kellogg School of Management will host the 17th annual Kellogg Tech Conference. The conference continues to be one of the country’s most prestigious and longest running MBA conferences focused on technology and once again, Tech Cocktail is excited to be a media partner and involved in the day’s events. In addition…
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We’re starting to see signs of spring and with the birds chirping, we feel drawn to celebrate with our friends in Champaign-Urbana, where innovation thrives. Aside from the university, the region is full of big tech and active startups and investors. So we’re looking forward to partnering with the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, our…
Read MoreBuilding trust, tapping into an understanding, and selling products? These things are seemingly incongruous, but they are the ingredients of the model MightyNest is built upon. MightyNest is distinguishing itself from other online retailers by offering the best products available. How do customers know they are the best? Based on the pledge the company makes…
Read MoreWe are in Champaign, Illinois today, home to the University of Illinois, to rally together the local tech community. Champaign is currently home to Wolfram Alpha and it also houses some of the fastest supercomputers the world. Legendary entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Mosaic which turned into Netscape, is a University of Illinois alum along…
Read MoreSocial media tools like Facebook and Twitter are important in marketing your business and connecting with customers these days. What’s also key is the ability to scale your products or services for certain demographics. Now with Caterva, you have the ability to optimize your social media efforts for ultimate market segmentation. Caterva is an online…
Read MoreHow many times have you noticed that even a printer-friendly version of a web page wastes tons of paper? It can be thoroughly frustrating when you try to conserve resources yet still end up with stacks of paper, much of it ending up in the trash. Fortunately, PrintEco, an Illinois-based startup which will present at TECH…
Read MoreWe are excited to be headed back to Champaign, Illinois to host another TECH cocktail startup and entrepreneurial mixer event on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. The event is being hosted in partnership with the Champaign County Economic Development Corportation and is being supported by Illinois Ventures, Serra Ventures, the Technology Entrepreneurial Center at University of…
Read MoreWith the Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS Award Gala coming up on April 29, 2010 in the Great Hall at Chicago Union Station in Chicago, Illinois, the finalists for the awards have been announced. ITA collected over 150 nominations across 6 categories, which included individuals and companies within the Illinois technology community. The 2010 finalists represent…
Read MoreBack in 2008, TECH cocktail received the ITA CityLIGHTS Award for having “significant impact on the Illinois technology community.” You can watch the TECH cocktail acceptance speech here. It’s that time of the year again and ITA is calling for nominations as the awards gala fast approaches. CityLIGHTS is Illinois’ annual celebration of vitality and…
Read MoreThe Illinois Technology Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to fueling the young technology talent and human capital pipeline through facilitated collaboration between academia and industry, has begun accepting nominations for 50 for the Future, an event honoring Illinois’ most promising technology students. 50 for the Future is designed to provide students using technology in…
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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
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
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 MoreComing off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More