—— Re-posted from Olson’s Observations ——
Wow. Twelve hours later I still don’t really know what to say. For people who know me well they know that says something (yeah, I talk a lot).
Frank and and I were nominated for the Illinois I.T. Association CityLIGHTS award along with some truly incredible people last night (my friend Brad Spirrison and super angel Bob Geras among them) who all deserved the award as much if not more than we did. Winning this award is a huge honor and incredibly humbling. I can’t stress that enough. I was simply stunned we took it home.
As I said in my short speech last night TECH cocktail has really been a story of community. Frank and I look at ourselves as facilitators but the tech community here in Chicago is where the magic is and always was. We just brought it into the light.
Another key point to note is that the tech community here will grow much faster if we all work together. Every chance we get we help other events, startups and people because we need an ecosystem. Other organizations, the ITA being one of them, feel the same way and always try to help others. Bottom line: we need to work together. TECH cocktail certainly can’t do it alone (nor has it – we’ve had a lot of help in the last two years) and it will be much more powerful as part of a larger whole.
I am excited for the future of Illinois technology and for the Midwest overall. I think we’re heading into a new age where we can become the technology center we deserve to be. Do we want to be Silicon Valley? No, I don’t think we do. We want to solve real problems with solid technologies in order to create real revenues and long term sustainable value. This isn’t to say that Silicon Valley doesn’t do that as well but I do think that we tend to escape some of the irrational exuberance that is prevalent in the Valley and that should be looked at as a strength not a weakness.
Here’s to the future. Onward!
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Frank should be posting his take along with some video we shot at the event last night later on today. Have a great weekend everyone!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
That’s awesome, Eric; congratulations. I’m an active ITA member and am glad to see it go to someone outside of the organization who is promoting the Chicago tech. community. I love to see the energy at TECH cocktail, and I think you guys have really sparked something.