Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the "Not Being Silicon Valley" blog. In advance of the live panel discussion at midVenturesLAUNCH tonight, we thought we'd sum up the ideas expressed over the course of the past two weeks and give credit where credit is due.

The questions that got us started were: If Chicago were the center of the tech startup universe, what would it look like? What are Chicago's advantages and disadvantages as it pursues this goal? What are the next steps we need to take to capitalize on our success thus far?

Here are some of our conclusions:

CHICAGO HAS SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT AND PERHAPS UNIQUE ADVANTAGES FOR STARTUPS

• As the third-largest American city, it has a huge retail base and a proven record bringing products to the average consumer (Thanks Geoff Domoracki of Midventures)

• Chicago has a rich business history, depth and diversity of experience (Thanks David Perlmutter of Perl Group, Deanna Bennett of Rentmonitor )

 • Strong universities with good business programs

• Diversity of other industries for startups to serve (esp. B2B) (Al Herbach, John Roberson of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center)

But several contributors asked... 

DOES CHICAGO HAVE THE RIGHT PERSONALITY TYPE FOR STARTUPS?

• Many contributors cited the famous Midwestern work ethic as an advantage for Chicago. But others thought about it as a liability in the sense that hard work alone is not enough to succeed as a startup.

• Several comments drew a useful contrast between "hardworking" and the "manic" personality some say entrepreneurs seem to need to succeed. As Justin Jarvinen of VerveLife asked, is Chicago the kind of place where you strike up a conversation about your latest business ideas at a bar?

• Mark Roth, drawing a comparison with the Chicago music scene, said Chicago startups need to collaborate more. Ron Repking of Capable Networks made a similar argument.

• Even the most successful entrepreneurs have had bad days, misguided projects, and failed companies. Deanna Bennett of Rentmonitor suggested that Chicago needed to establish a community of entrepreneurs where failure would not be judged harshly and people could get back on their feet.

In any case, everyone agreed that...

CHICAGO NEEDS TO LEARN TO KEEP WHAT IT'S GOT

• Because of its size Chicago naturally has lots of resources.But a lot of our talent and capital goes elsewhere. Specifically, contributors wanted to solve the problems of keeping...

VENTURE CAPITAL

• Sure, Chicago doesn't have as much venture capital as the Valley, but many people felt it was not as significant a problem as it used to be. Still, there is certainly demand for more funds like Lightbank. (Thanks Justyn Howard of Sprout Social, Nikhil Sethi)

• Diversity  in the economy also provides resilience and opportunities when venture capital dries up

• Overall, commentators seemed much more concerned with keeping programming and entrepreneurial talent in the area

 TALENT (AKA STOP THE BRAIN DRAIN!)

• Many Chicagoans are concerned that graduates of top local universities are going elsewhere to start their businesses. This makes it difficult to for some companies who want to innovate to get that critical mass of programming talent. (Thanks Paul Weinstein)

• Commentators admire local university business programs, but would like to see more integration of programmers and people with tech experience. (Thanks The Average Chicagoan)

• In his "five-part plan" for Chicago's tech scene, Nathaniel Whittemore of Assetmap suggests that the tech startup community coordinate stronger internship, mentorship, recruiting programs with local universities.

This naturally suggests... 

A NEED FOR MORE COORDINATION IN THE STARTUP COMMUNITY

• Raman Chadha of DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center says we need an umbrella  organization where startups can share tech solutions

• Brian Greenberg mentioned a need for more organizations of programmers and entrepreneurs interested in solving specific problems

Others asked...

"WHY TRY TO BE THE VALLEY?"

• Several commentators suggested that Chicago startups would do better by trying to meet local demands rather than imitating the Valley. 

• Chicago consumers are more representative of the nation than the Valley's, so products developed for this market are more likely to succeed nationwide.

• At the same time, because of its size and history Chicago has some unique problems looking for the right entrepreneurs to solve them.

• CindyOKeeffe and others suggest that one of the reasons small cities like Boulder and Austin have succeeded in becoming startup centers outside the Valley is that they have evangelists – people who stay there for the quality of life and are determined to bring other people there too. Does Chicago have that? Can it be encouraged?

And other contributors suggested some... 

SPECIFIC POLICY CHANGES TO ENCOURAGE STARTUPS

 • There was great demand for more tech centers like the one at 600 W. Chicago

• Linda Day Harrison suggested an infrastructure policy oriented toward startups: more green construction and built-in wireless 

• How about more open data sets to attract developers to the city? (Thanks Paul Baker, of Webitects  and Jake Trussell of World Business Chicago)

• Oh, and we're conducting a straw poll for most tech-friendly mayoral candidate.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS! WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE LIVE DISCUSSION TONIGHT!

 

The "Not Being Silicon Valley" blog is now closed, but here are some more articles and links to further enlighten you on this topic:

Elyce Ventura asks if Chicago is the new "start-up Mecca." Includes recap of Elyce's experience at midVenturesLAUNCH and the Insight Labs panel.

Silicon Prairie News covers midVentures and compares Chicago to other startup locations in the Midwest.

Brad Spirrison of the Chicago Sun-Times on the Chicago vs. the Valley debate. See Spirrison's other columns too, since he has an ongoing interest in this topic.

Tammi Franke's take on why Chicago needs more angel investors. After watching the live panel Franke also suggested those comparing Chi and the Valley read this article from TechCruch on how "It's All About Age."

Photos from midVenturesLAUNCH via Flickr.

Image: Chicago's Newberry Library by TonyTheTiger via Wikimedia Commons.

Chicago startups, you think YOU have trouble getting some attention so far from Silicon Valley? Think about how hard it must be for smaller cities in the Midwest. But many of them have their own vibrant tech scenes. Jeff Slobotski of Silicon Prairie News makes the case for Omaha here. (Hey, it worked for Warren Buffett, right?) And in this article Tim Courtney argues that Chicago has a lot to learn from the startup community in Bloomington, Indiana:

Visiting Bloomington ultimately allowed me to refocus my Chicago lens and see new perspective. For all the recent press activity fueling impressions of instant gratification for many entrepreneurs, vibrant, self-sustaining communities are not built overnight. What those of us building the tech scene in Chicago need is a fresh perspective on the wealth of opportunity at our fingertips, and a tighter focus on building support networks that provide platforms for everyone’s growth. We must get out of our own way, reject negativity, and intentionally set-out for the foundation-laying work ahead.

 

Image: Public domain image of the American Bison by the USDA via Wikimedia Commons.

Following up on Paul Baker's suggestion that the city open up more data sets, Jake Trussell of World Business Chicago points out that the city seems to have opened a new data portal: http://data.cityofchicago.org/

Right now it looks like it's all FOIA requests, but the potential is huge... what data sets would you like to see opened to developers, Chicago? How is the city doing in the transparency department? Does this make a difference to you as a developer?

PS Check out this great overview of Chicago's tech ecosystem from the World Business Chicago site.

In a column highlighting the ongoing midVenturesLAUNCH conference, Brad Spirrison makes the case for startup optimism in cloudy economic times:

If you’re young, idealistic and irreverent, starting a company or joining a startup beats trying to find a "real job" in an era of 10 percent unemployment. As companies are less likely to lure the best and brightest with high salaries and lush benefits, appealing to their creative instincts and a tangible shot at riches down the road is now a competitive recruiting advantage.

Now we just need a little bit of time for this new abnormal to take root. While pessimists can rightly point out that this outlook proves that Chicago is still decades behind Silicon Valley in terms of building a robust tech community, those with a more hopeful eye can look forward to all the great new things to come.

But one gadflyish concern. Spirrison argues that the key to a great startup is keeping great people. But several of our contributors have cited Chicago's trouble retaining great programming and starup talent. Is this the big problem we need to solve?

Earlier posts have emphasized that Chicago is a great testing ground for new products. But Heath W. Black of Appbistro worries that if the city's biggest brands don't adapt to Facebook and other social media, the city could lose its edge. From the floor of mvlaunch he tweets: "if ppl paid attention to our 'brand experience' we'd see less games here & more unique marketing platforms for social media." What do you think? If everyone is spending all their time on Facebook, does having a giant consumer base even matter? Does Chicago need a slew of social media apps to maintain the edge of its big brands?

Following Mayor Daley's announcement that he won't be seeking another term, there's been plenty of speculation about who will be Chicago's next mayor. What candidate (declared or undeclared, plausible or wacky) would do the best job making Chicago into a startup town? What sort of policies could the mayor's office implement that would make Chicago more tech-friendly?

Thanks to Paul Weinstein for suggesting this topic. We'd like to nominate @FakeRahmEmanuel, since he only exists on Twitter to begin with...

Image: Official Congressional portrait of Rahm Emanuel, rumored candidate for mayor, via Wikimedia Commons.

In a Twitter discussion also involving midVenturesLAUNCH participant @HuddleHub, @rrubenr2004 suggests that universities in the Silicon Valley and Boston areas focus on ideas and innovation, while schools in Chicago and the Midwest seem more focused on business and management. What does everyone make of this distinction? If it is valid, is it an advantage or disadvantage for Chicago?

Paul Weinstein, who has contributed several useful comments to this discussion, ponders the question on his blog here. His take: Chicago has the tech assets, but we may have to do a lot more to leverage them. And we may have a mild-mannered Midwestern inferiority complex...