The May Report: 9/30/2010: Flip says that a Series B round of financing is impending for an undisclosed amount and that money will in part go to opening a sixteen person office in Tokyo on November 8th; It was Advanced Equities whose name was redacted yesterday; Happy 34th birthday to Melanie Adcock who tells me that the clock is ticking

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
_____________________________
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Announcing Early Registration for 3rd Annual Business Innovation Conference October 4-6, 2010

Top-tier Innovation Conference Features Thought Leaders from Business, Government and Academe

WHAT: 3-day business innovation event with 6 high-impact workshops, 18 outstanding speaker presentations, and 5 compelling keynote addresses from a diverse range of industries and domains

WHEN: October 4-6, 2010

WHERE: IIT Rice Campus, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL 60189

The 3rd annual Business Innovation Conference is a premier educational and networking event bringing together leading innovation experts and practitioners from business, academia and government to exchange experiences and knowledge about the science of innovation. The conference focuses on the tools we now have to master innovation so that we can become continual thinkers, capable of innovating on demand, and managing innovation teams to predictable outcomes.

Attendees will also make invaluable professional connections and have opportunities to share ideas and experiences with other accomplished innovators from around the US and the world.

For more information, including registration instructions and sponsorship opportunities, please visit www.businessinnovationconference.com
**************************************************
_________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– US Senate Rejects Bill to Curb Outsourcing
– Wind Point Partners is expected to announce Thursday that it has bought
Global Tube Form and Peoria Tube Forming Corp
– Six3 Systems Inc., which is backed by GTCR, has bought Novii Designs.
– Illinois Department of Insurance Orders AIM Health Plans, Inc., CEO Clubs, Inc., and Others to Cease and Desist Unlawful Insurance Business
– Fortune Magazine, September 29, 2010: Amyris IPO: Which VC backers are (and aren’t) in the black
– SAVE ABANDONED BABIES FOUNDATION LAUNCHES PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT — Unfortunately this event appears to be already over
– Vinod Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, recalled a story from the days when he backed Excite, one of the original Internet portals. Specifically, he
spoke briefly about the time they failed to acquire Google
– Vote for your favorite Chicago innovation – People’s Choice Award voting now open!
– News about the Sync Tech Center
– Events- One Hour Mentor Program, Chicago TechExpo, and Chicago Networking Event
– Chicago-Mobile-Application-Development-Enthusiasts Great opportunity for a Mobile Infrastructure PM!
– Gregg Hodgson: The term should be “beaten path,” not “beat and path”
– Keli Wells interested in helping with the G2 Launch- Thanks Keli!
– October 9 and 10: Independent Media Mobile Hackathon
– December 1993: The Top Ten Flip Quotes

[Editor's note. May here. First off, I attended the Silkroad Technology party last night at The Plate Restaurant inside McCormick Place. I had a great chat with Flip and his girlfriend Melissa Oliver. They live now at 50 E. Chestnut and spend most of their time in Chicago or traveling. Silkroad has 300 employees now and is expanding at a steady consistent rate. The next office to open will be in Tokyo, Japan on November 8th and Flip and Brian Platz, the COO and co-founder will accompany him there. That office will have sixteen people to start. One of the investors in the Series B round, Ken Ehrhart of SunBridge Partners, www.SunBridgePartners.com and ken@sunbridgepartners.com, was there. Flip said he cannot disclose the amount of the round because one investor insisted on an NDA.

BTW, back at divineinterVentures Brian was in charge of some of the better firms they had in the area of content management. He lives here, and has a home in North Carolina. He helped me get a cab home and he said that he spends 60% of his time here, 40% in North Carolina and he travels 70% of the time. Wait, that is more than 100%, but since he used to work for divine, we can expect those kind of numbers. What he meant, no doubt, was that when he is not traveling the split is 60/40.

I did give Melissa some juicy vignettes from the old days including a few quotes from my Top Ten Flip Quotes article. I looked it up in the TMR archives and it is at the bottom of this report. Remember that this was written before TMR became an online publication and was originally published in The Chicago Computer Guide. BTW, I figured out that I go back to 1983 with Flip. I tried to recruit him out of DBMS when I was working for Scott Upp at Data Base Consultants, a contingency IT search firm. Flip allowed me to recruit him incognito and then called into the office to complain to Scott that we were recruiting out of there. Clever.

Flip and Melissa spent his 60th birthday on September 18th in Greece. They went to Crete, and several of the Greek islands like Santorini, and they also visited Turkey.

Flip said that he stays in touch with some local VCs like Rod Goldstein and Jamie Cowie at Frontenac and the folks at Edgewater (Tolmie and Jones) and at KB Partners (probably Dennenberg and Bank). I sensed that he has lost touch with Dick Reck and Brenda Lee Johnson and a number of others. You know, I still think Flip could probably not pick Dever out of a police line-up. BTW, Chris Dever belonged on the top of my list of skinflints, way ahead of Willinger and DD (who showed up at the party last night, and he was no where to be found back in 1999 or 2000 or 2001.)

Silkroad's HQ is here in Chicago, I believe in the same building as Google's offices and they have about twenty people here. Many people are in North Carolina and other offices, including several in Asia and I met one woman from the New Zealand office last night. In that same building is the other firm that Flip is involved with which is also the firm his daughter Jennifer works for.

I did talk to Flip about the current atmosphere here and the comment by Steve Kaplan on the last panel of the day that Eric Lefkofsky is the greatest entrepreneur in the last decade in the country -- if I heard him right. Kaplan may have meant Chicago, not the whole country, but he did say that Eric has not been credited with this in the media. Kaplan cited Inner Workings, Echo Global Logistics, Media Bank and now Groupon, plus investments in other firms through LightBank which is an important component in this picture.

I also mentioned to Flip that some believe that Groupon has taken much of the oxygen out of the room just as some people like J. B. Pritzker, Howard Tullman, Ron May as well felt back in 1999 and 2000.That list could probably include Bill Weaver and Bob Geras, not to mention Wally Cornett and Jerry Mitchell.

The other side of the argument is that Groupon can reboot Chicago high tech. It can be a catalyst and there is growing evidence to support that point of view. But time will tell.

Flip laughed at times during this conversation and he smiled a lot like the Cheshire cat that just ate the canary, but he knew better than to go on the record with comments -- especially with my tape recorder running.

BTW, my information is that the Steve Kaplan -- Brad Keywell connection is so strong that Brad will be teaching soon at ChicagoBooth and that this was arranged by Kaplan.

That reminds me, I forgot to ask Flip about the firm that Kaplan, Mohan Sawhney from Kellogg was in along with Rick Salvadore and Russ Rosensweig called Michigan-Oak Partners. I would have asked him if those guys ever actually paid for the stock in Divine that they were issued. I believe that Michael Jordan did not because they were under water almost all of the time. Before I die, I would like to know exactly what the legal settlement was with Mohan Sawhney when they split up in a somewhat hostile way. It is kept closely under wraps.

I have a few other mini-scoops but we'll have to get those off the tape. I met an HR industry analyst whom I will be in touch with named Debbie McGrath, dmcgrath@hr.com and 905-727-1340. She should be good for some inside the industry scoops.

Meanwhile, the HR Technology conference is enjoying an all time high attendance this year, I was told by a few people.

I am reprinting the article from yesterday which withheld the name of one firm, but today I do mention it directly: Advanced Equities, Inc. I cannot tell you why that happened without getting into trouble, so mum's the word.

Lundin just called and told me that he had a premonition yesterday that Tony Curtis died! He said this is the third time in a few months that this kind of premonition has come to him.

Trivia for the day. Algerian, the language, is a mix of French, Arabic, Berber, and Spanish as told to me by cab driver Jamal (cab number 5404 at Flash).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber

I knew this but he also told me that 1.5 million people died between 1954 and 1962 when Algeria fought the French and that was the first African country to stand up to colonialism.]

___________________________

*************************************************
GP Ventures specializes in M&A advisory services for technology
companies in a wide range of sectors. GPV has industry connections
throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.

*Is your company seeking acquisitions in the tech space?

*Are you an owner, CEO, or investor thinking of selling a tech company?

If so, contact GP Ventures at mail@gp-ventures.com or call
847-431-3993 to discuss.

Current projects include:

*Acquisition Program for publicly-traded IT Consulting firm, seeking
firms in the Data Center, Managed Services, and IT Consulting (SAP,
Oracle, etc.) sectors ($10 million to $100 million revenues)

*Business Development for Japanese electronics distribution company
seeking new products in semiconductors, electronics, new energy,
materials, sensors, etc.

*Acquisition Program for US PC Board Manufacturer seeking US PCB shops
($1 million to $30 million revenues)

*Sell Side Program for 40 million Euro Fiber Optics Company (based in
Europe, now preparing materials)

Contact GP Ventures to discuss sell-side projects, acquisition
programs, and “grooming” consulting projects.

Tom Kastner
GP Ventures
847-431-3993
mail@gp-ventures.com

M&A Advisory Services for technology companies in EMS, PCB, Software,
Defense, IT Services, Electronics, Distribution

**********************************************
__________________________

The Scoop section:
_______________________
US Senate Rejects Bill to Curb Outsourcing

Subject: US Senate Rejects Bill to Curb Outsourcing
Date: 9/29/2010 7:01:14 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: ed.longanecker@techamerica.org
To: Midwest@techamerica.org

sify.com/news/us-senate-rejects-bill-to-curb-outsourcing-news-international-kj3okficcei.html

Ed Longanecker
Executive Director, Regional Vice President
TechAmerica
630-282-4332
ed.longanecker@techamerica.org
www.techamerica.org

AeA & ITAA have merged to form TechAmerica

Where the future begins=
__________________________________
Wind Point Partners is expected to announce Thursday that it has bought
Global Tube Form and Peoria Tube Forming Corp

Wind Point Partners is expected to announce Thursday that it has bought
Global Tube Form and Peoria Tube Forming Corp.

The companies will serve as a new platform, called Global Tube, for further
acquisitions. Tom Gosnell, who was president of ArvinMeritor’s commercial
vehicle systems group, will be CEO of Global Tube. Both companies make tubes
used in emissions, coolant, heating, air intake and exhaust handling systems
used in heavy and medium duty trucks and off-road vehicles.

Financial terms were not announced. Regions Business Capital is providing
debt financing.

Wind Point’s buy of Global Tube came to light a few weeks ago. Global Tube
does business under the names National Tube Form and Southern Tube Form.
Wind Point invested about $30 million in National Tube Form, according to a
Form D filing dated Sept. 15 and that was first discovered by FormDs.com.

Peoria, Ill-based Peoria Tube makes large-diameter tubes used in the
off-road vehicle market. Global Tube Form, which has plants in Fort Wayne,
Ind. and Clinton, Tenn., makes bent tubes and related products for heavy and
medium duty truck and engine manufacturers.

Wind Point, a Chicago PE firm, made the investment from its seventh fund,
which raised $915 million in 2009.
__________________________________
Six3 Systems Inc., which is backed by GTCR, has bought Novii Designs.

Six3 Systems Inc., which is backed by GTCR, has bought Novii Designs. Novi
provides large scale data fusion systems, cyber solutions and high-end
enterprise architectures to the Intelligence Community. Financial terms were
not disclosed. GTCR is a Chicago PE firm.

PRESS RELEASE

GTCR announced today that portfolio company Six3 Systems, Inc. (“Six3
Systems”), a leading provider of highly strategic and differentiated
solutions and services to the U.S. national security and defense
intelligence communities, has acquired Novii Design, LLC (“Novii”). Novii is
a leading prime provider of large scale data fusion systems, cyber solutions
and high-end enterprise architectures to the Intelligence Community. With
over 70 highly technical, trained and cleared employees, Novii designs,
builds and supports some of our nation’s most sensitive, mission-critical
software applications and systems.

Six3 Systems was formed in April 2009 when GTCR, one of the nation’s leading
private equity firms, partnered with Robert Coleman, former President and
COO of ManTech International. Novii is Six3 Systems’ third acquisition since
its founding. Six3 Systems previously acquired Harding Security Associates,
Inc., a leading provider of identity intelligence, forensics analysis and
security services, in July 2009, and BIT Systems, Inc., a leading provider
of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (“ISR”) systems design,
development, integration and maintenance services, in December 2009.

“Novii’s mission-critical enterprise software development capabilities will
strategically enhance our offerings and serve as a key component in
achieving our objective of building a leading national security services
provider with highly specialized capabilities,” said Robert Coleman, CEO of
Six3 Systems. “We believe that Novii’s ability to combine open source
engineering with some of the most advanced commercial application and
infrastructure solutions available today positions us well for the next
evolution of Intelligence Community systems development, systems engineering
and analysis. Combining Novii’s capabilities with our existing core
competencies in identity intelligence, counterintelligence and ISR will
create a highly strategic asset in the U.S. national security and defense
intelligence communities.”

“We are very pleased to join forces with Six3 Systems,” commented Rebekah
Lewis-Polancich, co-founder and President of Novii. “We believe that Six3
Systems will provide us with new capabilities and the reach back to better
support our customers and their missions while maintaining the quality,
innovation and responsiveness valued by our clients.”

KippsDeSanto & Co. was the exclusive financial advisor to Novii. Cooley LLP
provided legal counsel to Novii. Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel
to Six3 Systems.

About Six3 Systems

Six3 Systems, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is focused on providing
highly strategic and differentiated solutions and services to support the
missions of customers in the U.S. national security and defense intelligence
communities. For more information about Six3 Systems, email
info@six3systems.com.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing
in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and
Information Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm
pioneered the “Leaders Strategy” – finding and partnering with world-class
leaders as the critical first step in identifying, acquiring and building
market-leading companies through acquisitions and organic growth. Since its
inception, GTCR has invested more than $8 billion in over 200 companies. For
more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.
______________________________
Illinois Department of Insurance Orders AIM Health Plans, Inc., CEO Clubs, Inc., and Others to Cease and Desist Unlawful Insurance Business

09/29/10 – Illinois Department of Insurance Orders AIM Health Plans, Inc.,
CEO Clubs, Inc., and Others to Cease and Desist Unlawful Insurance Business

Department alerting consumers of health insurance coverage scam
CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Insurance has entered an Order
prohibiting AIM Health Plans, Inc., CEO Clubs, Inc. (a/k/a Chief Executive
Officers Club), Insurance Resource Group Inc., Integrated Insurance
Marketing, Inc., Gary L. Karns, Jr. and Louis R. De Luca (“Respondents”)
from transacting an unauthorized insurance business in Illinois. Each
Respondent was also fined $25,000.
__________________________
Fortune Magazine, September 29, 2010: Amyris IPO: Which VC backers are (and aren’t) in the black

tinyurl.com/27rqlzs

Amyris IPO: Which VC backers are (and aren’t) in the black
Posted by Dan Primack
September 29, 2010 1:15 pm

Amyris underwhelmed in its IPO, but many of its VC backers did just fine.

Biofuel company Amyris Inc. went public on Monday night, raising nearly $85 million. It closed its first day of trading up 3% to $16.50 per share, but that’s still well below its plans to price between $18 and $20 per share.

It’s also a far cry from the price at which Amyris sold most of its shares to venture capitalists over the past few years. For example, the company raised $66.1 million in 2008, by selling Series B-1 preferred stock at $25.26 per share. Overall, it raised just over $363 million in private funding between April 2007 and this past June.

My initial thought was that Amyris must represent a giant crater for its VC backers. It’s one thing to whiff on a small deal, but not when the company raised around $363 million. Truth is, however,the firm’s early VC investors are actually in the black. Here’s is how it breaks down, based on the $16.50 per share price:

* Kleiner Perkins: $16.48 million investment, now worth $69 million
* Khosla Ventures: $15.59 million investment, now worth $65.36 million
* TPG Biotech: $15.95 million investment, now worth $53.83 million

Each of those firms participated in the dirt-cheap Series A round, the over-priced Series B round and the Series C down-round. More importantly, they missed the two priciest — and largest — rounds: Series B-1 and Series D.

Here’s a look at firms that didn’t invest in the Series A:

* DAG Ventures: $22.69 million investment, now worth $18.47 million
* Advanced Equities, Inc.: $35.05 million investment, now worth $29.7 million (including possible warrant conversion at $16.50 per share)
* Total Gas & Power USA: $133.2 million investment, now worth $159 million.

Total Gas did alright thanks to a generous conversion plan, plus the fact that the Series D stock in bought was valued lower than either the Series B, Series B-1 or Series C shares.

It certainly is possible that Amyris shares could double in price, thus putting all VC backers in the black (they’re up another 16 cents as of this writing). It also is worth noting that the approximately 4x cash-on-cash returns for the early investors must be put in the context of annualized IRRs (net of management fees and carried interest).

But, those caveats aside, it was DAG Ventures and Advanced Equities, Inc. that got taken. Both firms are known as Series C and Series D investors for companies originally backed by firms like Kleiner Perkins. That means that they’re often paying sky-high valuations, and hoping that they never fall. So far with Amyris, they’re still left hoping.
Tags: Venture Capital
______________________________________
SAVE ABANDONED BABIES FOUNDATION LAUNCHES PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT — Unfortunately this event appears to be already over

From: Dawn Geras
Date: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Subject: MEDIA ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To:

MEDIA ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Sept. 29, 20010

Contact: Dawn Geras, Save Abandoned Babies, 312-440-0229

Cell 312-519-3447

Info@SaveAbandonedBabies.org; Contest rules attached in file

SAVE ABANDONED BABIES FOUNDATION LAUNCHES PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT

When: Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010

12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Where: Chicago Fire House #98, A Safe Haven Location

202 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611

Who: Dawn Geras, Save Abandoned Babies Foundation

Katie Jannetto, Save Abandoned Babies Foundation

Chet Coppock, Chicago Sports Personality

Ashley Bradarich, Miss Illinois, U.S.A.

Eric, Missy and Baby Sophie (Safe Haven family)

What: Kick off Photo Scavenger Hunt Contest

Chicago, IL -The Save Abandoned Babies Foundation (SAB) in an effort to increase awareness of the Safe Haven law will kick off a photograph contest, open to all Illinois residents 18 years old and older.

Learn about the Safe Haven law and the photo contest that will increase awareness of this life saving law. Hear why Chet Coppock and Ashley Bradarich are lending their support to this contest.

Come meet a very special family, and learn how the Illinois Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act forever changed their lives. Hear their story of taking Sophie into their home and hearts. Sophie’s parents are stepping forward to help provide awareness of the Safe Haven law and its goal: to prevent the deaths of newborn infants.

These Safe Haven signs were first used when the Chicago City Council passed an Ordinance requiring every Chicago hospital, fire and police station to display them in a conspicuous place. The next step was passing an Illinois Law mandating every safe haven in the State follow the example set by Chicago. Currently there are at least 23 other States using this sign. Sadly, most people don’t know what it symbolizes. The contest will bring the sign to people’s attention resulting in their learning about the Safe Haven law, and saving the lives of more precious newborn babies.

The law allows parents a safe mechanism to anonymously relinquish an unharmed infant 30 days old or younger to staff at any Illinois hospital, police or fire station or emergency care facility. They can walk away with no questions asked and no fear of prosecution. The baby is then placed in a loving home for adoption, a home like Sophie now has.

The public is invited to attend.

There will be an opportunity for pictures and questions.
_________________________________

Vinod Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, recalled a story from the days when he backed Excite, one of the original Internet portals. Specifically, he
spoke briefly about the time they failed to acquire Google

On stage today at our TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Vinod
Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, recalled a story from the days when
he backed Excite, one of the original Internet portals. Specifically, he
spoke briefly about the time they failed to acquire Google.

This story has been circulated for a while, but not many people know about
it. Khosla stated it simply: Google was willing to sell for under a million
dollars, but Excite didn’t want to buy them.

Khosla, who was also a partner at Kleiner Perkins (which ended up backing
Google) at the time, said he had “a lot of interesting discussions” with
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at the time (early 1999). The
story goes that after Excite CEO George Bell rejected Page and Brin’s $1
million price for Google, Khosla talked the duo down to $750,000. But Bell
still rejected that.

Whoops. As of today, Google’s market cap stands at $167 billion.

Excite, meanwhile, was acquired by Ask Jeeves in 2004. That company became
Ask.com, and now it’s owned by Barry Diller’s IAC. As Diller stated at
Disrupt today, Ask would probably be better off outside of IAC at this
point.

What might have been.

CrunchBase Information
______________________________________

Vote for your favorite Chicago innovation – People’s Choice Award voting now open!

Subject: FW: Vote for your favorite Chicago innovation – People’s Choice Award voting now open!
Date: 9/30/2010 12:21:28 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com

FW: Vote for your favorite Chicago innovation – People’s Choice Award voting now open!

Greetings!
What do you think makes great innovation? Is it design? Creation of new markets? Environmental Impact? We invite you to take a look at this year’s Top 75 Chicago Innovation Award nominees and vote for your favorite innovation!http://www.chicagoinnovationawards.com/nominations

Each year, the ten Chicago Innovation Award winners are chosen by a panel of innovation experts. But for the second straight year, you get to be the judge through the People’s Choice Award competition. Spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers and beyond (Click here to tweet this).http://www.chicagoinnovationawards.com/nominations Each person can vote for up to 5 different innovations. The organization with the most votes by October 14th will be awarded this year’s People’s Choice Award winner at the Chicago Innovation Awards ceremony at the Goodman Theatre on November 1st. Invitations to the event will be sent out soon.

Good luck to the Top 75 nominees and spread the word that voting is now open!
Sincerely,

Tom Kuczmarski
Co-Founder Dan Miller
Co-Founder Luke Tanen
Director
_________________________________

News about the Sync Tech Center

From: Jess Loren
Sender: jess.popov@gmail.com
Subject: News about the Sync Tech Center
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:37:50 -0500
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

www.reelchicago.com/story.cfm?storyID=2995

Syncubator seeks new web business ideas
Purpose is to develop and fund proven concepts

EMAIL this article to a friend

Michael Rhodes got Syncubator up and running in six months

New tech center Syncubator was all decked out for its big opening last week in its 18,000 sq. ft. West Loop loft but had to postpone it because its VIP guest of honor couldn?t make it.

Mayor Daley was off on his visit to Asia but before he left he personally promised Syncubator founder, Mike Rhodes, to count on his attending when he returns.

The mayor will undoubtedly keep his promise given his advocacy of Chicago as an international tech center and supporting innovative tech ventures, of which Syncubator, a spin on traditional incubators, is certainly one.

As conceived this spring by tech expert Rhodes, a South Side Irishman energized by new challenges, Syncubator is ?a new community of tech entrepreneurs? ? people who have promising internet business ideas but need the resources and capital to take them to market.

Syncubator has the capability to provide both.

Currently in place is a group of 13 carefully selected ?preferred partners,? who provide the start-ups with services and solutions.

The 13 were personally invited into his community, based on two objectives, he said. ?The first was, we needed a diversified stable of service providers, such as one SEO, one mobile app, one social media and so on.

?The second, they had to pass a vetting process to make sure they were bona fide and could deliver top quality work in their area of expertise.?

Jess Loren was the first ?preferred partner?

The first preferred and typical partner was Jess Loren, a 25-year old owner of Mix Media Solutions and a social media specialist. Mix Media offers brand, logo and web development, social media campaigns and maintenance to the start-ups, and also draws on the expertise of her fellow partners.

With the loft outfitted and preferred partners and the investment fund established, Rhodes is opening the door 150 tech entrepreneurs in the next two years.

The selection criteria will be ?very Palo Alto-esque,? Rhodes said, referring to how quickly techno decisions are made over talks in coffee shops. ?The answer may not be yes, but it will come quick.?

Rhodes said, ?The Syncubator seeks ideas that are innovative and potentially game-changing and we look for the passion of the entrepreneur and his passion for the endeavor. Obviously, the idea has to be a solid intersect with the rapidly-changing technology landscape.?

Specifically being sought are ?ideas that might be hot in 2011,? Rhodes said, ?such as collective buying and community opinion. They will continue to show strength and emerge as offerings people can?t envision right now. The next entrepreneur may have a clear vision of what that is.

But, he warns, ?We?re not interested in ?me too? companies.?

Tech entrepreneurs have 30-90 days to incubate ideas

The anointed tech entrepreneurs will work at a communal table, with a chair, waste basket, wi-fi ?and community contacts ASAP,? Rhodes states, and pay below-market rent of $400 month.

They won?t have time to get cozy, because they will have 30 to 90 days to incubate their concept. When it is proven viable, the money will be forthcoming to bring to market.

Their backing will come from a fund of $3 million that Rhodes assembled from the sale of $250,000 units from an undisclosed number of investors.

Rhodes is encouraging people with ideas that fit the criteria to apply for entry via the Syncubator website going online around Oct. 5.

Rhodes promises that the process is quite easy. ?No power point; we sit down and hear their approach and answer questions they don?t have answers to. Palo Alto-like, the turnaround is very rapid.? ?Ruth L Ratny

–
Jess Loren Popov
Founder
Mix Media Solutions LLC & SocialTechPop
Located within The Sync Tech Center
322 South Green St.
Suite 300
Chicago IL, 60607

www.MyMixMedia.com

www.SocialTechPop.com

Direct: 312-480-1085
Twitter: @JessPopov
Linked In: www.LinkedIn.com/in/jpopov
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JessLoren
_________________________________

Events- One Hour Mentor Program, Chicago TechExpo, and Chicago Networking Event

Subject: Events- One Hour Mentor Program, Chicago TechExpo, and Chicago Networking Event
Date: 9/30/2010 12:12:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

The City Treasurer’s “One-Hour-Mentor-Program” 1hourmentor.eventbrite.com/
Monday, October 25, 2010 from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (CT)
Chicago, IL
Monday, October 25, 2010
Citibank-Citicorp Center: 500 West Madison Street, 6th floor, (Grant Park Room) Chicago, Illinois 60661
*10:00 am – 11:00 am
City Treasurer Stephanie Neely is hosting a “One-Hour-Mentor Program” featuring a panel of Chicago’s female Small Business Experts. Come join us as we discuss the obstacles and opportunities for small business owners.
RSVP
Space is limited to the first 150 attendees to sign up using the link above.

An ID is required to enter the building.http://1hourmentor.eventbrite.com/

chicagotechexpo.net/

Chicago TechExpo 2010 Offers:

•A minimal online registration cost of $35 that includes lunch and parking. Attendees will walk away with giveaways, bonus offers and valuable raffle prizes. •Openhill will offer free websites and the first year support to all who attend Chicago TechExpo. •An expanded exhibit floor supported by a wide range of companies focusing on delivering technology based solutions to Chicago business owners. •Tribeca Flashpoint Academy will provide an exiting interactive exhibit for attendees to experience the technology of the future through augmented reality. •Internet Cafe provided to all the exhibitors and attendees to access to their email or the web. A free service brought to you by Cornerpin / Idea Blender. •Come hear one of the most successful online business stories: Sittercity.com. Genevieve Thiers and Dan Ratner, founders of Sittercity.com and the “serial couple-preneur,” will not only show you how they did it but tell you how they evolved their company to stay ahead of the game! Learn what they are up to next!
•Raffles will be held throughout the day. Every attendee has a chance to win valuable raffle prizes such as video games, software, phones and much more!
•Morning Workshops Topics
â—¦You Don’t Want to be at the Airport When Your Ship Comes In: The Importance of Building Social Networks. Sponsored by Tribeca Flashpoint Academy. Presented by Howard A. Tullman, CEO / President of Tribeca Flashpoint Academy.
â—¦Clearing the Fog Around Cloud Computing and Online Services. Sponsored by Microsoft. Presented by Andrew McNulty, Partner Territory Manager for Microsoft and Don Penland, Partner for Project Leadership Associates.
â—¦Accessing Online Mentoring and Networking Tools to Build Small Business. Sponsored by Western Union. Presented by Mario Hernandez, Director of Public Affairs for Western Union and Dr. Eric Lee, CEO of the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce.
â—¦The Fourth Wave: Mobile Computing. Sponsored by Sofbang. Presented by Eric Peebles, Chief Technology Officer of Sofbang.
•Afternoon Workshops Topics
â—¦You Don’t Want to be at the Airport When Your Ship Comes In: The Importance of Building Social Networks. Sponsored by Tribeca Flashpoint Academy. Presented by Howard A. Tullman, CEO / President of Tribeca Flashpoint Academy.
â—¦!Como Aprovechar su Sitio de Internet! (How to Get the Most Out of Your Website – In Spanish). Sponsored by the Latino Technology Alliance (LTA). Presented by Laritza Lopez, CEO / President of Lopez Martin & Associates.
â—¦Using Your Website to Build Connections. Sponsored by Openhill. Presented by Gerald Jenkins, Director of Openhill.
â—¦The Forth Wave: Mobile Computing. Sponsored by Sofbang. Presented by Eric Peebles, Chief Technology Officer of Sofbang.

Chicago Networking event
Chicago Networking event
Overview RSVPs
Starts: Monday October 04, 2010, 06:00PM CDT
Ends: Monday October 04, 2010, 09:00PM CDT
Event Type: Networking/Meetup
Location: District bar
170 W Ontario
Chicago, IL 60654 US
Price: chicagonetworkingoct.eventbrite.com/
Website: chicagonetworkingoct.eventbrite.com/
Industry:
Keywords: networking, network, business, business cards, clients, chicago, event
Intended For: too many to count
Organization: Cutting Edge Events

Chicago Networking Event October 4th * * *
No Pressure, No Speakers, No Loud Music……just networking, connecting, and enjoying some awesome free food so you can network comfortably!
When you register for more than 1 person, please include the names and emails of all people coming with you. That will really help us with registration and with follow-up after the event.
MONDAY, October 4th
6:00PM – 9:00PM
___________________________________
Chicago-Mobile-Application-Development-Enthusiasts Great opportunity for a Mobile Infrastructure PM!

Subject: FW: [Chicago-Mobile-Application-Development-Enthusiasts] Great opportunity for a Mobile Infrastructure PM!
Date: 9/30/2010 12:13:27 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

From: lcation@solstice-consulting.com
To: Chicago-Mobile-Application-Development-Enthusiasts-announce@meetup.com
Subject: [Chicago-Mobile-Application-Development-Enthusiasts] Great opportunity for a Mobile Infrastructure PM!
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:59:38 -0400

Good afternoon! We are currently looking for a solid Infrastructure Project Manager for a position in Chicago. This is a Sr. PM position interacting with C level executives. Great opportunity to expand your Mobile knowledge and background! If you are interested or have a referral please let me know. We offer a referral bonus as well!

Send resume to Laura at lcation@solstice-consulting.com.

DESCRIPTION:
Need a solid PM with previous experience leading infrastructure projects. Specifically, this is a Mobile Network Infrastructure project. Mobile experience a plus but not required.
Ideal candidate will have some experience with mobility solutions (i.e. Blackberry Enterprise Server, Microsoft Active Sync, etc.) but it’s not necessary. They should be familiar with Mobile Technologies and capabilities.

Looking to network with Infrastructure PM’s- look forward to hearing from you!

Laura
lcation@solstice-consulting.com

–
This message was sent by Laura Cation (lcation@solstice-consulting.com) from The Chicago Mobile Web and Application Development.
To learn more about Laura Cation, visit his/her member profile
____________________________________

Gregg Hodgson: The term should be “beaten path,” not “beat and path”

From: Gregg Hodgson
Sender: bizcoach2000@gmail.com
Subject: Re: The May Report: 9/28/2010: Fieldglass gets more than $200MM from Madison Dearborn!; AOL buys TechCrunch for undisclosed sum; Steve Levitt wows the LES conference; Great turnout and energy at midVenturesLAUNCH’s first day; Dave Pearah has bolted A
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:01:02 -0500
To: The May Report

Yo, Ron, I love the way you write, but in your Steve Levitt piece (“Briefly Noted”), the term should be “beaten path,” not “beat and path.” When you’re “off the beaten path,” you’re not walking where the hordes of other folks have pounded it into dirt. In fact, you’re “beating your own path,” as in the stanza of “America The Beautiful” that says, as I recall:

“O beautiful for pilgrim’s feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat, across the wilderness.”

Wishing you good health (and better proofreading)!

-Gregg H.

On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 3:46 PM, The May Report wrote:
_______________________________

Keli Wells interested in helping with the G2 Launch- Thanks Keli!

From: Uki Dominque Lucas
Subject: Re: Keli Wells interested in helping with the G2 Launch- Thanks Keli!
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:38:31 -0500
To: Melanie Adcock , Chris Casey , sk@etestit.com
Cc: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, tkrecu2@gmail.com, tkrecu@gmail.com, keli@davenportcs.com

Hey guys,

give me a call at your convenience to discuss this “G2 Launch” event.

respectfully,

Uki Dominque Lucas
Android Architect @ Sears Holdings Corporation
organizer @ ChicagoAndroid.com

Mobile: +1 (650) 815-6603
Skype: UkiDLucas
Google docs/calendar: UkiDLucas@gmail.com

Fb: www.facebook.com/ukidlucas
In: www.linkedin.com/in/ukidlucas
cv: homepage.mac.com/ukidlucas/cv/uki_dominque_lucas.pdf
__________________________________
October 9 and 10: Independent Media Mobile Hackathon

Subject: Independent Media Mobile Hackathon
Date: 9/30/2010 12:18:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

For Immediate Release: September 28, 2010 Contact: Erin Polgreen, TMC Associate Director
erin@themediaconsortium.com/ 312.841.0553

bit.ly/mobilehack

Twitter: @tmcmedia, #mobilehack

Programmers to develop mobile apps for local and national independent media outlets; compete for $1k prize
From iPads to Androids, mobile is the future of media. But how can independent media use this technology to engage their audiences in transformative ways?
To combat this problem, The Media Consortium, a national network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and Hacks/Hackers, an international community of journalists and technologists, are convening an Independent Media Mobile Hackathon at the Illinois Technology Association Clubhouse in downtown Chicago from October 9-10. Registration for programmers is open until October 1 at bit.ly/mobilehack.
Programmers and journalists will convene for two days to develop prototype mobile applications that merge news content creation and delivery with gaming mechanics. Hackathon co-sponsors include the Chicago Instructional Telecommunications Foundation, O’Reilly Media, the Illinois Technology Association and the Knight News Challenge. BigDoor, a Seattle-based startup that powers game mechanics for mobile applications, is opening up its API for the Hackathon. Programmers can use the gamification API to develop prototypes that increase user engagement and loyalty through the use of points, badges, levels, leaderboards, virtual currency and virtual goods.
“Mobile offers a key opportunity to engage citizens in the news, but many independent media outlets lack the capacity and connections within the tech community to truly experiment,” says Tracy Van Slyke, Director of The Media Consortium. “We’re incredibly excited to offer this opportunity to change the game for independent media organizations.”
A panel of expert judges will decide upon the top three applications based on how well they engage communities using the metric “news + fun + community.”
“This hackathon is a chance for independent media to produce applications that go beyond shovelware and find ways to connect communities to the news that matters to them, whether they are producing, sharing, or gaming with content,” Van Slyke says.
Six new Xbox 360s, compliments of BigDoor, and a $1,000 cash prize will be awarded to the team behind the winning application. Two runners up will receive XKCD comics compliments of Breadpig, O’Reilly ebooks and additional prizes to be announced. All code generated at the Hackathon will be available Open Source for other media outlets and programmers to continue to develop.
Hackathon judges include:
* Brad Flora, of The Windy Citizen and Knight News Challenge winner
* Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign
* Shinji Kuwayama, lead developer at Groupon
History
The Independent Media Mobile Hackathon evolved out of The Media Consortium’s Digital Innovation Studio, a dynamic new program that helps Media Consortium members collaborate to conduct low-cost, rapid prototyping to test new business, technology and content development models at a scale that they would not be able to achieve alone.
The Digital Innovation Studio has been written about by MediaShift and Neiman Journalism Lab. Over the last few months, staff from The Uptake, Yes! Magazine, Ms. Magazine, the American Independent News Network and AlterNet collaborated to develop an experiment in mobile technology. The hackathon rose to the top of the list as an opportunity to do rapid prototyping of many mobile applications and build strategic alliances with the tech community.
About us
The Media Consortium is a national network of leading, progressive independent media. Our mission is to amplify independent media’s voice, increase our collective clout, leverage our current audience and reach new ones. Our members include magazines, web sites, television networks, radio, and film producers. www.themediaconsortium.org
Hacks/Hackers is a community of journalists and programmers who seek to inspire each other, share information (and code) and collaborate to invent the future of media and journalism. www.hackshackers.com
Hackathon Sponsors

Chicago Instructional Technology Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Illinois Technology Association
Big Door Media
Breadpig
Mozilla
Chicago Android
The Knight News Challenge
O’Reilly Media

I’m in. What do you need me to do, when and where do I need to show up? -Melanie

Melanie Adcock
iPHONE: 312-259-0610
DROID: 312-833-1825
E-Mail: melanie_adcock@msn.com
Facebook Fan Page: bit.ly/MelanieAdcockFacebookFanPage
Bio: bit.ly/MelanieAdcockARC
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melanieadcock
Twitter: twitter.com/melanie_adcock
Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/melanie.a.adcock

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:21:09 -0500
Subject: RE: Fwd: Independent Media Mobile Hackathon
From: tatvshow@yahoo.com
To: ukidlucas@gmail.com; bruce@tatv.org; erin@themediaconsortium.com; melanie_adcock@msn.com; reedy@lightreading.com; tkrecu2@gmail.com; tkrecu@gmail.com; isabelle@ponysafe.com
CC:

Yes! Let’s do IT!

—–Original Message—–
Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 10:58:48 am
To: “Bruce Montgomery” <bruce@tatv.org,”Bruce Montgomery” <tatvshow@yahoo.com,”Erin Polgreen” <erin@themediaconsortium.com,”Melanie Adcock” <melanie_adcock@msn.com,reedy@lightreading.com,”Todor Krecu” <tkrecu2@gmail.com,”Todor Krecu” <tkrecu@gmail.com,isabelle@ponysafe.com
From: “Uki Dominque Lucas” <ukidlucas@gmail.com
Subject: Fwd: Independent Media Mobile Hackathon

Hi Bruce, Melanie, Sarah and Todor

– would you be interested in participating/helping us with this event?

Uki

Have you RSVPed for the Independent Media Mobile Hackathon

yet

If not, get cracking! The deadline is Oct. 1 and the prizes keep getting

better and better. Our latest announcement: *BigDoor*

*, a Seattle-based startup that **powers game mechanics for web and mobile

apps, is generously donating brand new, 250GB Xbox 360s as prizes for the

team that develops the top application*.

BigDoor is also opening up their API for this event so that participants can

develop prototype apps even more quickly. (BigDoor’s

gamification

API

helps increase user engagement and loyalty through the use of points,

badges, levels, leaderboards, virtual currency and virtual goods.)

But the prizes don’t stop there. Developers on the winning team will also be

awarded a $1K c
________________________________________
December 1993: The Top Ten Flip Quotes

THIS ARTICLE IS FROM DECEMBER 1993:

THE TOP TEN FLIP QUOTES:

I’ve been followng Andrew J. “Flip” Filipowski around town this last year and have been compiling a selection of quotes or paraphrasings: from two Peat Marwick awards dinners, one MIT Enterprise Forum session in May, a speech to the Young Executives Club and an article from the Daily Herald. Flip is the founder and CEO of PLATINUM technology, inc., a major software firm in our area with annual revenues of $50MM and growth from $5.9MM in 1989 to $49MM last year. As Arsenio Oloroso told me, “Flip has brought home the bacon.”

You really have to know Flip. He’s a very smart guy and his purpose in saying what he says and how he says it is to get people to think, but as you’ll see, he’s not overly concerned with logical consistency. He cuts through the baloney and gloss and gets right to the nub. So, these quotes are out of context in the sense that you have to know the character that is “Flip” Filipowski. As Dick Reck says, it’s better to paint a picture by telling a story like the one about Flip’s famous show on the day he left his company (DBMS) to become an entrepreneur and pursue the dream. He found himself in a cold sweat, panic stricken with a queasy feeling, not much money to his name, and his life, as he saw it, hanging in the balance. As he said, he lives for that feeling. If you don’t know who he is, you can misunderstand these remarks. So, in the spirit of good natured ribbing, here goes.

10. At the Peat Marwick awards dinner in November of 1992, Flip was the guest speaker, entertaining the crowd with stories about how the main value of a red herring (the prospectus a company puts out for investors before it goes public) is that it helps him to pick up girls in bars and that he pastes his picture from the 1990 award he won into the awards booklet every subsequent year to help him do the same.

9. “I also find it very critical to have a great competitor. I don’t know if I know how to run a company that doesn’t have a competitor. To me, products and customers are absolutely, positively incidental to the process of destruction of a competitor. It’s the fun part of a business. And , if you don’t have a competitor, then people start worrying about who’s got the corner office, about which direction we?re going. A great competitor keeps you very focused “cause if you’re not focused, you die –If you’re just trying to do good things for people, it’s a pretty confusing thing. But destroying a competitor is pretty simple. It’s like I know what to do this morning, wipe him out.” At the YEC luncheon, Flip said that he wants to know everything about his competitor, including what secretaries he was sleeping with, the names of his kids, and he wants to terrorize him to the point where he misses his putts on the golf course. Flip says he stays up most of the night thinking about the best way to do this. He doesn’t want to just beat his competitor, he wants to bludgeon him to death.

But then Flip, you wouldn’t have a competitor anymore, would you?

8. Flip could teach Ross Perot something. Ross has to hire private detectives, Flip just has to call his buddies: “My experience base is with YPO (Young Presidents Organization). If I have anyone who claims that they were a chief operating officer or a chief financial officer in any company on earth, about 20 minutes later I can get anybody that ever worked with them or they ever worked for to call me back and tell me exactly who the guy slept with, what he did on parties and what he did in his private life. It’s an incredible network that I can tap into, so I tend to make less hiring mistakes than I did 10, 20, or 30 years ago.”

Flip, were you hiring people when you were 12 years old?

7. There’s the team spirit: Flip was asked “Do you expect your employees to be entrepreneurs and do you want them to be entrepreneurs and if so, how? — to which he responded: “I would encourage entrepreneurship, but somewhere else, like at their own company. If somebody’s got it, they shouldn’t be wasting their time making me money, they ought to be doing it for themselves.”

And a tightly knit group at that: ?Get a core group of people that you trust and are loyal forever. It?s kind of an Italian thing, you gotta have a little Mafia: before family, before girlfriends, before God, before country, it?s the three of us. We?re going to tackle the world.?

6. A man of the 90s: “Most CEOs don’t ask questions because most CEOs are men and men have a real hard time saying I’m lost or confused and I have a problem. A CEO male entrepreneur is the last person on this earth who would say ‘I?ve got a problem’ because we wouldn’t pick up girls in bars then. It would make us flawed.”

5. A true democrat: “I don’t worry about whether I have control of the company or not, that’s immaterial. The only thing that’s material is that I make an obscene, an irrational, an enormous amount of money. I really don’t care if it’s because I have 20% of something or 100% of something. Those people who are worried about controlling a company are usually inept and they’re worried about whether someone’s going to throw them out because they’re either stupid or ignorant and can’t handle the job. If you put yourself in the position that you’re competent, you’re going to control, because it’s your idea. If they care (about control) it’s probably because they have a self-esteem problem and they usually have a character flaw that will come up sooner or later, if that’s their #1 concern.”

4. And this guy doesn’t care who’s running the show? Flip was asked “How do you learn to delegate and how do you avoid being too dictatorial?” — to which he responded: “Consensus building is a natural, if not instinctive, and I suppose learnt talent of most good entrepreneurs. I have no idea why everybody says OK when I say something or if they yell at me for a while they shut up and do what I say anyway. I have no idea, it just happens — Yeah, it’s all by consensus — I think it’s absolutely critical for an entrepreneur to put together a core team of 2, 3, 4, or 5 people, not partners. There’s a quarterback–, and the others have to be trained once in a while to say ‘I’m nothing but a stupid vice-president and my opinion doesn’t count, just so they know exactly where they stand.”

3. And of course, you’d never sit on a board, would you Flip? “Only incompetent people these days serve on boards (of directors) because they’re the only ones who don’t have anything to lose if the damn thing goes down the tubes and everybody gets sued. Most of the guys with big net worths don’t want to get onto boards because of legal complications.”

2. Go ahead, bite the hand that feeds you. “I teach a day or two at Kellogg (Northwestern’s Graduate School of Business, ranked #1 in the country) as part of their entrepreneur’s program. It’s impossible for me to perceive how entrepreneurs can be at Kellogg…. If they were, they wouldn’t be at Kellogg. I know I’m talking to a room full of investment bankers, there’s not an entrepreneur there, never will be. It’s just fun to make fun of them. I usually say things that get them really upset and then they write in all kinds of notes that I’m a bigoted this or that. Then I know I made an impact.” Even more ironic is that Mike Koldyke, a founder of Frontenac, the VC firm which funded Flip, is on Northwestern’s board of trustees.

1. “Hell no, I won’t turn the lights out!” Paraphrasing, this refers to Flip’s imbroglio with the city of Wheaton and neighbors who have a problem with Flip’s knee-high landscape flood lights for his front yard tennis court.

I showed this piece to Flip at the 1993 Awards dinner, figuring that failure to do so, eyeball-to-eyeball, would be an act of cowardice. He read it silently, and then said “What a..hole said this”? which is the real #1 quote. Later, Flip told me that he’s not really the kind of guy who drinks or goes to bars. The legend continues!

Back to today: I will say that some things are clearly dated. Kellogg has made enormous strides in cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship. I would be interested in hearing Flip’s views on partnerships these days. A lot of dot coms are run by co-founders. The old management philosophy doesn’t cut it these days with internet companies either.
__________________________________
END OF REPORT