The May Report: 1/18/2012: Hey, it only takes 3 reports for me to get it right! My report that the 1871 tech center will be on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart was NOT a scoop! A press conference was held this morning which was attended by Sandra Guy of the Chicago Sun-Times, Wailin Wong of the Chicago Tribune and John Pletz of Crain’s; all three wrote articles about it; Whom do you think wrote the best article?; Someday, the powers that be will understand that online media folks should be given equal standing to traditional print media outlets; When Judy Barr Topi *ka (the asterisk is to prevent filters from blocking this email think about it) was state treasurer and held press conferences to promote her fund to fund initiatives, Ed Condon made sure that I was invited and I went — I didn’t have dialysis today (which, as of today, I’ve been on for 6.5 yrs.) and I would have gone if invited, but never mind, some things never change; the space for 1871 will be on the north side of the building and there will be an independent committee to determine who gets to rent space there: pardon my French but that claim is just merde or Gswno in Polish or Harah in Hebrew — does anyone believe that the fix isn’t in?; I can tell you right now who will be on that so-called independent committee: Sam Yagan, Troy Henikoff, Kapil Chaudhary, Stuart Larkins, Paul Lee, Brian Hand, Lon Chow, and you know Matt Moog will want to be on the committee; So before the doors even open, they’re signaling that this is an inside crowd deal — why else would they see the need for an INDEPENDENT committee — a bit touchy about the inside crowd charge, huh?; I looked and did find what I wrote on June 24th in Briefly noted, right after the Built-in-Chicago party at the Mart: Little bits and pieces I picked up: Some guy was talking to Matt Moog about Chris Kennedy, who runs the Mart, unless they sold it. And could that have been about Moog wanting to get space there?; Let’s see, that was June 24th, 209 days before the announcement was made!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Sandra guy’s article in the Chicago Sun Times about 1871
– Wailin Wong’s article in the Chicago Tribune on 1871 — a name which I hope has greater longevity than marchFIRST
– John Pletz’s article in Crain’s on the 1871 tech center

{Editor’s note: May here. I’ll tell you in the next report whom I think wrote the best article and why. But it would be nice to know where Matt Moog and the others are getting their data:
– Chicago’s fast-growing tech community, which saw 124 digital startups launch last year – a 51 percent increase from 2010, according to data provided by Chicago venture and startup sources.
– Last year, 14 Chicago startups raised a collective $250 million
– Moog cited data showing that 124 digital startups launched in Chicago in 2011, a 51 percent increase from 2010.
– With high-profile successes such as Groupon Inc., which went from idea to huge IPO in three years, the city’s tech scene is on a roll. Mu Sigma Inc. raised $133 million in the past year; GrubHub Inc. has raised $70 million.
– He [Moog] estimates there were 124 digital technology companies started in the Chicago area last year, and overall employment at digital-tech companies is about 30,000.
Matt, where does this data come from and readers, do you believe the numbers?]
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The Scoop section:
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Sandra guy’s article in the Chicago Sun Times about 1871

www.suntimes.com/business/10083964-420/tech-center-1871-to-launch-this-spring-at-merchandise-mart.html
Tech center ’1871′ to launch this spring at Merchandise Mart
BY SANDRA GUY Business Reporter sguy@suntimes.com January 18, 2012 11:38AM
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Picture
Todd H. Heiser, Kevin Willer, Matt Moog and Carlos Martinez,during news conference announcing new technology center named 1871, Wednesday, January 18 2011. | John H. White~Chicago Sun-Times.
Article Extras
Updated: January 18, 2012 8:08PM
The Merchandise Mart will be the site of a 50,000-square-foot technology center that will open this spring to provide collaborative working space for digital and technology entrepreneurs, the center’s backers announced Wednesday.
The venture, to be run as a non-profit by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), is aimed at enhancing the growth and visibility of Chicago’s fast-growing tech community, which saw 124 digital startups launch last year – a 51 percent increase from 2010, according to data provided by Chicago venture and startup sources.

That growth is on pace for another 50 percent jump this year, said Matt Moog, entrepreneur, chairman of the project, CEO of Viewpoints Network and head of tech networking group BuiltInChicago.org.
“There is a new digital technology company starting every other day in the city of Chicago,” Moog said at a news conference to unveil the tech center.

The center, to be called 1871 (1871.com) – reflecting Chicago’s can-do rebuilding spirit after the Great Chicago Fire of that year – will open this spring on the Mart’s 12th floor.

The center aims to house as many as 400 startups who have viable ideas and are looking to grow and hire, but need access to capital, new ideas and a community, Moog said.
Startups may apply for space at www.1871.com. An independent board yet to be named will judge the applications.

The “smart work” center is being fashioned by Gensler architects to enable startups to rent desks and flexible workspace, and have a common area for major events, educational courses and other programs. A reserved desk will rent for $400 a month, and a shared coworking space will rent for $250 a month. The tenants may use lunchrooms, quiet rooms, conference rooms, whiteboard space and see-through walls that may be used as whiteboards.

TechAmerica, a tech-industry trade association, will move its Midwest regional office into the 1871 Center from its current Naperville site, relocating two employees and adding a third.
“We are excited to make this the new center of all activities related to innovation and technology in our state,” said Ed Longanecker, TechAmerica Midwest executive director. TechAmerica will keep its Springfield office in the capital.
Initial funding supporters are Comcast, the networking router company Cisco Systems, venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker and the state of Illinois.

Comcast will give the center’s tenants free access to its high-speed metro Ethernet Internet service and will provide TV service in the common areas, said Jeffrey M. Buzzelli, regional vice president for Comcast Business Services.

Unlike conventional technology incubators, the center will take no equity stake in the companies housed inside it. Center operators hope that the startups will be successful enough to expand elsewhere within a year or so, Moog said.

“The idea is this is a jumping-off point,” Moog said.

Kevin Willer, CEO of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, said the Merchandise Mart has another 120,000 square feet adjacent to the tech center that could be used for future expansion.

The center, whose budget is not yet being made public, is expected to house some angel and venture capital firms to allow the startups easy access to potential capital. Last year, 14 Chicago startups raised a collective $250 million, and when daily deals site Groupon is added, the total leapt to $1.4 billion.

The center’s lease at the Merchandise Mart is for 12 years.

Also Wednesday, TechNexus, Chicago’s five-year-old tech collaborative and incubator space, announced that more than 130 companies have grown at its facility at 200 S. Wacker Drive, and those companies have gone on to create 400 jobs and to raise $75 million in investment capital.
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Wailin Wong’s article in the Chicago Tribune on 1871 — a name which I hope has greater longevity than marchFIRST

www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-tech-leaders-to-open-space-for-entrepreneurs-at-merchandise-mart-20120118,0,4202191.story
Chicago tech leaders to open space for entrepreneurs at Merchandise Mart

By Wailin Wong

Tribune reporter

3:17 p.m. CST, January 18, 2012
A group of the city’s technology leaders are opening this spring a 50,000-square foot flexible working space on the twelfth floor of the Merchandise Mart for entrepreneurs and startups.
Called 1871, the year of the Chicago Fire, the flexible office space will be run by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and have support from venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker as well as the state of Illinois and corporate sponsors such as Comcast and Cisco. The name was chosen to reflect the spirit of renewal and innovation that rebuilt Chicago after the fire, said CEC President Kevin Willer.
Maps
Merchandise Mart, 222 Merchandise Mart Plz # 470, Chicago, IL 60654-1072, USA
Ads by GoogleWiller and Viewpoints Chief Executive Matt Moog, who spearheaded the almost year-long project to establish a hub for the area’s young digital technology companies, said the space is designed to provide early-stage entrepreneurs with resources such as flexible work spaces, educational programming, networking opportunities and most importantly, a collaborative and creative environment.
“One of the most important concepts is serendipity,” said Moog, explaining that he envisioned scenarios in which two people who bump into each other at the space share ideas that lead to breakthroughs.
The space can hold about 400 people at any given time. The central area of the space is dedicated to reserved desks that will start at a monthly rate of $400 per seat. The perimeter is lined with shared co-working spaces that are priced lower at $250 a month. The hub is also outfitted with private conference rooms, a café in the reception area, classrooms and an event space that can seat 250 people. Organizers said they plan to host 40 different seminars a month on topics such as marketing, sales and raising money. Larger events might bring in experienced entrepreneurs or leaders in design or the arts to give talks, Willer said.
Architectural firm Gensler designed the space using feedback from hundreds of entrepreneurs in the city who were polled about their office space needs. Organizers also visited co-working and tech incubator locations around the country.
Interested tenants can apply via the 1871 website, which went live on Wednesday morning. Willer said an independent selection committee, whose composition will be disclosed at a future date, will review the applications. Organizers are aiming to draw early-stage companies with between two and eight employees who “have made a little progress” on their business idea, Willer said.
“We want the best of the best,” he added.
The organizers of 1871 declined to release specifics about their budget but said they have a 12-year lease on the space, which sits on the northwest part of the Merchandise Mart’s twelfth floor. Digital advertising agency Razorfish occupies the southern end of the floor. Comcast will be providing high-speed Internet access for 1871 and there might be opportunities to partner with service providers, such as law or marketing firms, in “interesting, smart ways,” Willer said.
The 1871 organizers said they hope to satisfy unmet demand for flexible, collaborative work spaces by the area’s startups, whose numbers have grown significantly in the last couple of years. Moog cited data showing that 124 digital startups launched in Chicago in 2011, a 51 percent increase from 2010.
One of the city’s earliest entrepreneurial spaces, the TechNexus “clubhouse,” is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The Illinois Technology Association, which helps run the center in the Loop, said more than 130 companies have come through TechNexus.
The Merchandise Mart already houses Fail Cube, a communal office space on the nineteenth floor that is shared by several Web startups. That space is 19,000 square feet.
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John Pletz’s article in Crain’s on the 1871 tech center

www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120118/NEWS08/120119785/new-hub-for-tech-startups-debuts
New hub for tech startups debuts
Print | Email | 1 comment

By John PletzJanuary 18, 2012

Today’s Headlines
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View All of Today’s News Headlines.

(Updated 1:40 p.m.)
(Crain’s) – A new downtown hub for tech startups, promising affordable space and other assistance, is coming to the Merchandise Mart.
The center is called 1871, a reference to the city’s rebirth after the Great Chicago Fire.
The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center has leased 50,000 square feet on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart, the same floor as digital-ad agency Razorfish. It will provide entrepreneurs with that office space, which can be a struggle for startups with little cash or track record.
“This will address that problem,” says Matt Moog, an entrepreneur, investor and CEO of Viewpoints Network, an online site that provides consumer reviews. He described how his own startup moved four times in as many years as it was growing.
The center will open in the spring, said Mr. Moog. The idea came about last spring and the group spent about six months putting together the deal.
The operation of the space, which could accommodate 300 to 400 people, will be overseen by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. That group is headed by Kevin Willer, a former Google Inc.. sales executive who recently took over the non-profit that advises startups.
“One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is, where do I get started, where can I go and work?” Mr. Willer says.
Entrepreneurs will pay $400 a month for assigned desks and $250 for desks in communal space. The center also will have suites of about 800 square feet and is intended to accommodate companies with up to about eight people. It’s not designed as a long-term location for companies that organizers expect will move on after a year or two.
They can apply for space at 1871.com. Applicants will be chosen by an independent committee, which hasn’t been named yet.
The creation of the center was spearheaded by J. B. Pritzker, a former CEC board member who runs Chicago-based venture fund New World Ventures. Other supporters include Comcast and Cisco Systems.
“Comcast’s investment in the CEC will give tenants free access to our advanced, high-speed Metro Ethernet Dedicated Internet Service,” says Jeffrey M. Buzzelli, regional vice-president of Comcast Business Services. “We also plan to provide TV service in common areas and Business Class phone service for the CEC administrative offices.”

It will be the first US deployment of Cisco’s “smart work center” concept aimed at promoting digital collaboration and telecommuting.
The effort is seen as both a needed assist for startups and a way to raise the profile of Chicago’s startup community, which has long been viewed as fragmented, with a more visible space downtown where multiple companies can spring up.
With high-profile successes such as Groupon Inc., which went from idea to huge IPO in three years, the city’s tech scene is on a roll. Mu Sigma Inc. raised $133 million in the past year; GrubHub Inc. has raised $70 million.
The state of Illinois is expected to announce its support soon.
While the city didn’t create the space, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who courted the tech community during his election campaign, lent support.
“This is about the larger digital tech ecosystem evolving in the city of Chicago,” says Mr. Moog, who founded Built in Chicago, a tech social-networking site. He estimates there were 124 digital technology companies started in the Chicago area last year, and overall employment at digital-tech companies is about 30,000. He says public-sector support also is evolving with state and local government that’s “much more progressive and much more savvy about technology.”
“The question is: How do we get more companies into the funnel?” he adds.

Read more: www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120118/NEWS08/120119785/new-hub-for-tech-startups-debuts#ixzz1js5n7AG7
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