Chicago based credit card processing company Braintree has an impressive roster of customers – 37signals, Airbnb, github, OpenTable, and more. And that’s with a team of under 20 people.
That’s not why I interviewed CEO Bryan Johnson though. I wanted to learn why their company culture is so unique, why he doesn’t hire traditional managers, and why he’s so adamant about hiring rock star e
Chicago’s Top 30 In Tech 2010 30. Funding Feeding Frenzy Coming in at the end of the year, the Funding Feeding Frenzy competition held at the Chicago SYNC center.
For this series, I’ve Skyped gawky, venture-capitalized college kids who’re still grappling with acne. It seems as though tech entrepreneurs are getting younger. What explains this trend toward younger people entering the tech-entrepreneurial space, even while still in college? This necessarily leads to a second question: why is it that nearly all of these college-aged entrepreneurs end up dropping out of college to start their ventures?
Jess Loren of Mix Media Solutions is offering what I think is a GREAT deal for entrepreneurs: Head Shots done by a professional photographer for $99! I have worked with.
Chicago based Delivered Innovation bills itself as “Cloud Solution Design” and just celebrated its four-year anniversary of being in business. “CTO (& company founder) Mike Topalovich started Delivered Innovation in.
Craig Ulliott started the Facebook app Where I’ve Been as a side project while he was working as a freelance web developer. In a few days, the app’s use exploded and Craig had a problem. Within a month, Craig had to figure out how support his growing user base of around a million users.
Today, Where I’ve Been is approaching ten million maps created, is one of the most popular travel apps on Facebook, and is partnering with leading companies in the travel industry. I interviewed Craig to learn how he built a wildly successful Facebook app and how starting Where I’ve Been is the “best mistake” Craig ever made.
Ever had a group of friends who wanted to head out for a night on the town, only to discover everyone’s wallets wouldn’t support such an undertaking? Look no further.
John Braun is a happy man these days. As President of Chicago area based TIP Solutions he has not only completed raising $650K in funding but also has been winning.
Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, billionaire venture capitalist, hedge fund manager, and early Facebook investor, does not play around when it comes to inspiring young people to build their ideas into companies. His eponymous Thiel Fellowship promises twenty entrepreneurs under twenty years old cash grants of up to $100,000 to do so.
When Jake Nickell started the popular crowdsourced t-shirt design site Threadless 10 years ago, he thought he’d be holding down a job nowadays, with some creative hobbies on the side. After all, Threadless was only a hobby for Jake back then.
Threadless is an overnight success that took 10 years to build. Jake didn’t give himself a salary for 2 years. In the beginning, Jake would go to the post office during his lunch hour to ship out the shirts that people bought. When an employee needed a soundproof booth to start a podcast, Jake suggested they find an Airstream for the office on eBay (and they did).
I interviewed Jake to get some insight into how he built Threadless over the past 10 years into the success it is today, and explore some of the ups and downs along the way.
