Matt McCall On Chicago’s VC World

Matt McCall of New World Ventures and DFJ Portage wants to do an AG deal. As in agriculture. No, really. “I want to do an AG deal, just for yuks,”.

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By Techli

The Upstart’s Conundrum: The Time Crunch Paradox

As a college student and an “entrepreneur” (whatever that means), I’ve experienced first hand the difficulties inherent in building and launching ventures while juggling academic commitments, all without meaningful support.

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By Techli

ITP: Reporting On The Tech Decade

Illinois Technology Partnership: 2000 – 2010: The Tech Decade There were a number of new technologies that came about during the last decade, which have shaped the way we now.

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By Techli

EducatorCity: Foreign Language Teachers Welcome

Janet Banhidi was ready for a change. “I taught Spanish at Marquette University for 9 years and I loved it,” said Banhidi, “but I was also ready for something different..

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By Techli

Difference Between Having A Problem And Building A Business Around It

When Sean Harper needed a credit card processor for his first company, he signed up for the first one he saw. He ended up being swindled into tens of thousands of dollars of charges and paid almost twice the amount they expected to the first year.

That’s when Sean knew there was a problem. And after some initial research, he realized it was a problem he could build a business around. So Sean and his co-founder created FeeFighters.com.

I interviewed Sean to learn how he’s working to solve this problem for small businesses and about the recent rebranding his company went through.

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By Techli

2011 Predictions: A Facebook Scandal, Google’s War, the Bubble Continues, and the Rise of App Holding Companies

Every publication has released their predictions, most of which I feel to be on the safe side. Here are some that you won’t see anywhere else, but that I bet will come true in 2011.

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By Techli

Competition Knows No Boundaries In Hacker Cup

If you sign up for the New York City marathon, you can’t run 26.2 miles in Chicago and say you competed. Fortunately, we’re not runners (at least not after our.

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By Techli

Editorial: CEO Reflects On Failure Stories

Lessons From Business Failures It’s quite refreshing to see how far along the Chicago entrepreneurial community has come in the 2.5 years since I moved here for business school (Go.

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By Techli

Student Entrepreneur Hewett Talks Shop(pit)

Spencer Hewett is not what one might call an “average” college freshman. At Washington University in St. Louis, Spencer is one among a growing movement of young tech entrepreneurs getting their.

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By Techli

Landing Page Optimization: 4 Key Aspects to Get More Users

First impressions are everything, especially for a start-up trying to court new users. A lot of start-ups believe it takes expensive design and brilliant imagery to get people to sign-up, when in reality none of that matters. All it takes to increase conversion rate is a solid headline, contrasting call to action button, detailed additional value, and social proof.

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By Techli