Nicky Imber Sculpture - "Hope"

TULLMAN COLLECTION ARTIST F. SCOTT HESS in NEW SHOW "SHATTERED"

BROWN UNIVERSITY JABBERWOCKS PERFORM AT 1871

MK CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERS MEETING

TULLMAN COLLECTION ARTISTS FEATURED IN YEAR-END MEMORABLE PAINTINGS LIST

John Seed 

Professor of Art and Art History, Mt. San Jacinto College

10 Memorable Paintings From 2013

Posted: 12/20/2013 9:57 am

Artist Brenda Goodman in front of her painting Not a Leg to Stand On Photo: David Hornung

So, just what makes a painting memorable? I guess if I knew I would be painting some memorable paintings myself but as a writer/blogger who rarely paints any more I have done my best to sort through the many submissions that have landed in my e-mail box in the past few weeks and single out some paintings that I think have real staying power and memorability. One way I chose these paintings was to look at a number of them before bed and then see which ones I remembered in the morning. A simple method, I know -- but it works.

Eight of the artists chosen are new to me and their work has never before appeared in my blog. Eight are North American, but I am pleased to include Susannah Martin (Germany) and Martin Llamedo (Argentina) to add some international flavor. Five of the artists are women and five are men: I didn't plan that, it just worked out that way.

It also appears that I tend to favor mature artists who have been working hard for a long time. I really like what writer Malcom Gladwell says about effort as I think it applies very well to art-making:

If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.

When I interviewed him in July, the artist Bo Bartlett told me that "To be earnest is the greatest taboo in contemporary art." I must have very taboo taste, because I have found myself attracted to very earnest paintings. I'm into sincerity, meaning, skill and catharsis and I apparently am leaning towards representation, which looks fresher and fresher to me each day. This is a sincere and large-hearted group of paintings that has a lot to say about the human situation. The human figure remains hugely compelling to me as it will always carry such a variety of meanings with infinite flexibility. Female figures seem to dominate this year's selection.

With each of the paintings below I am including some remarks by its creator to help support the visual elements. Of course, words are always second best: With or without the comments I have provided, these paintings make powerful visual statements on their own. These are great paintings, and all of them are fresh off the easel. They give me hope for the future of painting.

Jason Bard Yarmosky, Sleepwalking, oil on canvas, 83 x 73 inches

JY: The idea of this painting is that my grandfather wakes up in the night to find my grandmother sleepwalking on the wall. The concept of them being on separate planes is a metaphor.

Her shadow, which is behind her, represents the past and is cast over their wedding picture on the wall. This signifies the time gap between when they met and now. Beside the shadow is an oval mirror. The mirror reflects my shadow on the wall opposite of my grandparents, which turns this piece into a self portrait in a way: I am there watching them.

www.jasonyarmosky.com

Mark Dutcher, Meaningful Life, oil and tinted gesso on canvas, 54 1/2 x 43 inches

MD: The painting Meaningful Life is about losing my older sister this last year. I have had an ongoing interest in memory and memorial: in how we remember events and people and how paintings are like monuments that way, that they contain something transferred by the artist into the object. I know it is a pretty old fashioned notion but when I sit in front of a Rothko I can feel the presence of the artist: I can feel something emanating from the painting.

So, I painted five paintings for my sister Laurie, sometimes just incorporating the letters from her name, sometimes using words and fragments from songs. Sometimes the worddeath appears and then disappears. The paintings then became a meditation not so much on loss but on "LIFE" about how beautiful and fragile this all is..

www.markdutcher.com

Ann Gale, Peter Turning, oil on masonite, 14 x 11 inches Photo by: Richard Nichols

AG: I work from observation, over extended periods, accumulating marks of color, trying to document the sensations flesh, light and space. In Peter Turning, I focused on the fragile and momentary nature of Peter's gesture.

Ann Gale on Tumblr

Martin Llamedo, Tea, oil on linen, 120 x 85 cm.

MLL: The ritual of drinking tea is universal and historical, and that is why I chose it as my subject. Although the act of preparing and drinking tea might appear ordinary or banal -- especially in Western culture -- in some situations and cultures it carries enormous depth and meaning.

In the painting Tea an illusory female figure pours tea over a European style tea table. Frivolity and irony are manifested in the way that the ritual has been modified to include the image of a woman preparing tea on herself. This table -- set for tea -- with its fabric elements, forms the woman's bed covered by sheets that envelop her. Her clothes are like centerpieces (woven lacework) demonstrating that this ritual is deeply embedded in her.

Sitting down to tea often mean time spent communicating with others: hence the four cups. But in this work one sees an illusory figure incarnated for just a moment, perhaps a memory that is about to be lost. Dressed in memories perhaps the figure is prepared to accept her destiny: her eyes, hands and body tell us about this. However, we also discern another person who completes this moment, and that person is herself, with her face hidden outside the painting, perhaps deceiving herself.

This single act of drinking tea manifests a simple truth: that we have just ourselves in life.

http://www.srbrennengalleries.com/Artist-Detail.cfm?ArtistsID=349

Timothy Robert Smith, Revised Maps of the Present (aka: 7th and Main) oil on canvas, 60 x 108 inches

TRS: This is one of my first multi-dimensional paintings that study the difference between personal and collective experience. Three kids are looking at a wrinkled map, in a world where the rules of time and space wrinkle. Angles intersect, becoming more disjointed towards the outer regions of the canvas, creating kaleidoscopic landscapes that pull viewers into the vortex. They appear to be lost, but without fear; like explorers of dimensions beyond what we accept as physical reality.

Timothy Robert Smith

Susanah Martin, Gorge, oil on canvas, 130 x 130 cm.

SM: A few years ago I turned my attention toward contemporizing a very classical subject in art: the bather. While an 18th or even 19th century painting of a bather could still be accepted as representing a realistic situation, the absurdity of the 21st century bather fascinated me. For me this shift in attitude toward the figure in landscape, points to a much larger and more disturbing anthropological crisis: namely our extreme estrangement from nature.

With these nudes I am attempting both to challenge the traditional role of the nude in art, that is to provide an aesthetically pleasing object of visual/sexual consumption, and to poke a finger in the open wound of our current human displacement. So doing, I hope to trigger contemplation on the causes and effects of the treasonous abuse and subsequent loss of our eco-system home.

Gorge is a particularly confrontational representation of man in nature. The painting focuses on the existential experience of a young woman at the moment of enlightened awareness of her unity with the life force. This is an experience which I provoke with my models outdoors and which I attempt to record or describe in my work.

www.susannahmartin.de

Jeremy Lipking, Sophie at Dusk, oil on linen, 24 x 16 inches

JL: This might sound like a weird answer to some people but I usually don't have a message I'm trying to communicate through my art. I usually do a painting just for the joy of creating.

- Jeremy Lipking, quoted in The Art of the Portrait, The Journal of the Portrait Society of America (volume XI, Issue 46)

www.lipking.com

Nadine Robbins, Mrs. McDonald, oil on linen board, 18 x 24 inches

Text by by Nadine Roberts and Nancy-Jo Hereford

NR & NH: When Plan A goes awry and by design - or default - you resort to Plan B. In letting go, you discover precisely what you wanted to find. Has that happened to you? It did to me and the serendipitous outcome is a new nude: Mrs. McDonald.

Her unexpected evolution happened as I was photographing a model named Kaitlin on a steamy summer day. The warehouse where we were shooting was sweltering. Her flame-colored hair was frizzing wildly and we were both sizzling. Postponing for a cooler day wasn't an option, so I took a run to the local golden arches for more water. On a lark, I ordered a happy meal. I soon learned that Kaitlin, enviously thin, loved her fries. The misery of the heat and humidity evaporated as she savored the salty spuds. And all my preconceived ideas about what I wanted to capture with Kaitlin also evaporated as we went with the moment prompted by an opportune treat.

www.nadinerobbinsart.com

Jennifer Pochinski, The Twelve Year Old, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

JP: This painting came off during one of those losing streaks of painting where nothing good was happening for awhile. Something happened when i went against my instincts to base a painting on Eric Fischl's Bayonne... well just the little girl in white skirt on white background part.

Jennifer Pochinski at John Natsoluas Gallery

Brenda Goodman, Not a Leg to Stand On, oil on wood, 72 x 80 inches

BG: As with so many of my paintings I started with marks all over the surface such as those on top and the right sides. The smaller figure emerged first and the painting just evolved from there.

What was amazing about this painting was that while looking at it when it was done I said: "Wow, this was my childhood." My mother was very dominating and overwhelming and throughout my life I have often felt that if i didn't have a leg to stand on she would devour me (emotionally) and there it was in front of me with only one leg and my mother demanding the whole space. A meaning as strong and clear as that doesn't always reveal itself but it did in this painting, and when that happens it's so fulfilling and significant.

www.brendagoodman.com

This Blogger's Books from

PITY WAS INVENTED BY THE WEAK

CHICAGO'S 1871 CENTER CHOSEN AS ONE OF UBI'S 2014 GLOBAL INCUBATORS

Music Dealers' Eric Sheinkop's Article from The Drum

19 DECEMBER 2013 - 12:30PM | POSTED BY ERIC SHEINKOP | 0 COMMENTS

Top of the brand charts: Music Dealers' Eric Sheinkop on how John Lewis creates hit ads through its soundtracks

All major brands invest in music as part of their communications, but few can claim to have created a ‘hit’. So, as John Lewis once again tops the charts with the soundtrack to its Christmas ad, music branding pioneer Eric Sheinkop, co-author of new book ‘Hit Brands: How Music Builds Value for the World’s Smartest Brands’, looks at the secrets behind music’s power to make a brand instantly recognized and loved.

Top of the brand charts: Music Dealers' Eric Sheinkop on how John

John Lewis has all the right ingredients for the making of a ‘hit brand’, and its latest Christmas advert, ‘The Bear and The Hare’, is no exception. The retailer has created spectacles of its Christmas campaigns, which have become events in and of themselves, leaving the whole country abuzz. In fact, John Lewis has become so synonymous with Christmas that the annual rollout of its Christmas advert seems to officially mark the start of the holiday season. But how is it able to do this so successfully?

When assessing content at Music Dealers [the licensing firm Sheinkop founded in 2008 and which now does deals with clients including Coke, MTV and CBS], we first like to understand how the visual and music stand alone before we merge them to tell one story. We ask ourselves questions such as: What does the commercial mean without the music? What is the story being told? What is the song trying to communicate? Does the music bring value to the story? How effective are they together?

In the case of The Bear and The Hare, the music selection perfectly supports and complements the narration of the visual, and transports the listener into the story. Watch the spot without the music; its impact cannot be achieved solely through the visual. The emotional impact is fully experienced through this particular cover song. It’s through this union that it finds success, inspires conversation, creates memories and engenders brand loyalty.

After understanding the visual and music, an analysis reveals several shrewd music marketing strategies, one of these being the well-executed rerecord. If a famous song is put into an ad, it usually fades to the background: no one notices it, let alone will talk about how great an ad it was. They already know the song, and hearing it re-purposed in an advertisement becomes overkill. Had John Lewis dispassionately slapped on a popular song, the magic would have been lost. Instead, the brand embraces authenticity, stripping away the outer layers of the well-known track, leaving its essence, rebuilding it with emotion and Christmas spirit. And the nostalgia of the original record is maintained – a wise strategy from the marketer’s toolbox. Most associate a popular song with positivity; the cover taps into that association, leveraging the familiar, bridging the gap between positive emotions and the brand.

‘Social empowerment’ is a sustainable marketing model whereby a brand can organically insert itself into a consumer’s everyday life, beyond its product or service. John Lewis greatly emphasizes music – finding the right songs to cover, targeting and auditioning the right artists, and ensuring that the music is produced in harmony with the visual. As a result, John Lewis inserts itself into its consumers’ everyday lives, extending beyond one particular product. There’s no scarf, or toaster, or tie for dad featured in the commercial. Rather, it’s the brand and the song, and people walk away thinking about John Lewis, not something they can buy from John Lewis.

In ‘Hit Brands’ we focus heavily on the power of discovery, something John Lewis employs with spectacular results. If a brand can consistently deliver cutting edge, tailored music to fans, whether through advertising or a specific online music discovery platform, then that brand fulfills the needs of the consumer. John Lewis has become a trusted filter for great music, and consumers rely on it for upcoming releases. The songs in these advertisements take on a life of their own and go on to become chart-topping hits. Consumers eagerly buy copies of the releases, propelling the songs to amazing heights. By fulfilling a need, a strong bond and connection are made – the kind that creates a lifelong relationship and loyalty to a brand.

At Music Dealers we have been instrumental in helping brands harness the power of music discovery, such as in 2012 when we placed our artist The Majority Says in an advert for Scandinavia’s largest broadcaster, Viasat. By placing a story-driving song, Viasat became a source of music discovery. The commercial became a success – the song went from zero radio play to high rotation on Sweden’s biggest station. Then we worked with Viasat to offer the track as a free download, amassing 150,000 downloads within 10 days. The band, who previously had never played a show outside of Sweden, was then booked on a major European tour.

As a result of publishing stellar content that resonates with consumers, social media explodes with positive praise, as we saw from Twitter’s reaction to the ad. It goes to show that in the new era of marketing, the brands that succeed will be the brands that look to new methodologies to connect. John Lewis and its creative agencies chose the road less traveled, and look what it has accomplished as a result. Its Christmas campaigns are a phenomenon, a new tradition whose connection to consumers is unparalleled. The artists involved, from Lily Allen to Slow Moving Millie and Ellie Goulding, have built and resurrected careers. And the true beneficiaries, the consumers, are forever grateful for a touching experience.

Eric Sheinkop is co-founder and president of Music Dealers, the licensing firm which works with brands including Sony, MTV, Coca-Cola and Nike.Praised by Crain’s Chicago Business as “the Music Man of the 21st Century”, he was also an inductee into Billboard magazine’s ‘30 Under 30’ listing of young leaders moving the music industry forward. He also once rapped on a McDonald’s commercial. Now he co-authored of Hit Brands: How Music Builds Value for the World’s Smartest Brands, which is out now published by Palgrave Macmillan.

The Economist: Chicago's technology sector - Start-up City

Chicago's technology sector

Start-up city

Dec 19th 2013, 15:35 by N.L. | CHICAGO

LESS than two years ago a new centre for digital start-ups, called 1871, opened up shop in Chicago. At first its 50,000 square feet of jazzy furniture, polished concrete and shiny glass were largely empty of people. Today things couldn't be more different as it thrums with entrepreneurs, laptops and lattes. Whiskery coders sit hunched on beanbags, tapping on Macbooks. In one spot a geek is on a video call. In another, two men are testing a circuit board while drinking coffee.

This co-working space is the most visible manifestation of a noticeable uptick in technology activity in the city. In 2012, a start-up company launched every 24 hours. The third quarter of 2013 was the digital-technology sector’s second best ever, with $265m raised. (Actual funding is probably far higher thanks to a non-disclosed investment in GrubHub, an online takeaway ordering service.) Three companies, Braintree, Train Signal, and Power2Switch, were acquired for a total of $845m according to Built in Chicago, a start-up website. Many other co-working spaces are springing up, too. The latest is called The Warehouse, and is being built by the founders of Groupon, a home-grown technology behemoth.

All this start-up activity is fascinating because venture funds used to refer to Chicago as the "flyover city". According to Patrick Spain, a local entrepreneur whose start-ups include Hoover's Inc, a research firm, among others, much has changed in recent years. He thinks 1871 has been critical as it has given the technology sector traction. The centre is a dynamic place where people with ideas can find out what is happening and get financial help and mentoring, he says: "All of a sudden you can get smarter, faster at no cost."  Many years ago, when Mr Spain was starting out, he needed to hire everyone he needed and it took millions of dollars to get to scale. "Today you can prove out a concept at under $1m and find the funding." 

A greater availability of venture capital has also probably helped the city's start-ups. As has a rich seam of local talent coming from Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois and other institutions across the Midwest. (The problem has always been persuading the graduates to stay. The founders of Netscape, PayPal, Yelp and YouTube all studied at the University of Illinois but then left after graduation.) All of which means that Chicago is now ranked as one of the top ten cities in the world for starting a company, according to Startup Genome, which provides analysis on start-ups around the world.

There has also been a general change of tone. Bjoern Lasse Herman, the founder of Compass, which produces the Startup Genome report, says that in the past any Chicago start-up wanting venture capital would have been told to move to Silicon Valley. Now they are being encouraged to stay put.

Yet his report also suggests that the city has some weaknesses, most notably a conservative culture. Chuck Templeton, a local entrepreneur who founded Open Table, a restaurant-reservation site, is unfazed. Chicago, he explains, is not trying to be Silicon Valley or Boston. The city is good at being pragmatic. When Mr Templeton started Open Table he recalls that restaurants in New York and San Francisco would ask "who has this product?", while in Chicago they would ask "is this going to save and make me money?" Moreover, he says, companies in the city do not have the silly valuations sometimes seen on the west and east coasts, which means they do not feel obliged to pay more for talent than they need to. 

Being windy is good

Chicago’s reputation for being technologically conservative might be the flip side of having a large and diverse economy, with traditional industries such as manufacturing, retail, finance and agriculture. These are conservative businesses by heart, but all need to incorporate digital technologies. Jason Fried, an influential voice in the start-up scene whose company 37signals produces project-management software, says he does not think Chicago should try to be anything other than it is: "This should be the place where people build without funding, are scrappy and start up on their own." He also questions the way in which cities are ranked in terms of innovation. "In our industry we focus on a lot of the wrong things as success, such as rounds of funding raised," he says. "I see this mostly as failure. It means you need more and more money to survive, your customers are not paying, and you are not building a sustainable business." Mr Fried says he likes 1871, but reserves judgement for now on whether it is going to create many success stories.

Pragmatism and conservatism are its strengths, then, if not viewed through the myopic lens that compares every city with a strong technology sector to Silicon Valley. Indeed, another new report on the world's most competitive cities, points out that Chicago is an excellent alternative for companies currently looking for a world-class location for their software development activities. San Francisco and New York top the world's quality rankings, but are costly. 

Chicago’s technology sector also has the backing of its mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Mr Emanuel has overseen the city's first comprehensive technology plan, and he will go on the road in 2014 to recruit new technology graduates. He will also host a venture capital summit next summer right before the city's cool music festival, the Lollapalooza. Mr Emanuel says technology has been the fastest growing sector of the economy by far since he arrived in 2011, and he will double its size in the next decade. Statewide, technology jobs have been growing at 1.6%, faster than the national average of 1.1%. Even Purdue University, in Indiana, now offers a weekend MBA degree in town to turn science and technology workers into entrepreneurs. Chicago will never be Silicon Valley. That is a good thing.

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN INTERVIEWED ON WTTW 'S CHICAGO TONIGHT BY PHIL PONCE

      WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE: http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2013/12/17/howard-tullman

New Rules with New 1871 CEO Howard Tullman

Howard Tullman’s new role as CEO of 1871 — a co-working space on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart — officially begins in January but he’s already begun planning improvements for the space. Tullman projects himself as a tough-minded curator.  He has several plans for improving 1871, including adding a 3D printing studio and a video lab, and opening an office at 1871 for Indigogo, a crowd funding platform.
He also plans to trim the number of member companies, saying it is better to have 50 sucessful companies than 250 with unmotivated leaders.  It’s all about revenue and traction, says Tullman, and whether a company is going to be a source of job growth and new opportunities. The best way to make money?  Get customers, says Tullman. This isn’t the first time he’s been involved with 1871.  Tullman has spoken at events since the co-working space launched in 2012 and was involved in it’s planning and inception. Tullman is also managing partner at G2T3V, an investment firm for ‘disruptive innovators’.  At 1871, he wants venture capitalists to find a curated selection of companies when they visit 1871, and companies relevant to their industry.  Pitch events will continue, but Tullman wants venture capitalists to be brought in for five to ten companies within their industry.

One of the changes here is that the companies coming out of 1871 are going to be more curated.  We’re going to focus on making them more substantial in terms of revenues and the realities of business, says Tullman.

Considering Tullman’s vision for the space, one trend to watch during 2014 will be 1871 balancing retention of members against toughed standards for maintaining membership.  Already, there is talk of 1871 becoming less of a place to rent office space and get a leg up and more of a digital hub for select companies.  At Founders’ Stories this December, Tullman proposed increasing the number of enclosed office suites at 1871 to keep mature companies within the space. Tullman regularly publishes articles on leadership at Inc.com — Inc. is an idea driven magazine on growing companies, at http://www.inc.com/author/howard-a-tullman.  He’s got a tough-minded outlook on business.  This fall, he posted a video on Inc. about education and entrepreneurship stating that the economy is moving towards a more independent workplace with a mandate to innovate oneself and create one’s own career that doesn’t involve as much management of employees. According to Tullman, talent is attracted by the size of the problem to be solved, not by bringing snacks, for example.

I don’t like the hyper-competitiveness of the coasts, in terms of finding talent, says Tullman.

There are 240 member companies at 1871 as of December, 2013 (although there are 328 listed on their website). Some are incubating, like the companies within TechStars, others are sharing office space for the events and mentorship opportunities.  1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make a positive impact on Chicago by supporting, promoting, and growing the startup community.  Tullman reports to the CEC Board of Directors, led by co-chairmen Jim O’Connor and Bryant Keil.

As CEO, Tullman brings his experience building and selling companies, his work ethic, and his own set of rules for finding and retaining good talent.  This is startup engineering, says Tullman.  The long term goal for the project: jobs.

[Top Photo: Howard Tullman before speaking at Founders' Stories at 1871. Photo by Dabney Lyles. © Blackline Review]

Caralynn Nowinski on UI Labs and 1871

How UI Labs aims to link university, corporate and startup DNA

Caralynn Nowinski is the Associate Vice President for Innovation & Economic Development at the University of Illinois. (L. Brian Stauffer / University of Illinois )

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By Kate MacArthur , Special to Blue Sky
Dec. 12, 2013, 5:30 a.m.

           

As Caralynn Nowinski helps flesh out plans for the University of Illinois’ Chicago-based UI Labs to team academia with industry, she taps all of her earlier experiences as a U of I student, entrepreneur and investor.

While earning her M.D., Nowinski co-founded and was CEO of SanoGene Therapeutics, an early stage biotechnology company that she spun out from the university. She later worked at venture capital firms Sikich Investment Banking, ARCH Development Partners and Midwest Venture Partners. Today, Nowinski is interim executive director and chief operating officer for the forthcoming research lab, along with her main role as the university’s associate vice president for innovation and economic development.

There, she helps find ways for U of I research, students and technology to contribute to the local economy. She shares her education as a company founder and her vision for Illinois’ startup environment.

Q. What did you learn most from starting SanoGene?

A. We ultimately shut down the company, but it was one of best experiences of my life. It led me to realize how much failure can impact one’s career, and ultimately it made me a stronger operator and businessperson. There were very basic business principles that the first time you don’t know. They could be as simple as how you set up by-laws or board governments or which accounting software to use. But until you go through that experience of having to figure things out, you don’t know what you don’t know.

The second time, you may not know the answers, but at least you know which questions to ask. That was the biggest lesson. Another lesson taught me the importance of the relationships among co-founders and the relationships between the business side and the technology side.

Q. What can you tell us about UI Labs?

A. We officially incorporated in March, and the University of Illinois drove it in close collaboration with the City of Chicago and also with support from the State of Illinois. We are developing our first programs. These are programs that bring together research, training and commercialization. Our first programs are in advanced manufacturing in the U.S. We’ve had some wonderful collaborations with other universities in Illinois and the greater Midwest as well as with leading companies, startups and mid-sized companies.

Q. What is your hope for Illinois’ startup environment?

A. UI Labs is about university-industry partnerships. This means big and small companies working together, but also working with university talent and technologies. We have a very firm belief that there’s opportunity for corporate support of startups, and it’s bi-directional. There is a lot of opportunity for employees of large companies to learn from their interactions with startups. They get the experience of working with companies that work so much faster. Things change so quickly with startups. Exposing corporate folks to that culture can ultimately lead to more “intrapreneurship” and innovation.

Q. What are some other advantages of collaboration?

A. There is increasing opportunity for large companies to look to startups as sources of their innovation from a technology and people perspective. You can develop relationships with teams within startup companies where you’re getting more than just products. You’re getting that DNA of the startup the opportunity to infuse with a larger company. The Illinois Innovation Council has launched an initiative ordered by Gov. Quinn to link large corporations to give startup companies simply the opportunity to tell their story to the big companies. There are a lot of roadblocks to let that happen. That particular initiative is just one of several kicking off within Chicagoland to better make those connections.

Q. Howard Tullman, the new head of 1871, has said he wants more serious entrepreneurs and more rigor for startups there. What do you think?

A. I really like Howard’s perspective, and I think it will go a long way. When I was on the investor side, I expected the CEOs of the companies that we were investing in that they would live and die by their company. They were all in. I think that’s what we and they have got to be looking for, and we’ve got to help build companies that are constantly testing their business models and their markets and revenue streams in a really disciplined manner.

 

Often that second-time or third-time entrepreneur gets to build on experiences of failure that ultimately lead to success in their next one. Howard can help apply that culture and discipline to the earliest-stage companies.

Jason Fried Comments on New 1871 Focus

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Dec 12, 2013 - Kira M. Newman for the Chicago Edition

37signals cofounder Jason Fried told a Tech Cocktail Sessions audience last week that Chicago shouldn’t try to imitate other successful startup scenes.

“I don’t want to see Chicago try and be San Francisco or try and be New York,” he said. “That’s a mistake, it will never happen, and there’s no reason to try and be something you’re not.”

Instead, he proposed that Chicago startups focus on the smarter path of building profitable, long-term businesses.

“I think Chicago could be a great place for building bootstrapped companies, long-term companies, companies that are focused on selling stuff, on revenues and profits,” he said. “I think that represents the City of Big Shoulders, that represents the hard-working Midwest, the whole ethos here.”

Other startups scenes focus on “blowing things up fast” and not on making money, Fried said, and that’s a “dangerous, dangerous thing.”

Fried added that the new CEO of 1871, Howard Tullman, has the right attitude. “One of the things he said is this is not a place to play entrepreneur. This is not a place to pretend. This is a place where you build something and you move on. And we have to be about getting people in and up and out. And I love that mentality, and I hope that he really makes that happen here.”