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Monday, October 31, 2016
Chicago cracks top 10 in tech cities ranking
Chicago cracks top 10 in tech cities ranking
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Photo by Getty Images
Chicago moved up the rankings of the nation's top tech cities with stronger job growth.
The city was ninth in job growth between 2013 to 2015 with a 21.1 percent increase, or 10,181 jobs, up from 17.1 percent growth from 2012 to 2014, when Chicago was 13th among the nation's top 30 tech markets, according to research by real estate firm CBRE.
San Francisco led the way with 47 percent growth, adding 22,096 new jobs. Silicon Valley was sixth with 27,976 jobs for 26.1 percent growth, said CBRE, which tracks the economics of tech cities annually.
Chicago was 22nd in growth of office rents at 5.7 percent. Silicon Valley's rents saw the fastest growth at 28.4 percent.
Tech companies were the third biggest users of Chicago office space, with 11 percent of leasing in the central business district. River North, the preferred home for tech companies, commands rents of $38.34 per square foot and a 9.4 percent vacancy rate, compared with $28.99 per square foot and a 14.1 percent vacancy rate.
But there are signs that the six-year surge in tech jobs that boosted commercial real estate in Chicago and around the country is slowing.
"Sublease space in Chicago has increased over 70 percent since January, mostly led by tech firms,” said Brad Serot, a senior vice president at CBRE in Chicago, citing pullbacks by Raise Marketplace, Motorola Mobility and Avant.
Funding is another concern.
"Things are starting to slow down a little bit," Serot said. "It feels like the Series A and B rounds are much more difficult to come by than in 2013, '14 and '15. Tech was responsible for a lot of job growth and rent growth. There's going to be a pullback, but the tone is still optimistic."
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Friday, October 28, 2016
Meet the Judges for the 2016 50 on Fire
Meet the Judges for the 2016 50 on Fire
Earlier this month, we announced the 150 finalists for 50 on Fire, our annual awards show celebrating the individuals and companies that are heating up their respective industries. On 12/8, we'll be revealing the final 50 live at the big event via an action-packed, 15-minute video. And if you've seen the staggeringly impressive list of 150 finalists, I'm sure you're all wondering the same thing - "how the heck are they going to pick just 50?"
And that's a really great question. This year, the finalist list is complete with people and businesses that are all driving the city's innovation economy forward, from civic technologists helping bridge the digital divide to founders revolutionizing healthcare. But the event's called 50 on Fire, not 150 on Fire (unfortunately). And that's where the below folks come in.
To select the final 50, we assign a handful of judges a category or two each and send them a comprehensive packet complete with submission info and other details. We've also carefully hand-picked our judges, making sure that each category is being determined by industry experts, veterans, and thought-leaders. In other words, 50 on Fire is always judged by people that are, themselves, on fire. Also, this year, we've brought in a handful of 2015 winners to weigh in on the category they represented last year. (Companies listed will get one vote, which a representative making the selections for the group).
Finally, if you'd like to meet the judges and finalists and learn more about the December event and the selection process, we'll be hosting a 50 on Fire meetup on Thursday, 11/3 at Life Creative.
Below are the 2016 judges for 50 on Fire and we'll be adding to this list over the next week or so. (Also, for judges with conflicts of interest - i.e. if a nominee is a colleague, connection, or portfolio company - we've assigned them a different category).
- April Lane, Executive Director, Catapult Chicago
- Bailey Moore, VP, Wintrust Ventures
- Curiosity, 2015 Winner
- Dennis Grunt, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank
- Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association
- Galen Mason, Senior Counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP
- Howard Tullman, CEO, 1871, 2015 50 on Fire Winner
- Jeff Cantalupo, Listen Ventures
- Jessica Tenuta, Cofounder and Head of Design, Pacback and 2015 50 Winner
- Jim Dallke, Chicago Inno Staff Writer
- kCura, 2015 Winner
- Karis Hustad, Chicago Inno Staff Writer
- Kate Drane, Senior Director of Tech Outreach, Indiegogo
- Linda Darragh, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice, The Larry Levy Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative Executive Director, Heizer Center for Private Equity and Venture Capital
- Mark Tebbe, Chairman, ChicagoNEXT and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business
- Matt Matros, Founder & CEO, Limitless Coffee, Founder Protein Bar, 2015 50 Winner
- Nick Brown, CEO & Founder, Glappitnova
- Peter Wilkins, Managing Director, Hyde Park Angels, 2015 50 Winner
- Raise, 2015 Winner
- Randy Rivera, SVP, BBVA Compass
- Rick Desai, Listen Ventures
- Todd Connors, CEO, The Bunker, 2015 50 Winner
- World Business Chicago
(Image via Chicago Inno)
William Blair Ed-Tech Lunch with 1871 CEO Howard Tullman
CEO OF CHICAGO TECH HUB 1871 SAYS WE NEED TO RE-ENVISION EDUCATION
Enabling today's students to handle tomorrow's jobs will demand disruption and change in the current educational system, the head of Chicago's dynamic entrepreneurial hub known as 1871 told a group of William Blair clients at a thought leadership luncheon on October 27.
"Disruptive does not mean destructive – blowing up old things. It means finding a better way of doing things," said Howard Tullman, chief executive of the 1871 organization which nurtures dozens of tech projects and start-ups at its offices in the revamped Merchandise Mart on the Chicago River.
Tullman says traditional U.S. academic classroom work and testing, especially where memorization the priority, robs students of both skills and enthusiasm. That needs to change to emphasize active and collaborative problem solving, reflecting today’s jobs and work challenges, he said.
"'Flip the classroom' means you do your studying at night or out of class. The class is used for interactive team-based problem solving," Tullman said. "This idea that everybody is isolated and competing with everybody else is just not a model for success."
Tullman, with more than 45 years of experience as a start-up advisor, launched Chicago’s Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, a digital media school, after reviving Kendall College, another Chicago educational institution, by focusing on culinary training.
Global corporations and small companies alike are in desperate need of innovation. Yet within our education system, learning is still designed around teaching and memorization, rather than creative thinking, Tullman told the group.
In a world where acquiring information is as easy as opening a browser, what can our education system do better to produce leaders and innovators? New and disruptive technologies in education are re-imagining how and what we learn, with strategies that embrace the world we live in today, he said.
Inspiring next generation entrepreneurs
Tullman cited the wildfire expansion of Uber, a digital network connecting passengers and drivers, as a perfect example of how understanding and adapting to simple technologies changes the world. In Brooklyn, Uber now provides more than 1 million rides a month while being unknown there just two years ago.
"We’re going to see more of that. Things are going to be radically different," he said.
Such "digital matching services" as Uber reflect the reality of a growing "surplus" economy where everyone has something extra to share – talent, space, resources, skills. "All of a sudden today we can turn those into cash," Tullman said.
"The priority is we have to get these next generations ready for different kinds of jobs, a different kind of world, a different set of skills," Tullman said. "If we don’t, it’s shame on us. We’re saddling these kids with yesterday’s skills."
Tullman said the lessons and confidence in all students from such active classroom learning and collaboration skills will benefit any modern worker, from factory production lines or mechanical repairs to medicine, software development or pure scientific research.
"We get it that not everybody is going to be an entrepreneur," Tullman told the group. "But everybody is going to need to be entrepreneurial because we are going to have to manage our lives going forward, be life-time learners. We’re not going to work for a company for our entire life."
Tullman discussed 1871 as an example of how collaboration drives today’s entrepreneurs. The hub opened in 2012 with 50 companies as an experiment to see if Chicago’s tech innovation community could be organized in one location. Four years later 1871 is home to more than 400 companies with 2,000 people coming to the hub each day to meet, learn, collaborate and develop businesses.
"The moral of this whole story: if we had the energy, the tools, the enthusiasm and bias to action and change in our schools that we have here," Tullman said of 1871, "we would change the world."
Tullman regularly writes about changing the educational system to help kids learn how to become young entrepreneurs. Two recent blogs were "10 Startup Lessons Your Kids Could Use, Too," and "The Real Benefits of Knowing How to Code."
1871 CEO Speaks on Education to William Blair Group
CEO OF CHICAGO TECH HUB 1871 SAYS WE NEED TO RE-ENVISION EDUCATION
Enabling today's students to handle tomorrow's jobs will demand disruption and change in the current educational system, the head of Chicago's dynamic entrepreneurial hub known as 1871 told a group of William Blair clients at a thought leadership luncheon on October 27.
"Disruptive does not mean destructive – blowing up old things. It means finding a better way of doing things," said Howard Tullman, chief executive of the 1871 organization which nurtures dozens of tech projects and start-ups at its offices in the revamped Merchandise Mart on the Chicago River.
Tullman says traditional U.S. academic classroom work and testing, especially where memorization the priority, robs students of both skills and enthusiasm. That needs to change to emphasize active and collaborative problem solving, reflecting today’s jobs and work challenges, he said.
"'Flip the classroom' means you do your studying at night or out of class. The class is used for interactive team-based problem solving," Tullman said. "This idea that everybody is isolated and competing with everybody else is just not a model for success."
Tullman, with more than 45 years of experience as a start-up advisor, launched Chicago’s Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, a digital media school, after reviving Kendall College, another Chicago educational institution, by focusing on culinary training.
Global corporations and small companies alike are in desperate need of innovation. Yet within our education system, learning is still designed around teaching and memorization, rather than creative thinking, Tullman told the group.
In a world where acquiring information is as easy as opening a browser, what can our education system do better to produce leaders and innovators? New and disruptive technologies in education are re-imagining how and what we learn, with strategies that embrace the world we live in today, he said.
Inspiring next generation entrepreneurs
Tullman cited the wildfire expansion of Uber, a digital network connecting passengers and drivers, as a perfect example of how understanding and adapting to simple technologies changes the world. In Brooklyn, Uber now provides more than 1 million rides a month while being unknown there just two years ago.
"We’re going to see more of that. Things are going to be radically different," he said.
Such "digital matching services" as Uber reflect the reality of a growing "surplus" economy where everyone has something extra to share – talent, space, resources, skills. "All of a sudden today we can turn those into cash," Tullman said.
"The priority is we have to get these next generations ready for different kinds of jobs, a different kind of world, a different set of skills," Tullman said. "If we don’t, it’s shame on us. We’re saddling these kids with yesterday’s skills."
Tullman said the lessons and confidence in all students from such active classroom learning and collaboration skills will benefit any modern worker, from factory production lines or mechanical repairs to medicine, software development or pure scientific research.
"We get it that not everybody is going to be an entrepreneur," Tullman told the group. "But everybody is going to need to be entrepreneurial because we are going to have to manage our lives going forward, be life-time learners. We’re not going to work for a company for our entire life."
Tullman discussed 1871 as an example of how collaboration drives today’s entrepreneurs. The hub opened in 2012 with 50 companies as an experiment to see if Chicago’s tech innovation community could be organized in one location. Four years later 1871 is home to more than 400 companies with 2,000 people coming to the hub each day to meet, learn, collaborate and develop businesses.
"The moral of this whole story: if we had the energy, the tools, the enthusiasm and bias to action and change in our schools that we have here," Tullman said of 1871, "we would change the world."
Tullman regularly writes about changing the educational system to help kids learn how to become young entrepreneurs. Two recent blogs were "10 Startup Lessons Your Kids Could Use, Too," and "The Real Benefits of Knowing How to Code."