Announcing the 2012 Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Semi-Finalists

Wow! I was looking at the semi-finalists and they are truly amazing. 105 teams entered the challenge and 17 made it to the semi-finals. Together, they interviewed over a thousand customers, they built websites, they pivoted, they drew customers to their sites, they collected data, they stayed up all night wondering if this was really a good idea, they helped each other without wanting anything in return and they did an incredible amount of work over the 12 week period. Some of them already have paying customers. I am so proud of them.

It is going to be a daunting task to pick the 4 finalists because they are all so awesome. But, no matter who gets chosen; they are all winners! They learned how to go from an idea to a real business. They have real entrepreneurial skills that were learned in the trenches.

We invite you to check them out and see what they have done. Please share this with other people, so we can spread the lean principles and also to make introductions for the teams. So, without further adieu, here are the 2012 Chicago Lean Startup Finalists (in random order):

1. Cardonna

15. Unbranded Designs
https://www.builtinchicago.org/blog/unbranded-designs-chicago-lean-startup-challenge-2012

16. Arc Mobile
https://www.builtinchicago.org/blog/arc-mobile-chicago-lean-startup-challenge-2012

17. Serbian Book World
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSeLId9LZ8Q&feature=youtu.be

Interested in learning more about executing the Lean Startup process? Join us at the Lean Startup Circle Thursday September 6th to hear how Adam Robinson, CEO of Hireology and Richard Komaiko, Cofounder of AttorneyFee iterated around their minimum viable products to develop software customers want.

Join us for the Challenge Finals Showcase as our four finalists of the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge will have the opportunity to showcase what they learned with the Lean Startup process, and compete for 25,000 cash and fantastic prizes.

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