When our company, Unbranded Designs, recently took 1st place at the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge, one of the prizes was free office space at 1871. We were excited to have an official address, but also believed that a table at 1871 wasn't much different than one at the Starbucks around the corner. After all, what we really needed was reliable internet and a table for our laptops. After only a couple weeks here, I can happily offer up a couple great examples of why 1871 has been a great resource for us. Let me tell you two stories:
The first story occurred during the Startup America event at 1871, where people like Steve Case and Brad Feld were in attendance. A random stranger walked up and asked if he could have a seat. After telling him about our business for a few minutes, we inquired about his background. It turns out he had just recently sold his last company to Apple. It turns out that the company was called Siri. It turns out that this guy was Dag Kittlaus, the founder and CEO of the ubiquitious start-up. We chatted about our ideas, looked at emails from Steve Jobs on his iphone, traded cards, and offered to stay in touch. It's safe to say that interaction certainly wouldn't have happened at Starbucks.
The second story happened last week when Troy Henikoff, the CEO of Excelerate Labs, walked over and introduced us to a young Frenchman with a new start-up. The company is called Augment, and it provides the technology to implement a 3D image into a real-time environment (For example, you can hold up your ipad in your room and fit a 3D image of a piece of furniture into the room). We discussed the ways that our two firms may be able to work together in the future and promised to stay in touch as we each progress with our respective ideas.
The takeaway from these interactions is that there's an immense amount of value in centralized communities of entrepreneurs. It might seem obvious, but 1871 offers a great tangible expression of this belief. And here's the good news: there are plenty of other similar communities here in Chicago, including Catapult, the Coop, Enerspace, and countless others. So what's my point? Get involved. Come to these spaces, meet other people, and become a part of the network. It's a great time to be an entrepreneur in Chicago, and a lot of smart people are building great infrastructure around the start-up community. Now it's up to you to take advantage of all the great opportunities.
