This article originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
One of the nation's top venture capitalists talks Chicago
Melissa Harris' Chicago Confidential | June 18, 2012
The most objective measurement available for the strength of Chicago's technology sector shows this city's performance leaves something to be desired. It ranked eighth in 2011, behind San Diego and about on par with Austin, Texas, a city with less than a third of Chicago's population.
Harry Weller's rankings look different.
It's Silicon Valley, Chicago and then the rest of the East Coast," said Weller, who this year ranked 17th on Forbes' list of the world's best tech investors, and is a general partner with Silicon Valley-headquartered New Enterprise Associates. "That's a testament to Chicago's entrepreneurial environment right now. Me and Peter (Barris) are always here, and, I mean, he's the head of our firm."
It's impossible to imagine Chicago will ever knock California off its perch as the technology capital of the world, and it's a long way off from harnessing its elite universities the way Boston has with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (or Silicon Valley has with Stanford University). We'll also never have a financial sector as vast as Wall Street's.
But Weller said his firm is so keen on Chicago because the city's tech community has found a focus to rally around. And if you are thinking that focus isGroupon, well, it's a bit broader than that.
Weller said Chicago's entrepreneurs are concentrated on improving local commerce: figuring out how to help merchants, from the local bakery to a community bank, lure new customers and pay less for goods and services via the Internet.
That theme should come as no surprise. After all, Chicagoan Aaron Montgomery Ward invented the mail-order industry.
"There's a pragmatism to making sure a business model works that exists in this region that doesn't exist in others, so the string still stays tied to the kite," Weller said. "Whereas I think one of the big diseases in Silicon Valley and to some degree New York City, is that sometimes the business model part gets lost."
It's impossible to imagine Chicago will ever knock California off its perch as the technology capital of the world, and it's a long way off from harnessing its elite universities the way Boston has with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (or Silicon Valley has with Stanford University). We'll also never have a financial sector as vast as Wall Street's.
But Weller said his firm is so keen on Chicago because the city's tech community has found a focus to rally around. And if you are thinking that focus isGroupon, well, it's a bit broader than that.
Weller said Chicago's entrepreneurs are concentrated on improving local commerce: figuring out how to help merchants, from the local bakery to a community bank, lure new customers and pay less for goods and services via the Internet.
That theme should come as no surprise. After all, Chicagoan Aaron Montgomery Ward invented the mail-order industry.
"There's a pragmatism to making sure a business model works that exists in this region that doesn't exist in others, so the string still stays tied to the kite," Weller said. "Whereas I think one of the big diseases in Silicon Valley and to some degree New York City, is that sometimes the business model part gets lost."
