Olson’s Observations

Frank Gruber and I hosted our second TECH cocktail in Chicago at the Gramercy this past Thursday (October 12, 2006). The event was promising to be bigger than the first with over 400 RSVPs and ultimately 350+ attendees. We knew it was going to be a challenge to keep the fun factor high but I think we were able to pull it off judging by all of the great feedback we have received. Not too bad for a couple guys with a vision formed about eight months ago over some Potbelly sandwiches.

TECH cocktail 2 brought together technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, podcasters, videocasters, bloggers and even a few top CEOs together in one room and the energy was incredible. This is exactly what Frank and I wanted to see when we started to pursue TECH cocktail and why we chose the name. We wanted an event where a cocktail of people from the tech industry could all get together and talk about what we are passionate about - technology. Ron May got the best quote of the evening from Matt McCall which I think sums up the attendees and the event nicely:

“This is the crowd that will remake Chicago.”

That’s a powerful statement but I think Matt is right. Being a transplant from Boston, a town that didn’t have a silicon valley atmosphere but had a tighter knit tech community than Chicago, I can say that I am proud to be a part of bringing the tech community together here in chi-town and watching Chicago gain its rightful place as one of the top tech cities in the country.

As Frank Said: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you…

I am indebted to a number of people and companies that made the event happen. First off, a huge thank you to Frank Gruber, my partner in crime, for being a great co-founder and more importantly a great friend. Second, I would like to thank our sponsors for TC2; midPhase, MK Capital, Coastr, Liquid Talk, Chicago.com, Digital Bootcamp and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. Third, thank you so much to all of the companies who were willing to show off the fruits of their labors. Thank you eSigma, GrubHub, Pawky.com, Planypus and Time 59. Thank you to all of our film crews including Stone Cliff Productions, LiquidTalk and Technology Evangelist. Thanks to Jonathan Wolter and my girl, Laura Bermudez, for working the registration booth with a smile all night. Thanks to the guys from Freshwater Venture who brought some really sweet Chicago tech company baseball cards with them. Nicely done guys! Thank you my family and friends who always support me even from afar. Wish you could have been here to see this. Thanks to my good friend and college roomate Rick Gottlieb for coming in from NYC for this. Whew! Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Jeff Pulver for coming in from NYC for the event and for his generosity in picking up the tab after our money ran out. Let me tell you - you guys can drink so the bill wasn’t cheap!

The Reaction and Media (taken from Frank’s post):

Here are all of the photos tagged techcocktail2.

Here is some of the buzz from the blogosphere:

• TECH cocktail 2: Wrap & Thank you - TECH cocktail (Official TC2 thank you)
• About Last Night… (David gives his perspective)
• TechCocktail - a great party - tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog (Thanks for coming Rick!)
• I even wore a tie! (Dan from midPhase wore a tie)
• Tech Cocktail 2: What a Party: Technology Evangelist (Thanks for coming down!)
• About Last Night: TECH Cocktail 2 in Chicago - The Jeff Pulver Blog (Black AMEX, enough said - thank you!)
• TECH cocktail 2: Good Times, Lessons Learned - Chicagoist (Thanks for covering the limo situation so well)
• Chicago Beta (This is exactly what we wanted to see happen - more events! Nice job Keith.)
• TechCocktail tonight in Chicago « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger (Thanks for the plug Robert, wish you could have made it)

TECH cocktail Specials launches:

Frank and I also took the opportunity to launch our new job board called TECH cocktail Specials. After TC1 Frank and I were inundated with requests from folks looking to find good people in the Chicagoland area so we thought putting a job board together would make sense. We’ve set the price low and the proceeds will go towards funding future TECH cocktail events. If you are interested in giving it a trial run please feel free to e-mail me and I will get you the freebie posting code. Special thanks to Jeff Johns over at Phraction for developing the site for us.

Looking forward to seeing you all at TECH cocktail 3!