• Home
• The Author

iVentures10: Starting up in Illinois

Posted on May 1, 2008
Filed Under VC, Technology, Chicago, Business | 1 Comment

As programs like Y Combinator and TechStars gained popularity I started to wonder why something along the lines of those programs didn’t exist here in Illinois. After all the modern web was pretty much born at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (mosaic/netscape, apache, etc.) and other notable web superstars like PayPal and YouTube have come from the minds of U of I grads. Well, I didn’t have to think about this idea for long…

Enter the iVentures10 program. iVentures10 is a program created by Illinois VENTURES initially as a “new kind of internship” for U of I computer science students. However, they recently announced a partnership with Mozilla along with their intention to take applications from around the world.

I think this is a fantastic thing for tech entrepreneurs based here in Illinois and a great way to get others that aren’t based here to spend a summer here in Illinois building their companies. Hopefully we can all show them such a good time they won’t want to leave! Keeping our tech talent here in the state is crucial to Illinois becoming the tech center it deserves to be and this program will clearly help with that effort.

You can learn more about the iVentures10 program on their site and if you think you want to submit an application make sure to get it together soon. The final day to submit applications is May 15th.

Side note: You can also learn more about the iVentures10 program at the next TECH cocktail mixer on May 29th. The team will be at the event along with some of the folks who have been accepted into the program.

Update: TECH cocktail Conference

Posted on April 14, 2008
Filed Under Chicago, TECH cocktail | Leave a Comment

Just wanted to post a quick update on the TECH cocktail conference that is coming up on Thursday, May 29th. Frank and I recently finalized the schedule and posted it on the site. We really have a fantastic speaker line up if I do say so myself. We’re really psyched and appreciative that so many top notch folks were willing to give up time in their day to come and talk.

If you have been thinking about buying a ticket but haven’t yet here is your chance to get $25 off the already low introductory rate of $225. Just use the promotional code olsonsobservations when you register and you’ll be $25 richer (or I guess you could say $200 poorer but I really think the content we put together is worth much more than $200 - the glass is half full people!).

I look forward to seeing everyone at the conference. (Oh, and I really do have some more “real” posts coming up soon. I swear… Stay tuned!)

Side note: We even have “Attending” and “Speaking @” TECH cocktail Conference badges for your site. Snag one and add it to your site when you have a chance. Attending & Speaking

TECH cocktail takes home the 2008 ITA CityLIGHTS Award

Posted on April 4, 2008
Filed Under Technology, Chicago, TECH cocktail | 6 Comments

Wow. Twelve hours later I still don’t really know what to say. For people who know me well they know that says something (yeah, I talk a lot).

Frank and and I were nominated for the Illinois I.T. Association CityLIGHTS award along with some truly incredible people last night (my friend Brad Spirrison and super angel Bob Geras among them) who all deserved the award as much if not more than we did. Winning this award is a huge honor and incredibly humbling. I can’t stress that enough. I was simply stunned we took it home.

As I said in my short speech last night TECH cocktail has really been a story of community. Frank and I look at ourselves as facilitators but the tech community here in Chicago is where the magic is and always was. We just brought it into the light.

Another key point to note is that the tech community here will grow much faster if we all work together. Every chance we get we help other events, startups and people because we need an ecosystem. Other organizations, the ITA being one of them, feel the same way and always try to help others. Bottom line: we need to work together. TECH cocktail certainly can’t do it alone (nor has it - we’ve had a lot of help in the last two years) and it will be much more powerful as part of a larger whole.

I am excited for the future of Illinois technology and for the Midwest overall. I think we’re heading into a new age where we can become the technology center we deserve to be. Do we want to be Silicon Valley? No, I don’t think we do. We want to solve real problems with solid technologies in order to create real revenues and long term sustainable value. This isn’t to say that Silicon Valley doesn’t do that as well but I do think that we tend to escape some of the irrational exuberance that is prevalent in the Valley and that should be looked at as a strength not a weakness.

Here’s to the future. Onward!

My Visit to skinnyCorp (threadless.com)

Posted on March 4, 2008
Filed Under Technology, Chicago, Web | 2 Comments

Harper Reed, the CTO of skinnyCorp, was nice enough to invite Frank and I down for a visit to skinnyCorp HQ last week. I had been dying to check out their offices as I was sure they would be pretty unique (plus I like the guys and their products) but I had no idea of the wonders that were in store for us (it was Willy Wonka style except with t-shirts instead of candy).

skinnyCorp is definitely one of the most interesting companies in Chicago today. Their tag line is “skinnyCorp creates communities” and that they do.

The most famous of their communities is threadless. Threadless is a community based t-shirt site. Designers (and even non-designers) can submit t-shirt designs to the site which are then put up to a vote. Once the community votes the scores are tallied and the best shirts are produced for sale at the threadless site. The winning designers also get paid if their shirts are selected.

Being a t-shirt junky I was naturally drawn to threadless but the other skinnyCorp communities like ExtraTasty (cocktail recipes) and I Park Like An Idiot are also a lot of fun.

Needless to say the office visit was a blast and Frank and I are now entering into the ThreadLe Manss 48 Heures race in May. It is a 48 hour pinewood derby run off. What could be more fun than that? Have I told you how fun these guys are? If you can’t participate but want to watch the action you can do it live on May 16 and 17 via threadless.com.

For more skinnyCorp fun times and a tour of their facilities check out the segment from SomewhatFrank TV below.

Hopping Over the Fence: I am Joining DFJ Portage Ventures

Posted on March 2, 2008
Filed Under VC, Chicago | 15 Comments

After considering a handful of great opportunities here in Chicago I have decided to join up with DFJ Portage Ventures as an associate. I am really excited about this opportunity for a handful of reasons which, you guessed it, I am going to outline below. Here it goes!

Working for the Best

DFJ Portage is the most respected and knowledgeable firm in the Chicago/upper Midwest area (at least in my humble opinion). In keeping with my theme of working for the best DFJ Portage fit the bill and then some.

Commitment to building up Chicago and the Midwest

DFJ Portage has been, and is, very committed to bulding Chicago and the Midwest up as the technology hub it should be. There are a lot of great people here along with great Universities and DFJ Portage wants to make sure talented entrepreneurs and technologies can stay in this great city/region and build world class companies here.

As you all know I share this committment to Chicago and the Midwest and this has manifested itself in many ways but most famously as the TECH cocktail gatherings I put on with my co-founder Frank Gruber. Working at DFJ Portage will allow me to continue to push this mission forward.

Desire to build a better VC firm

The partners at DFJ Portage are committed to building a VC firm that is much more friendly to entrepreneurs. As long time readers know I have written about “fixing” VC since the early days of this blog so I am very excited to be able to take some steps toward building a better, more entrepreneur friendly, VC firm at DFJ Portage.

Learning from the best

At DFJ Portage I will be able to learn from Matt McCall and Ed Chandler which is a great opportunity in and of itself. However, I will also get to learn from all of the entrepreneurs I meet and that we end up funding. The potential to pick up new things in incredibly high at DFJ Portage and that gets me pretty fired up.

Working with technology in and outside the web

While I love the web and I will be spending a lot of time on web related deals at DFJ Portage I also have a love of other technologies like nanotechnology and biotechnology. At DFJ Portage we have five focus areas which are:

• Consumer Web
• B2B Web
• Nanotechnology (and clean tech)
• Life Sciences/Biotech
• Financial Services Technologies

Since we have these five focus areas I will be able to branch out and look at another technologies I am passionate about while still working on web related stuff. I will also get to work on clean tech deals which fall under the nanotech space. Being a sustainable/green advocate I am excited to be able to help entrepreneurs in that space as well.

There are a number of other reasons why I think DFJ Portage is the right place for me but I think these five really sum things up. At a high level I believe working at DFJ Portage will allow me to be the change I want to see and I’ll get to work with a world class team and top notch entrepreneurs on technolgies and businesses I am passionate about while creating that change. That is really all I can ask for.

Food & Drink Around Chicago: Spacca Napoli & Suzi’s Tea

Posted on February 27, 2008
Filed Under Chicago, Food | Leave a Comment

I grew up in central Massachusetts and with that came a traditional New England “meat and potatoes” diet. I was very content with that until I met my girlfriend. She grew up in Washington D.C. and thus had very diverse food interests due to the international flair of the city.

Over the past six years she has opened my eyes up to interesting new foods (while I kicked and screamed the whole way) and my palate is slowly building and refining (did I just say palate?). That said, nothing beats my Mom’s home cooking and apple pie/crisp. Hey, I am a born and raised New Englander. What can I say?

Anyhow, I thought it would be interesting to bring up some great places I find myself in around town on this blog. Therefore, this should be the first of many Chicago foods and drink posts. These reviews will be very accessible and not at all pretentious. It would be fair to say that I am anti-pretentious (which is why I love Gary’s mission so much - taking the pretentiousness out of wine).

The first two places I will highlight are Spacca Napoli and Suzi’s Tea.

Spacca Napoli:

Summary: Fantastic service and even better pizza.

Spacca Napoli is new in town and focuses on the art of the traditional Neopolitan Pizza. It is located at 1769 W. Sunnyside and is just steps from the Montrose stop on the Brown line.

Looking to try something new some friends and I went to Spacca Napoli last Saturday night. Unfortunately you can’t make reservations and the place is very popular so the wait was pretty long. While there is no bar area where you can pass the time we were allowed to have a drink while we waited.

Here is where things get good in terms of service.

After waiting for about an hour the owner came over to our group, asked us what we were drinking and got us a round on the house. Not only that, the owner also brought around a truffle pizza for us, and the rest of folks waiting, to try.

As if that wasn’t enough when we finally did get to sit down the owner had three different apps sent to our table on the house due to the long wait.

Now, that’s service and you guys all know how much of a customer service advocate I am. Needless to say I loved the place already and would wait an hour again in a heartbeat.

What about the pizza you ask? It was awesome. I had the Prosciutto e Rucola pizza which consisted of pizza bianca with provola, prosciutto di parma, arugula, parmesan and olive oil. I have high prosciutto standards having lived in the North End of Boston for a couple years and this was good stuff. Everyone else enjoyed their pizzas as well.

Check this place out if you get a chance and support the owners who truly know what customer service is all about and how to cook a mean pizza.

Suzi’s Tea:

Summary: A comfy, cozy place for tea lovers.

Suzi’s Tea, which opened just recently around the corner from my apartment, is my new favorite spot. I have wanted to get into tea for a while now and I think Suzi’s is a place that will help.

Suzi’s is located at 2965 N Lincoln and has a very rural “homey” feel which I appreciate. It is truly a little rural oasis that feels like home to me.

Suzi (yes, there is a real Suzi and she’s awesome) has 135 teas on the menu including some rare ones so there is room to try something new but there are also some tea staples like Earl Gray around for the folks who want to stick with what they know.

Each tea is served up with its own timer so your tea is steeped perfectly down to the second. The vast majority (if not all) of teas are loose leaf and the one I chose, the Darjeeling White (which was killer!), was a whole leaf loose leaf.

While you are sipping the tasty tea you’ll also be drawn to the homemade goodies like the oatmeal cookies which are fantastic and are truly homemade.

Suzi’s also offers breakfast and lunch which I have yet to try but everything on the menu looked great and Suzi mentioned that her husband is the cook and that he is really good at what he does.

Didn’t get to try a tea you wanted to? Want more of the tea you had? No worries at all. You can buy any of the teas on the menu on the way out for home use. You can also order tea pots and other various tea accessories on Suzi’s website.

Check out Suzi’s Tea next time you are thinking of going to Starbucks. I think you’ll be much happier there and you’ll be supporting a local entrepreneur.

Sweet Home Chicago

Posted on January 29, 2008
Filed Under Chicago | 14 Comments

I have been telling folks close to me and word has been moving around so I figured it was about time for me to announce publicly that I am moving back to Chicago in a few weeks.

I am really excited about coming back. I missed everyone (our conversations about business, technology, new ideas, etc.) and I missed working on building up Chicagoland/Midwest as the technology hub that it should be. Frankly, Chicago is special and I didn’t realize how special it was until I left.

As I did when I decided to come to NYC I will leave you with a FAQ to explain what’s going on with me and the move. Enjoy!

Eric Moves Back to Chicago: The FAQ

Q: What happened with BuzzFeed? Are you still working for them when you come back or have you left the company?

A: Good question. BuzzFeed is a great company with some solid technology and I see big things for them in the future. That said, the role turned out not to be right for me.

It was an amiable parting for sure and I think Jonah will find a guy who is better suited to the business (i.e. they need a killer ad sales guy with 10+ years experience in ad sales to run things there and that isn’t me).

So, yes, I have left the company and I do wish the guys at BuzzFeed the best of luck moving forward. I have no doubt they will change the world of advertising for the better.

Q: Well, what the heck are you going to do when you get to Chicago then?

A: To start, I will be consulting with a few companies in Chicago on business development, product, marketing, etc. which I am really looking forward to. It’ll give me a chance to work across different industries and pick up some new stuff as well as work on a variety of problems. If you need some consulting just shoot me a note and we can see what makes sense (eric [at] ericjohnolson.com).

I will also be focusing more time on TECH cocktail and on bringing the Chicagoland tech community together. Frank and I have some ambitious plans for TECH cocktail in 2008 so stay tuned to our site for updates.

In the long term I actually do have a gig lined up although I won’t be starting full time for a little while. Unfortunately I can’t say much more than that right now but stay tuned for an announcement to come in the future. Needless to say this gig is exactly what I should be/want to be doing and I am very excited about it. I will also be working with some great guys who I will be able to learn a lot from.

Q: So how would you characterize your NYC experience?

A: I am actually very positive on the NYC experience. I had a great time here and at BuzzFeed. I was able to meet a lot of great people and, perhaps even more importantly, learn a lot about myself.

Without getting to zen-like I would say that this stint in NYC really woke me up. It caused me to reevaluate what I wanted out of life and business. This introspection is what lead me back to Chicago and to the gig I will announce at a later date.

All in all I realize that I needed to come out to NYC and do this to take a big step forward in my career and in life.

Q: Aren’t you worried about the blip on your resume?

A: I was initially but in the end of the day using four months of time and having a blip on my resume was completely worth it to gain clarity on my career (and on life).

Q: This isn’t a joke is it? I checked the calendar is it definitely isn’t anywhere near April 1st.

A: This is not a joke at all. I truly consider Chicago home now. In fact, I never called it home until the other day when I was talking to my friend John about moving back. He noted immediately that it was the first time I had referred to Chicago as home. That was another one of those moments where it hit me that I had grown a lot over the past four months. Good stuff.

Q: When will you be back in town for good?

A: I plan on moving back over the weekend of the 16th and 17thof February. That puts me back in Chicago full time on February 18th just ahead of TECH cocktail 7.

Q: What about all the training you have been doing and the cycling race team you joined in NYC?

A: I will continue training and remain a member of NYvelocity (thankfully they wanted to continue to work with me). Those guys are great and they have really opened my eyes to the world of bike racing.

Most likely you will find me up in Evanston on Saturday and Sunday mornings riding with fellow entrepreneur/technology guy Troy Henikoff and the rest of the gang and then on the lakefront trail during the weekdays. If you’re a cyclist and want to join in just shoot me an e-mail.

Q: You know it is frickin’ cold here right?

A: Yup… can’t say I am looking forward to Chicago winters but I’ll deal!

Q: Was it the deep dish pizza that really brought you back? Or the Italian beefs?

A: I did develop a taste for deep dish pizza over the last couple years in Chicago but I still am not quite sure about Chicago’s weird pizza stance… I actually have never had an Italian beef. I need to do that.

Q: It was potbelly wasn’t it?

A: You got me. This is all potbelly related. Mmmmmm…. toasty chicken salad sandwich on wheat…. ahhhhhhhh (trying to imitate Homer Simpson with text is kind of hard).

So that about does it. I am psyched to be coming back and to see everyone (and most importantly to be back with my girl). TECH cocktail 7 will inadvertently be my re-insertion into Chicago tech so I hope to see you all there. Onward!

keep looking »