ActofGood is a sort of charity mash-up site, combining elements of social media with a calendar and a good old fashioned Web 1.0 portal component. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s probably because it launched at the end of April and is still making the publicity rounds. Still, in a short period of time they’ve signed up 80+ charities ranging from well known names, like The American Lung Association and Children’s Memorial Hospital, to smaller names like Holla for a Dolla and Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces.
In portal mode, the site allows for a quick exploration of different charities and has a filter for “Cause Category.” This could potentially aid in cross-pollination of volunteers for similar causes, as could the social network set-up of the member pages allow for sharing of causes. The site also allows for donations and volunteer sign-ups, but the main piece on the site is the current events calendar. (more…)
37 Signals is one of Chicago’s best start-up stories and one of the most prominent, internationally. Their business model is building work productivity web apps, like project management tool Basecamp and contact management tool Highrise. A “freemium” business, 37 Signals offers basic service from their apps for free while charging monthly subscription fees for larger service offerings. They also dip their toe into revenue streams from advertising and even a book on their project management/development philosophy.
You may see a re-occurring theme of Chicago tech start-ups using open source development tools. 37 Signals doesn’t just use open source tools, the Ruby on Rails framework so popular with open source developers spun out of 37 Signals (they’re arguably more famous for their affiliation with Ruby on Rails than for their very popular web apps). (more…)
The Local Tourist is an independent alternative to the Tribune’s Metromix, the Sun-Time’s Centerstage and Time Out Chicago in the derby to serve the arts/entertainment/dining/events needs for the Chicago area. Taking the perspective of residents treating their home like they were on vacation, The Local Tourist spends a hair more time on dining and events/music, than bars. It’s also worth saying that while independent, The Local Tourist is also affiliated with NBC 5’s Street Team, which means a share of an Emmy from that also roosts there. The Local Tourist, herself, Theresa Carter recently took time to answer a few questions about the business.
Chicago Tech News: How long has The Local Tourist been online? (more…)
RecipeComparison is a bit of an odd duck in the Chicago tech community. Content sites have never been as celebrated here as other places, but Recipe Comparison also wears the hat of a data aggregation portal. Link blogging you see enough of, actually classifying and sorting data, not so much. And, in what continues to be a running thread, Recipe Comparison is another boostrapped site built on free/open source software without outside funding. We had an opportunity to converse with co-founder and CEO, Tom Carter (no, not the Bears cornerback from ‘97-’99, the other Tom Carter). (more…)
Inventables was part of the first wave of post-DotBomb companies in Chicago. Founded in 2002, it fills an unusual space somewhere between an information portal and a consultancy. If you count part-time employees, their staff is at 90 people – and they’re still hiring. I recently sat down with co-founder Zach Kaplan to talk about the company (more…)
Unquestionably Chicago’s highest volume technology networking event, TECH cocktail is having their 10th edition of their business mixer next Thursday (Februrary 19). As part of the run-up to TECH cocktail 10, we’ve put a few questions to TECH cocktail co-founder Eric Olson about the origins of the event, their expansions (please note their Facebook page touts a potential expansion to New York City) and plans for tech community unity.
Chicago Tech News: While FeedBurner was going along nicely in May 2006, and arguably Chicago’s tech flavor of the month at the time, you and Frank Gruber were still a full year away from cashing out in the Google sale. Why did you decide to start a side-venture while your company was still in a relatively early stage? (more…)