3 posts tagged “chicago”

I exceeded my party quotient this week, attending two incredibly satisfying parties showcasing some cutting edge startups and an internet mogul that knows how to party like it was 1999.

First up on Tuesday, Jeff Pulver showed us Chicagoans how to throw a party. It's been years since I last experienced  the irrational exuberance of the go-go VC-stoked internet startup era of the late 90's. But it all came back Tuesday night with the co-founder of Vonage renting out the entire House of Blues with a three-hour open bar and his own band for 1000 of his closest friends. His. Own. Band. And it was cool to see a captain of the VOIP industry who's down-to-earth enough to greet you personally and rock it like Eddie Vedder on the dance floor. Can't think of many tech CEOs willing to let it all hang loose like that. And I'm now also his friend on Facebook. The evening was also an opportunity for a Twitter F2F meetup for those of us geeky enough to grok what it's all about.

Then on Wednesday, it was the debut of the Chicago Web Ascent showcase of startups, with yet another open bar (this one with tasty chocolate martinis) and cool technology. This is what it must be like to be in the tech community in the Bay Area. I saw four companies worth noting: IQZone, which allows you to upload cameraphone pictures to an instant classified ad system; Spongecell, an event promotion system with sophisticated back-end analytics; ImThere, a social events network; and Pickle.com, which allows mobile users to upload on-the-fly cameraphone photos to a live web page. All of these companies have incorporated mobile functionality in their respective offerings. With all this activity in the mobile space, it's still unclear which companies are going to emerge as sustainable, profitable success stories in the long run.

I was on the CTA bus heading home today when I saw a bus ad asking the question What Makes You Feel Better? It was ostensibly an ad for Swedish Covenant Hospital, but what was cool was the invitation on the ad to text your response to the question to 30364. If you visit the website, it displays a list of recent responses, as well as the ability to upload your own photo. Not surprisingly, you see a lot of pictures of cute kids and puppies. I thought this was a nicely done advertising spot that brought in text messaging in a relevant way. I went home and researched the company behind the shortcode, and lo and behold pleasantly surprised to find it was yet another Chicago-based company! This makes at least 4 companies I know about involved in the mobile marketing arena here in Chicago. Must be something in the water (or lake maybe) !