When we first covered Belly last year, the Chicago-based startup was in the process of taking ownership as the Windy City’s go-to customer loyalty mobile app. Today not only has Belly announced expansion into the New York and Boston markets (for a total of 8 markets including Madison, Milwaukee, Miami, Austin, and Phoenix), but they’ve…
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Did you know that due to deregulation you can change your energy provider? Not all that many people in America do according to Power2Switch founder Seyi Fabode. When he moved to the U.S. he noticed this right away and took it upon himself to create a place for consumers to address this problem in Power2Switch. We’ve…
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Taking on a web business in 1997 was new frontier, especially in the Midwest. Based in Chicago, Cars.com was created to offer a rich online classified advertising experience around automobiles. Bill Swislow, the Senior Vice President of Product at Cars.com, was there from the beginning, from concept and startup phase to the point when Cars.com…
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Maybe it is your budget that drives you to the classifieds or the thrill of finding a unique piece that will stand out in your home – either way, finding second-hand furniture is an arduous task, from poor-quality photos to scrolling through photos of furniture with holes, tears and other dubious damage. Furnishly aims to…
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Fact of Reality #1: The current unemployment rate in the United States hovers around 8.3% according to the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate does not factor in those who have given up on looking for a job or those fresh out of school who haven’t yet been able to find one. So…
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“In every generation in every decade in every turn of the world people are looking for magic. In the contemporary sense, magic is you do something to get a million hits on your website, 10,000 incoming phone calls, or 100,000 emails. I hate to break it to new entrepreneurs: There is no magic.” This is…
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For the third consecutive summer, Excelerate Labs, which ranked among the top startup accelerator programs in America, announced today the companies selected for its 2012 class. Excelerate Labs is led by entrepreneurs Troy Henikoff (founder of SurePayroll) and Sam Yagan (founder of OkCupid, eDonkey, & SparkNotes). Excelerate Labs offers a summer program that connects founders with mentors,…
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The second year of the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge is fast approaching, with $75,000 in cash and prizes on the line. The 14-week program features lean startup classes and mentorship, including a dedicated health track. After 10 weeks, judges select 4 finalists to pitch their startup ideas in the final competition, with pitch coaching from…
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No matter how fancy your marketing campaign, hungry your sales team, or useful your app or product, you won’t achieve the growth you need unless you have a full understanding of your customers’ behavior – especially where they might be getting stuck in the sales funnel. One of the showcased startups at our Tech Cocktail…
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Only wear stonewashed jeans if you’re working on your car. That’s some of the advice you’ll get if you visit ZipFit.me, a Chicago startup. But more importantly, you can shop like a pro: figure out your jeans size in a few quick steps or – if you have a snug pair already – see recommendations…
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The team at GroupToast believes that when you want to party with your friends, you shouldn’t have to call a gazillion places, wait for call backs, negotiate drink fees, and then have to coordinate everything. I’d have to say that I agree. This Chicago-based startup gives people the ability to have venues compete for their…
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If you’re interested in both giving and getting, Chicago-based Toodalu can help you rack up cash for yourself and your favorite charity – all by simply going about your daily shopping routine. Toodalu is a new breed of loyalty rewards that generates charitable giving to the causes you choose, each time you spend at a…
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Take two guys who have worked on Wall Street, add a passion to create awesome software that solves challenging problems, and what do you get? No, not a crazy-weird day-trading platform that is so simple your dog can use it, and no, not a budget-tracking app for your smartphone. Instead, Josh Nankin (a coder) and…
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Even though Tech Cocktail is now based in DC, we still consider Chicago home – our first event was held there nearly 6 years ago. Because there’s no place like home, we are really excited to be hosting another one of our classic Tech Cocktail Chicago mixers tonight where we’ll be showcasing a wide range…
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Thinking about producing an explainer video for your website? Finding video producers is easy, which you know if you’ve started a search. What’s difficult and ultimately time-consuming is finding the right video producer at the right price. You can spend weeks doing research, contacting producers, getting estimates and then narrowing down the proposals and picking…
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Vizua started with a conundrum: why are video game graphics far better than medical imaging? It turns out that 2D medical scans are sometimes difficult to read, and other 3D tools are quite expensive. So Vizua offers a cheaper 3D tool for doctors to view medical scans on the web or iPad, then share with…
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Tech Cocktail is headed back to DC. Why? Because we're a fan of good... Read More
Locating quality startups in San Francisco is like spotting bees in a hive.... Read More
Today, we’re excited to announce that Tech Cocktail has taken a $2.5M... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said... Read More
This post is part of Tech Cocktail’s “Healthy Entrepreneur” series,... Read More
