Top 10 Stories of the Week: DC Fundrise Hits $31 Million, Andrew Hyde Returns to Startup Weekend

Did you miss out on one (or five) of Tech Cocktail’s posts from this week? It’s okay. We want to let you know that we forgive you; we totally get it. You’re a busy person, with a lot of things on your mind and equally as many things to do. You had people to meet, places to be, and tacos to eat. No worries, though, because we’ve curated this week’s top 10(ish) posts as determined by the Tech Cocktail editorial team. Need more Tech Cocktail? Sign up for the Tech Cocktail newsletter today, and get the weekly wrap-up direct to your inbox.

1. Who Is DC’s Hottest Showcasing Startup? [Poll]: On Thursday, June 5th, we’re holding our DC Mixer & Startup Showcase. Have you voted for your favorite startup?
2. Who Is Miami’s Hottest Showcasing Startup? [Poll]: Before DC, though, we’ll be at Miami on Tuesday, June 3rd for our Miami Mixer & Startup Showcase. Vote for one of these startups!
3. Why Ruby on Rails is My Go-To App Development Platform: Contributor Lauree Roberts lays out the reasons why Ruby on Rails should be used for developing web apps for your business.
4. DC-Based Fundrise Raises $31 Million: The crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in local real estate and businesses announced their first and major round of funding this week.
5. Andrew Hyde Is Returning to Startup Weekend to Create “Startup Week”: The Startup Weekend founder announced at UP Global’s UP Summit that he’ll be returning to the UP Global. Read about his plans for Startup Week.
6. 4 Traits of a Kick-Ass Product Manager: At our Chicago Sessions event, we brought together a panel of leaders from Chicago’s tech scene (from the likes of Sprout Social CTO Aaron Rankin to Cars.com VP of product Barbara Mousigian). They discussed the crucial traits of a great product manager.
7. Chicago-Based Machinio.com Raises $1M for a B2B Search Engine for the Global Used Machinery Industry: With 300,000 unique visitors each month, it’s clear to see how this Chicago-based company managed to secure $1 million in seed funding.
8. How GrubHub Obsesses Over Their Customers (in a Good Way): At our recent Chicago Sessions event, GrubHub director of product, Sandra Dainora, talked about how the ways through which the company focuses on their users’ wants and needs.
9. Birdling Bags Reminds Us That “Startup”≠”Tech Company”: It’s an important fact of which we must constantly remind ourselves. We look at the entrepreneurs and the story behind Birdling Bags, and what tech startups (categorical) can learn from this startup.
10. Should You Hire Experienced Candidates or Train Inexperienced Ones?: Our very own Frank Gruber goes into this topic, and says that your primary aim should be to look for candidates with a growth mindset.
11. Dropp.fm is the Pinterest for Music Lovers: Dropp.fm isn’t just another music streaming platform, but a music discovery experience which takes on a Pinterest approach.
12. 3 Reasons to Dump Rapportive for Connect6°’s PeopleDiscovery: Connect6° launched its new Chrome extension platform that provides users with comprehensive social discovery – similar to Rapportive, except accessible throughout the Web instead of just via Gmail.
13. DC-Based Distil Networks Raises $10 Million Round for Bad Bot Protection Services: The company announced the close of a Series A round of funding for its Cloud-based solutions for detecting and preventing malicious bots.