Hey Friends,

We’re BACK with the 18th edition of the Driver’s Seat 🚙 

I’m fresh off TWO hackathons this past week!

I stopped by the Cameo HQ in Chicago to judge one of their internal hackathons.

Full circle moment since I was one of their first interns back in the day.

AND we also hosted our AI hackathon / announced the winner this past Wednesday.

Congratulations to the winning team: Janet Job Helper!

In one full-day, this team built an AI platform for non-profit workforce navigation.

Thanks to our subscribers that participated in online voting to help us decide the winning team.

I’ll be expanding the presence of hackathons in Chicago because we NEED more opportunities for our early-stage community to come together and BUILD!

Regardless of whether you're a dev, product lead, marketer, etc, my goal is to offer early builders the space to connect and create with like-minded people.

We have A TON of spectacular happy hours happening in Chicago, but it’s really time we see more hackathon / building-related events in our community too.

Our next Hackathon will be taking place in August.

📍 Today’s Topics:

🌱 What’s New in Pre-Seed-Land

🏫 Midwest Grads Turned Founders

📊 Chart of the Week

🗺 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat

Before we dive in…

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Driver’s Seat 🚙 for the best information on Chicago's GROWING innovation economy 🙏