Hey friends,

We’re back with Issue #6 of the Driver’s Seat: a weekly newsletter sharing exclusive insights into the dynamic world of Chicago startups and VC.

Before we dive in, I wanna thank Purdue University 🚂 and Notre Dame University ☘️ for the hospitality this past week!

I participated in Purdue’s Student Startup Expo and Notre Dame’s McCloskey Business Competition. It’s always great learning from the next generation of visionary founders.

I urge all founders to continue thinking beyond building the biggest company in Chicago or the Midwest and instead strive to build the biggest company globally!

I call this measured madness:

It was also great reconnecting with my good friend and former podcast guest Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures during his visit to Chicago.

Mark and I spoke about the similarities between our entrepreneurial ecosystems in Chicago and LA, as well as the reasons why we’re so bullish on Chicago!

📍 Today’s Topics

1. Chart of the Week 📊

2. The History of AI in Chicago 🤖

3. Asks From Our Founders 🤝

4. Events Around the City 🗺

5. Guess Who Visited Our Office 🏢  

Have feedback? Just hit reply — I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s dive in! 🚙

📊 Chart of the Week

According to recent data from Redfin, rents in the US have dropped by 0.4% over the past month, with this being the first year-over-year decline since the start of the pandemic.

As a result, the national median rent has now decreased to $1,937 per month, reaching its lowest level in 13 months.

Chicago has seen a notable decline in rent costs, with a drop of 9% to around $2,000, compared to cities that saw a sharp increase like NYC, Boston, and San Francisco.

📈 The History of AI in Chicago

For our segment on the history of AI in Chicago, we're taking a trip down memory lane.

It was cool to discover how deeply Chicago was involved in the early stages of AI/ML research. By examining our roots, we can gain insight into the future direction of this field.

My goal is to help establish Chicago as a leading global AI center, leveraging our rich talent pool, storied past, and untapped potential. After all, what's stopping us?

In the 1950s and 1960s, the University of Chicago was one of the leading centers of AI research in the US, with several renowned researchers making groundbreaking contributions to the field.

One of the earliest and most prominent AI researchers at the University of Chicago was Marvin Minsky, who co-founded MIT’s AI Lab.

Minsky's work on neural networks and machine learning set the foundation for much of modern AI research.

Another notable AI researcher at the University of Chicago was Allen Newell, who co-invented the programming language Lisp and worked on developing AI systems capable of learning and problem-solving.

In the 1970s and 1980s, IIT created the Argonne National AI Laboratory.

IIT's lab focused on research in areas such as natural language processing and computer vision, while Argonne's work centered on developing AI applications for scientific research and national security.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Northwestern developed the Institute for Learning Sciences, which focused on developing intelligent tutoring systems and educational technology.

The University of Chicago also established its Center for Robust Decision-Making on Climate and Energy Policy, which used AI and machine learning to model the impact of climate change and energy policy.

Today, several AI startups and research centers have been started or expanded to Chicago.

Chicago is becoming a hub for AI innovation and on May 11th, I’m thrilled to be hosting our first AI Palooza with a group of talented AI builders.

Although we’ve reached capacity for in-person attendance, we’ll be hosting more events in the future and also offering a live stream of the event. Stay tuned for more information on the live stream.

🤝 Asks from Our Founders

We now have four companies in the Drive Chicago seed program:

1. Coherence Finance 👾 allows users to invest in ideas, not tokens.

2. JupiterDX 🏥 gives people tailored insights on managing Long Covid.

3. Rivet 🎤 uses AI to help musicians and creators build a personalized fan engagement game plan.

4. BRX 🧱 empowers users to effortlessly create turnkey AI solutions.

Below are a few asks from our founders:

JupiterDX 🏥

• Intros to operators in D2C healthcare.

Rivet 🎤

• Intros to music and TikTok creators / managers / agencies.

• Searching for a Mid Level Marketer and Full Stack Engineer. Learn more here.

• Searching for a Fractional CMO. Reply directly to this email if you’d like to learn more.

You can reply directly to this email if you have any recommendations or insights on the asks above ⬆️

🗺 Events Around the City

Chicago’s Data Community Happy Hour

• Monday April 24th

• RSVP

Inside the Loop Coffee Meetup

• Hosted by Martin Hamedani, Matt Nemer & Dylan Ketcham

• Thursday April 27th

• RSVP

Women Impact Tech Summit

• Thursday April 27th

• RSVP

(In NYC) Exploring Generative AI in NYC 🗽

• I’m heading to NYC this Thursday to discuss Chicago’s unique advancements in AI / the future of generative AI.

• Thursday April 27th

• RSVP

Code Nation Chicago Hackathon

• Hosted by CodeNation and Google Chicago

• Saturday April 29

• RSVP

🗺 Guess Who Visited Our Office

👋 See you next time!

Thanks for making it this far! 😎

Any feedback on how I can improve the Driver’s Seat would be greatly appreciated.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for even more Chicago startup news, photos of my favorite restaurants in the city, and cheesy motivational tweets.

Also please share the Driver’s Seat with others 🚙 

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