Chicago's Quantum Leap 💥

Hey Friends!

Welcome to Issue #24 of the Driver’s Seat 🚙 

📍 Today’s Lineup:

🚀 The History of Google’s Chicago HQ

💥 Chicago's Quantum Leap

📊 Chart of the Week

🗺 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat

Before we dive in , here’s a quick RECAP of some activities from last week at the Drive Chicago office.

We hosted an intimate dinner for Chicago portfolio companies and friends. 👇🏽

We have 5 pre-seed companies in our Chicago program, with four being new to our city (a highlight I love sharing).

In my first year at Drive, I'm proud of our progress but recognize the work ahead to make Chicago a top tech hub.

Rather than a regular happy hour, I encouraged our guests in a meaningful salon-style tech discussion where we spoke on important topics surrounding our tech scene.

StartupGrind stopped by our office to host an event on “Making Chicago the Pre-Seed Capital.” 👇🏽

I spoke with host Raj Nathan about boosting Chicago's early-stage ecosystem.

From the investor perspective, our city needs more funders with clear theses, especially based on firsthand experience or domain expertise, for successful pre-seed investments.

This strategy can foster founder growth right here in Chicago.

Our friends at LongJump visited for an all-day founder co-working session. 👇🏽

The journey of a founder can be a lonely one, so I want to continue betting on the importance of building community, which is why it’s always important to collaborate IRL with others.

One of the things I cherish most about Chicago is our collective sense of community; we really support each other.

Bonobos founder Andy Dunn joined us for a fireside chat on the early journey of building a startup. 👇🏽

Andy built one of the first e-commerce companies, managed 500+ employees, and sold Bonobos to Walmart for $300M.

We discussed his startups before Bonobos, strategies for a solid cap table, and his guidance for first-time startup founders.

Andy and I both share a positive outlook for Chicago and its potential growth in saying we must to the following as a city:

• Chicago’s ecosystem should double down on specific industries to distinguish itself from other cities.

• Chicago founders need to dream MUCH BIGGER. “Don’t set out to get acquired by Google, instead build with the intention of acquiring Google one day.

• Chicago investors must invest earlier, especially if we want to keep our top founders here.

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