Hey friends,

We’re back with Issue #3 of the Driver’s Seat.

Before we dive in, shoutout to all the young builders that stopped by our new Chicago office for a co-working day last Sunday!

Let's keep supporting one another to propel Chicago towards a bright future 🚀 

📍 Today’s Topics

1. How to Pitch Better 🗣

2. The History of Fintech in Chicago 🖋

3. Asks from our Founders 🤝

4. Events around the City 🗺

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

Let’s dive in!

🗣 How to Pitch Better

My best advice for founders looking to improve their pitching abilities:

Stop pitching and start storytelling.

Many people make the mistake of believing that a slide deck is the starting point for a pitch. However, there are crucial steps that must come before even opening Google Slides.

It's essential to begin by crafting a narrative or "voice-over" for the pitch.

To make this process smoother, I recommend starting with a blank Google Doc rather than diving straight into a presentation. This way, you can focus on organizing and outlining the key information that investors need to make informed decisions.

While it may seem chaotic at first, the initial brainstorming phase is a critical step in the process. I advise founders to be intentional with how they share information and ensure that their companies are easily understood by anyone, from a 10-year-old to a 90-year-old.

It's important that everyone can understand what your startup is all about. Make sure you have a clear story and explain your vision in simple terms, while also emphasizing why now is the perfect time for your business.

In conclusion, the key to a successful pitch is clarity. By focusing on telling a compelling story, organizing key information, and intentionally sharing it, founders can deliver a pitch that truly resonates with their audience.

🖋 The History of Fintech in Chicago

This week, we will be diving into the History of Fintech in Chicago:

To provide some context: Chicago’s Finance and Insurance industry generates over $53B annually in output and employs over 240,000 individuals. We outperform the national average for access to finance talent.

With the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade as leading exchanges in financial derivatives and commodities, our city has cemented its place as a top financial hub.

In addition to our exchanges, there are numerous high-frequency trading shops and large financial institutions which manage billions of dollars in assets.

The wave of “tech meets finance” companies in Chicago started in 1984 when a University of Chicago grad published the “Mutual Fund Sourcebook” out of his Chicago apartment, creating Morningstar.

Today, Morningstar is a leading source of news and data about the financial sector, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually.

Braintree Payments, founded in 2007, launched its payments gateway in 2010, acquired peer-to-peer payments company Venmo for over $26 million in 2012, and was ultimately acquired by PayPal in 2013 for $800 million in cash.

Chicago's fintech community has also been recognized for piloting new technologies and advancements in fintech, such as using blockchain to keep records of property ownership, with public agencies.

Speaking of Fintech: On April 20th, the Gen Z VCs Chicago Chapter is organizing an event on the Fundamentals of Fintech & Insurtech, featuring a special guest speaker, Kevin Mackey.

Kevin is the co-founder of Insurtech startup Coterie and Fintech startup 1000Zebras.

During the hour-long event, Kevin will provide insights into both industries and highlight the significance of data-driven underwriting models in connecting these two areas of the economy in the future.

Join us to learn more!

🤝 Asks from our Founders

We have three 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.

Below are some asks from our founders:

Coherence Finance 👾

• Coherence just launched a newsletter. Subscribe here!

JupiterDX 🏥

• If you have or know anyone struggling from symptoms of long covid, sign up for JupiterDX’s waitlist.

Rivet 🎤

• Searching for a Head of Digital Marketing and Head of Design.

🗺 Events Around the City

The Next Evolution of Patient Driven Health

• Wednesday April 5th

• Hosted by 1871

• Sign up here

1 Million Cups Chicago

• Wednesday April 5th

• Hosted by WorkBox

• Sign up here

77 Coffee Chats

• Thursday April 6th

• Hosted by Brad Schnitzer and Abhinaya Konduru

• Sign up here

Consumer Tech: What's all the buzz about?

• Thursday April 6th

• Hosted by St. Charles Public Library

• Sign up here

Chicago Booth TechCon '23

• Friday April 7th

• Hosted by Booth Technology Group

• Sign up here

👋 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.

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