@jkarp shares the story of The Printed Blog

FounderFire #1 was a huge success!

It was great to listen to and interact with a Chicago based VC and seasoned startup founders. Here are the key take-aways from the conversations I was involved in (by John Fairley, co-founder):

The Chicago startup community is fragmented. (I agree, there were 3 events held on the same night)

On Raising Money from Angels/VCs:
- More difficult in Chicago, compared to the Valley. This is a fact of life.
- In Chicago, you have to bootstrap longer
- If your’re not in the Valley, VCs may require you to move there in order to be funded
- Your business model should align to something VCs want to fund
- Your industry should align to the VC’s funding areas of interest

Fantastic press coverage doesn’t guarantee success. But, it can open doors.

Scaling:
- Focus on proving the business model before you scale.
- Costs shouldn’t increased linearly alongside with customer growth. (in order to be VC funded -RG)

Overall, a great night. As we scale up the dinner meetups, I can see these dinners becoming more and more valuable for startups and venture capital community.

Thank you to the sponsors:
- Renliv
- MK Capital
- Blurbz

David Rengal shares the challenges and joys of VC in Chicago

@johnfairley, @low_light, David Rengal

@uhsiv, John Brzowski, @jakelumetta, (@lethrift, not in image)

Next event:

Out next event will likely be near the beginning of December. Please stay tuned on this site for updates on the coming events speaker, location, and time!