With Halloween just around the corner, we thought we’d share a scary thought with you -- more than half of all Americans are not currently investing in the stock market. That’s why Brian Curcio and Myles Gage developed Rapunzl, an app that teaches young adults how to invest in the stock market through simulated competitions. In this post, Curcio and Gage talk about the need for financial education, what it’s like to be a young entrepreneur, and why you always get what you give.

Funding is one of the most difficult challenges entrepreneurs face. In most cases, you’re either bootstrapping or asking people for money to invest in your venture. At the third session of 1871’s Groundwork series -- a set of public workshops focusing on foundational topics for newly-minted entrepreneurs -- Tony Wilkins, Sonia Nagar, Andrew Schwartz, and Charlie Connor discussed best practices to secure funding from investors.

JOBS! Every week, we highlight a number of open jobs for our member companies. If you're looking for an exciting career in the tech industry or an opportunity to work alongside Chicago's best and brightest, then you've come to the right place. Here are the job openings for the week of October 16, 2018.

1871 and the CEC's 11th Annual Momentum Awards Dinner will Recognize Discover as Corporate Champion; Linda Darragh and Ellen Rudnick as Entrepreneurial Champions; and Future Founders as the Chicagoness Award Winner.

An ambitious initiative begun by ANA (All Nippon Airways), Japan’s largest airline, is looking far beyond flight to shatter the barriers of physical transportation and achieve societal benefits. The ANA Avatar XPRIZE, a $10 million competition to create a real-life avatar system, hopes to develop a single platform that would allow individuals to experience and learn from different cultures and travel virtually. In this guest post, ANA discusses how the system would revolutionize the way we connect with each other. 

For this week's Our 1871, we chat with Joel Pollick, Founder of Percent Pledge, a platform that helps  companies engage with-and retain-millennial talent through personalized giving that's simple, trusted, and transparent.

JOBS! Every week, we highlight a number of open jobs for our member companies. If you're looking for an exciting career in the tech industry or an opportunity to work alongside Chicago's best and brightest, then you've come to the right place. Here are the job openings for the week of October 9, 2018.

Hunting, off-roading, camping -- these are just three of the many outdoor activities that you can’t do in a big city. What’s more, outdoor enthusiasts must enter long-term leases with exorbitant prices even if they’re just taking a weekend trip. Thankfully, Erik Johnson, Co-founder and President of PrivateAcre, is making it easier than ever for all of us to spend quality time in the great outdoors.

Earlier this month, EX3 Labs -- an experience design and product innovation studio specializing in mixed/augmented reality, artificial intelligence ,and Internet of Thing (IoT) solutions -- launched their podcast series, #UnlockingInnovation, produced in partnership with 1871 Chicago. The goal of the series is to explore the qualities and practices that make the most innovative companies in Chicago successful.

For this week's Our 1871, we chat with Kellee Johnson, Founder and Principal at the Ballast Group. The Ballast Group is an integrated communications strategy firm.