While January may be National Mentoring Month, the value of having a dedicated group of talented mentors available to our members is something we celebrate on a daily basis. We sat down with some of our mentors to learn more about their time at 1871 working with the members of our community and what mentorship means to them. Learn more about the 1871 mentors featured in the video above: Andy Friedman | Anne-Michele Harrington | Mary Dombrowski | Rob Pasquesi 

1871 kicked off its 2017 series of Fireside Chats with CEO Howard Tullman in mid-January with an all-star entrepreneur -- FUBU founder and panelist on ABC's Shark Tank Daymond John. During their conversation, Daymond shared keys to startup success, what makes a good Shark Tank pitch, how he balanced working a day job while spending his off hours fulfilling merchandise orders in the early days of FUBU and talked about his new New York incubator, Blueprint+Co.

"Smart is the new handsome, and entrepreneur is the new rockstar." 1871 CEO Howard Tullman made his debut on member company AE Marketing Group's Brand Lab Series podcast this week, speaking with AE CEO Brian Walker. The pair talk about founders' dirty secrets, what makes advertising "boring" and why entrepreneurs are increasingly becoming role models for a younger generation.

1871 and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center announced Monday that the 10th Annual Momentum Awards will be held November 2, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The awards will honor the best and brightest of Chicago’s tech community in a variety of categories.

IHCC President and CEO Omar Duque and 1871 Incubator Director Manny Ozaeta took to the Tastytrade airwaves last week to chat about the latest news out of 1871's first incubator cohort for Latinx entrepreneurs. Appearing on the Bootstrapping in America program, the pair talked with host and Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Center Board Member Kristi Ross about the curated content and mentorship opportunities provided to the 12 Latinx owned startups by the joint 1871 and IHCC incubator. 

12 Latinx-led startups joined 1871 in late October for a 12-week accelerator program co-facilitated by 1871 and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. As they progress through the cohort program and prepare for their Demo Day March 1, we’ll be posting Q&As with each company on the 1871 blog to introduce them to the community. This week, Ramon L. Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of Collaborate.biz, talks about his platform that matches businesses with strategic partners, which he describes as “LinkedIn meets Match.com.”

In a recent post I explained the importance of timing in the shutdown of an unsuccessful business. The main point is that, especially in the context of a "fire sale," most tech startups and digital businesses don't have too many hard assets to offer, but if the entrepreneur doesn't wait too long, there is still plenty of potential value to be realized. Sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

If you love Springsteen songs for the lyrics like I do (not that there's anything wrong with the music) then you know what I mean when I say that there's a line or a poignant phrase from some Bruce song that seems perfect for just about any and every occasion. I can think of dozens of times - staring down into one abyss or facing up to another impending disaster-- when the Boss was the only solace I could find. 

At 1871, each staff member is allocated a cash allotment to donate to a charity of their choice. On the 1871 blog, we’re highlighting the stories behind these donations throughout the month of December and beyond. Read on to learn about the causes Jeanne Reidy, VP of Events; Lakshmi Shenoy, VP of Business Development; and Tom Alexander, COO are passionate about.

They’re 50 of Chicago’s hottest tech companies, players and supporters, and many of them have something in common: They have deep connections to the 1871 community. The ChicagoInno 50 on Fire Awards wrapped Dec. 8, with a ceremony narrowing the 150 finalists to 50 companies who are among the hottest in Chicago.