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Chicago startups to watch in 2015

builtinchicago.org

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Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#3

Post by bruceb »

From the list: Mac & Mia is an online, custom clothing boutique for kids with soul & style. The company has a team of personal stylists that create looks for newborns to kids up to six. To get started, you create a style profile for your child and then, wait for the magic to happen. Once you decide to make the purchase, Mac & Mia will send you a box full of clothing customized for your child -- if your baby isn’t into the design, tread it right back for free. http://www.macandmia.com/

Wow. Some people really do have too much time on their hands.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#4

Post by donjh »

bruceb wrote: post #3

From the list: Mac & Mia is an online, custom clothing boutique for kids with soul & style. The company has a team of personal stylists that create looks for newborns to kids up to six. To get started, you create a style profile for your child and then, wait for the magic to happen. Once you decide to make the purchase, Mac & Mia will send you a box full of clothing customized for your child -- if your baby isn’t int…

So Trunk Club for babies?

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#5

Post by [deleted] »

donjh wrote: post #4
bruceb wrote: post #3

From the list: Mac & Mia is an online, custom clothing boutique for kids with soul & style. The company has a team of personal stylists that create looks for newborns to kids up to six. To get started, you create a style profile for your child and then, wait for the magic to happen. Once you decide to make the purchase, Mac & Mia will send you a box full of clothing customized for your child -- if your baby isn’t int…

So Trunk Club for babies?

[deleted]

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#6

Post by kevinmchugh »

I appreciate BuiltInChicago as an effective way to promote knowledge about the Chicago tech scene and I looked there the last couple times I was job-searching, but this list is really uninspiring. Uber for [moving, dry-cleaning, beauty needs], clones of better-known startups, clones of startups that have already failed.

There should be more focus on what Chicago's uniquely good at, and what makes us not just a worse-SF: http://www.holovaty.com/writing/chicago-bootstrapping/

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#7

Post by ssharp »

bruceb wrote: post #3

From the list: Mac & Mia is an online, custom clothing boutique for kids with soul & style. The company has a team of personal stylists that create looks for newborns to kids up to six. To get started, you create a style profile for your child and then, wait for the magic to happen. Once you decide to make the purchase, Mac & Mia will send you a box full of clothing customized for your child -- if your baby isn’t int…

Too much time and too much desire to spend money.

Baby clothes particularly, can be an incredible money sink. My twins are four-months-old and have cycled through four different sizes already. I quickly learned there is practically no reason to buy "outfits" and having them live 24/7 in sleepers makes life a lot easier on me. And sleepers can be found cheaply at used clothing stores, baby item swap meets, garage sales, etc.

Seeing the words "kids" and "boutique" next too each other definitely makes me cringe a little.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#9

Post by jjwiseman » 

  If you’re a recent startup founder, chances are you’ve taken a
  huge paycut. Well guess what - America was built on innovators
  like yourself and there are government assistance programs
  designed to help you while you sacrifice to grow your
  business. mRelief helps a user determine whether they qualify
  for Illinois government assistance programs like Food Stamps.
Wow.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#10

Post by drzaiusapelord »

jjwiseman wrote: post #9

If you’re a recent startup founder, chances are you’ve taken a huge paycut. Well guess what - America was built on innovators like yourself and there are government assistance programs designed to help you while you sacrifice to grow your business. mRelief helps a user determine whether they qualify for Illinois government assistance programs like Food Stamps. Wow.

Chicagoan here. The amount of fraud in welfare here is astounding. I regularly go to the grocery store and see people with nicer cars than me using their link card to pay for "groceries." By groceries I mean high-end items like lobster and steak, which they are clearly cashing out the card on and not shopping for food like everyone else. I don't know how they qualify for this, but imagine via some creative accounting that mRelief, I'm sure, is also willing to share.

I don't think people outside of the city realize how bad things are here. The corruption, handout mentality, patronage, politics, public sector unions, etc are probably the worst in the nation and it only seems to be getting worse. The various attempts to build a SV-like environment in Chicago will continue to fail until this corruption is cleaned up. I don't see a lot of incentive to invest in startups here, especially if we factor in our very high tax load and the little public value we get from it.

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