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Chicago startups to watch in 2015

builtinchicago.org

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Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#11

Post by drzaiusapelord »

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…

Let's not be classist. There's probably a market for this. I live in a trendy part of the city and boutiqe baby stores are a thing and have been a thing for at least ten years now. This is just a personal shopper for those stores.

I don't see how this really is more ridiculous than owning a current gen 3D printer or other expensive geek friendly frivolous toy. In fact, if you're part of the wealthy crowd, what your kids look like affects your social capital as so much of that is image based. If its creating jobs and opportunity, I don't really care about these Gweneth Paltrow-like excesses. Its just business.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#12

Post by jjwiseman »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #10
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…

Welfare fraud is one of those things that people seem to think is rampant, and politicians often encourage that idea, but when measured turns out to be pretty infrequent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_St...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the...

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-w...

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#13

Post by drzaiusapelord »

jjwiseman wrote: post #12
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Welfare fraud is one of those things that people seem to think is rampant, and politicians often encourage that idea, but when measured turns out to be pretty infrequent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_St... http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the... http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-w...

None of your links are local to Chicago. Yes, diluted nationwide I'm sure its an acceptable loss, but locally things are different. Politics are local and dismissing my experience with nationwide links makes you look especially disingenuous here. This is like saying Detroit is very safe to live in if you look at nationwide crime stats.

The only thing local here is the Reagan welfare queen comment from almost 40 years ago, which is far from timely. Nor was I making that argument. I don't think there are welfare queens of any type, but I do see, almost daily, casual abuse of the system designed to help the poor. With little political motivation to fix this broken system, if we consider the patronage from the aldermen, there's actually disincentives to fix this system. Considering our high tax rates, its a shame our leadership can't make this a priority.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#14

Post by jjwiseman »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #13
jjwiseman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welfare fraud is one of those things that people seem to think is rampant, and politicians often encourage that idea, but when measured turns out to be pretty infrequent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_St... http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the... http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-w...

None of your links are local to Chicago. Yes, diluted nationwide I'm sure its an acceptable loss, but locally things are different. Politics are local and dismissing my experience with nationwide links makes you look especially disingenuous here. This is like saying Detroit is very safe to live in if you look at nationwide crime stats. The only thing local here is the Reagan welfare queen comment from almost 40 years…

True, none of the links I posted were about the Chicago area. Do you have data?

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#15

Post by unprepare »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #10
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…

Why would you assume someone with an expensive car is wealthy?

Statistics show time and again that the majority of wealthy people (millionaires or greater) drive used cars[1]

It seems that the people buying brand new Audi, BMW, Lexus etc are people with little regard for personal finance, and are more often than not overextending their credit to afford such a purchase. Any surprise should be aimed at lending institutions who provide low income homes with loans for luxury cars.

[1] http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cars-wealthy-people-drive

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#16

Post by xasos »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #6

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-…

Super uninspiring list for me also. And the only YC company ever in Chicago wasn't even included.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#17

Post by rayiner »

ssharp wrote: post #7
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 sale…

Wait till they get older. My two-year old loves a pair of boots I bought her, and every time I see her in them something lights up inside me. We're basically just monkeys, who get attached to trinkets, even at a young age. Some people have more money to indulge the proclivity than others, but it's natural.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#18

Post by rhino369 »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #10
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…

I've picked up groceries from Jewel for my brother who is quadriplegic. Just because I'm in a 1000 dollar suit, doesn't mean I defrauding the government.

I worked at a Jewel as a cashier for 3 years:

"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. "

Is mostly an uban legend.

There is some fraud going on, but it mostly lazy people who get disability diagnosises and just live on $1000 a month. Sucks for us tax payers, but they aren't living high on the hog.

Re: Chicago startups to watch in 2015

#20

Post by ForHackernews »

It's super weird to me how preoccupied the tech industry is about geography. Why does it matter where a company is? Why are VC firms so focused on a tiny patch of land? Other than internet connectivity, there's no real reason why it should be harder to start an internet company in Estonia than in Palo Alto, but it self-evidently is.

Is this a market failure? Has anyone figured out how to build a fully distributed company yet? How about "Built Online"?

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