Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

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Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” and more from the Kauffman Foundation.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Join us as we celebrate the season and enjoy a bit of holiday cheer!

The CEC’s 2012 Startup Forecast has a line up of amazing speakers who will share their insights and forecast for startup trends in 2012.

Will have 2 speakers discussing data and interoperability within healthcare.

Come to the finals on Thursday, December 15, and watch the four finalist pitch to a panel of judges and a select audience of 250 entrepreneurs and investors. Network with other entrepreneurs and investors over beer and wine, listen to 4 fantastic pitches, and ask the finalists your own questions while they are on the hot seat in real time via twitter.

A Holiday Mixer event at Paddy O’ Fegan’s in the West Loop.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

January 12 – Lean UX with LUXr’s Lane Halley
January 13-14 – LUXi- The Lean User Experience Intensive
January 20 – Lean + UX + Agile Workshop

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” narrated by Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Hear Patty Rioux – employee number three and MedHost director of marketing for the first 6 years — recount the early days of MedHost, describe the energy of a health tech startup, discuss their two rounds of VC funding, and a bit about the company’s acquisition.

Chicago Ruby Downtown: High Availability at Braintree
When: Tuesday December 6, 6:00 pm
Where: ThoughtWorks, 200 East Randolph Street (Aon Center), Chicago

Uptime is important for any application, but it’s absolutely critical for a payment gateway. Braintree’s goal is zero downtime for their merchants. They tackle high availability in some unique ways using ruby as one of their main tools.

Jason Fried, Co-Founder of 37 Signals, Co-Author of Rework, and Inc. Magazine “Get Real” column writer will join the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce for an onstage interview and dialogue with audience members about work, life and how to maintain a balanced approach to success amidst the “noise” of daily business life.

Funding Feeding Frenzy creator David Culver is hosting an open house this Wednesday at VentureSHOT, the recently opened High Energy Entrepreneur Center & Incubator at 744 North Wells Street in Chicago. They’ve got some great things happening there, including Super-Ultra Collaborative Entrepreneurial Group meetings, Angel Investor and VC meet and greet sessions, coaching for presentations, and some great flex space/private offices.

Come hear Greg Geracie, the president of Actuation Consulting and author of “Take Charge Product Management” speak on his Three Tips to Improve Effectiveness as a Product Manager.

Code Academy launched their 12 week program for web development in Ruby on Rails this fall. I’ve spent some time over there myself, along with folks like 37 Signals David Heinemeier Hansson and Groupon’s Dave Hoover, and the energy and enthusiasm is phenomenal. Code academy is accepting applications now through December 10th for two 12-week programs that start in January

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

December 15 – Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals
January 12 – Lean UX with LUXr’s Lane Halley

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” narrated by Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

On the last Tuesday of every month, 500 impassioned entrepreneurs, developers, designers, tech companies, investors, and general tech enthusiasts will gather to watch brand new Chicago startups launch and our most innovative existing startups presenting their newest products.

This will be a discussion about the role of IP in a Lean Startup. We will cover the basic types of IP that you can secure, including patents, trademarks, and copyright, as well as proactive steps that you can take to avoid stepping on someone else’s IP rights. We will also about how to bootstrap with IP (and the risks of bootstrapping) until you have the funding and traction to get full protection.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

December 6 – Health 2.0 – MedHost
December 10 – Code Academy Application Deadline
December 15 – Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off today. Be among the millions of people in 123 countries celebrating, networking and learning about entrepreneurship. Find an event near you or plan your own. Visit gewusa.org for U.S. info. or unleashingideas.org for all other countries.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Lean Startup, Pragmatic Marketing, User Experience Design and Agile Development are all approaches to improve your odds of creating successful products. Join Pathfinder Software’s Amy Willis (UX) Bernhard Kappe (Products Strategy) and Reid MacTavish (Agile Development) as they share their lessons learned in making lean + ux + agile work.

Chicago CTO John Tolva will give a presentation on why the city is releasing lots of new data, how they are working with designers and developers in the opengov community, and what they hope to get out of it.

Customer interviews are a critical step in the lean startup methodology. Get them right, and you’re on the way to increasing chances of your new venture’s success. Get them wrong, and you’re likely to wander in the wilderness until you run out of time and money. Broker Savant’s Todd Wyder and Pathfinder Software’s Bernhard Kappe will talk about who to interview, how to get them, and how to avoid the critical mistakes that most first timers make. We’ll also be announcing the semifinalists for the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge at this meetup.

The presentation will focus on the features and functionality included in the new iOS 5 platform from 3 angles: a consumer, an enterprise and a developer. A presentation will highlight changes such as Siri’s voice recognition software, camera improvements, iCloud support, push notifications, new API’s and many more.

The Entrepreneurial Bash is a celebration by and for entrepreneurs. Each stop along the tour presents a panel of world class company founders who started from scratch and blazed a trail to $100 million success. Founders share key insights and ingredients that made their companies successful — as well as the challenges and failures they faced along the way.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

November 29th – Technori Pitch
December 15th - Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off in one week. Be among the millions of people in 123 countries celebrating, networking and learning about entrepreneurship. Find an event near you or plan your own. Visit gewusa.org for U.S. info. or unleashingideas.org for all other countries.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

For the 10th consecutive year, the Chicago Innovation Awards will celebrate our region’s most innovative new products and services. The winning organizations we reveal may be large or small, for-profit or not-for-profit, high tech, low tech or no tech, but they are all tied together by their commitment to innovation.

Two brave Chicago-based companies, Leslie’s List and Human Practice, submitted their web-based Health 2.0 apps for a no holds-barred rigorous user experience (UX) teardown.

For “Tech In Motion III” we will be spotlighting Spontaneusrecently-launched social couponing company. During the meeting, our panel will lead a discussion on Spontaneus’ prospects for success. As always, we’ll organize the discussion around Tech in Motion’s Create, Build, Go philosophy.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

November 15th: Chicago Product Management: User Experience + Agile
November 17th: Chicago Lean Startup Circle – Customer Interviews
November 29th – Technori Pitch
December 15th: Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Kauffman’s website Entrepreneurship.org is a free online site chock full of content and resources for entrepreneurs, business mentors, investors and anyone in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Content ranges from information entrepreneurs need to launch a company to policies and research that has been conducted regarding entrepreneurship. Check it out at www.entrepreneurship.org.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

In this talk, Corey Haines will go over some techniques for keeping your test suite lean and fast. Along the way, we’ll discuss the design improvements that come out of these changes.

The Funding Feeding Frenzy is the place to be for CEOs and founders of fast growing companies to get connected with a group of investors who just may be waiting to sink their teeth into their winning idea. For business owners raising capital, this is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

November 9 – UX Redux: Design Teardown of Consumer/Patient-facing
Health Tech Apps
November 15 - Chicago Product Management: User Experience + Agile
November 17 - Chicago Lean Startup Circle – Customer Interviews
December 15 - Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Startup Weekend founders share tips and insights in their first book, How to Take a Company from Concept to Creation in 54 Hours. Funded by the Kauffman Foundation, the book outlines key beliefs that have yielded powerful results. Order your copy Nov. 8, 2011.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Technori Pitch is a monthly showcase of Chicago’s most innovative startups, pitching their latest technologies. On the last Tuesday of every month, 500 impassioned entrepreneurs, developers, designers, tech companies, investors and general tech enthusiasts will gather to watch brand new Chicago startups launch and our most innovative exisitng startups presenting their newest products.

Entrepreneurs comparing notes and asking/sharing advice on their startups in a small group setting. Great event.

Most of us associate browser testing with the last, often painful, legs of a project. Jennifer will share some tips and tricks for project managers, designers, and developers to make browser testing easier from the very start.

Investors from Lightbank and New World Ventures talk about the inner workings of VC firms, what influences their investment decisions, and how lean startups can take advantage of that information.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

November 17 - Chicago Lean Startup Circle – Customer Interviews
December 15 - Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
One day left for U.S. college graduates with innovative business ideas to apply to the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars Program, newly expanded to include U.S. scholars. You’ll learn and network with an international group of aspiring entrepreneurs from January through June 2012. Apply here by Oct. 17, 2011.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

The Accounting clinic will start with a few accounting principles as a groundwork, and expand into larger issues of accounting. With a wide range of possible topics, we plan to tailor this session to the needs of those attending.

This event will be a joint meeting of the Open Government Chicago and Hacks/Hackers Chicago meetup groups. Joe Germuska (Chicago Tribune News Applications) will present public data services and APIs created by the News Apps team, President of Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC) Virginia Carlson will give a brief update on the Apps For Metro Chicago community round results, and Dan Sinker will review the recent Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership Hacktoberfest.

You can’t hide the fact that more organizations are turning to cloud-based hosting of data, so MIT Enterprise Forum has put together a panel of local experts to answer relevant questions.

Dan Bernstein (Personal Caregiver) and Moses Hohman (Human Practice) will present highlights of the national 2011 Health 2.0 conference (San Francisco). MCIC president Virginia Carlson, PhD will discuss Chicago Health Atlas, a partnership with the CHITREC and the Chicago Dept of Pub Health (CDPH).

Let’s get some practice with regular expressions. Some people find them intimidating but they’re wonderful once you get used to them. We’ll try some simple regular expressions like this /[0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?/ and some more complex ones, too.

If you get excited about continuous delivery, the prospect of automating damn near everything, and creating a brilliant software production system – then Camp DevOps is where you come to open your mind to these possibilities.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

October 25 – Technori Pitch
October 27 – Chicago Lean Startup Circle 
December 15 - Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
One week left for U.S. college graduates with innovative business ideas to apply to the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars Program, newly expanded to include U.S. scholars. You’ll learn and network with an international group of aspiring entrepreneurs from January through June 2012. Apply here by Oct. 17, 2011.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Bill Clinton, Thomas Friedman, Michael Bloomberg, Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Rhee, Tim Westergren, Suze Orman, and 92 others, on topics from Healthcare to Education to Poetry to Global Leadership to Entrepreneurship. If there’s nothing here to inspire you, then you might as well unsubscribe to this newsletter.

SEMPO Chicago personally invites you to a Google hosted event in Chicago at the Google office. The event will be covering a number of exciting industry trends and new technologies that are sure to change the way people think about web analytics.

Startups are known for having unique company cultures, but how do you instill something so intangible from an early stage and keep it consistent throughout a company’s growth? Learn from 3 founders who have scaled successful companies while making sure their employees always had fun at work.

How do you move from free to paid when you have 200,000 users who have been using your software for free for a few years? Late last year, Pivotal Labs began that journey, and this year, began charging customers a subscription fee for Pivotal Tracker. Dan Podsedly, principal at Pivotal and product manager for Pivotal Tracker, will be joining us at Pathfinder Software to talk about the journey and the lessons learned.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

October 22 to 23: Camp DevOps

December 15: Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
U.S. college graduates with innovative new business ideas can apply to the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars Program, newly expanded to include U.S. scholars. Participants learn and network with an international group of fellow aspiring entrepreneurs from January through June 2012. Apply here by Oct. 17, 2011.

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

The Wagyu Wagon Pop Up Dinner at Ipsento Coffee House. Couldn’t resist the title. Should be fun, and this kind of thing attracts interesting people. Maybe some cofounder serendipity?

Late in 2008 the Rails and Merb development teams merged to create Rails 3, the most robust, most extensible, best release of everyone’s favorite Ruby web framework. But while those competing teams merged, their frameworks didn’t. Though Rails 3 …

A panel discussion on trends in the marketing of physician practices. This is part 1 and focuses on online physician profiles and ratings & reviews sites.

We have a great sponsor (ObservePoint) who will help us get some tapas and sangria and enjoy a night of networking.

Meet, learn from, and code with experts on location-based mobile, web, and enterprise apps at this free NAVTEQ event on October 6. You’ll hear NAVTEQ, Bing, deCarta, Esri, and Verizon present the tremendous opportunities of location-based services and learn all about their mapping APIs. Be sure to register to reserve your spot.

The Momentum Awards Dinner honors the early-growth stage entrepreneurs who have demonstrated success since their inception and are poised for continued growth.

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

October 12: Entrepreneurs Unpluggd
October 22 to 23: Camp DevOps
December 15: Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals