Startup Grind Chicago Hosts Uzi Shmilovici (Base CRM)

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Tuesday, 18 June

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Uzi Shmilovici is the CEO & Founder of Base CRM. Base is the first Post-PC CRM. Leveraging the rapid changes in mobile computing, Base takes advantage of ubiquity, intelligence and advanced interfaces to create a CRM experience that is an order of magnitude better than what was possible before. The company raised more than $8M and is growing exponentially.

Uzi’s passionate about building products at the intersection of design, technology, and business. He’s obsessed with creating amazing customer experiences, and doesn’t believe patience is a virtue.

When he can find the time, Uzi likes to write about the future of software, and has written for TechCrunch, GigaOM and ReadWriteWeb.

The comScore Story: Farming Fruits in Lebanon to Farming the Entire Internet’s Activity.

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In April, Startup Grind Washington DC had the privilege to speak with Dr. Magid Abraham, co-founder of comScore. This event marked Startup Grind DC’s first time hosting a speaker out of 1776, DC’s newest (and very promising) co-working space. The event was certainly an interesting and eventful occasion for all those involved: interesting due to Dr. Abraham’s remarks, and eventful due to an unexpected fire alarm that temporarily moved the event to the building’s lobby, stairwells, and sidewalk (not even kidding, on the street networking definitely happened). It was certainly a Startup Grind first, but in the end, we all came away with some insightful and powerful points provided by comScore’s legendary leader.

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From The Vault Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC)

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Personally the first Startup Grind event I ever attended, complete with Cash Money Records music, free pizza, and great networking. I was lucky enough to see one of the legendary VCs from Silicon Valley, Jeff Clavier. Throughout this interview he goes over a variety of topics any entrepreneur will still find valuable today such as how to get a meeting with SoftTech VC, how to perfect your pitch, and what NOT to do when trying to get a VCs attention.

[00:00:05.20] QUESTION: What about this thing right now, are you seeing, there’s been a lot of talk of, that just there’s all these companies that were funded at the angel level, they’re now coming in for a series A, not able to get that funding. Are you seeing that with your companies that you’re having, or not you specifically but companies in general, that is this a real trend that’s happening that companies raised angel round are now struggling to raise series A, maybe because they shouldn’t have deserved an angel round or some other reason?

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From The Vault Jason Calacanis

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One of the first big interviews Startup Grind ever hosted was with Jason Calacanis. Jason was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule during his meetings in Palo Alto to come and speak  to small intimate group at the Startup grind offices. Watch and learn more about Jason’s early entrepreneurial ventures during Web 1.0, what catches his eye in an entrepreneur and how to perfect your pitch.

[00:02] DEREK: On that note, let me introduce Jason; he needs no introduction, he’s worldwide.

[00:08] JASON: I’d like one.

[00:09] DEREK: Well then let me give it.

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From The Vault David Cowan (Partner @ Bessemer Ventures)

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In one of the earliest Startup Grind interviews, David Cowan from Bessemer Venture Partners joined us to discuss a variety of things going on in Silicon Valley. From what VCs are really looking for, seeing potential in the right entrepreneurs, and being on the board of one of the most successful app developer, Smule.

[02:34] DAVID: OK. I didn’t mean to get involved in the technology industry, it was an accident. I loved computer science and studied it in college. I had some friends that worked with me in the Science Center and we were called Terminal Watchers. They told me when I graduated that I had to interview with a company called Oracle. I didn’t know what it was or care, I was all set to get a job at some investment bank or management consulting firm; that was more glamorous back then. My friends urged me to go to the interview so I did. Back then, Oracle was hiring like crazy and didn’t know who I was, just that I was a computer science major.

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Startup Grind Chicago – Mistletoe Sprouts Social Media Management Solution

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There seems to be a common thread unveiled in the psyche of startup founders very early in life.  Maybe its genetic, maybe its environmental, maybe a combination, but it seems to me that founders have an interest in building a business at a very young age.   I’ve heard many a story from startup founders, but the latest might take the grand prize.

On March 19th, Startup Grind Chicago welcomed Justyn Howard, the founder of Sprout Social, a powerful social media management solution.  Justyn grew up in a small town in Northern California, where his roots in entrepreneurship sprouted from gathering mistletoe and selling to the locals at age 7.  That’s right, age 7.  Oh, but it doesn’t stop there.  In his early teens, Justyn taught himself to program and become a young programming gun for hire.  He decided to retire at age 15, at least from programming.  So go the early years of another, successful startup founder.

Today, Justyn’s Sprout Social has grown to nearly 70 employees, along with thousands upon thousands of customers, from SMB’s to large organizations, all within three short years.  If you are wondering how Justyn went from mistletoe to social media management, it actually all makes perfect sense.   Justyn, after retiring from programming, leveraged his sales acumen to launch a successful career in enterprise software sales.  Enter LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Justyn needed but couldn’t find a social media management tool to support his sales efforts, so he built one.  So go the young adult years of another, successful startup founder.

 

From The Vault Dave McClure (500 Startups)

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Our Dave McClure interview is easily one of the most memorable Startup Grind interviews ever. Dave came to the stage and talked about everything from farting unicorns to expanding out to international cities with 500 Startups. Watch and learn how to get the right VC’s attention, expand into new markets, build a great product, and get a meeting with the pirate VC himself.

[00:01:22.08] QUESTION: Welcome to the Startup Grind. We like to start these things out by just getting to know you a little bit, hear about your background. Tell us a little bit about where you grew up tell us about –

[00:01:30.26] DAVE: I know I’m really hard to find on the web, so it’s all a big secret.

[00:01:37.25] QUESTION: We’re going to dive deep, man, we got handkerchiefs, we got everything. We expect the tears to flow. So, tell us about West Virginia, tell us about your family and tell us all about it.

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Happy April. Keep Grinding! See You Soon.

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Happy April, Grinders! March was a busy month with over 20 Startup Grind events hosted around the world, including a panel at SXSW on Why Austin? Is Awesome for Startups.

We are selling out events across multiple cities so please plan ahead and book your tickets now! Get a Global Pass and reserve your VIP seat at all Startup Grind events, including summer socials, holiday parties and the Startup Grind 2014 conference next February.

View our highlight video of Startup Grind 2013 and our latest videos featuring interviews with Steve Blank, George Zachary, Mark Suster (GRP), Dave McClure (500 Startups), Clayton Christensen (HBS), Ann Miura-Ko (Floodgate), Leah Busque (TaskRabbit), Naval Ravikant (AngelList), Patrick Collison (Stripe) and more.

We’d love to see you at one of our upcoming events. Let us know how we can make your startup journey more connected and inspired. We’re listening and want to help.

Startup Grind Upcoming Events
4 April [North Bay] Kirit Patel, Price Waterhouse Coopers
4 April [Cyprus] Claus Rosenberg Gotthard, S2 Development Ltd
10 April [Kansas City] Thom Ruhe, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
11 April [Silicon Valley] Dan’l Lewin, NeXT, Microsoft
16 April [Chicago] Seyi Fabode, Power2Switch
16 April [Dallas] Michael Segrest, Silver Creek Ventures
16 April [St. Louis] David Karandish, Answers.com
16 April [Dubai] Duplays
17 April [Los Angeles] Ed Ulbrich, Digital Domain, Ender’s Game
17 April [Boston] Johnny Monsarrat, Turbine, Hard Data Factory
17 April [Melbourne] Rick Chen, Pozible
19 April [Guangzhou] Zach ‘Hoeken’ Smith, MakerBot, HAXLR8R
22 April [Washington, D.C.] Dr. Magid Abraham, comScore
23 April [Seattle] Greg Gottesman, Madrona Venture Group
24 April [Stockholm] Hjalmar Winbladh, Wrapp
25 April [Ottawa] Renée Warren, Onboardly
25 April [San Francisco] Adam Goldstein, Hipmunk
25 April [Lehi] Nick Efstratis, Epic Ventures
26 April [Singapore] Roger Egan, RedMart.com
29 April [Austin] Mellie Price, Source Spring/Front Gate
29 April [NYC] Bob Dorf, The Startup Owner’s Manual
30 April [Waterloo / Toronto] Startup Grind After Hours
1 May [Philadelphia] Wayne Kimmel, Artists & Instigators
8 May [Los Angeles] Peter Samuelson, Revenge of the Nerds, Starlight Starbright Foundation
13 May [Toronto] John Ruffolo, OMERS Ventures
16 May [Washington, D.C.] Nigel Morris, Capital One
21 May [Chicago] Howard Tullman, Tribeca Flashpoint
29 May [Austin] Hall T. Martin, Texas Entrepreneur Networks
6 June [Silicon Valley] Jessica Livingston, Y Combinator
12 June [Los Angeles] Mark Suster, GRP Partners
13 June [San Francisco] Mikkel Svane, Zendesk
24 June [Austin] Kevin Koym, TechRanch Austin

 

Event Recap [Video]: Hear from Eventbrite co-founders Julia and Kevin Hartz on building a business as a couple, as interviewed by TechCrunch’s Colleen Taylor at Startup Grind 2013.

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We’re recruiting sales and marketing interns for our Palo Alto office and community leaders to launch Startup Grind in cities around the world.

From The Vault: Ben Parr (Editor @ Mashable)

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Easily one of our most eccentric speakers with a lot to say, Ben Parr was editor at Mashable when he spoke at Startup Grind. Watch to learn more about him growing up to be an astronaut, creating the next great company, and contributing to the entrepreneurial  world.

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An Event You Could Not Miss // Startup Grind 2013 (Melbourne Retrospect)

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I run the Startup Grind Chapter in Melbourne. Before I joined the team I had a couple of Meetup Groups with about 1200 members in total, so I was no stranger to holding and running events. I can’t remember how or why I reached the Startup Grind website, but the day I did was the day my life and reason for holding these events would change forever. I always wanted to help people, help them learn, encourage them to keep going and sometimes when people hear you say that they are skeptical, but that is the truth and perhaps only the people that put the time into growing a community and work hard to promote event after event for the benefit of others can understand that.

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