Map of the local innovation industry.
Meet some of the best and newest startups based in Chicago.
Design Director of Bloc.io, Lead Designer for High Gear Media. Founder of Made by Munsters.
Growing @openairplane Professional pilot, husband, father, nerd. Passionate about user experience + aviation. Find me on a computer, or in a cockpit.
http://blog.aopa.org/opinionleaders/category/authors/rod-rakic/
Currently: Co-founder at digit.co. Previously: MyZeus acquired by Groupon, 2011.
http://patrickalgrim.me
Product Designer @quirky. Co-founder of Paid, an iPhone app to manage your Stripe account. Formerly of @groupon
Investor CEO of MiGym: Experience in successful startups including Betfair and The Coupons App & corporate experience at US Cellular and Allstate; Kellogg MBA
Author of Design for Hackers (Debuted at #18 on @amazon) Mentor at 500 Startups. Changing the way you see design.
Product Designer @weebly. Formerly at @backplane and @viatask.
Designer, developer, builder, entrepreneur, mentor. First designer at @groupon. Currently Head of Platform Experience @quirky
Designer and Developer based in Chicago
Creative Director at Visually; freelance designer
IT Consultant, Studied Economics @university-of-chicago and investor with @kewpie-associates.
Designer. Husband. Friend to startups. Maker of things. Avid fan: scary movies, loud music. Work: CXO @betable. Past: @threadless, @digg, @simplegeo.
http://www.callmejeffrey.com
Suzanne is a trained Interaction Designer who has over 15 years as a practioner applying the methodology of Design Thinking and Human-Centered Design to various projects across industries in healthcare, financial services, automotive, telecommunicatio
Founded @public-good-software, Director of UX & Product @obama-for-america, founding team @the-point, early UXer @orbitz, founder @fuzzy-math.
Creative Director at @coupontrade
Business Designer. Previously UX Designer + Innovation Strategist. Former @adaptive-path + @nike consultant.
MS in Product Design & Development Management @northwestern-university. Design, product, research and business focus.
Formerly product at Twilio. Currently working on my own projects.
http://future-bits.com
Blue Tide Founder // @parkwhiz Front-End // Love a good API // Design // JS // CSS // UI/UX // Optimism // SharkWeek // From Indianapolis, IN
http://blog.iamzachreed.com/
Dan is a designer and developer, specializing in experience and interface design and front-end development.
Techstars mentor, start-up advisor. Currently @razorfish. Acquity Group and gravitytank alum. Experience design, mobile, omni-channel focus.
My mom told me work hard, be kind to people, and success will follow. Co-Founder of @freebie Family & friends first kinda guy. Growth hacker / biz builder
Entrepreneur, User-Experience Evangelist, Sense-Maker, Founder of Cicada Design Co. (2007), CrinklePaw Pet Innovations (2009).
Master's HCI student at Carnegie Mellon, with B.S. in Mechanical Engineering/Robotics. Worked as a generalist product designer/developer at Picplum.
Experience Manager for Manifest Digital; Strategy & Experience Advisor for Project Travel; BFA in Graphic design with a strong development background.
Founder @refstop-com (sold 2007), Currently @thepizzabutton and @sway-fm • Worked at @isocket • Studied at @indiana-university-bloomington
Founder and CEO @charlie-app a @dreamit-ventures backed company. Kauffman Global Scholar 2012 @ewing-marion-kauffman-foundation
CIO & co-founder at @everpurse; creator of @nomorecreeps.com and occasional freelancer.
http://jessepinho.com
Entrepreneur, Designer, Teacher and Director at IDEO
Founder @monthlys-1, @mantra-labs-2 • Worked at @lightbank, @benchprep
Product designer, team builder & coder getting into some new trouble. Advisor to Chicago & Detroit startups. #GoWings #GoBlue #ChicagoStartups
Founder @monthlys-1, @mantra-1 • Worked at @benchprep, @manifest-digital - UX expert with front-end and back-end chops. 14 years in industry, know how to market.
Technology Entrepreneur – Create, Design, Develop, Innovate
Develop and design apps. Dev/Design for @steamboat-labs-1 and @Brewerbox. Worked on @kloudless @deskhero
Developed parallel backtesting software for stock trading firm. Haskell lover. Python guru. Strong web development background. Lead developer on many projects.
UI at @alltuition and brilliant.org. Contributed to @food-genius and @betterfly. UChicago economics grad. Loves product, IxD, and brands that span the digital and the physical.
Co-founder and CEO of heathfinch.
http://blog.healthfinch.com
Technical Guy with a Designer's Eye
Entrepreneur. Hacker. Founder. Hipster. IU Kelley School of Business.
Product Development Executive, Partner at Digital Intent
Product Designer, formerly of Groupon, Scrapblog. Creator of Vidless. Focused on UX, design, front-end.
Founded @fitsby, Founded @designation
http://blog.kevinyun.co
Interaction designer for the noun project. Thinker at Simple.Honest.Work. Bassist for Glittermouse. Making for humanity.
A jovial lad & professional fellow. Eau Claire native, Dad, Design Director, UI/UX #OFATech, community organizer, civic geek, placemaker & cyclist.
VP of Strategy and Design, TodayTix. Designer, strategist, tech nerd, MBA. Love building companies. Columbia University and IIT Institute of Design grad.
Versatile front-end designer/developer with experience across multiple fields of design.
Design engineer currently working at @spark • Cook Engineering Design Fellow, B.E. Mechanical Engineering (2012) at @dartmouth-college College
Co-founder @Doejo, Digital Agency of the year 2012, Advisor,
http://mapofthedead.com
Co-Founding partner of M+I Creative, and CitizenMade. I'm also a partner at TalkSession and I provide consulting services in UX Design and Digital Strategy.
http://dynasteeinc.com
Award-winning software product exec with start-up DNA. Worked for Laszlo Systems (General Catalyst Partners) and LucidEra (Benchmark) and have an exit to Sun (Karelia).
Co-Founder of @scholastica. Academic publishing experience at Callaloo (JHU Press). Designed at many Chicago software companies.
http://www.robwalshonline.com/blog/
CEO at Windcastle Venture Consulting, Visiting Instructor of Economics at Kenyon College
MS Engineering Design from Northwestern, led NU Solar Car Team, 1st campus solar installation. Worked at GM & Northrop. Founded 1st tech startup in class at NU.
Chief Legal Rebel • Founder @attorneyfee • Bar Association President • Relentless Hustler
Founder @tabule • Developer & aspiring UX Designer • Studied CS + Psych + Business, graduated cum laude @illinois-institute-of-technology
http://metamorphium.com
Designer/art director in Chicago with 15+ years digital/interactive. Most recently Creative Director at Threadless, previously at BBDO, Goodby, Arc, and HUGE.
Director of UX @ Reverb.com
http://nicholasevans.org
Worked at @walls-360
Design Director. Unrepentant Internet addict and information junkie.
Front-End Developer
http://starterleague.chrismpeterson.com/
Worked at @cisco, @sentictechnologies • Studied at @hebrew-university-of-jerusalem
Founder & Host @signal-tower. Interactive Producer @red-square-agency. Former marketer at @drchrono and @crowdfunder-com. Graduate from @the-starter-league.
IDEO Design Lead for Digital + Physical products and services. Mentor at Excelerate.
Founder @6th-man-apps • Worked at @upto, @grand-circus • Studied at @university Of Michigan
Senior UI Designer, 8 yrs of design exp., background in advertising, blend of product & advertising experience, passionate about building products and teams.
Front-End/ UX Ninja, study javascript like its my job
Studied at @wheaton-college
Northwestern CS, interested in a full-time position with a combination of front-end development and UI/UX design work.
UChicago undergrad, founded 2 companies (one seeded, one sold), lots of startup work experience, looking for PM/Data/Design role this summer
COO of MikiYaka, worked at Google and Orbitz, Design Freelancer for Hoodle Inc., Pivot Media, LLC., Sumpura, Inc., Gyantra, Inc., and Nuggets by Gyantra.
http://blog.mikiyaka.com
CEO & Co-Founder @mercier-jones. Strong background in engineering and product design and development (Insitu-Boeing, Radio Flyer, Fellowes).• Studied at @virginia-commonwealth-university
Founder @p360 • Worked at @vmware, @partners-simons • Studied at @union-college
Founding principal of N2TV Studio, LLC Architecture and Design firm.
Awesome iOS developer.
Architecture & Interaction Design. Job Captain for two National museum exhibitions. Owner of three companies and a miniature schnauzer.
http://www.TanaGreen.com
Shawna is an experienced consumer insights analyst with a proven track record of delivering actionable data driven insights through primary market research data. She is currently pursuing her master’s at Northwestern University with a focus on statistica
http://packagedesign.tumblr.com/
Hybrid cross-platform mobile first engineer - specialize in creating hardware accelerated JS apps - one code base, all platforms - Yo, Bower, JS, Node, Ruby
Conceived & developed first 7 years of John Madden Football, participated in launching startups thru IPO, Harvard Masters in Ops&Mgmt - disruptive technology.
Founder Printavo [Screen-printing shop management software] • Studied at @university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign
Founder at Packanimal Creative. UX IA UI
http://matthewcopeland.me
Founder @coursecloud-1 • Studied at @northwestern-university, University of Notre Dame
Active in a broad range of activities in the Chicago area, Claudine Tambuatco is particularly well known in philanthropic circles.
http://claudinetambuatco.org/
Founder Griot Enterprises • Worked at @draftfcb, @adobe • Studied at @UMich, @School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Marketing Associate at @dealsgoround-1, Podcaster at @InsightIntell, Post Rock enthusiast, Aspiring Designer... Oh yeah & I have rocking fiance @LindsayONeal
UI/UX Designer + FED.
Mobile designer and developer with strong foundation in native iOS apps; Lead dev/designer for PocketCab.
Consultant in the world of Web and Mobile Design - User Experience, Usability, HCI, Information Architecture, SEO, Web and Mobile app programming, Social Media
Brown University Grad; Headed Brown Entrepreneurship Program; Performance Poet; Lover of Ideas; Wanderer of Words and Worlds
http://hamadachronicles.wordpress.com/
Creative and social strategist in advertising. Writer, art director, design director in past lives at agencies and startups. Available for freelance.
Long-time collaborator on multiple projects. Design, strategic input, developing sites & branding from start to finish.
Co-Founder @shopgab • Worked at @sprint, @pureadds
Interaction designer and front-end developer, CS background. Start-up enthusiast. STEM for girls advocate. Worked at dscout, Gravitytank, and VSA Partners.
Worked at @mit-media-lab, @bytemobile, @citrix-systems
Founding Member at @every-last-morsel, Worked for @happyfantickets • Studied at @depaul-university
Good business needs good marketing. Good design is good marketing. MIT grad turned UX/Product Designer - translating user needs into useful & valuable products.
Founder and CEO @fitcline • College student • Tech and fitness enthusiast. • Self-taught; web developer and graphic designer.
UPenn grad, web product designer. I create great web experiences and I make good web experiences better.
Owner of Catalyses LLC built from the brand Aspire Technologies. Please take a look at my personal profile and the new website.
An Avid Domain Trader and Business Brain-stormer
ThinkBank & ThinkTank Member
Looking for Mentors and Possible Partners/Inve
Worked at @amc-networks, @u-s-ambassador • Studied at @northwestern-university, Trinity
Master of design from top art school. Mobile designer, Built 4 apps (2 iOS, 1 Android, 1 Chrome)
@carbonmade @magnum-ci @instafeed; MS @UIUC; PhD @university-of-illinois-chicago and so on
Designer, engineer, scientist and entrepreneur. Taught seniors as a freshman, made LEDs which emit sunlight, and am Fellow at VC firm. Inventor to a good home.
Worked at @built-in-chicago, @belly • Studied at @abilene-christian-university
http://www.bodyshopbids.com
User Experience Craft-titioner
I'm helping build a great community at G2 Crowd
Intuitive multi-platform product builder. Information consumer. Startup junky. Interactive Art Director and UI/UXer for mobile at Draftfcb Chicago.
Worked at @active-mind-technology, @elevate-studios
@intel Engineer; Tenacious Technologist;