Map of the local innovation industry.
Meet some of the best and newest startups based in Chicago.
Product Designer @quirky. Co-founder of Paid, an iPhone app to manage your Stripe account. Formerly of @groupon
Currently: Co-founder at digit.co. Previously: MyZeus acquired by Groupon, 2011.
http://patrickalgrim.me
Blue Tide Founder // @parkwhiz Front-End // Love a good API // Design // JS // CSS // UI/UX // Optimism // SharkWeek // From Indianapolis, IN
http://blog.iamzachreed.com/
IT Consultant, Studied Economics @university-of-chicago and investor with @kewpie-associates.
Product Designer @weebly. Formerly at @backplane and @viatask.
Investor CEO of MiGym: Experience in successful startups including Betfair and The Coupons App & corporate experience at US Cellular and Allstate; Kellogg MBA
Design Director of Bloc.io, Lead Designer for High Gear Media. Founder of Made by Munsters.
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
Author of Design for Hackers (Debuted at #18 on @amazon) Mentor at 500 Startups. Changing the way you see design.
Creative Director at @coupontrade
Designer, developer, builder, entrepreneur, mentor. First designer at @groupon. Currently Head of Platform Experience @quirky
Founded @public-good-software, Director of UX & Product @obama-for-america, founding team @the-point, early UXer @orbitz, founder @fuzzy-math.
MS in Product Design & Development Management @northwestern-university. Design, product, research and business focus.
Creative Director at Visually; freelance designer
Designer and Developer based in Chicago
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/
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
Business Designer. Previously UX Designer + Innovation Strategist. Former @adaptive-path + @nike consultant.
Formerly product at Twilio. Currently working on my own projects.
http://future-bits.com
Entrepreneur, User-Experience Evangelist, Sense-Maker, Founder of Cicada Design Co. (2007), CrinklePaw Pet Innovations (2009).
Founder and CEO @charlie-app a @dreamit-ventures backed company. Kauffman Global Scholar 2012 @ewing-marion-kauffman-foundation
Product designer, team builder & coder getting into some new trouble. Advisor to Chicago & Detroit startups. #GoWings #GoBlue #ChicagoStartups
Founder @monthlys-1, @mantra-labs-2 • Worked at @lightbank, @benchprep
Techstars mentor, start-up advisor. Currently @razorfish. Acquity Group and gravitytank alum. Experience design, mobile, omni-channel focus.
Developed parallel backtesting software for stock trading firm. Haskell lover. Python guru. Strong web development background. Lead developer on many projects.
Co-founder and CEO of heathfinch.
http://blog.healthfinch.com
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.
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.
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
Technology Entrepreneur – Create, Design, Develop, Innovate
Dan is a designer and developer, specializing in experience and interface design and front-end development.
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
Develop and design apps. Dev/Design for @steamboat-labs-1 and @Brewerbox. Worked on @kloudless @deskhero
Entrepreneur, Designer, Teacher and Director at IDEO
CIO & co-founder at @everpurse; creator of @nomorecreeps.com and occasional freelancer.
http://jessepinho.com
Master's HCI student at Carnegie Mellon, with B.S. in Mechanical Engineering/Robotics. Worked as a generalist product designer/developer at Picplum.
VP of Strategy and Design, TodayTix. Designer, strategist, tech nerd, MBA. Love building companies. Columbia University and IIT Institute of Design grad.
Design engineer currently working at @spark • Cook Engineering Design Fellow, B.E. Mechanical Engineering (2012) at @dartmouth-college College
Chief Legal Rebel • Founder @attorneyfee • Bar Association President • Relentless Hustler
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
Founded @fitsby, Founded @designation
http://blog.kevinyun.co
Versatile front-end designer/developer with experience across multiple fields of design.
A jovial lad & professional fellow. Eau Claire native, Dad, Design Director, UI/UX #OFATech, community organizer, civic geek, placemaker & cyclist.
Entrepreneur. Hacker. Founder. Hipster. IU Kelley School of Business.
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).
Product Development Executive, Partner at Digital Intent
Technical Guy with a Designer's Eye
Product Designer, formerly of Groupon, Scrapblog. Creator of Vidless. Focused on UX, design, front-end.
Designer/art director in Chicago with 15+ years digital/interactive. Most recently Creative Director at Threadless, previously at BBDO, Goodby, Arc, and HUGE.
Co-founder @Doejo, Digital Agency of the year 2012, Advisor,
http://mapofthedead.com
Interaction designer for the noun project. Thinker at Simple.Honest.Work. Bassist for Glittermouse. Making for humanity.
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
Founder @tabule • Developer & aspiring UX Designer • Studied CS + Psych + Business, graduated cum laude @illinois-institute-of-technology
http://metamorphium.com
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.
Front-End Developer
http://starterleague.chrismpeterson.com/
UChicago undergrad, founded 2 companies (one seeded, one sold), lots of startup work experience, looking for PM/Data/Design role this summer
IDEO Design Lead for Digital + Physical products and services. Mentor at Excelerate.
Founding principal of N2TV Studio, LLC Architecture and Design firm.
Worked at @cisco, @sentictechnologies • Studied at @hebrew-university-of-jerusalem
Worked at @walls-360
Founder @p360 • Worked at @vmware, @partners-simons • Studied at @union-college
Senior UI Designer, 8 yrs of design exp., background in advertising, blend of product & advertising experience, passionate about building products and teams.
CEO & Co-Founder @mercier-jones. Strong background in engineering and product design and development (Insitu-Boeing, Radio Flyer, Fellowes).• Studied at @virginia-commonwealth-university
Design Director. Unrepentant Internet addict and information junkie.
Founder @6th-man-apps • Worked at @upto, @grand-circus • Studied at @university Of Michigan
Front-End/ UX Ninja, study javascript like its my job
Northwestern CS, interested in a full-time position with a combination of front-end development and UI/UX design work.
Founder & Host @signal-tower. Interactive Producer @red-square-agency. Former marketer at @drchrono and @crowdfunder-com. Graduate from @the-starter-league.
Awesome iOS developer.
Director of UX @ Reverb.com
http://nicholasevans.org
Studied at @wheaton-college
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
Creative and social strategist in advertising. Writer, art director, design director in past lives at agencies and startups. Available for freelance.
Hybrid cross-platform mobile first engineer - specialize in creating hardware accelerated JS apps - one code base, all platforms - Yo, Bower, JS, Node, Ruby
Interaction designer and front-end developer, CS background. Start-up enthusiast. STEM for girls advocate. Worked at dscout, Gravitytank, and VSA Partners.
Conceived & developed first 7 years of John Madden Football, participated in launching startups thru IPO, Harvard Masters in Ops&Mgmt - disruptive technology.
Active in a broad range of activities in the Chicago area, Claudine Tambuatco is particularly well known in philanthropic circles.
http://claudinetambuatco.org/
Brown University Grad; Headed Brown Entrepreneurship Program; Performance Poet; Lover of Ideas; Wanderer of Words and Worlds
http://hamadachronicles.wordpress.com/
Co-Founder @shopgab • Worked at @sprint, @pureadds
Founder at Packanimal Creative. UX IA UI
http://matthewcopeland.me
Long-time collaborator on multiple projects. Design, strategic input, developing sites & branding from start to finish.
Mobile designer and developer with strong foundation in native iOS apps; Lead dev/designer for PocketCab.
Founder @coursecloud-1 • Studied at @northwestern-university, University of Notre Dame
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/
Marketing Associate at @dealsgoround-1, Podcaster at @InsightIntell, Post Rock enthusiast, Aspiring Designer... Oh yeah & I have rocking fiance @LindsayONeal
Consultant in the world of Web and Mobile Design - User Experience, Usability, HCI, Information Architecture, SEO, Web and Mobile app programming, Social Media
UI/UX Designer + FED.
Architecture & Interaction Design. Job Captain for two National museum exhibitions. Owner of three companies and a miniature schnauzer.
http://www.TanaGreen.com
Founder Printavo [Screen-printing shop management software] • Studied at @university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign
Founder Griot Enterprises • Worked at @draftfcb, @adobe • Studied at @UMich, @School of the Art Institute of Chicago
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.
Worked at @mit-media-lab, @bytemobile, @citrix-systems
Worked at @active-mind-technology, @elevate-studios
UPenn grad, web product designer. I create great web experiences and I make good web experiences better.
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.
Founding Member at @every-last-morsel, Worked for @happyfantickets • Studied at @depaul-university
@carbonmade @magnum-ci @instafeed; MS @UIUC; PhD @university-of-illinois-chicago and so on
Master of design from top art school. Mobile designer, Built 4 apps (2 iOS, 1 Android, 1 Chrome)
Worked at @built-in-chicago, @belly • Studied at @abilene-christian-university
http://www.bodyshopbids.com
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
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 @amc-networks, @u-s-ambassador • Studied at @northwestern-university, Trinity
@intel Engineer; Tenacious Technologist;