2008 National Summit on American Competitiveness - Thursday May 22nd

I heard about this event the other day is it looks to be pretty solid (the attendees are top notch). In fact, I went ahead and bought myself a ticket. This summit is going to be filled with the top business leaders, academics and entrepreneurs around and it is being held right here in Chicago. At $150 the event is very inexpensive and is a must attend for all of us so that we can show how strong technology and entrepreneurship are right here in Chicago.

Register here before this event fills up. I think you will be glad you did.

Chicago Innovation Awards - Call for Nominees

If you know any particularly innovative companies in Chicago (and I know you do) please head over to the Chicago Innovation Awards site and nominate them for the 2008 Chicago Innovation Awards.

I was lucky enough to be part of a winning squad (FeedBurner) back in 2006 and really enjoyed the event. Nominate now before nominations close.

Career Academy for Advanced Technology

I met a woman named Joan that works for the City of Chicago the other day. Among her other duties she is also spearheading an initiative called the Career Academy for Advanced Technology (CAAT).

CAAT will work with high school students to train them for technology careers (training that can even be used to get a great job out of high school should they not choose to go on to college) and prep them for college.

Currently CAAT is in proposal mode and to make sure the proposal is approved Joan is looking for businesses willing to commit in writing to helping students find internships in the industry and to provide training and mentoring to the students (including coming to classes to teach and relay experiences).

Seems like a very worthwhile endeavor to me and I know TECH cocktail, LLC will be committing to it (what could be more fun than teaching kids about technology!?).

If you want to commit your business to this please let me know before May 23 (Joan’s proposal deadline) and I can get you the form and tell you where to send it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Not only are these drinks all phenomenal but they are also made with Death’s Door vodka, gin and whiskey. Why should you care if the drinks are made from DD spirits? Well, I am glad you asked.

Death’s Door is based in Wisconsin and their products are are distilled from grain grown for them in Wisconsin so they are truly local sustainable spirits and this is why we’re proud to be working with them (longer company story here). Plus we really like the founder, Brian (who is quite the mixologist), and his products are simply amazing - top shelf without a doubt.

Without further adieu here is the drink menu that Brian created for us including two TECH cocktail signature drinks. This menu will be available on May 29th at the TECH cocktail mixer (along with beer and wine as well per usual):

TECH-Tonic

2 oz Death’s Door White Whiskey
¼ oz blue curacao
5 oz tonic water

Add ingredients to a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge

TECH-tini (that’s right - it is the signature drink from our logo!)

2 oz Death’s Door Vodka
1/4 oz triple sec
1/4 oz blue curacao

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Classic Wisconsin Martini

3 oz Death’s Door Gin (or Vodka)
¼ oz dry Vermouth

Pour vermouth into shaker and coat insides. Shake out and add ice and gin. Stir until cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a skewer of olives and Wisconsin cheese.

The Gin Sling

1 1/2 oz Death’s Door Gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 dash angostura

Shake and strain into rocks-filled collins glass
top with seltzer.

Looking forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks!

We’re going to try embedding a SIG (Special Interest Group) into TECH cocktail 8. No, this isn’t the kind of special interest group you hear about from the political pundits. This SIG is simply one where birds of a feather can get together during the event at a certain place in the room to talk shop.

The first SIG we are going to run is one for IT Security ISVs. Why you ask. Well, for one our friends at Athena Security came up with the idea of SIGs embedded in TECH cocktail events and they offered to run one for IT Security ISVs. Simple right? We like simple.

We recognize that industry associations for security professionals exist (ISSA, ISACA, for instance); and these are great venues for topic-oriented discussions. That said, we think there is an opportunity for a SIG to share ideas about trends, personal achievements and even market frustrations in a social, friendly and informal environment (i.e. within TECH cocktail).

If you are a security professional and want to check out the Security SIG inside TECH cocktail 8 please e-mail Jed Abernethy (jabernethy [at] athenasecurity [DOT] net) letting him know that you’ll be dropping by the Security SIG table at the event.

We’d love to hear feedback on this idea and if you have an idea for a SIG that should be held at the next event please let us know. If this one is successful we’ll want to do it at other events and with other industries.

ITA Young Professionals Summer Get Together

Date: Thursday, June 12^th
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Where: Burwood Tap, 724 W Wrightwood Ave, Chicago, IL
Register: https://www.illinoistech.org/calendar.aspx/904

Aside from hosting our popular mixer events and our upcoming conference, both of which are “cocktails of tech people,” we are working on some other community projects and need a hand. Do you have a son, daughter, friend neighbor, relative or sibling in college that needs to get some experience on the ole’ resume? Let us know - they will learn a lot and get to meet some great people all across the country.

Here is a more formal internship job description:

TECH cocktail (http://www.techcocktail.com), a community building startup, seeks highly motivated, outgoing and enthusiastic interns for Spring and Summer 2008 to assist in producing a conference, monthly TECH cocktail mixers in various cities across the US and other community projects. Ideal candidates are excellent problem solvers, self-starters, go-getters and multi-taskers. Candidates should possess strong organizational skills, be tech savvy and have a knack for keeping up on the latest tech happenings. An eye for design could be helpful. Interpersonal, verbal and written skills, as well as the ability to take a joke, are also required.

TECH cocktail is a community building startup that offers a series of mixer events, community projects & conferences open to bloggers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and other business professionals interested in the technology arena. Our mission is to amplify the technology signal in under served markets and have fun doing it. We’re a fun and laid back team, but we work hard and are looking for someone who can keep up and even challenge us.

Looking to get started asap! We need 1 intern in Chicago and 1 in Washington, D.C./Northern VA - but would work with interns remotely on projects too.

You will work hard but you will have a blast and meet some of the best people from the tech industry. Come work with us!

Candidates must provide a resume and cover letter. Please send an e-mail (cofounders@techcocktail.com) and put “INTERN” in subject line.

TECH cocktail CONFERENCE

The goal of the conference is to assist attendees by bringing them essential business startup tips, advice and knowledge from a super-cast of successful founders, developers and entrepreneurs.

If you have not purchased a ticket to the event at the early bird low price of $225 you should do so now, as supply is limited. If you want to save a little bit on the ticket simply use the discount code: techcocktailers since we are trying to make this event as easy and low cost as we can, while still covering the costs associated with hosting an event of this nature.

The conference agenda is as follows:

• Building a business anywhere (not just Silicon Valley)
• Leveraging new technologies and social media to help your business
• Getting your business funded
• Discovering your Inner CEO
• Growing a community around a traditional business

Some of our speakers include the following, with speaker bios here:

MIKE DOMEK - TicketsNow / Ticketmaster
DICK COSTOLO - FeedBurner / Google
JASON FRIED -37signals
HARPER REED - skinnyCorp / Threadless.com
GARY VAYNERCHUK - Wine Library TV
GENEVIEVE THIERS - Sittercity
KEITH SCHACHT - 42 Friends
NICK FERA - Parlano / Microsoft
BLAGICA BOTTIGLIERO - CondoPerks & Gals’ Guide
JEN CONSALVO - AOL
MICAH BALDWIN - Lijit
JARED GORALNICK - AwayFind
DAVID ARMANO - Critical Mass
MIKE MACADAAN - AOL
ALEX BARD - Goowy Media / AOL
ROB SCHULTZ - IllinoisVENTURES
BRUCE N. BARRON - Origin Ventures
DALIAH SAPER - Saper Law Offices, LLC
MATT SHOBE - FeedBurner / Google
EVAN BROWN - Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
SEAN AMMIRATI - mSpoke / ReadWriteWeb
ANT CREED - Intuit
TROY HENIKOFF - Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center
ALLAN COX - Author of Your Inner CEO
JASON REXILIUS - HostedLABS
DANIELLE WILEY - Edelman
MATT MCCALL - DFJ Portage Ventures
BRIAN SOLIS - FutureWorks
BRIAN WILLIAMS - Viget Labs
GEOFF LIVINGSTON - Livingston Communications
FRASER KELTON - AdaptiveBlue
BRAD FELD - Foundry Group
KIRK WOLFE -MK Capital
GARY BARRON - Frost Ruttenberg & Rothblatt, PC
NICK O’NEILL - Social Times
JOHN ZERASKY - FeedBurner / Google
FRANK GRUBER - TECH cocktail / SOMEWHAT FRANK / AOL
ERIC OLSON - TECH cocktail / DFJ Portage Ventures

If you have already registered for TECH cocktail CONFERENCE we have badges. Help spread the world for TECH cocktail CONFERENCE! Copy the code below the image you’d like to use to promote TECH cocktail CONFERENCE on your blog or website! Thanks for helping.

<a href=”http://techcocktail.com/home/tech-cocktail-conference/” title=”TECH cocktail CONFERENCE”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/2449686680_e398fbe1dd_o.gif” alt=”TECH cocktail CONFERENCE” /></a>

For an expanded post on the program please check out my blog post. If you are interested in applying to the program get your application together soon. The deadline for entries is May 15th.

Side note: You can also learn more about the iVentures10 program at the next TECH cocktail mixer on May 29th. The team will be at the event along with some of the folks who have been accepted into the program.

I met them off-campus. They did not even have a booth. But their product rocks. It is a security mapping tool that can be used to assess overall network threat exposure. It grabs configurations from security devices and figures out just what resources are exposed to network entry points. The best thing about their product is that it compares your current network architecture to various best practices (NIST and the like) and gives you a score. It then allows you to model proposed changes (moving a server, adding a rule) and see how it impacts your score. AthenaVerify is a great tool to help the enterprise evolve to a more secure posture.

Very nice guys! All of us here in Illinois are proud of you. Keep up the good work.

If you are interested in reading a great article about Athena check out this column in Dark Reading.

Please join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Technology Entrepreneur Center for an Illini-TEC Forum luncheon event:

“Recent Changes In Patent Law And The Impact On Inventors and Entrepreneurs”

Date: April 8, 2008
12:00 – 2:00 PM

Location: Illini Center, 4^th Floor
200 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606 (map)

Our distinguished speakers:

Joe Barich
Shareholder
McAndrews Held & Malloy LTD

Joe has been helping his clients develop and manage their patent portfolios, both in the U.S. and abroad, for about 10 years. He works with companies of all sizes, but takes special delight in helping small or startup companies advance to the next level. Joe is also currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law where he has taught “Patent Prosecution” since the Spring of 2005 and this year started a Patent Pilot Program in which he supervises third year law students as they write patent applications for innovations from the Cozad Business Plan Competition and Lemelson Innovation Competition. Joe was also recently named one of the 2008 Rising Stars on the Super Lawyers list.

Troy A. Groetken
Shareholder
McAndrews Held & Malloy LTD

As a registered patent practitioner, Troy regularly counsels international and Fortune 100 and 500 clients and individual entrepreneurs/inventors regarding advanced patent prosecution issues (U.S. and foreign), licensing, complex transactional issues, and global portfolio management matters involving chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological technologies such as new drug (small-molecule, recombinant, combinational technologies, etc.) entities, mesenchymal stem cell therapies, amphetamine conjugate therapies, medical devices, pediatric pharmaceuticals, surfactant technologies, agricultural compositions, gellants, biocidal materials, polyols, lubricants, coatings, laundry and cleaning products, pharmaceutical supplements, personal care and cosmetic formulations, alternative fuels, and renewable energies. Prior to practicing patent law, Troy has! worked as a clinical consultant pharmacist. Troy is also the past-President and current Vice-President/Board Member to the Association of Patent Law Firms. Troy was recently selected as a “Rising Star” by the Illinois Super Lawyers independent survey for 2008.

Lunch will be served.

Cost: $12 in advance, $15 at the door

Register: by 5:00 PM on Monday, April 7 or at the door

Questions? www.tec.uiuc.edu or 217-244-3124

Limited seating available, so register today!