"You're not in the Valley anymore."
I’ll be spending this summer, between my first and second years at Kellogg, with the experienced team at Lightbank, the newly formed $100mm Chicago-foucsed venture investment vehicle led by Mssrs. Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. Eric and Brad were co-founders and investors in Groupon, Echo Global Logistics, InnerWorkings and MediaBank. Lightbank isn’t traditional VC as it’s more like a very large angel fund since most of the capital belongs to the GPs. It’s more of an angel fund, VC and incubator all rolled into one flexible environment. They operate out of 600 W. Chicago Ave along with all of their aforementioned successes. This is what excites me most-the possibility for a “600 W. Chicago Mafia” to emerge and kick-start some real innovation in Chicago, vis-a-vis PayPal.
Having worked in the industry as an entrepreneur and VC in New York and manager in the Valley, I am very excited to try Chicago out. If you’re around this summer give me a shout.
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