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Comment by latortuga | Hacker News Reader

Big props for silicon prairie! Living and working out of the midwest (Lincoln, NE for me, Omaha for my co-founder) is great at times (biggest win is that it's a lot more affordable) and not so great at other times - the tech scene is quite a bit smaller than the other major tech areas of the country and obviously access to funding and such is lacking compared to other areas. Not a big problem for us because we're bootstrapped but potentially a problem for startups looking for that kind of support.

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Similar situation here in Madison (is there a name for us?). We are not looking for funding but if you do, you face a lot of investors who don't understand software products, and the terms are much worse for the entrepreneur. This will just take time to change.

One big win other companies here have noted is finding great employees that stick around is easier here. There is a great university in Madison (that frankly sources many great developers for the valley) and it's just a matter of making people realize you can do cool stuff from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

I love the west coast, but right now I'd rather just travel there periodically and focus on my product here.

if i may throw out a name for tech startups in madison: silicon dairy.

I've never hard that before, honestly. It made me smile.

...though I hope it doesn't catch on :)

i grew up in iowa, i always enjoyed wisconsin and madison in particular. i have a fondness for the place, truly.

Yeah in the Midwest people tend to hold onto local things a little too much. You don't need to ditch it, but you don't need to make everything Hawkeye this or Husker that or Prairie this.

Yea I agree. People take location very defensively, but people can be offensive about it, too. I'm a local of the internet, more than anything.

Anecdote: My recruiter told me that the Chicago tech startup scene is the second largest in the country, behind SV. Not sure how true it is, but Groupon was pretty good for the scene.

I live in Chicago and am heavily involved on the tech startup scene here. Our scene is growing rapidly and changing by the month.

Is it the second largest in the country? I dunno. Probably not, I would think that'd be New York.

I don't really care though. I'm too busy contributing to the scene and working to keep that tide rising. :)

Do you have any suggestions on how to "get involved" in the Chicago startup scene? I'm in the burbs, and I'd love to drive in for meetups or any garden variety "Chicago startup" thing, but I haven't had much success finding anything worthwhile.

I live in the burbs too, so I know the feeling. (Actually moving closer to the city in a week).

There are loads of startup related happenings regularly now. I produce some myself. :)

Shoot me an email (tim ATatAT entrepreneursunpluggd DOTdotDOT com) and I'd be happy to give you some suggestions.

Check out Technori.com Once a month they have a showcase for startups. I know www.nextdoorchi.com has startup gatherings once per week.

1871 is probably the best co-working space I have ever seen. There are many great Chicago startups that share office space in their office down at Merchandise Mart. They offer many different entrepreneurship courses as well.

Code Academy is an excellent startup to check out. Their offices are located at 1871 in Merchandise Mart.

Someone above already said Technori. A ton of great Chicago startup people show up to the networking event held before the actual Technori presentation.

I have heard good things about the Chicago Lean Startup Circle meetup group.

If you are either a web developer or designer you should checkout Refresh Chicago as well. Every Refresh meeting I have been to was definitely worthwhile. The presentations are normally pretty technical though.

Code and Coffee meetup group is worthwhile for developers that don't mind waking up early. I've paired with some great developers and learned a lot.

I would highly recommend checking out all of the above. Chicago definitely has a great startup scene. Being pretty introverted, I initially had to really push myself to get out and meet people. TRUST ME, it is worthwhile.

The Chicago tech startup "scene" is infuriating because it's a self aware scene, rather than being a result of a high density of tech people. This results in a bunch of people who are more interested in promoting the city and/or rah rah groups, and less people just doing cool stuff.

The most amazing people I know in Chicago have nothing to do with the startup fans and are reasonably insular (probably because it's less irritating to be insular).

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