first meetup

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Hi all,

There was talk of doing a get together at the Hopleaf or Map Room as
early as thurs 10/15. Either venue on that day would work well for
me. However, maybe it'd make it more convenient if we did it some
place in the loop? If that's too short notice could we try doing it
after startup school? (anyone going?)

What do you guys think?

rz

[Daniel Zarick]

Thursdays are always bad for me. Work during the day and class until
10pm, then more homework for my 8:30am Friday class.

[Eric Liu]

for closer to downtown, i nominate Hophaus.
www.thehophaus.com
646 N Franklin St

I'm pretty flexible for times. Might be a hassle, but I think we should work the schedule to maximize the showing of hackerish people out, if for no other reason than to see how big the Chicago crowd is.

--e

[Rodrigo Guzman]

A url you can click on: http://www.thehophaus.com/ and they have a
location downtown at 646 n. Franklin which is not too obvious from
their main page.

[Chad Glendenin]

Let's do it in the next few days if possible, while the idea is fresh
and before we're busy with work and getting ready for Startup School.

I'm guessing Friday and Saturday nights are not too good for two
reasons: all the pubs will be packed, and a lot of people on the list
probably have plans with friends.

How about Monday night?

ccg

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Monday works for me.

[Brad Flora]

I could do Monday.

-brad

[BLuerssen]

Guys,

Just saw the post on news.yc. Is this open to anyone? I recently
relocated to Chicago and am attending grad school.

Let me know,

Thanks
Brian

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Hi Brian and welcome to the windy city. Where are you going to grad
school? (I go to NU) As far as the get-together being open: yes, of
course.

[mla]

There's a Mobile Monday user group meeting on Monday from 6-7:30
downtown. If we do midweek, I could plug HNChi.

On Oct 14, 11:22 am, Brad Flora <bradfl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I could do Monday.
>
> -brad
>

> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Monday works for me.
>
> > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Chad Glendenin <c...@pybrew.com> wrote:
>
> > > Let's do it in the next few days if possible, while the idea is fresh
> > > and before we're busy with work and getting ready for Startup School.
>
> > > I'm guessing Friday and Saturday nights are not too good for two
> > > reasons: all the pubs will be packed, and a lot of people on the list
> > > probably have plans with friends.
>
> > > How about Monday night?
>
> > > ccg
>

> > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
>
> > >> A url you can click on:  http://www.thehophaus.com/ and they have a
> > >> location downtown at 646 n. Franklin which is not too obvious from
> > >> their main page.
>
> > >> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 3:26 AM, Eric Liu <e...@pybrew.com> wrote:
> > >>> for closer to downtown, i nominate Hophaus.
> > >>>www.thehophaus.com
> > >>> 646 N Franklin St
>
> > >>> I'm pretty flexible for times. Might be a hassle, but I think we should
> > work
> > >>> the schedule to maximize the showing of hackerish people out, if for no
> > >>> other reason than to see how big the Chicago crowd is.
>
> > >>> --e
>
> > >>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:50 AM, Daniel Zarick <

> > daniel.zar...@gmail.com>

[pasb...@gmail.com]

Hi, all,

I'll throw my hat in. I'm way up in the north suburbs, so a time that
lets me avoid the worst of the rush hour in getting downtown (e.g.
after 7 pm) would be helpful. Alternatively, I'll suggest something
like a Sunday afternoon. Potentially avoid some of the schedule
conflicts, crowds, and attendant noise that can make conversation a
bit difficult. Unless the destination has a game playing.

I hesitated a bit because I don't think I fit the overall demographic
too well (age, background), and I'm in a bit of a funk right now. But
I need to get out and about more. If you don't have a problem with
that, I'll see whether I have anything to add.

Regards

[Rodrigo Guzman]

I think the original idea was to make the time > 7pm, so no problem there.

As far as the demographic: I'm not sure there is one. I think it is
just a bunch of entrepreneurial oriented software people getting
together for drinks after work.

rz

[nik]

So official time/place?

On Oct 14, 11:51 am, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think the original idea was to make the time > 7pm, so no problem there.
>
> As far as the demographic: I'm not sure there is one.  I think it is
> just a bunch of entrepreneurial oriented software people getting
> together for drinks after work.
>
> rz
>

> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 11:49 AM, PasBes...@gmail.com

[Mahmoud]

You guys might want to try Sponty. It makes it super easy to organize
events like this:
http://www.thesponty.com

(disclosure: I'm a cofounder).

Cheers,
M

[mattd]

monday, >7 sounds good

[Ed Lerner]

I'd vote for after 5 with Mondays being fine.

Are we planning this as a monthly? Has anyone talked to Chicago2600 to
see if they'd like to join?

[Aidan Nulman]

Just saw this on YC. I'm also down for Monday after 7PM.

On Oct 14, 12:05 pm, mattd <mattdennew...@gmail.com> wrote:
> monday, >7 sounds good

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Alright, executive decision time:

Monday 10/19, 8pm at the Hophaus
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hop-haus-chicago

If I get around to it I'll contact the bar to see if we should make a
proper reservation. Feel free to take over this fun responsibility
... :-)

Let's do this meeting first and decide if we want to do something
recurring in person.

See you guys on monday!

rz

[Peter Christensen]

8pm is too late for me (need to catch 8:40 train from Union Station)
but that's my problem. Do the 1st meetup as planned (I'm a huge fan
of executive decisions in organizing) but my $.02 is to start around
7pm in the future.

Have fun!

On Oct 14, 12:21 pm, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Alright, executive decision time:
>

> Monday 10/19, 8pm at the Hophaushttp://www.yelp.com/biz/hop-haus-chicago

>
> If I get around to it I'll contact the bar to see if we should make a
> proper reservation.  Feel free to take over this fun responsibility
> ... :-)
>
> Let's do this meeting first and decide if we want to do something
> recurring in person.
>
> See you guys on monday!
>
> rz
>

[mattd]

how about we all throw in some bg info or a link to a public profile,
as to ease time spent on introductions at the first mtg?

im technical director @ pitchfork, mostly doing web development w/
django. i love beer, screenprinting, baseball, and weird music.
me @ djangopeople: http://djangopeople.net/mattdennewitz/

On Oct 14, 12:21 pm, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Alright, executive decision time:
>
> Monday 10/19, 8pm at the Hophaushttp://www.yelp.com/biz/hop-haus-chicago

[Daniel Zarick]

Monday at 8pm is good for me as well.

Undergrad student at Columbia College Chicago; Interdisciplinary Arts
(media management + graphic design). http://danielzarick.com for
stuff. Also, I'm the manager of business development @ http://aemmp.org,
and community manager for my school's Online Student Communications
office. I like to think I'm a hacker who has yet to fully dive into
programming. I work on it in my spare time and looking to get some
extra help.

[Brian Luerssen]

Good deal. I'm at U of C doing MBA, actually. I realize that might put
me a the opposite end of the news.yc norm, but I come from a startup/
software background. I was part of the news.yc meetup in Indy, which
was always fun.

-Brian

Sent from my iPhone

[Josh Mauk]

Can't make Monday (also MBA classes). I vote for a Tues/Wed next
time!

Brian - You're not the only MBA here. I'm currently at DePaul,
concentrating in entrepreneurship.

Josh

On Oct 14, 11:59 am, Brian Luerssen <brian.luers...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good deal. I'm at U of C doing MBA, actually. I realize that might put  
> me a the opposite end of the news.yc norm, but I come from a startup/
> software background. I was part of the news.yc meetup in Indy, which  
> was always fun.
>
> -Brian
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>

[Karl]

Oh man, I'll try to make it.

I'm just some dude. Graduated from Stanford a year ago, work for a
small software consulting company in Deerfield, Dig on mathematical
logic and linguistics, spending just about all my free time working on
a website I quietly launched like two days ago.

-Karl ( http://twitter.com/kpich )

[Zack Gilbert]

Yeah. Mondays aren't good for me. But I'll try to keep this on my
radar so that if anything changes or you guys do a different day next
time, I'd totally be in.

- Zack
http://zackgilbert.com

[Ed Lerner]

Can't make this Monday; hopefully sooner than 8pm for the future.

I'm a 30yo web developer turned web designer for AlphaZeta (almost
next door to Hophaus). Big into emerging tech, green hacks, and any
other cool hack/mods. Like reading up on security too.

[Daniel Schobel]

Sounds good.

By day I try to make big OO code bases suck a little less @ Morningstar.
By night, I dig functional programming and very old and very new music.

Daniel

[Mischa]

So the final word is this Monday? This sounds like fun. My vote would
be for the Map Room, but it looks like that got nixed.

I'm a partner at a webapp called CaptainU. Our offices are at the U of
C GSB atm, so if other booth folks are going I'd love to grab a ride
with someone.

Mischa

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Yes. Final word is monday, 8pm at the hophaus. Depending on where
everyone is located we can switch the venue for the next meetup.

See you then!

[Matt Nolker]

I think I'm in. CEO of Pathfinder Development. We've built alpha, beta
and release webapps for a number of start ups, both successful and
not. Also have a start-up of my own going on the side.

[Chris Duesing]

Sounds like a good time, I am looking forward to it. I am a Java guy
by day at the Chicago Climate Exchange, and fiddle with Erlang and
other functional languages in my free time. I am always up for a side
project / startup opportunity.

[Pek]

Hi Matt

I'm friends with Sasha who works at Pathfinder. Look forward to
meeting you guys

[Cubtastic71]

AVR nerd / web developer and yes would be interested here...

http://pjkarlik.posterous.com/

[clint.laskowski]

The Security Decisions Conference will be in downtown Chicago 10/21
and 10/22. Any chance the meeting could be held then? You'd probably
get a lot of infosec people. See http://infosecuritydecisions.techtarget.com/infosecuritydecisions/index.html
for details.

-- Clint Laskowski
clint.l...@gmail.com
Twitter @Clint326

[Chad Glendenin]

I think that's cutting it pretty close to Startup School. Several of
us are going to Berkeley early to try to meet up with other startup
folks in the Bay Area. Let's stick with Monday at 8.

ccg

[Harper]

Hi everyone.

I am Harper Reed. I was most recently involved with Threadless.com as
their CTO. I am now doing some part time work with rackspace and
helping some VCs around the area.

I am sadly unable to participate this monday - but look forward to the
next event.

awesome,
harper

On Oct 14, 6:04 pm, Chad Glendenin <c...@pybrew.com> wrote:
> I think that's cutting it pretty close to Startup School. Several of
> us are going to Berkeley early to try to meet up with other startup
> folks in the Bay Area. Let's stick with Monday at 8.
>
> ccg
>
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 5:40 PM, clint.laskowski
>

> <clint.laskow...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The Security Decisions Conference will be in downtown Chicago 10/21
> > and 10/22. Any chance the meeting could be held then? You'd probably

> > get a lot of infosec people. Seehttp://infosecuritydecisions.techtarget.com/infosecuritydecisions/ind...

> > for details.
>
> > -- Clint Laskowski

> > clint.laskow...@gmail.com

[Pek]

You don't even need an intro Harper.

[Nikhil Sethi]

Hey peeps-

My name is Nikhil Sethi, currently co-founder of blurtt.com, and a
senior at northwestern university doing EECS.

Can't wait for monday.

Nikhil R. Sethi

[Raf]

I should be able to make it. I don't have any experience running my
own company but would like to learn more about it.

Currently I'm a Java developer at ThoughtWorks.

See ya on Monday.

Raf

On Oct 14, 1:42 pm, Zack Gilbert <zackgilb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah. Mondays aren't good for me. But I'll try to keep this on my
> radar so that if anything changes or you guys do a different day next
> time, I'd totally be in.
>

> - Zackhttp://zackgilbert.com

[Jonathan Rockway]

On Oct 14, 2:28 pm, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Final word is monday, 8pm at the hophaus.

Excellent. I am glad someone finally took the initiative to start a
Chicago group. I have been "meaning to" for ages :)

See you guys there.

-- jrockway

[Daniel Peters]

Awesome! I just moved from Boston and at the moment I work in the
service industry and code in my spare time. I study/work mostly in
Python and Scheme. Daniel Peters. I'll call the bar and make a proper
reso if no one else has done it yet.

On Oct 14, 12:21 pm, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Alright, executive decision time:
>

> Monday 10/19, 8pm at the Hophaushttp://www.yelp.com/biz/hop-haus-chicago

>
> If I get around to it I'll contact the bar to see if we should make a
> proper reservation.  Feel free to take over this fun responsibility
> ... :-)
>
> Let's do this meeting first and decide if we want to do something
> recurring in person.
>
> See you guys on monday!
>
> rz
>

[Daniel Peters]

Just got the reso in Hop haus has a space for us set aside, just say
you're there for the Hacker News Meetup if you get there early.

On Oct 14, 2:28 pm, Rodrigo Guzman <rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes. Final word is monday, 8pm at the hophaus.  Depending on where
> everyone is located we can switch the venue for the next meetup.
>
> See you then!
>

[Rodrigo Guzman]

Awesome. Thanks, Daniel!

[Shoby Abdi]

This sounds pretty rad. Im definetely in.

The names Shoby Abdi. Developer (few platforms at a time) at Model
Metrics Inc., got my grad in Software Engineering at Depaul in March,
and starting my MBA at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in
four months. Were pretty close to Hop Haus. Three blocks away I think.
Been there myself several times. Great choice.

Looking forward to meeting some HN fans

[Derek Moeller]

Glad to see this happening, thanks to Rodrigo and Daniel for setting it up.

I founded ContextMedia, which is in the business of piping chronic condition patient education video to health clinics across the US.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Derek

[Jordan Fulghum]

I'll be there!

I just moved to the city about two days ago from Kansas City so it is
quite serendipitous that I happened upon this group. I'm a designer by
trade, but I'm slowly learning web development (currently focused on
Python / Django).

I co-founded a website called Kallow (http://www.kallow.com), which
makes shopping for electronics easier for non-technical people. As I
mentioned, I also do freelance web design.

- Jordan

On Oct 14, 1:42 pm, Zack Gilbert <zackgilb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Yeah. Mondays aren't good for me. But I'll try to keep this on my
> radar so that if anything changes or you guys do a different day next
> time, I'd totally be in.
>

> - Zackhttp://zackgilbert.com

[Jake Lumetta]

I'm down.

New to Chicago (originally from MI), been here since August networking
with the startup scene. Serial entrepreneur, coming off of my second
startup. Looking to meet other entrepreneurs and am currently
interested in joining startup or young company. Technical (Comp Sci
undergrad) and business (MBA) background. Big into the Lean Startup
idea.

Props to Harper for the heads up on this.

[sean]

Sean Corbett here, Founder of HaveMyShift.com. This sounds like fun.
I will try to be there.

[Daniel Peters]

Bollocks. I got called into work. Ya'll have fun tonight.

[Chad Glendenin]

A couple of us are here (hophaus) already, so feel free to stop by whenever. We're in the dining-room area for now. Look for an Irish-looking dude in a green sweater and a long-haired Bolivian (Chad and Rodrigo from pybrew).

ccg

On Oct 19, 2009 2:59 PM, "Daniel Peters" <daniel...@gmail.com> wrote:


Bollocks.  I got called into work.  Ya'll have fun tonight.

On Oct 14, 12:31 pm, mattd <mattdrnnew...@gmail.com> wrote: > how about we all throw in some bg inf...

[BLuerssen]

Guys, I'm out too. Sorry. Hopefully the event goes off well, and keep
me on the list for future stuff.

As a side note, if any of you are pursuing ideas/funding currently,
you might consider the U of C business plan competition: New Venture
Challenge. It offers $50k (given, not invested) to the winner and huge
access to VCs/Angels for more financing.

The catch is you need to have at least 1 person on your "team" be a U
of C student. This isnt much of a requirement, as I know loads of
people who will gladly pitch in just for the experience. If you are
interested in going after this, but need a U of C student to latch on/
help, let me know and I can promote your business and get you some
very smart business people to help you with everything non-technical.
I have my own concept, so you'll be competing against me, but the more
the merrier. One of the past winners you might recognize is
GrubHub.com.

If you are interested, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll see you guys
at the next event.

-Brian

[Matt Dennewitz]

Here, blue shirt, red expos cap, at bar. 

[Mike Clarke]

Hey all,

Black coat and grey shirt with glasses.  Looking forward to meeting u guys!

Mike

[Aidan Nulman]

I'm on my way very soon, and I'm more or less around the corner. Blue jeans, black t-shirt, white overshirt, with glasses and a "diamond" earring.

--Aidan

Aidan Nulman
530-A-NULMAN (268-5626)

http://music.aidannulman.com
http://thoughts.aidannulman.com

http://aidannulman.com --> Coming soon...

[Pek]

Great meeting you guys tonight.

I wanted to remind you guys that SocialDevCamp is coming up Nov 7,8.
Please check out the site:

http://barcamp.pbworks.com/SocialDevCampChicago


Feel free to connect with me on Twitter/Linkedin/Facebook
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pekpongpaet
http://twitter.com/pekpongpaet
http://www.facebook.com/pek.pongpaet

[Daniel Schobel]

Thanks again to Rodgrio for organizing. For those who didn't make it,
the turn out was impressive, probably 30-40 people.

We definitely have to do it again soon.

It was great meeting you all,

Daniel

[Matt Dennewitz]

seriously, that was a great meetup!

[Brad Flora]

Nice meeting many of you.  I'm glad turnout was so solid.

One more quick plug for people making cool stuff: WindyCitizen.com is a social news site for Chicagoans.  We all know local news is boring stuff.  It doesn't have to be.  If you hear about something cool and local or want to announce some new thing people in Chicago should check out, share it on the Citizen.  We're looking to hire a developer soon.  If you're interested or know someone who might be, hit me up.  We're a ramen profitable local news startup.  Ain't too many of those...

-Brad

[Brad Flora]

Hey, Jake,

Great meeting you.  Again, welcome to Chicago.  I just checked my schedule and could do Thursday.  Let me know if you're still clear.

Funny that we both know Anton.  I'm all about Fun Sherpa.  Those interviews they post are a hoot.

-Brad

[Brad Flora]

Sigh.  Google groups......sorry, guys.

-Brad

[pasb...@gmail.com]

I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it. I'm pleasantly surprised with the
volume and enthusiasm of responses described here. My impression is
that Chicago sometimes seems a bit... "stodgy" compared to the coasts,
in terms of startup culture à la HN . But it has a lot of good
resources: People; finances (if often more staid); geography. Maybe
this group will help contribute to a change in perception.

I'll have to wait a few months, but if the group continues to meet,
I'll look forward to attending at some point in the not too distant
future.

Regards

PB

P.S. I'm currently between gigs, so nothing to report on that front.
And I'm cautious about my online persona; I've used HN with a
pseudonym I prefer not be a google away from my identity, at least for
the time being. (Interesting contacts keep eroding that barrier.)