An incomprehensive list of Chicago-founded Web startups
N.B.: This is a pretty outdated list, and some of it is a bit out of date (wrote this post before I knew diddly about the Chicago startup scene…Check out this quora thread for a newer, much more in-depth list.
Fat trimmed, originally via Chicago Social:
- WinkVid, that Chatroulette-style dating site Thrillist recced a few weeks ago
- Peapod, Skokie-based food delivery (green trucks!)
- Newser, a news digest of less-common stories, optimized for quick reading by stressed Chicagoans
- Groupon, (obviously): our first big hit since Orbitz
- Foodie Registry, a Chicago fine-dining GC registry site (kinda hard to explain this one)
- Bride Buzz, daily product blogging targeted @ brides-to-be
- Threadless, natch
- Everyblock (incidentally, will you sign the Chicago petition for more comprehensive crime data from CPD?)
- Orbitz
- Songza, which searches YouTube for songs only
- iExplore, a travel site
- Viewpoints, 3 million product reviewers
- GrubHub, which probably sustains its entire business model on my girlfriend’s roommate
- Where I’ve Been
- Garmental, daily fashion blog from Chicago’s boutiques
- SwapSimple, trade and barter
- 37Signals (CS says its “so successful that you kind of want to hate it”, which is exactly what I kind of want to do)
- CouponCabin
- FanFueled
…and that concludes their list, anyway. One question: Why do so many of them “plan to launch nationally”? I understand that focusing is easy, but limiting yourself to one city seems, well, limiting. Is it because Chicagoans are less inundated with startups than New Yorkers or Bay Areans? Or is it because we love to love the home team, sometimes to a fault? Not sure. But very interesting.
Other observations: Most of them are stereotypically ‘yuppie’, and few are B2B. Also, apparently Chicagoans like to only view sites once a day, or hate feed-reader clutter, because a plurality of them are ‘once-a-day’.