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From Crain's: TechNexus marks 5-year anniversary -- and looks ahead to growth beyond Chicago
Published Thursday morning on Crain's blog for Chicago entrepreneurs:
By Steve Hendershot
TechNexus turns five Thursday. The co-working space for tech companies at 200 S. Wacker has housed about 130 companies since its founding, and those companies have raised about $75 million in investment capital and created 400 jobs, according to the company.
Terry Howerton and Fred Hoch co-founded TechNexus LLC in 2007 as a 25,000-square-foot “clubhouse” to complement the Illinois Technology Assn., a tech trade group that the pair also founded.
By housing tech companies such as online parking-reservations startup SpotHero and supply-chain management firm ArrowStream at TechNexus, and connecting those companies with investors and mentors, Messrs. Howerton and Hoch pioneered an all-in-one approach for startups in Chicago.
Although Mr. Howerton says TechNexus was intended more “as a place for the tech community to coalesce and collaborate, and where we could all hang out an play” than as an incubator, he and Mr. Hoch quickly discovered its potential. Now, Mr. Howerton contends TechNexus “is the most successful incubator Chicago has seen.”
The coworking-plus-mentorship model is now in vogue, as startups work side by side in several clusters through the city including at Lightbank, the incubator launched by Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, as well as Excelerate Labs, a three-month accelerator program that offers year-round office space to participating companies. In addition, Chicago tech leaders including Viewpoints Network founder Matt Moog and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center's Kevin Willer announced Wednesday they will open a 50,000-square foot co-working space for tech startups, dubbed 1871, in the Merchandise Mart this spring.
“All this other action coming is very much welcome,” says Mr. Howerton, who says that TechNexus stands apart from other area tech incubators in its breadth of focus beyond Internet companies (green-tech groups such as the Clean Energy Trust are based at TechNexus) as well expansion into additional cities.
“We've created this collaboration ecosystem,” says Mr. Howerton. “Now, let's expand that ecosystem beyond Chicago, in a controlled way.”
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Steve Hendershot writes Silicon City, a weekly column on Chicago tech news and newsmakers. Follow Steve on Twitter: @stevehendershot.
Follow Ann on Twitter at @AnnDwyer_Crains.
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I'm really thankful to have the TechNexus here in Chicago. Not only everything they've done to help my company SpotHero, but also for hundreds of different companies who are given access to their amazing connections, facilities, and resources on a daily basis. This really is an amazing time in Chicago for all startups and growing entrepreneurs and it will require all of us working together to the same goal to make Chicago the community we all want it to be. Congratulations again to the TechNexus and to Chicago for everything that is happening to make this city a vibrant hub for entrepreneurship.
Fred and Terry have created an amazing place for entrepreneurs. When I founded The Printed Blog back in 2009, they basically gave us the run of the place. We had no money, and the company totally blew up, and we needed a place to run it. At its peak, we had 20 people hanging out in the conference rooms, common areas - anywhere there was an available seat. Not only did they not ask for money (they knew we didn't have it), they supported us 100%. The new 1871 sounds great, but people shouldn't forget about TechNexus - Fred and Terry have been making a difference for the Chicago technology community for many, many years.