[ibimage==39636==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]Reddit is a thriving social networking community rich in resources and advice for anyone who wants to succeed in the Chicago startup world. It's also, by and large, highly skeptical and brutally hostile toward veiled self-promotion, so take that as a warning. Nevertheless, if you're looking for news, discussion, ideas, and an odd sort of comraderie on your business journey, here are five smaller communities within the site, called “subreddits,” worth your perusal.
1. /r/Chicago
To make your bones in Chicago, you need an intimate knowledge of the city, its culture, and its happenings. /r/Chicago is one of the most active subreddits focused on a specific urban area, and it embraces everything from news items and trends to local person-on-the-street observations to in-the-flesh networking events. Be sure to check out the sub-sub-communities in the sidebar, particularly /r/ChicagoJobs.
2. /r/startups
Unlike most other business-focused subreddits, /r/startups will not allow you to post links – it exists solely for discussion. And there's plenty of it. There are sage words of counsel, cries for help, and opportunities to collaborate posted by people engaged in all facets of startup life.
3. /r/designthought
By now, you've likely heard about “design thinking” and how it's not just capital-D Designers who need it. Here's your chance to read well-curated, well-informed, and often highly sophisticated pieces that take a broader view than “10 Totally Tubular Hacks for Photoshop.”
4. /r/BusinessHub
This serves as an integrated channel for smaller subs related to business, marketing, economics, finance, and more. Wise and witty members of the business community discuss the latest news, data, and editorials before they affect your portfolio, and links are aggressively moderated to weed out fluff and self-promotion.
5. /r/technology
/r/technology was, until recently, a default subreddit, meaning that it showed up on reddit's front page for readers without accounts and that most users with accounts were automatically subscribed to it. Thus, it was awash in controversy, trolling, and subreddit drama, and it eventually got so turbulent that it lost its default status. Nevertheless, it's still the go-to subreddit for all things tech. It doesn't provide the cozy community atmosphere of its smaller cousins, but you want a busy tech newsfeed and contrarian perspectives you'd never see on TechCrunch, you have to check it out.
Bonus! For the 99% of your business plans that the market just isn't ready to bear, try /r/StupidBiz.
Good luck on your reddit adventures. Follow "reddiquite" and be sure to give anything particularly helpful an “upvote.”
Note: The capitalization of proper nouns within reddit is strange and somewhat arbitrary. Act like you know.
Further reading: "5 Great Subreddits for Designers," which I collaborated on for an erstwhile employer.
