It was around two years ago to the day, when I first met Rick Desai. After an introduction to Rick’s firm Dashfire from Sandbox Industries, Rick and I quickly coordinated a sit down at a coffee shop up in Lincoln Park.

Yesterday, EverTrue, a Dashfire portfolio company, announced a $5.25 million financing led by Bain Capital Ventures.  Though EverTrue, an education fundraising platform, is headquartered in Boston, the story has a very important Built in Chicago back story.

www.thespish.com provides the Sports Dish on the athletes and coaches. We also love the poetry of Clement Clarke Moore and channel him on this day before the NCAA Tournament:

I’m excited to announce that applications are open for our Dashfire Launch program!  Dashfire Launch will enable one MBA-led team to validate their business model and launch their startup through $35,000 of services and collaboration from Chicago’s best strategists.  The program is targeted to Kellogg School of Management and Chicago Booth.  The selected team will spend 10 weeks working with leading Chicago companies and agencies that will provide

Hi Everyone!  This week marks my six month anniversary at Dashfire and next week, we’ll launch a new Dashfire competition that I’m spearheading.   The competition is focused on digital startups, Chicago collaboration, venture capital, and business school – all components of my journey from Wall Street to River North (I don’t think “digital prairie” is very flattering) over the past 3 years.  As such, I wanted to share some my experiences with you:

Yes, I'm talking about my summer internship coming to a close. Have I been brainwashed? Maybe. Am I mad about it? No. Would I do it again? Yes. Did you hear that, Dad?! I LIKE WORKING! In what felt like no time, eight weeks has come and gone and it’s my last day at 1871. Tear.

Be excited! Internships lead to jobs! Jobs get you money! Money is cool! College is fun, but only if you work as hard as you play.

Ok so you’re pumped, right? Now, imagine your dream internship. Whether it be at a certain company, office space or in a specific field, find something you’re passionate about. The best part about this waiting period known as “college” is that there’s tons of time to experiment. If you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up, these 4 years serve as a great way to at the very least figure out what you don’t want to be.

Late last year, I participated in Potluck 2.0 and quickly realized that I was unaware of an incredible underground Chicago sce