Honestly, it sounds like we are both thinking of midVenturesLaunch. With the event set to start on September 27th, it isn’t happening a second too soon. Chicago exists as the premier city for sports, comedy, history, food, and lineage. But there is only one thing missing, and that is an injection of excitement about the growing technology field and successes of start up companies in the Chicago area. All of that is going to change…very soon. The two day event begins on Monday September 27th, and will feature an array of events including workshops, key note speakers, and a start up contest to display emerging companies or ideas to the ears of some of the smartest, savviest members of Chicago’s tech society.

Start ups will have the opportunity to enter in a chance to exhibit their products to an esteemed panel of judges, or to go against other companies in a contest to see what projects and products are worthwhile. Over $100,000 in prizes will be given out. So, if you have an idea that you want to show off in front of the top tech investors in the midwest, nows your chance. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2010. Check it out here: http://midventureslaunch.com/apply/

It’s true that both the east and the west dominate the headlines when it comes to technology discussions, but that leaves a large area for the Second City to step into the foreground. The midwest is growing, and Chicago is leading the midwest tech boom with guns blazing.

Our city is overwhelmed with opportunity and success stories. What midVenturesLaunch will do is take advantage of this. As the industry grows, and Chicago continues to climb higher in recognition, rising stars such as Groupon founder Brad Keywell will continue to be a beacon of hope in an otherwise dismal world (by the way, he is speaking, and everyone is dying to hear what he will say).

Other speakers include Chuck Templeton, founder of OpenTable; Sam Yagan, founder/CEO of OKCupid, SparkNotes and eDonkey; and Jim Dugan, Principal at OCA Ventures. Suffice it to say that if you have an interest in technology, a spark of ingenuity, or an idea worth while, this is the place for you to be.

No longer are the keys for succeeding as a start up laying at the footsteps of silicon valley. Chicago is growing, and its proving its worth beyond just the world’s best pizza. midVenturesLaunch is working hard to put Chicago on the map, and along the way it will help establish the next set of elite companies of our growing digital age.

The idea is to keep it local, and Mix Media Solutions couldn’t be more excited to see the turn out of the event. The best and brightest stars will be shining on September 27th, and the crowds are dying to see what happens.

The facts and numbers weigh heavily in favor of success for female start-ups. Whether or not you support female leadership, you can’t ignore the figures suggesting that firms run by females are among the fast growing sector among new ventures. Women are very capable, especially with the advancement of technology. As younger generations are raised on social media, and grow accustomed to the digital world at an earlier age, there is a greater window for girls to learn the skills essential to launching a company later in life.

So how does this play into Mix Media Solutions?

Well, Mix Media Solutions is founded by a woman, Jess Loren Popov. And, in lieu of this, it is important to note that the Syncubator, Chicago’s premier technology incubator, is fielding proposal’s from a number of other women lead companies. With the growing number of technology companies starting up in Chicago, women lead companies are the wave of the future.

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, women start businesses at twice the rate of men, but only 3% of these businesses get to $1m in revenue.

With the world shifting towards female empowerment, now is the perfect time for leadership in companies to extend beyond fantasy. With Kathyrn Bigelow recently becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award for best Director with the work on her film “The Hurt Locker“, the possibilities have opened for women to be both in control, and successful.

There are plenty of resources out there for women looking for funding for their start-ups. There isn’t anything holding females back anymore. According to research by Babson College, “if women entrepreneurs in the US started with the same capital as men entrepreneurs, they would add a whopping 6 million jobs to the economy within 5 years — 2 million of those in the first year alone.”

So, think about it. If business has been a man’s game, but the stats are highly in favor of women being successful in business, then why shy away from chasing your dream?

Many women cite being afraid to fail as a reason for not pursuing funding for their companies, but in reality, they have a higher success rate.
Check out this link,  to see some useful resources. Mix Media Solutions has taken steps towards a diversified technology industry, and the Syncubator is in support of a female business model.

Unfortunately, many of the people using the Internet aren’t very savvy. Even more, they aren’t good at searching for what they are looking for. Your company can have a great site filled with top of the line SEO, and it can still be buried under a heap of other, unrelated results.

So how does one battle this? Well, the Holy Grail, of course!

Ok, not actually the Holy Grail, but something similar. I’m talking about Wikipedia. Go ahead, type something into Google. One of the first results is going to be a wiki page for your search.

Explore it a little, take the time to get to know and play with Wikipedia. There is a lot of information on there, but for small companies, it seems like a pretty unobtainable goal to get listed on Wikipedia. It is the Holy Grail, and if you can get listed, you are in golden territory.

So, how exactly does one get listed on Wikipedia?

This is a very good question, but first we should discuss all the caveats of this venture.

First off, while Wikipedia identifies itself as an encyclopedia, it is important to note that this does not mean it is a hand out club. Companies are vying for position and exposure on the web as if it is a cure for cancer (it’s not). Wikipedia defines the companies it represents by notoriety. Essentially, the only things on Wikipedia should be things worthwhile.  Is that your company?

Did your company do something important? Do you have a notable employee? Do you work for some movers and shakers? Have you changed the face of technology or created something ground breaking?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then we are off to a great start.

Wikipedia wants to display pages for notable companies. But this on its own isn’t near enough.

Like I mentioned before, we are trying to crack the code for posting on the Holy Grail of sites.

So, the next thing to consider is how readily available is your company (or site). Is there a lot of information about you? If so, are they links from other pages? And are they your links, or someone else’s?

The key to increasing your notoriety is to have a lot of links referencing your company already. Even this isn’t a sure-fire way of landing your own Wikipedia page, but this makes your company tangible, and real. When you can cross-reference the facts on your page to links externally, the gate keepers at Wikipedia will know that you are real.

It is important to come up with links of other people talking about your company, not just your company talking about your company. If you are lacking in this department, you may want to start sending out some press releases and generate some news about your company. People will start talking on their sites, and you can reference those pages with your Wikipedia “application”.

Lastly, Wikipedia scrubs all content submitted to reduce the chances of unneeded advertisements. What this means is that Wikipedia is looking to post articles from a biased standpoint. Keep everything you write as un-salesy as possible. Stick to the facts and write your article like an encyclopedia entry. Write everything as if it is being written by an outsider to your company, not someone from the inside. This may be the most important step in getting your company a Wikipedia page. Try to come up with as much content as possible, but save the ads for your own site.

Now, while these steps may not ensure that your article gets posted, they will greatly increase your chances.

Before you step into creating a page for your company on Wikipedia (and ultimately getting denied), consider Mix Media Solutions to help create the page for you. Supplying a neutral voice may be hard when writing your own entry, and Mix Media Solutions  has the experience writing copy from a neutral stand point, while researching and finding all relevant information for your company.

The end result is still a risky one, as Wikipedia is monitored by humans and not machines. But going into the battle with as much information is key.

To quote my childhood, “Knowledge is power” or “Knowing is half the battle”. I’m not sure which one of these applies more, but I will side with GI Joe.

By definition, a start-up company has the ability to literally start up anywhere. With a good idea and clever innovation, nothing can turn into something, and something can turn into millions. Previous schools of thought put a lot of pressure to keep technological innovation in a champion like Silicon Valley. But the times they are a changing.

With each day that passes, our current understanding of culture and technology surpasses our old understanding. What we thought we knew about the growing technology sector is evolving. It is slow, but it is evolving .And in the stronghold of the evolution is the budding Chicago Tech community.

Regarded as a strong city full of thriving Fortune 500 companies, intelligent tech professionals, and soulful entrepreneurial spirit, Chicago has struggled in recent years to compete with New York or the Valley to attract high level venture capitalist funds. But, hindsight is 20/20.

The process is slow, but rewarding. While investors maybe more apt to push their money to the coasts, they need look no further than the Windy City to see a city on the verge of technological explosion. Chicago is a port for start ups who, like the rest of the city, are ready to work hard and fight for every inch. You want to see a tough nosed tech company? A company that will make strides through hard work, innovation, and persistence? A company that will succeed despite doubt and destitute?

The answer isn’t on the fluffy West Coast. They are past their prime, and Chicago is in prime position to flex its big shoulders and muscle its way to the top. But, as I believe the phrase goes, “It’s a long way to the top…”, Chicago has some work to do. But it is going to rock ‘n’ roll, in time.

Freshwater Venture catalogues and details many of the different tech start up companies throughout the Chicago scene. Check out the site and you will see an extensive list of different companies. Despite any dismay that investors have against Chicago’s ability to be sustainable, Freshwater details the success and intricacies of countless different companies. The site acts as a digital gatekeeper for start up info. It is a great resource to supply information to an investor about how strong the community can be.

So, for Chicago to make a name for itself in the tech community, it needs to depend on its rich start up culture community. The Syncubator fund realizes this. In order for a plant to grow, you water it, you feed it. Sure, this requires resources and time, but when the plant matures, it yields seeds which are used to play and cultivate further fruits. This is the beauty of what the Syncubator fund is encouraging. Tech companies will grow together in baby steps, trying furiously to meet with Chicago tech giants like Groupon, Orbitz, and Apartments.com. But those are the starting blocks, the defining companies that kick off the tech revolution in the midwest. These companies give hope to smaller companies like Mix Media Solutions to flourish and grow into a new digital age.

Continued collaboration is needed for the start up communities to create an incubator environment throughout the entire city. Chicago is building upon this, as new technology builds upon its self in a collaborative environment. Quoting Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, “The way a great technology culture evolves is that companies get big, start to suck, and then people leave to start their own ideas.” And he’s right. The only thing he leaves out (other than turning his back on Chicago for a cushy Palo Alto office), is that even when though those individuals leave their companies, they still rely on past coworkers and employers for support. That’s how he got the big check to fund his start up. Let’s try to keep the irony in post-modern literature, ok?

The roots are in place here in Chicago. It’s true that the roots have to dig a little deeper than in other cities. But when things grow in Chicago, they grow to stand the test of time. And they don’t look back. Their growth is stable, real, and worth millions.

By definition, a start up company has the ability to literally start up anywhere. With a good idea and clever innovation, nothing can turn into something, and something can turn into millions. Previous schools of thought put a lot of pressure to keep technological innovation in a champion like Silicon Valley. But the times they are a changing.

With each day that passes, our current understanding of culture and technology surpasses our old understanding. What we thought we knew about the growing technology sector is evolving. It is slow, but it is evolving .And in the stronghold of the evolution is the budding Chicago Tech community.

Regarded as a strong city full of thriving Fortune 500 companies, intelligent tech professionals, and soulful entrepreneurial spirit, Chicago has struggled in recent years to compete with New York or the Valley to attract high level venture capitalist funds. But, hindsight is 20/20.

The process is slow, but rewarding. While investors maybe more apt to push their money to the coasts, they need look no further than the Windy City to see a city on the verge of technological explosion. Chicago is a port for start ups who, like the rest of the city, are ready to work hard and fight for every inch. You want to see a tough nosed tech company? A company that will make strides through hard work, innovation, and persistence? A company that will succeed despite doubt and destitute?

The answer isn’t on the fluffy West Coast. They are past their prime, and Chicago is in prime position to flex its big shoulders and muscle its way to the top. But, as I believe the phrase goes, “It’s a long way to the top…”, Chicago has some work to do. But it is going to rock ‘n’ roll, in time.

Freshwater Venture catalogues and details many of the different tech start up companies throughout the Chicago scene. Check out the site and you will see an extensive list of different companies. Despite any dismay that investors have against Chicago’s ability to be sustainable, Freshwater details the success and intricacies of countless different companies. The site acts as a digital gatekeeper for start up info. It is a great resource to supply information to an investor about how strong the community can be.

So, for Chicago to make a name for itself in the tech community, it needs to depend on its rich start up culture community. The Syncubator fund realizes this. In order for a plant to grow, you water it, you feed it. Sure, this requires resources and time, but when the plant matures, it yields seeds which are used to play and cultivate further fruits. This is the beauty of what the Syncubator fund is encouraging. Tech companies will grow together in baby steps, trying furiously to meet with Chicago tech giants like Groupon, Orbitz, and Apartments.com. But those are the starting blocks, the defining companies that kick off the tech revolution in the midwest. These companies give hope to smaller companies like Mix Media Solutions to flourish and grow into a new digital age.

Continued collaboration is needed for the start up communities to create an incubator environment throughout the entire city. Chicago is building upon this, as new technology builds upon its self in a collaborative environment. Quoting Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, “The way a great technology culture evolves is that companies get big, start to suck, and then people leave to start their own ideas.” And he’s right. The only thing he leaves out (other than turning his back on Chicago for a cushy Palo Alto office), is that even when though those individuals leave their companies, they still rely on past coworkers and employers for support. That’s how he got the big check to fund his start up. Let’s try to keep the irony in post-modern literature, ok?

The roots are in place here in Chicago. It’s true that the roots have to dig a little deeper than in other cities. But when things grow in Chicago, they grow to stand the test of time. And they don’t look back. Their growth is stable, real, and worth millions

This gave way to a world filled with AIM, Myspace, and cheaply organized search engines. As the world surged with overpopulation, so did the world wide web. No longer was humanity limited to who they could meet at a bar, or what they could read in a newspaper. Nor were they limited to who would listen to their nonsensical rants or torrid tales of conquest and debauchery. Sites let people reach out and touch new ears that they couldn’t reach before.

Evolution, my friends, has proven to be the most influential launching pad for the growing life force of the digital world. Today, we are swamped, nay, overwhelmed with digital outlets to connect to others. In the beginning, it was all fun and games. Finding codes for NBA Jam, or movie times, or chatting with friends in a chat room. But no more.

The internet today is only the belly of the beast. The ways in which we connect; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, You Tube, and Skype, are soon to be distant memories. It’s true that these sites have taken the idea that a site can reach new ears and found a way to multiple the influence, but try hard to remember your past go to’s. Xanga, Livejournal,or some other community based rant site. Do you still use them? I doubt it. I try to log-in to my Xanga just for the heck of it, but there just is no reason. The site is like a ghost town. It doesn’t offer users the ability to branch out, limiting the ripple affect of digital influence. And, in the vein of this, I have many friends that have either jumped ship from Facebook, or are already planning on life after Facebook.

And that brings up an interesting question. What will life after Facebook be like? Surely the sites (Facebook, in particular), won’t be around forever, right? Luckily for many of the hip and posh web 2.0 social sites, businesses have stepped in and have taken a commanding grasp of usage. As business is all about connections, these outlets offer a superb ability to connect to people. And connecting people will never go out of style. Many companies have taken the opportunity to ride the successes of these burgeoning social network sites and have applied them to connecting with clients, customers, and other interested parties. But riding on this coattail will only last for so long. Companies must be able to measure their influence on a marketable level.

In light of this, Fast Company has started an Influence Project. Essentially, Fast Company is attempting to measure the force at which one can have in the digital influence avenue. Check it out, it is pretty neat. They measure and monitor the connections made through individuals through the site. The results are displayed on a panoramic photo mural. The bigger the photo, the bigger the influence.

In fact, the project has grown with leaps and bounds since its inception, and as a result, is experiencing site overload as we speak. The amount of users has proven that affect that digital influence can have (as otherwise the site would be a bust). But this is only a measuring force, another cool tool in the pocket of web junkies. In order to really appreciate the influence, you have to apply it to practical business methods. Sites like Last.fm have really taken advantage of this, and increased their affluence and influence in the music world by incorporating both a common need (music) and a common practice (connecting with users). By mixing a simple site with digital elements, the company is able to influence their brand product onto the world. The idea is to combine your digital influence by connecting in new ways.

An even better example of this is the current Old Spice campaign. While the product itself has taken the back burner to the flamboyantly macho Isaiah Mustafa, the campaign has opened up a Pandora’s box of questions about digital influence. Previously, a company could only do so much to spread the word about their product. Connections could only be skin deep. But, by mixing a creative brand character with a catchy concept, they have spread the influence of their product upon millions of fresh ears. New connections by using old tools in new ways.

Capitalizing by using Youtube and Twitter, the campaign has launched itself into a new stratosphere. And while their Facebook pages, Twitter followers, and Youtube subscriptions have gone through the roof, the real successful will come when the campaign helps slumping sales.
And that is the greatest lesson a business can learn. To create an authentic campaign that capitalizes on both the evolution of the internet and the possibility of their own influence, they can connect with new users across the world. Many times, a business cannot do this on their own, and a diversified digital media powerhouse like Mix Media Solutions LLC is needed to assist in development, creation, and deployment of original and successful campaigns.

Having a reach of influence is one thing, but we can not always rely on the ways of the past to connect to people. The future is about pushing the envelope, and the most successful companies in the future will be the ones that push it before others even know what it is.

Don’t forget to check out Fast Company’s Influence Project

During the Great Depression, industries, businesses and stocks all plummeted into oblivion. But, in the same breath, many thrived. Where there is money to be lost, there is money to be gained. And in the face of the greatest disaster, industries including travel, pharmacy, and entertainment thrived and flourished.

What key united them? One element has always bridged the past and the future, and that’s technology. The increase in technology, allowing for better products to be manufactured quicker, proved helpful to produce a sense of utility and usefulness throughout the 1930s.

If that isn’t enough, just look at the following companies as examples. GE, Disney, HP and Microsoft. Each of these companies have something in common. The answer is simple, although it was hard to swallow for millions. The uniting factor was that each of these companies was a start-up during different inclement economical times in US history. GE was founded during the recession of 1873, Disney during the 1923 recession, HP during the Great Depression and Microsoft during the recession of 1975.

Technology has always done well in the face of adversity, and our current economic struggles are no exception. While consumer spending has fallen sharply, it has also created a shift in spending. Despite consumers keeping their money in their own pocketbooks, both Apple’s, iPhone and iPad sold in record numbers. Both products are not easy on the wallet, but sold in the millions during the maiden launches. Consumer spending has increased with creation of better products and new ideas.

This paradigm suggests that technology is becoming more than just a physical commodity. No longer are consumers buying something tangible, but they are buying idyllic objects. The Internet is evolving into a corporate marketplace, capable of offering more than just singular products.

Take for example the recent news over the potential buy out of the young, location-based social networking site company, Foursquare. With close to 2 million active users, Foursquare has become a social media hot spot and a staple amongst savvy users. Jumping on the bandwagon,Yahoo! Inc., has reportedly offered to buy out the company for $125 million. The buy out would standout against all the headlines of business failure, and act as resounding good news. But a transaction of this magnitude is surely not typical for an ailing economy, is it?

While it is true that more than a handful of companies in the tech industry have had to close their doors due to slumping performance, their failures have opened the door for new companies to make a push to better the world’s technologies.

In the vein of Microsoft and Disney, Mix Media Solutions has stepped into the world of media and technology with fervor under its wings. As young companies look to do right by the tech world, they are supplying new ideas for new generations. These ideas are sponsored by the advances of the past, but they flourish by providing new answers to old problems. New solutions are the wave of the future, and young start-ups offer the greatest potential for pushing business over the hump. Start-ups like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are all shinning examples of providing the world with a technological solution to a common misunderstood problem. The future of technology is only getting brighter, but it is up to young companies like Mix Media to offer solutions that can help business increase their audiences and range, while cutting overhead and streamlining business solutions.

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But, as business progresses beyond the normal understanding of ethical practices, it is important to keep your clients and customers in mind. By simply trying to get the two properties to play nice, the goal of branding is often forgotten. And the goal is customer retention and satisfaction. So, what is the sole key to unlocking the mystery of branding? It isn’t a logo, or a name, or a tag-line. Although those assets are necessary and help. Branding has to be an identity defining your company.

Take Apple for example. Apple struggled throughout the 90′s and the early parts of the 21st century. Being known for computers, Steve Jobs had to alter the brand of Apple beyond simply that concept. Today, Apple has become a conglomerate brand cornering markets ranging from computers to music. While superior products attributed to their rise to success, unifying their elements into one brand took them one step further.

And, much like any other company, branding puts one unified idea in the forefront for competition. The problem lies with companies who struggle to understand their own identity. Particularly as customers transition from the physical environment to a digital one. The answer doesn’t lie in moving time and effort away from the physical into the digital, or keeping them separate. Rather, creating a storefront for your business while stripping away tags such as print edition, or web edition, or online from in front of your product.

Unification is the key. Taking all of your eggs and putting them into one basket. By unifying your efforts under one umbrella, your costumers are able to differentiate you from the competition. They are able to understand your business model and see everything in an organized fashion. This in turn allows you to build your products upon each other. Your social media platform adds flavor to your main webpage. Your main webpage adds residual value to your print or physical assets, which add traffic to your media assets. The cycle revolves around itself, but is very unstable when the entity attempts to stand on its own.

Mix Media is at a unique perspective to understand and offer key solutions to problems that companies may have (or may not even know they have). By developing strategies that involve incorporating a variety of web 2.0 solutions, a company can reach a far great audience. However, simply putting your company out on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn isn’t good enough. You company has to build an identity and be an entity all its on. The most beneficial information has to be readily available at any time, but has to be accessible in a manner that draws in customers. When a company exists as a brand, as more than a product, or a slew of products, it exists as a solution. And in our modern business world, solutions are all that stand between problems and failures.

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Enter co-working.

A brash idea that is a far cry from the straight-laced, suit wearing work days that modern America was built upon, co-working offers a unified solution to both what the mounting problems of a burgeoning technological world, and a starved economy have to offer. The idea is simple, and in its simplicity, brilliant.

Step one: take a giant workspace, and open its doors to smaller companies. Companies, like plants, need time and room to grow. They need the right mix of elements and the right environment. In the same regard, a business can benefit from an incubation phase. By opening the doors and rubbing elbows with new businesses, a company can learn from the successes and pitfalls of their co-workers, and leverage these experiences for their own gain.

Step two: use and reserve resources. As a co-working environment excels by combining and unifying a workspace, smaller companies can expect to lower costs on office rental, as well as equipment rental. Often, incubator companies will utilize one computer network, one phone network, and even one receptionist. These days, success is all about using your money wisely, not hiding it in your basement, and co-working offers a strategy based solution to lowering costs while increasing exposure.

Step three: mingle, network, connect, and succeed. The baby stages of a new company are a great opportunity for key players in a business to learn from everyone around them. And, while co-working offers the chance to meet new people, it also offers the opportunity to meet people whose direct skills can help your company. Whether it be computers, video production, or a mixed media approach, a co-working environment will pair you with like minded people who have transferable skills. Obviously it pays to be flexible in this type of work environment, but it can help score points beyond what any LinkedIn group or Twitter account can do for your network.

See. Simplicity in ingenuity.

The whole concept teeters on the idea that there is always someone out there that knows more, and can help you. It is like the symbiotic relationship between animals on the Savannah (or like Eddie Brock and the alien organism that turns Brock into Venom in Spider-Man). One hand washes the other, and steel sharpens itself. The metaphors can continue into the dawn, but the point is working in a unified group setting pays off. Simple as that.

Here at the Sync Technology Center, in Downtown Chicago, Mix Media Solutions has a golden opportunity to take advantage of the incubator process, or as it is being called, the Syncubator. The Sync Technology center will act as a hub for the booming tech industry in Chicago, and Mix Media is in the middle of it. Offering solutions for company branding, production, and development, Mix Media will directly benefit from being surrounded by the similar young tech companies that are flocking at the opportunity to grow within the center. Taking advantage of the opportunities that will incubate from the Sync center will be easy.

But, launching and sustaining a business IS hard work. In general, a company has to be flexible, reacting to the turbulent waves of the economy, while be proactive to advantageous situations that appear without warning. There is a greater ease between what can be accomplished and what will be accomplished for a company put into a situation that incubates ideas. These ideas are given more time to flourish, and better tools to reap with.

Exploiting this is the key. And, when done correctly, opens up a Pandora’s box of potential for growth and exposure. Collaboration becomes apparent in every day of working, giving birth to new skills, while producing a sense of community and teamwork. But, like any other situation in life, being open minded and accepting is the best way to fully absorb advice and new business strategies. The old adage goes, “to be the best, surround yourself with the best.” And what a way to reap the benefits of cost effective work spaces than to surround yourself with like-minded, goal orientated individuals.

In business, everyone is in the same boat, whether your struggling or successful. Co-working helps keep it that way.

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