TECH cocktail has gained a reputation as the party for the Chicago technology community, and last night’s affair did not disappoint.

Returning for round three of the TECH Cocktail series, Eric Olson and Frank Gruber continued their tour de force. (Check out their pre-TC3 podcast.) The number of presenters increased, but it was the number of attendees that truly impressed. The unofficial count stands a bit north of 500, something for anyone in Chicago technology to be excited about.

The Scene

Photo courtesy of Jeff O’Hara

Keenly aware of the TECH cocktail’s growing popularity, WindyBits arrived fashionably on time, just past 6:30, and found the NBC Tower’s Amira already packed. SingleHop, one of the event’s principal sponsors, decked out the joint with ice sculptures of frogs and neon appletinis. Not only did the frogs provide decoration, they were also functional; the bartenders poured the drinks through the ice to cool them off. Served in a neon green martini glass, the glow-in-the-dark drinks scattered throughout the room gave the feel of rave to the event (minus the ecstasy and pacifiers). Matt Wolff (see his blog) of SingleHop/midPhase pulled off another good one.

The event was split into two rooms: a larger room with the ice sculptures, the bar, and as one might expect, most of the people. Women clad in white Singlehop tees roamed the room with huge bowls of green gumballs. Yes, gumballs. They weren’t too bad. The law firm of Handler, Thayer & Duggan gave away a trip to Vegas, creatively accomplished by a combination of business cards and roulette. WindyBits advanced to the final round and pinned our hopes on 22, but it was not to be. Moshe Yudkowsky of Disaggregate hit 26 and took home the prize. He also publishes KosherWineReview.com, and we expect him to make friends at the casinos with some meshuval wine.

Adjacent to the main room was the demo room, where about 10 companies showed off their (soft)wares. It was quieter here and the conversation was a bit more serious. The gumball girls stayed away, and we had a chance to meet some of the most interesting people of the night.

Name Dropping

A key aspect of the TECH Cocktail gatherings is the balanced backgrounds of the attendees. Here is a small sampling of the people WindyBits spoke with last night:

• Kirk Wolfe (MK Capital, a venture firm in Northbrook, IL)
  • MK Capital has recently invested in three Chicagoland companies. We’re happy to see a Chicago venture firm investing locally.
• John Li (Menuism.com, a food review site based in Chicago with a nationwide focus)
  • If you haven’t heard of them before, you’re hearing it from us now. This idea is hot. Expect a complete business and team profile in the near future.
• Aaron Everson (Jellyfish, a comparison shopping engine from Madison, WI)
  • Jellyfish are out-of-towners, marking the increasing reach of the TECH cocktail events. Eric Olson recommended the demo of their “Smack Shopping™” feature. We recommend it, too.
• Ted Kasten (pre-launch personalized fantasy sports search service from Chicago, IL)
  • No site yet. But he has domain experience, energy, and is looking hard to build a team.
• Julian Pretto (CDW, hardware, software, and services sales and consulting, Vernon Hills, IL)
  • Great to see people from established, successful companies working the TECH Cocktail crowds.
• Mark Scheffler (BusinessPOV video website)
  • We are regular viewers of BusinessPOV and were excited to meet the man behind the site. If you haven’t sampled the site, you need to; it’s the best execution of video journalism we’ve seen on the Web.

Local and semi-local, big and small, TECH Cocktail pulls them together. We missed the presence of Frank Gruber, the casualty of a flight cancellation (damn you, O’Hare!), but we thank Eric and him for their efforts.

A Final Word

Thank you, TECH Cocktail attendees, for your encouragement and support. We’re looking forward to profiling many of your companies, incorporating your advice on our site and service, and keeping the rest of you informed until we see you again.

UPDATE: See the TC3 photos on Flickr. They’re tagged with “techcocktail3.”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 8:47 am and is filed under Articles. Both comments and pings are currently closed.