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New product innovations forged by startups and small businesses are being replicated by corporations every day in the US and all over the world. Here’s how it usually plays out. A large company stumbles across an innovation that would work well for their business. Sometimes, they’ll sniff around the small business owner and show some interest in what they’re doing, then turn around and launch a strikingly similar product into the market without any hint of concern.  And it’s happening even […]

Investors in Blue Apron were left feeling, kind of, blue on Thursday (August 2nd) as the company reported disappointing results and the stock fell by 20%. Blue Apron shares (Friday $1.83) have lost about half their value since the beginning of 2018 and more than two-thirds of their value from a year ago, when they traded at $6.37. Ouch! Subscription meal kits have been the investors favorite a while back, but things will change swiftly as revenues start lagging. Blue Apron’s […]

We are going to answer a different way: is it worth investing in them? At this point a simple NO is the answer. We (@ Startup Port) have helped few startups in this filed (ready meal kits, grocery delivery, food and meal selection, nutritional discovery, etc…) and have a very deep dive and solid data in this field. We also work on both sides of the table, as investors and startup operating advisors. So instead of answering if this segment […]

It is important for startups or established companies to “find the best fishing pond” and target the best possible options to increase traction (sales, promotion and connections) and the city where trade and industry conventions are made is of great importance. Chicago with it’s many convention centers and world renown McCormick Place should be on your list! Chicago holding steady at No. 3 among top convention cities Jul 26, 2018 McCormick Place remains Chicago’s largest venue for conventions and meetings […]

Don’t fall short. Many don’t plan for retirement.  The best age to start saving for retirement  is 30   Here is an online book that can help in your early planning stages.  Gives you a general idea of financial planning across the board. This is not by all means the only resource you have, please make sure that you surround yourselves with subject matter experts in all the fields related to your financial success. And make sure that you select a […]

The power of doing nothing at all. Making time in your life to do nothing can be challenging — especially during the work week where we are constantly pummeled and bombarded with meetings, notifications and an ever growing list of tasks. Busy founders have started implementing “Think Weeks” into their annual schedules — week long periods they spend reflecting, reading, thinking and living outside the all-encapsulating world that is running a business. “The power of doing nothing at all” by Aytekin Tank as posted […]

Study of 2.7 Million Startups Found the Ideal Age to Start a Business (and It’s Much Older Than You Think) If you’re in your 40s or 50s, you might think it’s too late to start a business. Wrong: It’s actually the perfect time. By Jeff HadenContributing editor, Inc.@jeff_haden If you’re in your 30s or 40s (or even 50s) and you believe conventional wisdom, you might think the entrepreneurial train has passed you by and it’s too late to start your […]

Way before Blockbuster there was Erol’s (Erol Video Club) Erol’s can refer to any of three companies, all founded by Erol Onaran, a Turkish immigrant to Virginia. Erol Onaran we the original Video King! In 1960, Erol Onaran left Turkey with $32 in his pocket. Having spent half that sum in Rome, the television repairman arrived in the United States with only $16. In 25 years from his arrival, Onaran had single handedly parlayed his $16 into a multi-million-dollar enterprise […]

Hot off the press (July 11, 2018) 100 Chicago startups raised $751 M in the first half of 2018 $58 billion: That’s the number of venture capital dollars invested in 3,912 companies across the U.S. so far in 2018, according to VC and M&A database Pitchbook. In the Chicagoland area specifically, more than $751 million was invested across 100 deals so far this year, though Q2 was slower than Q1. Only 36 companies received funding in Q2, compared to 64 […]

Great advice from Steve Blank on how to ask for their advice and how to manage expectations. It is for sure that startups need to have a great lawyer, smart accountant, and an intuitive patent attorney. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. “Why Lawyers Don’t Run Startups” by Steve Blank https://thinkgrowth.org/why-lawyers-dont-run-startups-25c5e0c877ed […]