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Midwest tech where are you?

7 points by donnington ↗ HN
I live in the Midwest (SW Ohio...) and I need to meet some like-minded folks. Where are some people to connect with? I live in the center of the country. You can't imagine how desperate I am to connect like minded folks.

7 comments

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rman666
Milwaukee (Wisconsin) has a thriving tech startup community! Check out Startup Milwaukee at http://www.startupmke.org and the recent Startup Weekend Milwaukee at http://milwaukee.startupweekend.org (which was a great success).

Madison (Wisconsin) also has a great tech startup community. Check out Capital Entrepreneurs at http://www.capitalentreprenuers.com.

Also, check out http://www.builtinchicago.org/

And, http://www.gener8tor.com/.

Where's Midwest tech? Just about everywhere. Just Google it!

binaryatrocity
I live in Milwaukee and had not heard about StartupMilwaukee, thanks for the linkage!
michaelbuddy
wish you luck. Check in with the local chamber of commerce, see what they have to say. Lot's of governmetn agencies and websites have good information even though you don't expect it.

does everyone say ohio is midwest? Because it's fairly north east and on the eastern time zone.

rdtsc
I guess it is the attitude and the culture maybe. It is closer to midwest than to the east coast. Add a little mix in of the fun from the south from Kentucky.
garrickvanburen
If you're able to get as far west as Minnesota: http://http://minnestar.org

Fantastic MinneDemo just last week - a handful of hardware startups, some apps, but mostly web. MSP is full of great tech communities.

rdtsc
Cincinnati?

Forgetaboutit. The job offers you'll receive will tear your soul appart and will make you question your abilities and sanity.

There is pushing paper and bits at P&G, soulless jobs at 5/3 bank await you. Swing by Lexis Nexis in Dayton they'll teach you to translate court records in strange formats using their own home grown language (that you not find any use for outside of those walls) to be added to their mainframes. They didn't want me apparently because I wasn't robotic enough and objected to coming in on Saturdays if they need me.

It is just not a tech area. I've been there and the best advice is to just leave. Pick a coast, or some people suggest Chicago, Minnesota if you want something closer. Heck Texas is better too.

Sorry to be negative but I've been there and the best advice I got was to leave and it worked out pretty well.

DanielN
http://www.siliconprairienews.com/ is a good starting point. KC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, Madison, Detroit and Omaha all have great tight knit entrepreneurial communities, as do most of the college towns in the midwest.

I guarantee you there is at least one thriving developer meetup in your area.

Also, it has already happened this year but checkout http://cincinnati.startupweekend.org/ and other startup weekend events in cities near you. They are a great way to meet fellow entrepreneurs and hackers.