I'll start out by saying this concept was not my idea. I give all credit to Dave Blanchard, a chicago based entrepreneur and business designer for IDEO who sparked this idea in my mind. He offered this simple nugget of wisdom on Twitter and I've been thinking about it ever since:

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On Tuesday, I was invited to visit Excelerate Labs, Chicago's new startup incubator. They are just getting started with their first class, and I spent part of my day hanging with Sam Yagan and Brian Luerssen, who are overseeing the program, as well as with 5 teams. It was a joy and a privilege.

As most know, I recently left Chicago to move to San Francisco. I left for two main reasons. First, I didn't feel like the city offered me the type of opportunity I needed to move my entrepreneurial career forward. We also wanted to move to a city with nicer weather. I didn't find the Chicago winters "charming" enough.

That said, Chicago is still one of the most amazing places I ever lived and one of my favorite cities in the world. The food, architecture, community, parks, events, schools, and culture are some of the best on the planet. And the cost of living is incredibly reasonable.  

But it has always lacked an startup environment found in places like the Bay Area, Boston, Boulder, New York, and Seattle. But that's changing, and it's programs like Excelerate (and the recently launched Lightbank fund) that are going to make the startup community world class as well. And even though I've chosen a different home, I want to do anything I can to help it get there. Meeting with some teams to give advice was one small contribution.

I was blown away at the quality of the teams I met with at Excelerate. I knew they would be great because 10 teams were selected out of almost 400 who applied. But they were working on very compelling ideas ranging broadly in market and scale.

• FanGo is going to make ordering food at stadiums insanely convenient for sports fans, and more efficient and profitable for venue owners and concession companies. They already have proven that they can raise the average transaction value over 50%.
• GiveForward is going to help people who need to raise money from friends for medical bills and other personal costs simple. Over $1.5 million has already been raised in the first year.
• EduLender is going to help incoming college students shopping for student loans find the lowest interest rates and save tons of money. They've already built a compelling, "why wouldn't you use it" product.
• Noblivity is going to make it absurdly simple for boutique owners to find and buy from new and inspiring small designer brands that fit their boutiques' style and level of quality. They already have over 1000 boutiques signed up.
• MathZee is going to make compelling, educational games for kids that are more engaging for kids than anything on the market. They've already focus tested their alpha product and proven kids stay focused on learning through their software over 300% longer than market leading products.

These companies are going to accomplish these goals if they can execute well. And that's exactly why they're lucky to be part of an incubator that taps the brightest entrepreneurial minds in Chicago for advice. Programs like Excelerate Labs are the new graduate school, an insight i credit 100% to Dave Blanchard (another brilliant chicago entrepreneur). If they execute well, they'll get funded (if they want to be), and have a shot to change the world.

Go Chicago. Make all of us former residents regret ever leaving.