Hanging in Chicago

I just got back from a quick trip to the beautiful city of Chicago. I was back again this year as a judge for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards. It was very exciting to walk around Grant Park the day after American history was made with the election of Barack Obama, the energy was evident.

I spent the bulk of Wednesday afternoon re-exploring the city with my friend Fraser Doherty of the Scottish company SuperJam. We hit up Ed Debevics for lunch, smoked old-man pipes while getting our shoes shined by an ethusiastic scam artist, and everything in between.

That evening the judges, student competitors, and various entreprenuers were invited to Bill Farley's lovely Beaux-Arts residence for some good old stories and networking. Mr. Farley is a business icon who ran a couple multi-billion dollar enterprises and is also Oprah's neighbor. I had the great opportunity of meeting Bill Farley, talking with Robert Kiyosaki, and swapping cards with other ambitious entrepreneurs.

On Thursday, I judged a bunch of incredible presentations from the best student entrepreneurs around. After that, I talked with a couple friends, old and new, and headed to Midway for my flight back home. All in all, my trip to the "Windy City" was wonderful and I can't wait to go back.