1871 ScaleUp
Where Growth and Late-Stage Tech Founders and Leaders Convene to Level Up.
ScaleUp is back for its 10th year. This isn’t just another tech conference. It’s a high-impact, half-day immersion designed for those in the thick of scaling teams, products, operations. We’re moving past the surface level to tackle the critical inflection points of the scale-up journey.
Agenda
Featured Keynote
Mike Lazerow is a serial founder, visionary early-stage investor, and New York Times bestselling author with a long-standing reputation for building, scaling, and backing successful companies. Over the past three decades, he and his wife, Kass, have launched and scaled multiple ventures, including Buddy Media, acquired by Salesforce for $745 million in 2012, and golf.com, acquired by Time Warner in 2006.
As an investor, Mike has backed more than 100 startups, including breakout successes like Scopely (acquired for $5 billion in 2023) and Liquid Death. Collectively, the companies he has cofounded and provided early-stage capital to have generated more than $10 billion in realized returns. Today, he owns and operates a growing portfolio of companies across venture capital, healthcare, executive recruiting, and sports.
Mike and his wife’s debut book, Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story About the Entrepreneur’s Messy Path to Success, became an instant bestseller, landing on the New York Times, USA Today, and LA Times bestseller lists and winning the National Non-Fiction Book Award for its honest look at what it really takes to build a business.
Where
Who Should Attend
If you are responsible for driving growth and managing complexity, this is for you:
Growth-Stage Founders: Navigating the transition from startup to scale-up.
Late-Stage Scalers: Optimizing systems and expanding market reach.
Corporate Innovators: Bringing an entrepreneurial edge to established organizations.
Team Leaders: Developing the leadership grit to manage high-performing teams.
Why Attend
Candid Conversations: Go beyond the highlight reel with behind-the-scenes conversations. Unpack the actual decisions that shaped breakout companies.
Direct Expert Access: Solve your scaling hurdles at Networking Tables. Meet with Experts-in-Residence and Mentors to get tailored support.
Growth through Community: Strengthen your ties within the Chicago tech community - founders, leaders, investors.
Attendance for ScaleUp is acceptance based only. We are intentionally curating the room to include growth-stage founders, late-stage scalers, and key ecosystem operators.
1871 Members: FREE (email [email protected] for your access code) Priority acceptance for 1871 Members.
Request to attend.