The Windy City has a thriving startup scene. There are about 2720 Chicago-based startups that are hiring on AngelList. Retaining that talent, however, is another matter: as the Chicago Tribune reported in October 2015, while Chicago is good at growing vibrant individuals with good ideas, it has difficulty keeping them. Many people who begin in the startup scene in Chicago end up going on to other ventures in hubs like Silicon Valley, Boston, or New York.
"We have a natural talent drain," Chicago-based entrepreneur and philanthropist J.B. Pritzker, managing partner of the investment firm Pritzker Group, told the Tribune. "We develop a lot of talent in Illinois, and the question is how much do you have available to that talent to absorb them into your economy, and how much of that talent needs to get up and leave because opportunity exists elsewhere?"
