In 2007, two ambitious entrepreneurs built TechNexus Venture Collaborative in the city of Chicago. TechNexus was founded to help entrepreneurs and leading corporations grow together. Over the years, we have partnered with hundreds of startups to help put them on the map. Thanks to the bold vision of the founders, Fred Hoch and Terry Howerton, over 450 startups have flourished and created thousands of job opportunities.
As TechNexus continued to flourish, a realization emerged – there was room for more. The focus on collaboration was strong, but there was a desire to offer companies not just a collaborative environment, but a place to call home. 13 years later, TeamWorking was born. TeamWorking embodies an evolved approach, putting collaboration and innovation at its core. It’s not just about shared office space; it’s about creating a nurturing ecosystem where businesses can thrive.
At TeamWorking, companies not only have a place to work as a team but there are opportunities for collaboration across industries. In a general sense, collaboration is a process where individuals, groups, or organizations join forces to achieve shared tasks or goals. To get a better understanding of what collaboration means at TeamWorking, we asked a few of our team members to give us their definitions. Carl Kutsmode, Senior Vice President at Viaduct, says, “Collaboration in my view is a community that embraces helping each other to grow their businesses by providing a platform and culture where people are encouraged to share resources, events, advice, and yes or promote each other’s services.” At TeamWorking, we have created a community that helps foster mutually beneficial relationships between companies. Cross-industry collaboration is important because it brings together diverse expertise from different sectors, fostering innovation, problem-solving, and new opportunities. It generates outcomes that companies might not achieve on their own.
Dwight Koop, CFO at Cohesive Networks, had a different perspective on collaboration. He says, “At least in our world of software innovation TeamWorking is a focused community that mildly forces entrepreneurs to meet and discover common interests and abilities, which later lead to trust and collaboration. By ‘mildly forcing’ I mean getting members to walk away from their keyboards, and actually meet 3D-F2F. First encounters between entrepreneurs can turn into one-upmanship contests without guidance to keep the conversation on track. That is the key role TeamWorking and Technexus play leveraging the synergy of their two business models.”
At TeamWorking, collaboration is a way of life. In a world where industries increasingly intersect and innovation knows no bounds, TeamWorking serves as a testament to the power of unity, innovation, and growth.