Entrepreneurs Unplugged Pitch Event 6/18/2013

Another great event in the Chicago startup world last night. This one featured two companies trying to healthify you and your children's life through two completely different means.










First up was Julie Bashkin of  Klutch Club. Her company sends you health wellness and personal care boxes in the mail. The boxes come with a range of new healthy products and her passion was really in finding the small innovators in the healthy food business and helping these new companies grow their brands through her box distribution.











Following Julie was Chris Conn of MightyNest. I've hear Chris speak several times before at Kellogg events, but his stories and passion are always great. His major point of the night was "There is no reason to wait for your 'LIFE IS SHORT!' moment to start living" He spoke of how his children were the true passion behind his business and then gave several very insightful tips about how to work with a spouse as a cofounder. The most important was work stays at work, that is no talking about it at home. But back to his healthy company. The company sells safe natural and good products to be around children and adults. They are basically healthifying Bed Bath and Beyond.

The new office!

Today was Healthify's first day in the new office! We got in early, 10am is early for the startup word...And got a tour of our new home at Enerspace! First impression? Love it! The place has many great features for a startup like us. First of all they have their own yoga studio! Right in the office area!

We will definitely be using the space for our instructors to practice our new version of office yoga and other on site fitness activities. Best part of this coworking space is that they have their own changing rooms and a "spa-like shower." This is perfect for those of us that have given up on early morning workouts (read burned myself out in college swimming at 5am) and like to go for a mid afternoon jog.

Also there are a bunch of great lunch places right around the corner. Today we hit up an italian sub shop around that had this monstrosity sitting on their counter. While we considered purchasing the 10 lb cannoli, and it would have been mighty tasty, it didn't really seem to fit with the motto of our company, "Building a healthier, more productive workplace today" 

After work we have another great event through Entrepreneurs Unplugged. It should be fun to hear the founder of KlutchClub speak and hopefully we can work out some new partnerships! #makingmoves

Founders Institute Graduation

Great event tonight watching the Founders Institute(FI) graduation. The night kicked off with a good description of how FI guides entrepreneurs and their young companies from idea formation into launch. The Keynote speaker,  adjunct professor Howard Tullman at Kellogg, had some great points about being successful in this space. I will have to take a class from him next semester!

His first major points were on why concepts fail, with the most pivotal being they simply fail to meet customers needs! This is why we also focus on customer discovery first and then build the company around what the customer wants.

After this he went into getting the "Yes" from investors. The major point of this part of the presentation was that your team is very important. You need to surround yourself with successful people and find a way to motivate them through strong leadership.

After the Keynote we moved onto the pitches and were able to hear our own Colleen pitch the Healthify idea!

Overall the night was a great look into the future of some fantastic Chicago based startup companies.

Healthy Vacation Eating

It's always tough to stay healthy on vacation. This past weekend was no different for me as I visited my grandparents house down in Florida. Here are 3 tips to help you along the way!

1. Grab some fresh summer fruit!

There are few things as delicious and refreshing as watermelon on a hot summer day by the pool or beach. Grab a chunk, slice it up and bring it outside for all your friends to enjoy. It is a perfect substitute for that extra cookie or cupcake, and is definitely more refreshing!

2. Go for a walk on the beach. In the hot summer sun, you'll be burn more calories just walking around and sweating because you aren't used to this type of weather. I know I was melting as soon as I stepped outside, silly Chicago weather does not prepare you for Florida... On your walk be sure to take a lot of water! Dasani is always a good choice!

3. Try something new! If you're by the ocean, why not get some fresh seafood? At a local restaurant for lunch we avoided those deliciously mile high stacked nachos and instead got some fresh shrimp. Seafood is always a good choice

Keep it Simple: The Freezer

A guest post from our friends over at ELM Street Nutrition!

Life gets pretty busy these days, it’s true. Have no fear, a jam packed schedule need not sabotage your diet. ELM Street Nutrition will arm you with the most effective tools & tricks in the kitchen to enjoy a tasty and wholesome meal within 30 minutes from prep to table.

One first piece of advice: make use of your freezer. Think beyond processed frozen foods and ice cream here (no shame). Instead, maintain a freezer stocked with frozen produce and proteins to be assembled into satisfying meals and snacks in a jiffy.

Added bonuses for frozen produce in particular?

1). Cut down on waste! You don't have to worry about the produce going bad before your household has a chance to eat it.
2). Nutritional benefits! Frozen produce is picked at the peak of its ripeness and frozen immediately, preserving the majority of the nutritional value.

Favorite frozen produce:

Bananas (peeled, and split in half): Great for smoothies
Strawberries & blueberries: Also great for smoothies, and when de-thawed, tasty additions to oatmeal and cold breakfast cereals
Spinach – incredibly versatile (i.e. added to scrambled eggs, mixed into rice & quinoa, added to main dishes)
Mixed veggies – add vegetables to any meal in a pinch
Pearl onions – quickly saute with garlic and olive oil for a flavor punch
And for fun, some favorite proteins to keep on hand in the freezer:
Shrimp: a super fast addition to main dishes and salads
Chicken cutlets: forgot to defrost chicken for dinner? not an issue, these both defrost and cook in no time

Healthy Father's Day Gifts

As we all know, or now know because I am telling you, fathers day is a week from today!

So what do get that special dad in your life, cause obviously your Dad is better than everyone elses Dad. I read this article and it got me thinking of great healthy gifts to give pops. Some cool stuff on there, like the pebble watch. Now fathers day gifts are always tricky because I am much more tech savvy then my Dad and always want to get him the new hott tech fitness gadget. Unfortunately most will go unused because they are things I think are awesome, not things he thinks are awesome. But number 6 stuck out to me.

Golf Sense! The basic idea is that you attach it to your glove, take some swings and it shows you 3D imaging of your golf swing. A perfect gift for a dad because they love golf and anything that encourages more healthy activity is win all around. Good thing he doesn't blog so he won't know what i'm getting him!

Farmers Market Fun

Each weekend the local hotel in Evanston gives up their parking lot for all the local farms to sell their produce. I try to make it every week because everything is fresh and local and muuuuuuuuch cheaper than your local Whole Foods. It's also a great way to get some healthy food for the week's meals. I usually pick a few meals i'm going to make and try to complement the protein with some fresh vegetables from the market such as sweet potatoes, mushrooms or blueberries. Here are some of my top two picks for the week:

It is strawberry season and these are some of the freshest best strawberries I have every. Chances the carton lasts a week? 0%

Snap Peas are always a good call. Great to cook with and easy to make, or just eat em raw.