The Proximity Principle at work

One of our first lessons at Kellogg, in MORS430, concerns that of the Proximity Principle. This principle suggests that we are mostly likely to communicate with those that we are physically close to. The principle has been shown to be true through experiments such as tracking the people a person emails. More often than not, this method of communication, which opens the doors for you to reach contacts in distant places, is used simply to mail the person sitting not very far from you.

With the proximity principle in mind, for a while I thought I would continue to live in Evanston after Kellogg. The PhD students I work with on my startup have yet to graduate, and I want to be able to continue the teamwork. However, as graduation has come and gone, I have realized that whatever resources that I may have access to at Kellogg and Northwestern, I think I have now pretty much tapped them out.

We've recently been given the opportunity to use the TechNexus space at the ITA. This opens the door to get to know the greater Chicago tech landscape. Being in a hub, such as TechNexus, again put the proximity principle at work, but in helping us get to better know the resources Chicago has available for startups. We'll soon discover what the breadth of depth of these resources are.