These last few months have really felt like swimming in the deep end of the pool. I’m fully engulfed in EntrePartners – writing grant applications and reaching out to corporate sponsors, hosting events, creating partnerships, travel to conventions and conferences, and planning for the next few months. I’ve never gotten this deep into a project before – even the Undergraduate Incubator, for all of the work I put into that, was never as time-intensive as the Innovation Center and all of the various things attached to it have become. It’s exhausting, but I feel like I’m making a ton of progress.
Most of June was spent either out of the office or in meetings. The month started with a week in Indianapolis at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. This is the first time that the GEC has been in the United States since 2009, when the event started in Kansas City. I had agreed to be an ambassador before I dug into the history of the event – I knew it had been a while since the event had taken place locally, but I didn’t realize that this was only the second time the congress had taken place in the United States. I was only able to get one person to accompany me to the event – something came up for several others who were interested in attending but just weren’t able to make things work.
Those folks don’t know what they missed. I did a brief recap of the event highlights on my other blog, the We Are All EntrePartners Substack. The sheer size of the event could have been overwhelming to someone new to the world of entrepreneurship – most of the event took place in a giant event hall in the Indiana Convention Center, with a handful of events in a few other rooms nearby. The middle of the room was designed for networking and connections, while most of the breakout sessions happened in temporary rooms set up on the periphery of the event hall. The keynote events took place in an adjoining event hall – a giant stage set up in front of what seemed like nearly a thousand chairs. Even with the scale of the keynote area, I ended up having to stand along the wall during one of the keynotes.
I absolutely loved the layout of this event. I think I talked with more people during the week because of the intentional layout of the space – lunch and other food and drink was served in this space, and it was always easy to find an empty seat near people who I hadn’t yet met. There was a constant flow of coffee, and the food was actually pretty good for convention fare. Because the event hadn’t been in the United States in so many years, all of the big players in the entrepreneurship-building space were there. I finally had a chance to meet several people who I’d only met over Zoom or Teams in the past few years. I’ve really just embraced my role as an ecosystem builder since the pandemic, so most of the meetings I’ve had with others in the field have by necessity been online. The only opportunity I’ve had to meet some of the big players in this space was the Startup Champions Network meeting in Des Moines a few years back, and many of the people who I’d met there were in Indianapolis for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
In the breakout sessions, I learned about different resources available to ecosystem builders and heard great examples of startup communities thriving. However, my favorite sessions were in the Compass Room, which was located near the rest of the convention. The Compass Room resembles something out of the United Nations – a giant circular table that fits 50 people or so, with seating for about 100 others directly behind the people at the table, with others along the periphery of the room.
During both of the sessions I attended in the Compass Room, I was able to find a seat at the table, in the middle of the action. The first session consisted of presentations by community builders from across the world on what they did during Global Entrepreneurship Week last November. Many smaller countries centralize much of their work around entrepreneurship, mostly due to resource or population constraints, as opposed to the decentralized way most of our programming occurs in the United States. The second session was a discussion among United States organizers – I know have a bunch of ideas for this November, and any confusion I had around my role as a local organizer was gone. I wish I’d had the opportunity to spend more time in the Compass Room, especially during the meetings they had with foreign economic ministers.
The only real issue with the Global Entrepreneurship Congress is that there were always multiple things happening during each session that sounded interesting – the event could have been twice as long and I probably wouldn’t have been able to attend everything I wanted to. Most of the evening social events were a lot of fun as well. The only disappointment was the Midwest House event where the food ran out ten minutes after it started, the drinks weren’t free, and the room was so loud that my ears were still ringing hours after I left. With their recent pivot toward ignoring anything west of the Mississippi River, I’m not surprised that this was the only blemish on an otherwise spotless week.
The next Global Entrepreneurship Congress is scheduled for next fall in South Africa – I’m unsure if I’ll be able to make that one, but we’ll see how things go over the next few months with all of the different things I have cooking and whether it would fit in between other commitments. It would be an amazing experience to take part in that event no matter where they held it. If I can’t make this one, I’ll keep my eye on where they decide to hold the event in 2027 – if the event is overseas, I hope my travels will take me through one of the amazing airports in the Middle East or Asia. I wouldn’t mind seeing the airport in Qatar again.
After returning from Indianapolis, I had a couple of days to recover before driving up to Cedar Rapids for EntreFest. I had a free ticket since I gave a talk last year, so I thought I’d cash that in and support friends who were speaking this year. This year’s event was exceptionally well run thanks to some recent staff changes – these types of events run much better when the people running them actually care about the event.
I chose breakout sessions based solely on who was speaking. With the exception of the couple of AI-related sessions, talks were the usual mix of entry-level content. During a couple of the breakout sessions, I just found a cold beverage and a place to work on cleaning out my email. I enjoyed Erica Cole’s keynote covering her entrepreneurial journey and giving all of us an update on No Limbits. As usual, the pitch competitions were fun to watch, and I was able to predict most of the winners with only one major surprise.
For me, EntreFest is mostly an opportunity to get out of the office for a couple of days and spend time with friends in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, enjoying a few beverages on someone else’s dime. It didn’t seem like I came across as many new people as in past years – either we’ve reached some sort of startup community saturation point, or most of the new attendees were people I already knew from the local area. Some of the people I’ve met in Iowa City in the past year or so were there, and this was their first EntreFest. Here’s hoping that the event makes its way back to Iowa City next year. EntrePartners would be happy to work with the organizers if that ends up happening.
If EntreFest makes its way back to Iowa City next year, we will line up Startup Weekend Iowa City to coincide with the end of the conference, as we did in 2023. I don’t expect them to cross-promote us – they made no effort to honor their end of the deal two years ago. However, with new staff running EntreFest, perhaps they’ll be more willing to work together. Based on previous (and some current) behavior, I won’t hold my breath.
Speaking of Startup Weekend Iowa City, this year’s event went really well! Numbers were down from last year – much of this was that I didn’t heavily promote the event until 3 weeks before it happened. The one thing I could really use at EntrePartners is an intern to handle marketing and social media. June was such a busy month with travel, it was tough to stay on top of marketing Startup Weekend. There was no help from Techstars – they seem to have forgotten our event existed, as we never made it onto their Upcoming Events Website, and they never sent any of the “free stuff” codes that they usually send a few days before the event. They’re either woefully understaffed, or the person assigned to North America is asleep at the switch. Regardless, we ended up with four teams in total, with three teams pitching at the end of the event on Sunday afternoon.
We ended up holding the event at the EntrePartners Innovation Center this year, as Greater Iowa City seems completely indifferent about an Iowa City startup community staple. All of the allies we once had in that organization are long gone, replaced completely by folks who don’t really understand the purpose of startups and don’t really care to learn. The chamber of commerce mentality has overtaken that organization – stuck in the past and pay for play. They’ve made MERGE less inviting, dismantling the “living room” feel that the space had when it first opened – some of the attendees actually joked about feeling out of place when they first arrive at MERGE and all of the Greater Iowa City staff stare at them through the window in the giant wall they built between the front door and the rest of the facility.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually try to dump 1 Million Cups in the near future. Even though I’m now officially retired as a 1MC organizer – I finally got out after seven years – I still attend each week because Iowa City Open Coffee still takes place each Wednesday morning. It’s actually been nice just attending each Wednesday. I’ve started asking questions of the presenters again since I’m not having to keep my eye on the group and on the clock as the emcee, and scheduling presenters was a bit of a nightmare at times. I do worry about the people who have joined the committee actually pulling their weight, but we’ll see how things go over the next few months.
One last thing that I wanted before officially retiring from organizing our local community was one last 1MC Organizer’s Summit. I had a lot of fun at both the 2018 and 2019 events, while the virtual pandemic-era events were subpar. This year, the Kauffman Foundation finally decided to host a joint event with both 1MC organizers and FastTrac facilitators. When I registered to attend, I was still in both camps – I’d just received my certificate as a FastTrac facilitator and hadn’t yet retired from 1MC Iowa City, so my badge had both credentials. However, I just attended FastTrac and community building sessions during the three days I spent in Kansas City. There were only a handful of FastTrac facilitators at the event, and most of the 1MC organizers had no idea the FastTrac program even existed.
Most of the 1MC communities from Iowa had some sort of representation at the summit. I was glad that they all got to learn about the FastTrac program – it will make promotion of EntrePartners’ cohorts in Des Moines and Iowa City easier as the 1MC organizers learned how the programs can dovetail as part of a more complete entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’re fighting promotional headwinds in both markets – the bigger players in the market tend to suck all of the air of the room. I’m happy that I finally have a connection at the Corridor Business Journal who covered Startup Weekend Iowa City prior to the event, but I’m still searching for connections at local TV and radio stations. There are other networks of businesses and startups that I’m currently contacting, utilizing the network I’ve built over the past decade from going to events that others avoided. I’m also going to start blanketing social media promoting this and our other events in the coming weeks.
The EntrePartners Innovation Center is going to be a busy place over the next few months. The FastTrac Fall Cohort will begin on September 8 and run for 10 weeks of in-person programming and a pitch competition at the conclusion of the course. In October, I’m launching the Side-Gig Seminar Series: three Thursday evening sessions that will help those who have been dipping a toe into the entrepreneurial pool but don’t know what to do next. The first session will cover the Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Statements, Elevator Pitching, and how to form an LLC in Iowa. The second session will cover working with influencers and the basics of affiliate marketing. The third session will cover basic accounting and taxes for startups and small businesses. The Braintrust will be heavily involved in these sessions, and I’m looking forward to welcoming the community into the Innovation Center October 16, 23, and 30. We’ll also be running Follow-Up Weekend on November 14-16 – it’s Startup Weekend for existing startups and small businesses who want to make a month’s worth of progress in a weekend.
On top of all of this, Iowa City Open Coffee will be expanding to Mondays starting at 8 am on September 8! EntrePartners received a grant from Big Grove for Good to trial a Monday morning version of the program at the EntrePartners Innovation Center. One of the benefits of moving Startup Weekend Iowa City was testing how well the space could handle a large group of people for an hour or two. I think that the space could handle up to 30 people comfortably in the classroom section of the center, with standing room for a few more. Monday mornings seemed like the best time to try this – people usually haven’t started anything before 9 am on a Monday, and it’s tough to start the week. Perhaps free coffee and conversation will get the wheels turning! Also, we’ll see how many people stick around to work after everything wraps up each Monday at 9 am.
In between all of the travel and the events these past couple of months, I’ve also increased my work on the Main Street West Branch board. At the end of June, I was asked to take on the Economic Vitality committee chair position, moving to that from the Promotion committee. Much of the work done in Economic Vitality is similar to the things I do at the EntrePartners Innovation Center, so it actually seems like a better fit for my skill set. The Economic Vitality committee is responsible for certain benefits for certain Main Street businesses, as well as recruiting new businesses when retail spaces open in the district. We’re planning a number of education sessions for our local businesses, and I’ll be presenting in September. If you’re local and interested in presenting to our district businesses, just let me know! I’m booking November and beyond right now.
For the most part, I’m still in fact-finding mode in my new Economic Vitality role. I haven’t met many of the district business owners – I’ve stopped in and purchased things in the past, but I’ve never had the chance (or a reason) to sit down and really find out how they are doing and what they need from us as a support organization. I’ve only had one meeting so far, and two other business owners have emailed back. The vast majority have been unresponsive, so I’ll have to just go to them. I think I’ll just spend a couple of afternoons here in the next couple of weeks chugging around Main Street, going door-to-door and cornering business owners. If they won’t come to me, I’ll go to them.
This summer has really felt like a blur – weeks are filled with meetings in between travel, with nearly no time to actually sit down and get necessary administrative work done. I’ve had to burn a few weekends in the office in order to keep up with everything. When I’m in the office during the week, folks tend to drop in and want to chat – it’s nice to see everyone and show them what we’re doing at EntrePartners. However, that doesn’t lead to a terribly productive day. I’m getting better at dealing with this kind of schedule, but it’s still not perfect just yet.
I have a plan to continue the momentum when the kids go back to school in just a few days – my eighth grader is capable of making her way to my office in the afternoon if she needs to, and I’m setting up a system where I don’t have to pick up my fourth grader every single day. At least for now, the kids are enjoying the summer, and my younger one loves coming with me to the office so that she can go over to the public library when it opens and then getting pizza for lunch. My older one has been camping out in her bedroom on days where she’s not spending time with friends or cousins. I still owe the kids a “dadcation” before school starts – we went to the Iowa State Fair and Adventureland last year with a night in a hotel with a pool in between for last year’s “dadcation.”
There’s not a ton of travel planned for the fall since there are so many things going on at the EntrePartners Innovation Center. I’ve been helping with first-round judging for a number of pitch competitions around the region, including the Rally Conference for the third year in a row. I’ll be making the drive over to Indianapolis once again September 24 and 25 for that get-together. It’s been fun the last two years, and I’m sure this iteration will be just as good, if not better than the others.
I’m also considering going to the Great American Beer Festival again this October, but I want to have Cider Finder completely finished before I attend that event again. From my experience last year, you really need to get the three-day pass in order to enjoy everything about GABF. I just got the one-day pass last year, and I feel like I barely scratched the surface. It’s not just about the tasting opportunities – there are lots of other activities happening in the convention hall during the sessions. Also, there’s no possible way to try everything that you’d want to try over the course of just a couple of hours with five different theme areas. I made an effort to try any Belgian-style beers I could find, and I really didn’t get to any of the cider makers. If I can manage to finish completely debugging Cider Finder and get the thing on the app stores, I will treat myself to GABF.
Beyond that, it looks like I’m here in eastern Iowa through the end of the year. There’s really too much to do between EntrePartners and Cider Finder to spend a lot more time this year on the road. I’ve found that, for the most part, I’m really on my own building this stuff. I don’t have time to devote to other peoples’ projects and definitely don’t have time to promote things for people who haven’t reciprocated in the past. If you’ve been supportive of what I’m working on, I’m happy to reciprocate. We’re obviously rowing in the same direction, and I want us all to succeed.
I’ve had a chance to read Brad Feld’s new book, Give First, and will have a review on this blog in the near future. He gave a talk at both the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in June and the FastTrac + 1MC Summit in July. In the talk and in the book, he talked about the idea of Give First versus the concepts of paying it forward and altruism. I like the Give First mantra, but it seems like others in our local entrepreneurial ecosystem really don’t share that vision. This makes it very difficult for me to work with these people and groups, as I know that I’ll never receive anything in return working with them.
So, rather than trying to work with these people and groups, I’ll be redoubling my efforts to promote my programs and services. It’s frustrating that certain members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem can’t seem to understand how the ecosystem is supposed to work or, more likely, just don’t care. If they would like to re-engage, the door is always open. However, for now, it’s time to focus solely on my programs and services; to convince the population I chose to serve that EntrePartners is a one-stop shop for early-stage startups and small businesses.
I’ve been nothing but friendly in the past but just haven’t received the same in return. I just realized that I don’t have the energy to care about your things when you don’t care about mine. I found in 2020 and 2021 when I started shedding non-productive connections, things started to improve personally and professionally. In 2025, some pruning is once again necessary. I’m here for the people and the organizations who are willing to stand behind the things I’m building and those who want to be part of this movement.
The second year of the EntrePartners Innovation Center is going to be amazing. Programming, services, and community all coming together in the attic of the Paul-Helen Building. In a way, it’s a lot of fun being Iowa City’s best-kept secret. Those who have found us love what we’re doing – it’s now up to me to help others find us. As other organizations spiral and dissolve, we’re here to keep up the good fight. And I think we’re in a good position based on what I’ve heard over the past few months – not putting a ton of faith in some of the things I’ve heard, but I’m optimistic. Our partnerships continue to grow, and the Braintrust is more than a dozen strong now, with several more people in the pipeline to join. Our curriculum is solid, and our Saturday morning Coworking + Accountability program is a lifeline for participants. These next weeks and months are all about gaining steam, attracting new clients and members, and making the Innovation Center the place to be downtown.
As you can see from the length of this post, a lot has happened in the last couple of months and much more is planned for the rest of the year. EntrePartners is growing each day – it’s definitely a slog, but building something from the ground up has been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my professional career. You should all be part of this thing as we move forward. If you want to mentor, sign up to join the Braintrust. If you’re finding it difficult to move your business forward, join the Coworking + Accountability program. If one of our classes or seminars looks interesting, sign up! It’s all linked on the EntrePartners Web site.
I’ll probably get one more update in before the year-end posts on December 31. I have several more book reviews in the pipeline for the last few months of this year, and the reading list continues to grow. If you haven’t checked out We Are All EntrePartners, bookmark or subscribe to that blog as well. Your support is much appreciated.
Until late October or so, keep moving forward. Good things are just around the corner.
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