We’re only a few weeks into our 15th month at Gravitate and we’ve been fortunate enough to see five companies from our membership community get the opportunity to leave town for a few months, focus completely on their building their company and then graduate from accelerator programs in the Global Accelerator Network (GAN).
I’ve talked quite a bit with the founders of these companies when they return and two things surfaced:
- Reintegrating is tough. You miss the supportive community of the fellow entrepreneurs in your accelerator cohort and the access to a dedicated space built to help you achieve success.
- No one has any money. Seed and Series A investment rounds haven’t closed by the end of these accelerator programs and most folks don’t have enough income from customers to pay the founders a living wage, yet, much less pay for staff or office space or the other needs of their businesses.
Gravitate exists explicitly to help grow the Iowa startup community. We were born from the needs identified by that community in 2014 and we continue to shape this organization around the needs of that community today.
Today those needs include a membership plan that caters specifically to the graduates of GAN programs: Free (basically)*.
For up to 12 months following the close of their program, we welcome any GAN graduates to join us as Floating Desk members-in-residence at basically no cost.*
We’re excited that you’re back and we want to do our part to help you build your company into the next great thing here in Iowa. As a Gravitate member, you’ll once again get that support community and still have full access to a dedicated space geared toward your needs.
Although this idea came from discussions with our members returning to Des Moines, we’re excited to extend it to everyone who graduates from a GAN program. If you want to work from Des Moines, we’re here to support you.
If you’d rather work from Cedar Rapids, good news—we’re doing this in conjunction with our friends and collaborators at Vault so you have an option in Eastern Iowa, as well.
If you’re interested in getting started, send us a note.
*Although there is no membership cost, the program includes a small stipend of $15/month/person to help cover incremental costs of additional folks using the space.
Geoff Wood is the founder, connector and space captain at Gravitate, a workplace community for entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers in the heart of downtown Des Moines. In addition to writing here, he hosts a podcast, speaks at conferences, organizes events and has been helping tell the story of the Iowa startup community since 2009.