In March UpCraft Club was part of the Small Business Administration's InnovateHER competition...and we WON! Since that competition, the SBA has been incredibly helpful in connecting us with opportunities to continue moving UpCraft Club forward and a month ago they asked if I'd like to travel to the APEC 'Women and the Economy' forum in Lima, Peru as part of the US State Department delegation. During the forum, Russia held a pitch competition, co-sponsored by the US and Chinese Taipei and UpCraft Club was asked to represent the United States!
Geoff's Blog: The full Iowa Tech Tour Schedule!
The Iowa Tech Tour starts on Monday! Tremendous thanks to everyone who has helped pull this together in a really short time frame: Deanna Bennett & John Jackovin in Des Moines, Jessalyn Holdcraft & Eric Engelmann in Cedar Rapids and Diana Wright & Sam Schill in Ames. It's going to be a great week!
The full tour schedule is available here but I want to highlight a few events where anyone and everyone can meet Paul Singh and join in the fun.
Smokey Row
Nestled in the heart of Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood, Smokey Row is a cozy coffee shop known for its retro diner style and constant stream of customers. The triangle-shaped brick building welcomes coffee-drinkers of all types in droves through its doors for meetings, late night study sessions, or simply a much-needed burst of caffeine. Located just over the interstate from Drake University, this local favorite pulls large crowds of students (both high school and college) and entrepreneurs alike.
With locations in Pella, Pleasantville, and Oskaloosa, Smokey Row has become a central Iowa mainstay for good coffee, friendly service, and an inviting (albeit noisy) atmosphere to get things done.
Geoff's Blog: More on the Tech Tour
We've had the good fortune to be able to schedule events in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Ames that week so I hope that you'll be able to join us somewhere along the ride. If you're coming into Des Moines for the tour and need a place to land in between events or a spot to get work done for the day, come see us at Gravitate where we are hosting free/open coworking all week long. Our friends at Vault Coworking & Collaboration Space are making their space available on Thursday 7/21 for anyone needing a spot the day that the tour is visiting Cedar Rapids.
Michael W. Clark
Michael Clark is a native Iowan and a dedicated freelance software developer who loves the freedom and creativity it offers him. At the same time, he’s a naturally social animal, and, after moving back to Des Moines from a stint in Wisconsin in early 2016, Michael realized that he missed the routine, structure and camaraderie that a traditional setting sometimes offers. So, he signed up at Gravitate.
Minimum Viable Podcast—Episode 24
Matt Patane, technology and innovation reporter for the Des Moines Register and Geoff Wood, community builder at Gravitate, sit down for an in-depth discussion of the companies, events and ideas making news in the Iowa innovation community.
Topics discussed on this episode: Governor's STEM Council, Young African Leaders Initiative, Paul Singh's Iowa Tech Tour, NewBoCo & EntreFEST, Ag Startup Engine & Iowa State entrepreneurial programs, MERGE coworking space and prototype lab in Iowa City
Feedback, thoughts or suggestions? Hit us up on Twitter or email the show at mvp@gravitatedsm.com
Geoff's Blog: More details on Paul Singh's Iowa Tech Tour
Things have been coming together extremely fast in the last week for Paul Singh's Iowa Tech Tour (remember to click the Count Me In! button to get direct updates).
First of all, tremendous thanks to the folks who reached out to me after last week's announcement to help cover the final costs of bring Paul to Iowa for the week: Twilio and Square One DSM. With the support of these two organizations and the aforementioned Next Level Ventures, Iowa Venture Capital Association, Davis Brown Law Firm, NewBoCo and BrownWinick—Attorneys at Law we're in great shape for this series of events.
The online schedule will start to update very soon but for now I can let you in a few of the events that we have confirmed (events are in Des Moines unless otherwise noted).
Iowa Startup Power Rankings—June
Power Rankings Month #3! This month the rankings are more of "startup community" rankings as two support organizations that do a lot for entrepreneurs in Iowa make the list for the first time and in the top two positions. They're followed on the list by three startups, two of which return to the rankings for their second straight month.
Ritual Cafe
Geoff's Blog: We're bringing Paul Singh's Tech Tour to Iowa
Big news, friends! We're bringing Paul Singh's Results Junkies Tech Tour to Iowa the week of July 17. Paul (formerly of 500startups, DisruptionCorp and more) is a serial entrepreneur, investor and startup ecosystem expert that has been criss-crossing the country in an Airstream camper for most of this year. Each week he drives to a different community and packs his schedule full of meetups, keynotes, round tables, office hours, etc. to get to know local founders, investors and policy makers