EntreFEST is one of Iowa’s largest entrepreneurship and innovation conferences. For the past few years it has primarily focused on high-impact speakers and workshops aimed at entrepreneurs and innovators in existing companies. Previous keynote speakers include Scott Belsky of Adobe, marketing icon Seth Godin, and Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal. As we planned the 2019 event for May 16th and 17th, the organizing team noted … Read More
A new year, a new format for 1 Million Cups Cedar Rapids
As one of the oldest 1 Million Cups chapters in the U.S., we’ve experimented with a variety of approaches to our mission of helping educate and grow Eastern Iowa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Going into 2019, the team that runs the Cedar Rapids program has some exciting new changes planned. One big change we’re making is to make it easier to access … Read More
NewBoCo’s Five Year Plan
This is the third post in a series about NewBoCo’s plans for 2022. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. NewBoCo staff heading into the neighborhood for a community event. We’re extremely proud of the bold work that NewBoCo has done over the past three years to support entrepreneurship, education, and innovation. We’ve laid a lot of the groundwork necessary to help our community ... Read More
Iowa Isn’t Ready for Economic Disruption
Despite enormous progress, we have more work to do to face the challenges of tomorrow’s economy. We’ve accomplished a lot at NewBoCo in the last three years. But it’s not enough. We are in the midst of a transformation of our economy as big and far reaching as the transition from agricultural into the industrial age. Call it “the new economy” or ... Read More
NewBoCo in Review: The First Three Years
Part 1 in a series: A huge leap forward for entrepreneurship in Eastern Iowa Several years ago, we decided it was time to help build Eastern Iowa’s startup community. When we looked at our region’s resilience after the 2008 flood and our density of successful tech companies, we knew it was possible to build a vibrant startup ecosystem here. We began ... Read More
The power of Agile in startups
Here are some of the observations that I shared with them. (I asked Matt Rooda, their CEO, if I could share some of the observations in this post.) They got the big picture right; I did give them some constructive feedback on a variety of items, but they were mostly pretty nuanced details. Agile is fundamentally teaching entrepreneurs how to … Read More
Huge progress in Computer Science education this week
A lot has happened this past week in our effort to build computer science education in Iowa — and nationally — to help address the gap in computer science offerings available in schools today. Code.org is a global nonprofit, backed by some of the world’s largest tech companies, that teaches kids the fundamentals of computer science. If you have kids, they’ve likely tried the … Read More
Agile as a strategic weapon
A few weeks ago I went to Singapore to the Scrum Alliance Global Gathering, which brought together Agile experts from around the world to talk about the future of Agile and how it’s being practiced today in Asia. As I listened to the sessions and talked with trainers, coaches, and attendees, I left with three strands that I feel are ... Read More
What happens after I pitch Corridor Angel Investors?
If you’re selected to present to the Corridor Angels, there are three possible outcomes you should be ready for. After your presentation, usually within a few business days, our team will communicate to you where you stand. Option 1: Lots of interest from investors Usually the best case for you is that there’s significant interest from the group, typically four ... Read More
The state of Iowa’s innovation ecosystem: so much progress, yet so much more to do.
Last night, the NewBoCo team attended the annual Prometheus Awards put on by the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI). Having been a long-time member of the organization, and a current board member, I’ve been attending this event since the very beginning 12 years ago. Back then, it was maybe a hundred or so state leaders, technology leaders, and economic developers kind ... Read More
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