NewBoCo officially opened its doors in August 2014. At that time the team was a lot smaller, but with Eric Engelmann leading the charge, it has grown to 17 people and three main areas of focus (entrepreneurship, innovation, education) over the last five years. To mark this momentous milestone, the NewBoCo team shared some of their favorite memories of working … Read More
How to research trademarks and brands before your lawyer’s meter starts running
From the desk of the Grumpy Old Company Lawyer You can do some prep work and save yourself hassles by checking basic information that’s freely available on the web. This blog will cover: Why getting your domain name isn’t all you need to do to protect your new brand. What is a TM or SM? What does ® mean? How … 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
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
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
The easiest way to mess up when setting up your company
From the desk of the Grumpy Old Company Lawyer One of the benefits we provide to participants in the Iowa Startup Accelerator is access to working capital. We have a relationship with a separate fund that provides cash for a portion of the startup’s equity. Before the fund invests, it generally requires the startup to be duly organized as a ... 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
Iowa Startup Accelerator Updates: One Month Down, Eleven to Go!
Four weeks ago, three new teams joined the Iowa Startup Accelerator’s 2017 cohort. Today, Agro Connected, GOVRED Technologies, and Cargofy celebrate completing their first month in the ISA’s 12 month program. Between workshops and networking events with ISA, running their own businesses, and adjusting to their new offices in Vault Coworking, they've been busy! Since all three teams in the ... Read More
Updates from ISA – Meet the Summer Batch!
It’s been a big week for the Iowa Startup Accelerator! Recently, we announced the three teams that we accepted into the summer batch of our 2017 cohort, and we started a How to Start a Startup program to help new entrepreneurs learn about the basics of entrepreneurship. We’re very excited to have Agro Connected, Cargofy, and GOVRED Technologies join ISA’s ... 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