A part-time project turned into a full-time job.
In 2015, a group of individuals in Cedar Falls saw the lack of a network for entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Cedar Valley. They wanted to do something to help, so in November, they purchased desks and chairs from an auction at the University of Northern Iowa and opened Mill Race—a coworking space—in a small building near the Cedar River.
“It was one of those that started as a side thing where we saw value in it,” said Danny Laudick, the manager of Mill Race. “I left my full-time job in April, incorporated the new nonprofit in June of 2017 and finalized partnerships these last six months.”
Those partnerships are with:
- City of Cedar Falls
- Cedar Falls Utilities
- Hawkeye Community College
- University of Northern Iowa
- Wartburg College
Laudick said they will provide funding for three years as part of a new regional initiative focusing on supporting early stage companies and entrepreneurs.
Laudick also said they are working to establish a formal seed capital fund in the Cedar Valley and are working with a group of investors in the area. He said the fund is making progress but there’s still development to do during the next several months.
“As a Northeast Iowa region, we haven’t done a good job of telling the stories of the companies we have here,” Laudick says. “We realized we need to do more to help plug entrepreneurs of those early-stage companies into the resources they need more quickly.”
Creating the network
Laudick first noticed the lack of network problem during his time working in economic development for the Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber.
After the first six months of Mill Race, Laudick said their group was approached to manage a much larger space in downtown Cedar Falls.
“That’s when we began to pull together partnerships across the region,” Laudick says. “We were interested in doing more to support entrepreneurs, to pull together resources and make more connections for them”
Laudick explained that if an entrepreneur tried to access capital in the Cedar Valley, they had to hope they knew somebody willing to invest.
“It’s new to people but we just needed to do more to tell that story,” Laudick said. “Smaller firms, the ones creating new products, creating new markets and getting into new markets really drive job growth and the economy.”
He hopes that by partnering with the Technology Association of Iowa to host a monthly “TechBrew” and 1 Million Cups Cedar Valley, those can serve as entry-level pitches to potential investors.
“Hopefully make a few connections with people in the room who have connections and can help them out,” Laudick says.
Doing what you do best
By also partnering with the University of Northern Iowa and Wartburg College, the initiative offers an educational aspect. Laudick called those partnerships, “Strategic.”
“We partner with them tactically where that space and the services they have fit in with the overall community,” Laudick says. “We’re focusing on everyone’s core competencies and how we can best combine our expertise, networks and resources to help entrepreneurs.”
And Laudick said conversations are happening with the City of Waterloo and other private businesses to form more partnerships.
“Bringing more people into the process,” Laudick says.