The following is a guest post by Ben Milne of Dwolla (left). Originally published on his blog, benmilne.com, he’s given us permission to re-publish it here.

Ben, who is building his second startup in Central Iowa, is a vocal advocate of the “Silicon Prairie” as a place to build companies. When he asked me, as a friend, to read over his post, I asked him if we could cross-post it here as it addresses some of the struggles that are shared by many of the entrepreneurs and startups that we talk with every day across our coverage area.

Milne can be found on Twitter, @bpmilne, or reached at ben@dwolla.org.

Also to note, Milne’s use of the term “Silicon Prairie” refers to that of the geographic region, not our publication, Silicon Prairie News.

– Geoff Wood, Silicon Prairie News

A road map is kind of like a runway. You need a runway to get things off the ground. You need a clear road map to get companies off the ground. Until our culture is so ingrained in us we see the road map as part of our regions identity (like the Valley) we need to be working to make it clearer. We need to assume no one knows what the road map is or looks like and that companies trying to grow are clueless. Like me.

Every company has a road map to attain their goals whether or not they are aware of it is another problem altogether. The goals determine the road map in my opinion. If the company does not need real funding (which I believe most don’t) then it looks something like:

• Scenario 1 – Idea >> Some money >> Work like a mad man >> Profit >> Repeat

In this case, I think you really just need good mentors, a good attorney, accountant, customers, and access to peers. Not every company needs funding and that’s the truth of the thing. You can get extremely far by getting a part-time job to finance your idea and giving it a shot. Or do I what I did; just sell some stuff you don’t use anymore.

In some unique cases more money is required. At the risk of being screamed at, I will say that I believe needing outside capital at the very beginning is almost entirely unnecessary. I also think companies that really need funding right away are the rare ones, especially around the Prairie.

With my most recent project, I felt like outside money was required after I put about $10,000 into it. I felt this way because the regulatory requirements around our business were so costly I did not feel there was a way to bootstrap into the market with less than $250,000. I couldn’t get customers without certain licenses. Licenses cost money. I didn’t have that sort of cash so I got help. Furthermore, that wasn’t anywhere near enough money to get us into the market without partners. In this case my project theoretically looks like the following:

• Scenario 2 – Idea >> Some money (mine) >> Work like a mad man >> A little more money (mine+angels) >> Work like a mad man >> A little more money (not mine + partners) >> Work like a mad man >> Scale >> Unknown

The second scenario here is following the concept of seed stage to series A, to series B, etc.. In this scenario if you’re building a high-growth company in the Prairie there isn’t a lot available to you to make it clear how you go from seed + working like a mad man to funding and partners.

These steps are what I mean by a road map. The road map in my head is an account of the steps it takes to build my company. If your goal is to sell your company or hand it over to your son-to-be these goals and steps will be different. In either scenario you need resources and you need to know which resources apply to you.

There are a lot of people roaming around the Prairie who think they need money. There are also a lot of people wondering around hoping to find money with no idea where it is. Regardless of whether or not they go down another road because their A.D.D. drives them to pursue other careers or ideas, the company is never built or it just flounders. Without a clear outline of who can help and how they fit into the road map, the ideas will never grow into what they could.

What the Prairie does insanely well…

Introductions! Regardless of whether or not any of us had a big exit to pool knowledge from, we all want to help one another. Everyone wants you to know their friend from college who can help you and that’s a good thing.

Why is that a good thing? This is the Midwest. Most introductions here come with a level of credibility and understanding. If someone introduces you to a professional contact or even a friend, he already thinks you’re a good person. If you screw up an intro you’ll burn all the bridges that got you there too… If you don’t know the answer to a question here don’t wing it. Just admit it.

As you climb the ladder you’ll quickly realize what Doug Lewis from the Iowa Department of Economic Development has constantly states, “In Des Moines you’re never more than 3 degrees of separation from the most powerful people in the city”. He’s right.

Clearly people in Des Moines & Omaha have no problem introducing you to the right people, if you’re not a bonehead.

What do I think the problem is

If you’re operating in Scenario 2, building a company that needs funding in the Prairie, You’re screwed for clear guidance on how to do it. There are no success stories to pull from and the only way you’re going to get introductions (that you didn’t knew existed yet) is to kill yourself running in circles for six months (unless you’ve done it before). Even in the event you get some stellar introductions, like some people made for me, you’ll have no idea how important they are until later because no one will tell you.

You will meet the most important people in the city and have no idea what they can do for you, why they will do it, and why you’re there.

That’s a problem.

The Prairie has all the people, but few connections putting them together in a way that actually makes sense to everyone involved. The people doing the leg work don’t get approached because the tacit knowledge they have can’t be google’d. The people who have already built companies don’t see why young people don’t “get it” and the young people don’t have any idea how important the people they are talking to actually are.

That’s a problem.

We are totally disillusioned into believing that because the people we meet are in Iowa (or Nebraska) that they can’t be that important. Wipe that idea from your mind. The Prairie is filled with incredibly intelligent, well-connected, and wonderful people.

I’m going to type this in obnoxious caps. THE ROADMAP IS UNCLEAR IN SILICON PRAIRIE. We want to build this ecosystem, but we’ve forgotten to connect entrepreneurs and first time angels (specifically) in a way that makes sense. We’ve further forgotten to explain how that leads to additional funding and what the long-term road map could look like.

My friends, like Mike Colwell and Tom Chapman, are doing a great job. The issue here is that most of us trying to build things don’t know that and get intimidated getting introduced to them. Get over it and pick up the phone folks! Mike Colwell is one of a dozen people in this town who changed my life with a phone call, while Tom Chapman revolutionized my perception of the energy market in the first three hours I knew him.

Beyond people like this I’ve gotten some phenomenal advice from people like Christian Renaud, Suku Radia, Don Schoen, Matt Kinley, Doug Reichardt, Doug Lewis, JD Geneser, Nathan Kring, and others I will think of as I put together this list of people and a road map. These are people you should know about if your doing a project here. These are just some of the examples of amazing people you’d just walk by downtown Des Moines who can change your life very quickly.

How do we fix it

We outline the road map and the people involved in it. We give it away to the world for free and we build the Prairie. We stop acting like our Rolodex is more important than the guy across town and we just start giving away our knowledge to build the community.

We isolate who are the:

• Angels who are active here
• Venture Capital firms who are active here
• Firms who raise money with VCs
• Mentors
• People who are simply amazing at what they do

Then we give it away to everyone who wants to read it. Through that knowledge and access we’ll build the Prairie. It’s never going to be the Valley and the concept that it might be should be wiped from your minds. We should stop trying to duplicate the Valley and start concentrating on what makes this ecosystem so great while strengthening some of our shortcomings. Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem and a start-up community is no different than building a company. We all need to recognize our faults, admit them, and build solutions. Less talking and more action.

Lastly

Amazing things are happening in the Prairie, but we all have a lot of work to do if we are going to build this thing. Let’s follow the lead SPN has set forth and stop talking about… And just go build it.

I don’t think I’m the solution but I think someone has to start the ball moving forward and putting people together. People like Venture Hacks are doing amazing things with their start-up communities connecting people. We should take the hint. So here is where I’m at in my process:

• Step 1. Put myself out there and tie myself to it.
• Step 2. Recognize the problem.
• Step 3. Share who is who. Next.