Four of the five Startup Storm presenters, from left to right: Ben Milne, Geoff Wood, Christian Renaud and Nathan T. Wright. Photo from Greg Hauenstein via Flickr.
This past Saturday I had the privilege to speak at Startup Storm, a first of its kind event put on by Macy Koch, a senior at Simpson College. The event, billed as “teaching and supporting innovation and entrepreneurial development,” featured an opening keynote by Nathan T. Wright, founder of Lava Row and co-founder of Uppward, a closing keynote from Ben Milne, founder of Dwolla, and presentations in between by Donni Alley of Alley Design Solutions, Christian Renaud of The Athena Project and Startup City Des Moines and myself, respectively.
The theme of the day was entrepreneurship and each speaker told their story of living an entrepreneurial life, including the highs and lows of how they got there. Many offered advice to the crowd of around 50, mainly comprised of students from the small liberal arts school south of Des Moines, and all fielded a great deal of questions from attendees. Other topics covered included marketing, social media, and, in my own presentation, an overview of the Silicon Prairie entrepreneurial ecoystem.
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Congratulations to Macy for taking the initiative to put on such an event for her and fellow students. She may be graduating this semester but told me that there is a good chance that Startup Storm will be held in the future as other students have already approached her asking if they can carry on the idea.
Here are more photos of the event, all taken by Greg Hauenstein.
Attendees begin to arrive at the Jordan Lecture Hall in Simpson College’s Carver Science Building. Photo by Greg Hauenstein via Flickr.
Nathan T Wright’s opening keynote presentation. Photo by Greg Hauenstein via Flickr.
Donni Alley, a Simpson Alumnae, tells her entrepreneurial story and gives advice on marketing and design. Photo by Greg Hauenstein
Christian Renaud offers advice from his career as an entrepreneur and mentor. Photo by Greg Hauenstein via Flickr.
