Geoff Wood has been a long-time champion of the Iowa entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Wood started Welch Avenue, LLC back in 2013 with a vision of helping the Iowa entrepreneurial ecosystem grow and flourish. His company had a humble beginning with a newsletter that focused on entrepreneurship and innovation in Greater Iowa. Wood built on the growth of Welch Avenue, and in 2014 started Gravitate, a coworking space in downtown Des Moines that continues to grow and expand. Gravitate Coworking is set to open a new space just east of its current location in downtown Des Moines this spring. 
Wood, an alumnus of Silicon Prairie News, met with us during a recent visit to Des Moines. He showed us around the new Gravitate location with its streamlined architecture and natural maple furnishings. We liked the sensible and modern, yet comfortable and spacious look and feel of the space. Wood talked about his commitment and desires for the Des Moines community during our tour.
The original newsletter grew into what is now known as Clay & Milk – an excellent source of Iowa startup and entrepreneurship news. Wood is extremely optimistic about the progress he’s seen unfold in the community alongside Gravitate’s expansion.
Specifically, Wood identified the need to continue to provide places for digital nomads and expand the talented workforce of Des Moines. He also identified some positive opportunities that are growing at Gravitate. He described the evolution and growth of Hatchlings, for example, and his desire to see more of his co-Gravitators grow their businesses.
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Wood sees Des Moines continuing to transform through its growth in other areas of the metro beyond its downtown. This is one of the reasons that he chose to open Gravitate in Valley Junction in 2017. Wood cited significant amounts of entrepreneurial development occurring in the suburbs.
Beyond the cool new growth at Gravitate, large companies are also building innovative spaces in Des Moines. Before we met up with Wood for our tour of Gravitate, we visited the Tech Brew event downtown (along with about eighty other attendees), sponsored by US Cellular and organized by the Technology Association of Iowa.
The event featured Nate Heinrich, Director of Precision Ag Product Marketing & Innovation at John Deere. This department within Deere is preparing to open a new building in Des Moines, and Heinrich detailed his own innovation experience within the company.
He described time in Singapore and Germany where he learned about the way technology is deeply embedded in most of the John Deere equipment. Heinrich told us, “John Deere makes more tractors for the rest of the world than it makes for the United States.” He pointed out the importance of developing technology that is multi-faceted enough for its varied uses in different countries and circumstances around the globe.
During his talk, Heinrich also highlighted a San Francisco-based company that is making a significant impact in Des Moines – Granular. Granular provides a farm management software system that du Pont acquired in 2017 for $300 million. Granular’s presence in Des Moines is no surprise as central Iowa continues to be one of the top markets in the country for building innovative farm management and agriculture technology companies.
Wood, however, sees Iowa entrepreneurship budding and blooming in more than just agriculture technologies. From insurance technology, fintech, and e-commerce, Des Moines’ startups are generating real noise. Pitchly, Igor, LenderClose, WebCareHealth, and, of course, Dwolla are creating new paradigms for Central Iowa’s startup community.
Wood sees significant business growth with his own tenants at Gravitate. Company maturation is one of the key reasons Wood designed and built his space with growth and flexibility in mind. Many of the offices can triple in size based on the needs and growth of individual companies. Wood also built meeting spaces including the beautiful maple floor stadium-inspired auditorium for presentations and events.
In short, Des Moines continues to grow its entrepreneurial presence. And Geoff Wood and Gravitate continue to be key to this rapid expansion.
Visit https://www.gravitatecoworking.com/ to learn more about Gravitate.
