9 Blue Labs to connect ‘exceptional ideas with exceptional talent’

Eliason Media founder James Eliason and recent technical hire, Levi Rosol, are teaming up to launch 9 Blue Labs on August 1. “At 9 Blue Labs,” Eliason wrote in the company’s first blog post, “we bring together exceptional ideas with …

Eliason Media founder James Eliason and recent technical hire, Levi Rosol, are teaming up to launch 9 Blue Labs on August 1. (Eliason, left, photo from about.me, and Rosol, photo from twitter.com)

“At 9 Blue Labs,” Eliason wrote in the company’s first blog post, “we bring together exceptional ideas with exceptional talent.”

In the post, he shared the backstory of the idea:

Several months ago I began talking with local Des Moines entrepreneur and developer (now CTO of Eliason Media), Levi Rosol about how the community of developers is reacting to the new startup. “The days of guys working at Wells Fargo in cubes until 5pm, going home and sitting around and then coming back the next day at 8 are over.”

That’s right. Those days are over. More and more employees of companies are looking to create in their free-time. But there needs to be a better way of bringing ideas and talent together. Just like AngelList brings a #1-5 above in front of money guys, we need a #1-5 of building a start-up. From the ground. Reducing the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs (some who might be 1st timers)

When fleshing out the idea for 9 Blue Labs, Eliason said they modeled it after AngelList, an online community for startups and investors to connect for dealflow. “Instead of putting an Entrepreneur in touch with money for capital raises,” Eliason said in an email interview today, “we put Entrepreneurs in touch with other developers, product managers, designers to build out their ideas.”

To learn more about 9 Blue Labs, we conducted an email interview today with Eliason.

Silicon Prairie News: Have you secured funding for 9 Blue Labs? If so, from whom and how much?

James Eliason: No we have not secured funding for 9 Blue Labs. Our goal for 9 Blue Labs at the current time is not to act as a financing option for companies that may be formed through contacts in 9 Blue Labs. Our goal is to bring together ideas and to curate the process of how to get the right team put together. As we grow the community, I think there is a opportunity for us to partner or form relationships with specific regional VC/Angel groups to be the go to source for deal flow. If I were a member of the VC/Angel community I would want to keep track of what we are creating. So many times we hear from members of that community “well what is going on in the Midwest? What are some companies or people we should be paying attention to?” We want to create the go to source for that community.

SPN: What will happen to Eliason Media as well as Craft.ly, GeoClipit and Gordilla?

Eliason: Eliason Media is launching a re-brand soon that will solely dedicate our team resources to products we have already created and continue to build on (Craft.ly, GeoClip.it and Gordilla) + our client side work for brands and agencies. Craft.ly could be considered the first company collaborated through 9 Blue Labs as it has members of Eliason Media as well as other equity members involved who are not a part of our everyday team.

SPN: What will happen to your and the team’s relationship with Eliason Media?

Eliason: Nothing will change. Levi and I decided once we brought him onto our team that this is something we were going to create. There is a need for this in the region (and beyond). Both of us feel like we have a wealth of knowledge in the startup world that we can put to good use to help further the startup community in the Midwest.

SPN: Will 9 Blue Labs have a focus on making products for a particular industry?

Eliason: Yes, 9 Blue will focus on web/mobile software development. This is currently where our resources and skill sets are positioned with the 20+ members we have signed on. Once we launch we will be listing members on our site. We will also have a submit process for Entrepreneurs to get in touch with us.

SPN: Anything else you’d like to add?

Eliason: Just like AngelList where they have a few individuals who curate companies and provide introductions to the VC/Angel community, Levi and I (and a few others) will curate ideas/concepts by discussing with the Entrepreneur our recommendations for how to get off the ground. We will then take a one page summary provided by the Entrepreneur to our list of 9 Blue Labs members. Each member reviews and either dedicates time for equity (potentially monetary compensation) or declines the opportunity. We haven’t even launched this and already we have had four different Entrepreneurs approach us about helping them out. This is exciting for us and we want nothing more than for 9 Blue Labs to provide opportunities for everyone in the region.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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