EntreFEST, Iowa’s entrepreneur conference, is an annual summit, celebration and resource hub for startup founders, business owners, corporate innovators and startup community builders.
Register at EntreFEST.com with the code SPNSENTME to get $10 off, and we’ll see you there!
The basics
What: First off, what is EntreFEST? EntreFEST is Iowa’s conference for entrepreneurs. The three-day conference is a summit, celebration and resource hub for the state’s entrepreneurs and those who support them.
Who: Anyone buidling a business or helping create an organization in Iowa. EntreFEST 2014 includes individual educational tracks for: small business owners, high-growth startup founders, female business owners, corporate innovators, economic developers and community champions fostering more entrepreneurship.
When: May 14-16. For a complete schedule of EntreFEST events, visit EntreFEST.com.
Where: All around downtown Iowa City—the Iowa City Ped Mall, Sheraton Hotel, hotelVetro, Iowa City Public Library, FilmScene and the Englert Theatre
Cost: Tickets cost $149 through April 30. After April 30, EntreFEST all-access passes cost $189. Interested in attending? Register online and use the code “SPNSENTME” to get $10 off.
EntreFEST keynote speakers
Along with 36 other speakers—you can read more about them here—EntreFEST 2014 has five keynote speakers, each with diverse backgrounds in business, technology and entrepreneurship.
Learn more about the five keynote speakers of EntreFEST 2014:
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Lydia Brown, Skywalk Group and Ascent Serial entrepreneur and passionate advocate for Iowa’s women entrepreneurs. |
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Nate Kaeding, Founding Partner, Short’s Burger & Shine Former NFL kicker for the San Diego Chargers and legendary Iowa Hawkeye football star. |
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Ben Gilbert, outgoing director, Microsoft’s Innovation Garage Expert in leading innovation and creativity inside of large companies. |
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Scott Bush, founder and president, Templeton Rye Spirits Former venture capital banker turned whiskey maker. |
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Carl Blake, creator of the World’s Perfect Pig Software engineer-turned-pig farmer, who’s been featured in The New York Times and on The Colbert Report. Read about Carl in SPN’s profile: “Pig breeder Carl Blake’s mission to acquaint Iowa technologists, farmers.” |
Educational tracks
This year, EntreFEST has five educational tracks with a variety of speakers based on attendees’ diverse entrepreneurial backgrounds and interests:
| Small Business & General Audience |
For Iowa’s business owners with 500 or fewer employees. Speakers include: Mike Colwell of the Greater Des Moines Partnership; Peter Awad and Jason Trout of Goodblogs; and Kaylee Williams of VolunteerLocal. View full small business track schedule. |
| High-growth Startups |
For founders, by founders: A track for active startup teams led by Iowa’s top entrepreneurs. Speakers include: Alec Whitters of Higher Learning Technologies; Derian Baugh of Men’s Style Lab; and John Schnipkoweit of NextStep.io. View full high-growth startup track schedule. |
| Women Entrepreneurs |
Iowa is last in the nation in the number of women entrepreneurs. Let’s fix that. The Ascent track is a new track designed to bring female and male entrepreneurs together to discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship through a woman’s lens. Speakers include: Riley and Michal Eynon-Lynch of PearDeck; Emma Peterson of Tikly; and Lydia Brown of Ascent. View full women entrepreneurs track schedule. |
| Economic Development & Startup Communities |
Workshops and discussions to help build your innovation ecosystem. Speakers include: Leann Jacobsen of the Technology Association of Iowa; Tej Dhawan of StartupCity Des Moines; and Next Generation technical recruiter David Tominksy. View full economic development and startup community schedule. |
| Corporate Innovation |
This track is specially designed for C-suite executives and corporate innovations leaders working inside of Iowa’s large and existing companies. Speakers include: Eric Engelmann of Geonetric, Ben Gilbert of Microsoft and Tim McDougal of the Gazette Company. View full corporate innovation schedule. |
What EntreFEST organizers are looking forward to most
We asked EntreFEST’s organizers to give us a glimpse at what elements of the conference attendees should be sure to include on their schedule. Their response included:
- The EntreFEST Street Festival: “After the breakout sessions on Thursday afternoon, head into the Ped Mall to enjoy the Street Festival and Hog Roast featuring Carl Blake’s famous Iowa Swabian Hall. Blake, a former software developer turned famous farmer, has garnered national attention in The New York Times and on the Colbert Report for breeding the perfect pig. Try his delicacies and enjoy performances by local artists and street performers throughout the downtown area.”
- Dream Big, Grow Here State Finals: “At 6 p.m. Thursday, after the Street Festival, head around the corner to the Englert Theatre to meet Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and watch 10 early-stage Iowa entrepreneurs pitch their business dreams to a panel of judges to win $10,000. After the pitches, while the judges deliberate, Carl Blake will share his story of going from developing computer software to breeding the perfect pig.”
Learn more about EntreFEST and what attendees can expect in 2014:
Silicon Prairie News is a media partner of EntreFEST
Credits: Photos from EntreFEST.com. Video from YouTube.
