Iowa Startup Accelerator announces first stops of its Barnstorming Tour

The Iowa Startup Accelerator is taking its mission on the road with an eight-week tour of the Midwest to attract applicants for its inaugural class. “We’ve got people leaving, at least temporarily, because they like what they see there,” founding team member Eric Engelmann told Silicon Prairie News in February …

The Iowa Startup Accelerator is taking its mission on the road with an eight-week tour of the Midwest to attract applicants for its inaugural class. 

“We’ve got people leaving, at least temporarily, because they like what they see there,” founding team member Eric Engelmann told Silicon Prairie News in February, citing companies like NextStep.io and Men’s Style Lab, that have temporarily relocated for out-of-state accelerators. “I think that’s a pretty big risk to us.”

While companies don’t have to be from Iowa or even the Midwest to apply, Engelmann says he suspects much of the accelerator’s first class will come from across the region—so embarking on a Midwest road trip makes a lot of sense. The Barnstorming Tour kicked off on Saturday with a trip to Ames for HackISU’s 24-hour hackathon. 

While more than 30 stops have yet to be scheduled, ISA recently announced a number of Iowa stops over the next few weeks, including: 

  • Wednesday, April 9 — i2iowa Investors & Innovators Forum, Des Moines 
  • Tuesday, April 15, 1:30–3:30 p.m. — StartupCity Des Moines
  • Tuesday, April 15, 5:15 p.m. — Iowa State University, Ames
  • Wednesday, April 16 (time TBD) — Open Decorah Coworking space, Decorah

If you’re interested in meeting with Engelmann during any of the tour’s stops, reach out to him via email.

Applications for the accelerator’s inaugural class are open through June 22. 

For more information about each of the scheduled stops and to see a complete list of future locations on the Iowa Startup Accelerator’s Barnstorming Tour, visit ISA’s website


Learn more about the Iowa Startup Accelerator through our previous coverage: “Applications for Iowa’s first 90-day startup accelerator go live.”

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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