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How Eight Years of Angel Investing Lead to the Launch of a New $17 Million Venture Fund

Eight years ago, I made my first angel investment in a company called Tradesy via Tim Ferris’s AngelList syndicate. Within a matter of months, I made several more investments in startup companies via AngelList. I also made a couple of angel investments directly in local companies. I didn’t know what I was doing at the …

Developing a Thriving Regional Startup Ecosystem Along the I-29 Corridor

South Dakota has some unique challenges when building community and capital resources for startup founders. We have a small and spread-out population compared to the rest of the country. There are also just fewer people working on developing high-growth technology startups at any given time, which makes it difficult to build a non-profit organization around …

Sioux Falls’ Startup Ecosystem is Stronger Than Ever. Here’s Why.

Developing a healthy startup ecosystem is important for any community because it provides entrepreneurs, startup founders, and small business owners critical business resources in the earliest stages of their businesses. It’s not always clear which startup will become the next major employer in town, but by offering resources to all of them, we can be …

Next Steps for Sioux Falls’ Startup Ecosystem

The startup ecosystem in Sioux Falls is in the strongest place it has been in the last decade. There are two successful accelerator programs that have multiple cohorts each year (Falls Fintech and Co-Starters). Zeal’s new startup mentor network has 28 volunteer entrepreneurial mentors. Falls Angel Fund has made more than $3 million in startup …

Sioux Falls to Celebrate Entrepreneurship Day on March 3, 2021

Beginning this year, Sioux Falls will celebrate Entrepreneurship Day on the first Wednesday of March. For the 2021 celebration taking place on March 3, the general public is invited to join the festivities by participating in a host of events organized by the teams at the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship (Zeal) and Startup Sioux Falls.  …

Spark Sioux Falls Technology Panel

I had the opportunity to be on a panel discussion about how COVID-19 has impacted the information technology industry in Sioux Falls. Other panelists included Natalie Eisenberg, Click Rain; Dr. JoseMarie Griffiths, Dakota State University ; Mike Grigsby, City of Sioux Falls; and Michael Zuercher, Prismatic. You can watch the recording below: Spark Sioux Falls …

Preserving Cash is the Key to Your Business Surviving the COVID-19 Recession

We find ourselves in unprecedented times. Many small businesses have had to close their doors and furlough employees with no idea when they might be able to re-open. Unemployment claims have hit an all-time high and some are predicting that COVID-19 related job losses could reach 47 million. The United States economy is undoubtedly in …

Morning Marketing Party #2 Announced

Startup Sioux Falls and Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship first hosted a Morning Marketing Party on October 4th. It was a great success with over 55 people in attendance, and we have decided to do it again! Please join us at Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship on Friday, February 14th at 8:30 AM. This is an opportunity …

Seven Volunteer Opportunities to Help Lead Sioux Falls’ Startup Ecosystem

Sioux Falls Startup community at the September Startup Social

In the last couple of weeks, our startup community has welcomed a fresh set of eyes that has provided a very helpful outside perspective on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities that our startup ecosystem has. Zeal has brought on Kate Flemming, who was most recently the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Millikin University, …

Mini-Mastermind Event

Startup Sioux Falls and and Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship will be hosting a mini-mastermind event on November 27th at 9:00 AM at Zeal, 2329 N Career Avenue. This is getting to become somewhat of an annual tradition the day before Thanksgiving. Since 1 Million Cups usually takes that day off, we have this opportunity to …

How We Do Hiring at MarketBeat

(Watch this Video on YouTube) The topic of hiring has come up a lot recently in the Startup Sioux Falls community and this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone given our city’s historically-low unemployment rate. Chelsea Giedd, a local boutique owner in Sioux Falls, recently published a series of podcast episodes about hiring and that …

Introducing Failure Fest

I’m pleased to announce another new event being put on by Startup Sioux Falls and Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship: Failure Fest. Most small businesses and startups fail, and that’s okay. Failure Fest is a unique event that celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit and recognizes that trying and failing to do something important is better than never …

How to Run a Successful Community Event for Small Business Owners and Startup Founders

I have been organizing community events for small business owners, startup founders and entrepreneurs for the last five years through a variety of different organizational umbrellas. The first event that I organized entirely on my own accord was a mini-mastermind event on November 26th, 2014 at the Sioux Falls Design Center. Since then, I’ve been …

Startup Horror Stories

I’m pleased to announce a Halloween event for the Sioux Falls Startup community. Startup Sioux Falls and Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship are hosting “Startup Horror Stories” on Thursday, October 31st at 9am. The event will take place out at Zeal, 2329 N Career Avenue. This event is geared toward small business owners and startup founders. …

Morning Marketing Party

I’m excited to announce a new event coming up in about a week – the Morning Marketing Party. Being an entrepreneur or small business owner is sometimes a lonely gig, so opportunities like this are a great way to find connections while hopefully picking up a tip or two for your business. On Friday, October …

Startup Sioux Falls August Update

We are now just under six months into operations of Startup Sioux Falls. During that time, our primary efforts have been around content creation and building an online community for small business owners and startup founders in the Sioux Falls area. We’ve highlighted the stories of 16 ecosystem organizations and community groups. We’ve published 9 …

Introducing Startup Sioux Falls

Today, I am pleased to announce the creation of Startup Sioux Falls. Startup Sioux Falls is a digital hub that connects entrepreneurs to the startup ecosystem and startup community in the Sioux Falls metro area. You can think of Startup Sioux Falls as one-stop shop to learn about resources available to entrepreneurs and small business owners, to …

Should You Enter the South Dakota Giant Vision Competition?

Every year, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development puts on a startup competition for South Dakota residents. There are some good reasons to apply and participate in the competition, but there are limits on how beneficial it can be for your company. Watch This Video on YouTube Learn more about Giant Vision at http://www.southdakotagiantvision.com/ Here’s …

How MarketBeat Grew by 71% in 2018

MarketBeat’s revenue grew by 71% in 2018, but it didn’t happen because of some amazing new marketing strategy, significant prices increases, new employees/talent, or an overheated market. There are two things we did in 2018 that allowed this growth to happen. We significantly increased advertising spend and I stopped trying to do any side projects …

How to Raise Money for Your Business in the Great Plains or the Midwest (Updated 11/18)

As the public face of Falls Angel Fund, I receive a lot of inquiries from entrepreneurs and would-be business owners that are looking to raise money to get their businesses off the ground. In the past couple of weeks, I have received inquiries from an entrepreneur running a medical devices startup, an entrepreneur running a …

How to Build an Interest-Based Community on Facebook

Every successful community has a central hub for the sharing of ideas the facilitation of random social interactions. Churches have Sunday worship. Service clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis have weekly meetings. Geeks have game nights at local comic shops. These regular places of meeting provide members of a community a forum to engage other people …

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Sioux Falls Part 4: Educational Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

someone mentoring someone who is working on a business

A few weeks back, I wrote an important article focusing on the four things that the city of Sioux Falls will need if it is going to be a community that fosters new startup businesses that attract outside capital and create high-paying jobs. Since then, I have discussed capital availability, building community, and storytelling as …

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Sioux Falls Part 2: Making Capital Available to Entrepreneurs

industry and nature in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

A few weeks back, I highlighted four things that the city of Sioux Falls will need if it wants to become a true entrepreneurial city that regularly spawns job-creating and capital-attracting startups. In short, if we want a stronger social community of entrepreneurs, we need to do a better job of sharing our success stories, …

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Sioux Falls Part 1: Creating Community

A picture from the first Open Startup Coffee event in Sioux Falls

A couple of weeks ago, I highlighted four things that I believe Sioux Falls will need if it wants to follow the footsteps of Austin, Boulder and other startup communities and become a city that regularly spawns startups that create new jobs, attract investment capital and foster economic growth. We will need opportunities for collaboration …

Four Things Sioux Falls Needs to Become an Entrepreneurial City

Over the last several months, the business community in Sioux Falls has taken a renewed interest in the role that entrepreneurship plays in bettering the city. The Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship has become more prominent in the community with their recent rebrand and remodel, as well as their launch of an accelerator program. The closure …