the PULL #147

May 11, 2016

I've been a judge at a lot of pitch competitions and my favorites ones always involve students. Usually these are business students or others on campus who have found their way into the entrepreneurial programming offered by business schools. For the first time, last week, I had the chance to judge student pitches for an "Entrepreneurship in Agriculture" class at Iowa State and I didn't know what to expect. It was great! Despite growing up in Iowa (or maybe because I grew up in Iowa) I've never embraced agriculture but I've recently had my eyes opened to the possibilities in the ag-tech market for the Iowa startup community and I'm excited to see it develop.

I was telling a friend about the experience at ISU and he mentioned that some venture capitalists had recently told him that they really like ag-tech deals "because they're always solving a real problem—they never create a technology just for the fun of it". Based on what I've seen in Ames and other places, I think there's a lot of truth to that line of thought.

Thanks to Kevin Kimle and ISU's Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative for the opportunity!

Geoff

PS. We debuted a new series on the blog today called Coffee Shop Coworking. Every few weeks throughout the summer Megan Bannister will check in on the work environment at various coffee shops throughout the greater Des Moines area. First up is one of my favorites: Mars Cafe!

This week's newsletter is supported by Square One DSM:

Join us for the inaugural Accelerate DSM event on May 18 at the Science Center of Iowa. Produced in collaboration with 1 Million Cups DSM, the Technology Association of Iowa and dmStartupDrinks, Accelerate DSM will feature panels, keynotes, roundtables and networking with members of the Des Moines startup community. A highlight of the afternoon will be the Global Insurance Accelerator graduation pitches and key takeaways from the class of 2016. Learn more at acceleratedsm.com

Real-time e-payments? 2 D.M. firms make their pitch
Des Moines Register (Matthew Patane, May 10)

Dwolla (Des Moines) and Shazam Network (Johnston) have both submitted proposals to a Federal Reserve task force charged with figuring out how to speed up the rate of money transfers within the U.S. Dwolla's proposal uses the company's real-time transferring FiSync technology as a national model while Shazam Network highlights its own network and real-time services it has built. According to the Des Moines Register, "Dwolla landed a seat on the task force's 18-member steering committee, as did Mechanicsville-based Bridge Community Bank. Johnston-based Shazam and Des Moines-based TMG Financial Services are members of the larger task force."

Iowa State researchers growing vegan leather from tea
Iowa City Press-Citizen (Jeff Charis-Carlson, May 9)

For the past three years, an Iowa State University professor has been working to make vegan leather made from cellulose fibers commercially feasible. Young-A-Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Events and Hospitality Management at Iowa State, has found a way to educe the absorbency of the "gel-like film consisting of cellulose fibers—a natural byproduct of kombucha—that has the appearance and flexibility of leather once it is harvested from the vats of tea and dried" so it can be used for apparel and worn outside.

According to the Press-Citizen: "Lee said that the team's work is now to the point that small companies—"if they are not really thinking about a profit"—could begin [to] experiment with minimal startup costs. "This material doesn’t need a huge amount of land, a huge amount of resources ... it just needs sugar, vinegar and the existing tea.”

Fashion lands here: The first ever Flyover Fashion Festival settles in Iowa City
The Daily Iowan (Grace Pateras, May 5)

Last weekend Iowa City hosted the inaugural FlyOver Fashion Festival, a gathering of designers from all over the state open to the general public. The event included an outdoor fashion market, a fashion show, and musical performances as well as keynote speakers and panel discussions of different fashion topics.

“I think all states in the Midwest and the heartland – the ‘flyover states’ – struggle with the portrayal of their state as not creative or cool or artistically vibrant,” event planner and T-shirt company founder Simeon Talley told The Daily Iowan. “We’re one of many efforts trying to put that idea in the head and create opportunities to keep the most talented, the most creative, the most artistically inclined, interested people working in the state.”

Coffee Shop Coworking: Mars Cafe
Megan Bannister

Located in the heart of the Drake neighborhood, Mars Cafe has long been a mainstay of students and the city’s creative community alike. A gathering place for student groups, host of art show openings, and even venue for musical performances, Mars Cafe is a hub for all sorts of community activities, which means you’ll be hard pressed to visit during a time when the coffee shop isn’t a bustling flurry of activity, or when you don’t run into someone who you know.

5/12 — SecDSM Monthly Meeting
5/18 — Visionary's Lunch & Learn: Introducing the NEW Site OnCall Content Management System
5/19 — .NET at Noon User Group
5/23 — Chair Massage Day
5/25 — DevOps DSM User Group
5/30 — WordPress DSM May Meetup
6/1 — Gravitate All-Member Potluck
6/2 — Iowa .NET User Group
6/8 — IIBA CIC Agile Discussion Group
6/9 — SecDSM Monthly Meeting
6/14 — Des Moines JS User Group

Gravitate is a community of more than 0 people who care about startups, technology and innovation in Iowa. We're glad you're here.

The Pull is curated by Geoff Wood and produced with help from Megan Bannister. My fellow nerds and I will retire to the nerdery with our calculators.

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