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Bonjour from Montréal! I'm up north for the Canadian edition of the Global Coworking Unconference Conference or GCUC (they pronounce it "juicy"—really, they do!). I participated last year when the conference was in Toronto and found so much value in it that I knew I needed to come back this year. I've been to America's Hat™ a few times but this is my first Montréal experience. It's also the first time that I've wished I had paid more attention in Mademoiselle Lange's French class in high school. I've had to play the "ignorant American" a few times including at the first coffee shop I found. After the proprietor greeted me in French and I answered back in English, he politely asked where I was from. I answered "Des Moines" and his face lit up while he said, "but that's French: the monks!"
I sent last week's newsletter while I was en route to the Startup Champions Network summit in Baltimore which was once again a great event. It was a two-day discussion on the topic of diverse and inclusive startup communities with 75 or so other startup community-focused folks from around the country (including fellow Iowans Andy Stoll and David Tominsky). It was great to check in with colleagues from places like Santa Barbara and Portland but also a great excuse to spend some time with friends from Omaha/Lincoln, Kansas City and Cedar Rapids that I don't see often enough. Paul Singh's Tech Tour was coincidentally in Baltimore last week, too, and it was fun to hang out with Dana and him again.
Geoff
PS. This Friday is First Friday at Gravitate! As per usual, we'll have free/open coworking all day starting at 9 AM and our Community Happy Hour starting at 4:30 PM. As a special event this month, Dr. Chris LoRang of Capital Chiropractic will join us at noon for a presentation on Workplace Exercises and Ergonomics. In conjunction with the DSM Girl Gang, we're we'll be opening a new art show during the Happy Hour called The Female Gaze.
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Logistics startups relocate to Chattanooga from around U.S., world
Times Free Press (Dave Flessner & Tim Omarzu, October 4)
WorkHound, an employee retention startup focusing on the trucking industry, graduated from the Dynamo Accelerator, yesterday, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Formed in Des Moines, WorkHound also participated in Omaha's Straight Shot accelerator program in 2015.
WorkHound founders clarified to The Pull that they plan to open a new Chattanooga office, now that they’ve graduated, and will also continue to remain active in the Des Moines community.
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Kitchen Council aims to grow local food startups in Bluffs
Daily Nonpareil (John Schreier, October 1)
More than 100 people turned out last Thursday in Council Bluffs to help kick off the Kitchen Council, a new food incubator that is planning to open early next year in a former Famous Dave's restaurant. The incubator will featured a shared commercial kitchen as well as "help with the intangible needs—marketing, accounting, networking and far more—startup businesses need to succeed in the industry," according to the Nonpareil.
Thursday's event was an open house and pitch competition. Omaha-based Grainolia took the top prize, as awarded by the judges, while Council Bluffs' Soul Chefs took home the audience award.
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AMP’d Cycles wants to give bicycles the same safety features as cars
Silicon Prairie News (Joe Lawler, September 29)
SPN continued their series profiling the companies in the current cohort at the Iowa Startup Accelerator, writing this week about Cedar Rapids-based AMP'd Cycles, who are developing automobile-inspired safety features for bicycles such as turn signals, brake lights and virtual rearview mirrors.
“There are lights out there now, but they don’t really talk in a language that’s common to what motorists on the road understand,” company CEO Kyle Gatzmeyer told SPN.
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Member Spotlight: Julien Duhautois
Kyle Eason
Julien Duhautois (pronounced “DU-o-TWAH”) grew up north of Lille, France, near the French border with Belgium. He describes the culture there as friendly and similar to that of the American Midwest with rich culinary traditions. “My favorite Belgian beer is Karmeliet. It’s a pretty awesome beer.”
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