The newest session of the University of Iowa’s Venture School at the Pappajohn Education Center in Des Moines will for the first time include representatives of five local cities looking to improve support of entrepreneurs and startups.

Waukee, West Des Moines, Clive, Urbandale and Ankeny have enrolled for the session beginning Feb. 2. Each city will offer a $1,000 scholarship for a startup in their city chosen by the Venture School using the suburb’s criteria, said Wade Steenhoek, a Venture School lecturer. The participants will be selected the first week of January.

Steenhoek, who is on the Ankeny City Council, said in an interview that he found that cities in the area weren’t well-equipped to help startups.

“We looked at how the University of Iowa could help,” he said. “This is a pilot project to spark their work in encouraging entrepreneurship and startups. It’s an in-depth targeted approach.”

Each company will participate in a six-week accelerator program that includes three days of workshop sessions at the beginning, four weeks of weekly meetings and two days of intense work at the end. The companies will be required to interview up to 100 people to test the market for their product, and they will get help on product market development, Steenhoek said. They will meet with mentors and instructors who will follow a curriculum used by the National Science Foundation and Stanford University, which works extensively with Silicon Valley startups.

“The cities are really jazzed about this,” Steenhoek said.

“The city and the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce are ready to get behind entrepreneurs in our community to encourage even more people to explore what may become our region’s next successful business,” Urbandale Mayor Bob Andeweg said in a statement.

Jennifer Banta, training and engagement liaison for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, said the sessions will include discussions on prototyping and business strategies.

Startups interested in learning more can attend one of these informational sessions:

• 4:30 p.m. Dec. 10  at the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce
• 10 a.m. Dec. 12 at the West Des Moines Incubator
• Noon Dec. 16 at Gravitate
• Noon Dec. 17 at the West Des Moines Incubator
• Noon Jan. 7 at the Global Insurance Accelerator

The deadline to register for this Des Moines Venture School cohort is Jan. 7. Read more