Venture School begins Sept. 1 in Des Moines
Nine teams of local entrepreneurs next week will begin Venture School, a nationally recognized program for entrepreneurs developed by the University of Iowa’s John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. The program, which lasts about seven weeks, matches selected teams with a UI teaching team and a group of local entrepreneurial mentors.
“Our goal is to bring the expertise of the University of Iowa’s award-winning John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC) to people across the state of Iowa,” said Jennifer Ott, training and engagement liaison for the center. “By creating a partnership with entrepreneurs, we can offer budding entrepreneurs and small business owners a wide variety of resources including prototyping, business strategies and industry-specific mentoring,” she said.
The curriculum for UI Venture School was developed by the National Science Foundation at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
The Greater Des Moines teams participating are Stickshift, HR Consulting for Start Up Companies, IASourceLink, Local Shop Hop, Campus ‘Bites, CityGrown Farms, Consulting Resources, CLenz Designs and Stone Bone Wood Cloth.
Ott said the applicants were pared down to those with unique ideas that are scalable and that would benefit from the entrepreneurial horsepower of the UI mentors and teachers. “You have to have an idea that’s more challenging than opening a boutique or a restaurant,” she said. “This is definitely for teams that are doing something new and unique.”
Ott said it hasn’t been determined yet whether the next class will be held in the spring or wait until next fall, but the university is working to build its partnerships locally and hopes to expand it to two to three classes per year.
The university recently hired Wade Steenhoek to lead the on-site direction of Venture School’s entrepreneurial and outreach activities in Des Moines. Steenhoek, who formerly worked nearly four years as director of the entrepreneurship program at Central College, will also serve as the liaison between JPEC and Des Moines Area Community College.
More information about Venture School can be found online.
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