In the last ten years, I’ve offered predictions for the upcoming year every December 31.
I’ve learned that I’m pretty terrible at making predictions.
Perhaps there was a time long ago when it was easier to predict the future – when things weren’t so chaotic. Five years ago, right before the pandemic, I made all sorts of predictions for 2020, and you all know how those turned out. My predictions last year focused around what I was going to do at the university, and now that stuff’s never going to happen.
So, rather than try to make predictions, I’m going to share my programs, services, initiatives, and travels that I plan to undertake in the coming twelve months – most of them involve EntrePartners but Cider Finder is in there too. These are the things that I’m excited about and can’t wait to launch. Some travel is involved, but not nearly as much as previous years – someone’s got to be here to run the Innovation Center. Even though I’ve narrowed down the number of different things I’m working on, the plate is still full for the coming year.
First, let’s start with the existing programs. Startup Weekend Iowa City is scheduled for July 11-13. This will be the seventh time I’ve organized Startup Weekend Iowa City, and with the coalition I’m building out at EntrePartners, I shouldn’t have any trouble bringing together a group of organizers this year. As for Startup Weekend Iowa Online, I’ve decided to shelve that program this year, since the folks in Des Moines are running a Startup Weekend at the end of March. There wasn’t that much interest in an online program last year, and I’d rather focus on the in-person stuff.
Iowa City Open Coffee and 1 Million Cups Iowa City are still fan favorites, and attendance was actually up at the end of 2024. I’ve been trying to engage with folks who haven’t attended either event in a while, especially in the tech community. A couple of months ago, I worked with the TechCorridor.io team to start a quarterly “Lightning Tech Talks” session at 1 Million Cups, with the hopes of eventually spinning it out as its own event sometime in the next year or two. The attendance for the first version of Lightning Tech Talks was great – around 30 people showed up and we’re looking to expand our reach further for the next event on February 19. Open Coffee and 1MC will also be rotating out to the BioVentures Center in Coralville eight times in 2025, as requested by our attendees who work out that direction and enjoy the program but aren’t able to make the trip downtown easily. The eight BVC Wednesdays are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month except for March, June, July, and December.
To complement Startup Weekend Des Moines at the end of March, I’m going to attempt to run Follow-Up Weekend the following weekend, April 4-6. The goal is to play off of the momentum that Startup Weekend creates and offer the Startup Weekend experience to those who already have an existing startup in motion. I wasn’t able to get this program off the ground back in the fall – I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be to build the Innovation Center at the same time, and I wasn’t able to put the effort into promoting Follow-Up Weekend as I needed. This time, I won’t have that excuse, and I have high hopes for getting the program launched.
The Braintrust will be launching to the public here in the next few days. We’re going to have quite the group of experienced entrepreneurs and creators lending their expertise and advice to our members, and I’m excited about the connections that will be made in the coming months. You probably know many of the people who will be involved in the Braintrust – I’ve been utilizing many in this group as mentors and judges at previous Startup Weekend events, and some of them are Open Coffee and 1 Million Cups Iowa City regulars. While it’s not completely identical, the Iowa City Area Development group used to have a mentorship program years ago that filled this niche, and I feel like the Braintrust will fill this gap without too much poking and prodding from me to keep the momentum going.
In the coming year, I’m going to be looking for partnerships with other entrepreneurial service organizations around the state in an effort to create a network that (hopefully) will form an ecosystem that’s competitive with other larger ecosystems around the Midwest. EntrePartners’ first partnership in the new year will be with Runway Venture Studio in Des Moines. We’re doing many of the same things for our respective communities, and by partnering, we can cross-promote each others’ programs and services. We’ll be teaming up in running an in-person spring 2025 Kauffman FastTrac cohort in April – I’ve signed up for the facilitator training in January, so I can get completely up to speed on the program.
With the help of other organizations in the area, EntrePartners will also be launching a chapter of Startup Grind, a program designed to give education and opportunities to startups and new fast-scaling businesses. I’ve attended one Startup Grind event in the past – they were running it during Denver Startup Week a few years ago, and I wanted to see the difference between Startup Grind and 1 Million Cups. It seems like the two events complement each other, although Startup Grind could pull in startups from a wider area than our local 1 Million Cups chapter. In addition, Startup Grind is international, while 1 Million Cups is limited to the United States. I’ve wanted to pull the trigger on this for a while – 2025 is the year that I’m going to get this done.
Speaking of international, I’m really looking forward to attending the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Indianapolis at the beginning of June. Since going full time on EntrePartners, I’ve had a chance to reconnect with a number of other entrepreneurial ecosystem builders across the United States through online meetings, many of whom I’d met previously at the Startup Champions Network conference held in Des Moines a few years back and other prior to that through 1 Million Cups Organizers’ Summits before the pandemic. It’s been great to see these folks again and be invited to serve as a regional ambassador for the Congress. I’m hoping the weather is a bit cooler than it was back in August during Rally – my hotel’s air conditioner could barely keep up with the heat and humidity during that conference. If you’re planning to go to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, let me know!
One thing I’m hoping to do in 2025 is facilitate some Startup Weekends. There haven’t been many opportunities to facilitate these events over the last couple of years – either local organizers are finding local facilitators or local Startup Weekend committees are breaking away from Techstars and running identical programs without the hassle of Techstars’ rules. I’ve seen this happening since 2021 or 2022 – several of the programs I facilitated across the country have dropped the “Startup Weekend” moniker and have continued under different names. Iowa City has stayed with Techstars mostly due to name recognition – it wouldn’t be difficult to rename the program and run it independently if we had to. Perhaps I’ll be able to get back out there and see some new startup communities again this year.
While Startup Weekend programs seem to be in a bit of a lull in the United States right now, I’ve noticed that there has been an increase in programs in Europe and elsewhere in the world. While I didn’t have a chance to go overseas to facilitate any events in 2024, I’ve been in talks with some organizers outside the United States in the past year, putting myself out there as someone who would be willing to travel and bring a bit of American startup culture to different corners of the world. As I said way back in 2022 when I had the chance to travel outside the United States, I’ve caught the international travel bug and would love the chance to go on another extended trip. I’m also keeping my eyes peeled for other opportunities to bring entrepreneurship education to people no matter where they live. You never know what will pop up over the next twelve months!
I’ve been so focused on EntrePartners and ecosystem building that I haven’t had much chance to focus on Cider Finder these past few months. As happens every winter, CiderCon is quickly approaching and this year’s conference will be in Chicago, as is odd-year tradition. I’ve already had some of my cider industry friends reach out, and we’re coordinating some fun activities during the several days we’ll be spending by Lake Michigan. My train should arrive a few hours before the Cider Share on Wednesday and I’ll head back home first things on Sunday morning, after Saturday’s Cider Summit. Two years ago, I ended up pouring drinks at the Original Sin booth during Cider Summit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I can dragged in to other shenanigans this year. I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be an ice storm or blizzard, as was the case in the Pacific Northwest last January.
In May, I’ll be heading to Grand Rapids for the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition. This past year’s event was a year of transition from one organizing team to another, and things went mostly smoothly. The only hiccup seemed to be the organization of the cider samples – I gave a few suggestions to improve this from the perspective of a multi-year steward. I would be willing to help with the work on the refrigerated truck if need be – I might talk with the Michigan Cider Association folks about this during CiderCon in February.
Over the course of the year, I would also like to hit one east coast cider event. The New York Cider Assocation puts on some fun-looking events over the course of the year, and I’ve accumulated a number of industry friends over that way. If time allows this year, I’d like to make it to one of their events during the nice weather. I always attend the New York event during CiderCon – the event this past January in Portland was the best one they’ve done so far, and I actually had a chance to sample everything that was being offered. The Cider Share on the first evening of CiderCon has gotten so large, you have to be strategic in your sampling. The New York event is just the right size – let’s hope they’re able to maintain or even improve on 2024 in the coming year.
I’ve also become friends with the leadership of Cider Canada and am hoping I can make it to Ontario at some point in 2025 to visit some potential partners as Cider Finder begins to add Canadian cideries to the app. The app itself is nearly ready to leave beta and be added to the app store – something I’m frantically working on prior to CiderCon at the beginning of February. I think there’s a great opportunity to partner with early adopters up there, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a part of the world that I haven’t yet seen. A trip to Ontario would pair nicely with a trip to upstate New York – might even turn the whole thing into a road trip for a couple of weeks if the timing works out.
There’s so much to be done over the next year, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten about a thing or two in compiling this part of the year-end blog post. I’m really bullish on 2025, and you should be too. There’s a lot of opportunity to be had – the timing is right for many of the things discussed. It’s just a matter of putting in the work. I hope you have a fantastic New Year, and I hope to see many of you in person over the coming twelve months as things are built and trips are taken.
Take a moment today or this evening to stop and reflect on your wins this year – you made it through another “unprecedented” year. Even if you feel like you haven’t accomplished what you wanted in the past year, celebrate what you have done and what you can do moving forward. We’re all building toward something, and even if it’s not taking shape just yet, it will soon. As always, I’m here to help if you need it – that’s what I do. Happy New Year to you and yours.