Why entrepreneurial programming matters

BY ANDY CHRISTENSEN

Over the past year, Fargo-Moorhead has witnessed dramatic entrepreneurial growth. This growth means new companies are being started, existing ones are being strengthened and new opportunities are being created. How did this occur? I believe a tremendous catalyst has been the community’s support of new types of entrepreneurial programming, which I define as events that connect, educate and support a region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Events can be small niche-focused weekly meetups to large conferences that span several days. In Fargo-Moorhead, for example, we have meet-ups like Red River Valley Web Group where web developers meet monthly to collaborate on projects and share best practices about internet development trends. We also have larger events like Startup Weekend, where area participants turn ideas into businesses over the span of 54 hours. In addition, there are other programs like 1 Million Cups, Startup Drinks, Cropped, Fargo Mobile Tech Meetup, Midwest Mobile Summit, Health Pitch, and TEDx Fargo. While each event has a different agenda, they all support entrepreneurial thinking. All of these events are also new to the area, having been launched just within the past two years, and the participant base of these groups has been steadily increasing ever since their introductions to the community.

Entrepreneurial programming can be started and attended by anyone, from business owners, investors or developers to students, teachers or bankers. Events are attended by people for a variety of reasons. Some are generally interested in entrepreneurship (startups to corporate intrapreneurship), creativity and networking. People who are starting a business, looking for a co-founder or partner, seeking a startup to work for or looking for ways to grow their current business have more specific reasons to attend.

Entrepreneurial programming is the recurring glue for a community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Each event builds on each other, spawning new groups and events while organically recruiting new participants, expanding the ecosystem’s network and knowledge base. An example of this network effect is Startup Weekend Fargo, which directly spawned Startup Drinks. Startup Drinks began with the initial 60 participants of Startup Weekend, but has now turned into a community-wide event that draws anywhere from 60-120 participants every month. Many Startup Drinks attendees have gone on to create their own groups and events.

Building up the region’s startup community is vitally important to upper Midwest venture funds like Arthur Ventures. Without a continuous stream of investment opportunities, we simply couldn’t exist. In just a few short years, the increased level of entrepreneurial programming has directly increased investment activity, primarily because entrepreneurial density attracts investment capital. As a result, Arthur Ventures organizes CULTIVATE.you and supports other events in the Fargo-Moorhead community aimed at growing the entrepreneurial community.

Every week there are events where people meet, pitch ideas, learn, collaborate and build new things that are creating a network of individuals passionate about shaping our future. This has resulted in new business opportunities, additional capital for growing companies and a better ecosystem for the next batch of entrepreneurs to thrive. This isn’t just happening in Fargo-Moorhead, but all over the Midwest. With continuous and additional entrepreneurial programming, I truly believe our region can accelerate the growth and development of our communities so we can create, grow and invest in the businesses today that will create our tomorrow. PB

Andy Christensen Associate Arthur Ventures andrew@arthurventures.com

Twitter: @achristensen017