Innovative Incubator

Fargo Startup House offers free room, board to aspiring tech-preneurs

Miguel Danielson hopes that a certain unassuming four-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 9th Street North in Fargo may one day be known as the place where some of the world’s most impactful technology companies got their start The Fargo native recently purchased the property and is using it to launch the Fargo Startup House, a dorm-type setting w here selec ted tech ent repreneurs from around the world will live rent-free for six months while they develop their companies

The house is a bootstrap project for Danielson, an intellectual property attorney and founder and manag ing member of

Danielson Legal LLC, who says he wants to help foster Fargo’s entrepreneurial tech community and support the development of useful technology

While the financial responsibilities of the house are his, Danielson has the backing of a diverse support network to help realize his vision He brought in a local designer to update the space and, most importantly for this purpose, collaborated with 702 Communications to wire the house with super-fast 1 gigabit fiber Internet connection International creative firm Misfit Inc. has partnered to assist with the tenant application process and marketing efforts

The Fargo Startup House is so far fully funded by Miguel Danielson, second from left, but has received support from a number of local groups and companies, including the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp , Emerging Prairie and 702 Communication.

Applications for the initial round of house residents were accepted throughout July and the first class of six participants is expected to move into the house in early September Participants will be selected based on their talent and skills as well as the potential impact of their company

Executives from Microsoft, Arthur Ventures, Misfit Inc and several local tech firms have agreed to serve as mentors for accepted house members Dr Susan Mathison, owner of Catalyst Medical Center and staunch supporter of local entrepreneurs, will provide her services as wellness mentor Digital media and events company Emerging

Prairie, which Danielson also co-founded, and the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp have also provided support for the project.

“This opportunity represents one of the first accelerator-type concepts in the Fargo Moorhead region,” GFMEDC President Jim Gartin says. “Coupled with the recent coworking announcement by CoCo and other entrepreneurial endeavors, the Fargo Moorhead region is positioning itself as the epicenter for nascent technology development in the Great Plains.”

The concept of the Fargo Startup House is similar to other next-generation incubators that have sprung up in Kansas City in response to the Google Fiber project Google’s experiment to see what happens when it provides 1 Gigabit fiber Internet connections to the entire community. A unique neighborhood known as the Kansas City Startup Village has formed for young technology companies to take advantage of the high-speed Internet access and includes such places as Homes for Hackers, which offers three months of free rent, utilities and Google Fiber to tech startups. PB