DUSTY DAVIDSON
COVER story DUSTY DAVIDSON, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR AND INVESTOR AT THE ASHTON BUILDING IN MILLWORK COMMONS.
Champion of Big Ideas
DUSTY DAVIDSON, AN ADVOCATE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP The winding road that leads to entrepreneurship can be both exhilarating and a little nerve-wracking, but local serial tech entrepreneur Dusty Davidson said the twists and turns are all part of the journey — which makes success even sweeter.
Starting Out
Believe it or not, the Iowa native and Iowa State University alum never intended to become an entrepreneur. Originally, he aspired to be a software engineer, which is what led him to obtain a computer science degree and begin his work in software engineering and software development at a small company, and later a larger corporation. Both jobs contributed to a new outlook that helped Davidson realize there was more out there for him. After struggling to find a career in software engineering that fit his desire to work on innovative and cutting-edge projects with like-minded individuals, Davidson was ultimately inspired to follow
an entrepreneurial path. “I started my first company Brightmix because I wanted to surround myself with amazing people and do really interesting and impactful work,” Davidson said. “I didn’t have any particular idea, so my partner and I did software consulting for a couple of years. Out of that first company — and my first entrepreneurial endeavor — sprung a number of things.” Next up, Davidson built a software product that eventually became the company Tripleseat, which he grew and scaled. In the pursuit to find other entrepreneurs and people he related to, he started Silicon Prairie News, a blog and website highlighting entrepreneurs and innovators from in and around the Silicon Prairie. “One after another, things kind of spurred out of that,” Davidson said. “All really driven by this idea of, ‘how do you build innovative and interesting companies in the middle of the country and then find others who are doing that as well?’”
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