Home Sweet Venture Home
new hub for startups opens in downtown Eau Claire
A newly opened hub for fledgling businesses is hoping to tap into – and amplify – Eau Claire’s entrepreneurial spirit.
VentureHome-Eau Claire – a pilot program formed by a partnership among Madison-based WiSys, UW-Eau Claire, and CoLab – opened in late February inside CoLab, a co-working space at 312 S. Barstow St.
WiSys President Arjun Sanga said the goal of VentureHome is to “provide everything your startup needs under one roof” – including both physical workspace and connections to local and statewide resources, funding, legal advice, technology, and more.
“ ... we believe the entrepreneur can really run with the idea with the assistance and guidance of our steering committee.” – Elaine Coughlin, community manager, CoLab
“I think one of the hardest thing to do (as an entrepreneur) is to navigate available resources and find out what is right for you,” Sanga said. VentureHome, he said, is intended to foster an environment in Eau Claire that provides the same sort of support for innovation that startups find is bigger cities such as Madison and Milwaukee. VentureHome is designed to gather resources and fill gaps without overshadowing existing programs and organizations. For example, he said, entrepreneurs whose ideas aren’t a good fit for VentureHome may be referred to other agencies, such as the Small Business Development Center.
During VentureHome’s first few weeks of operation, it received 17 applications for its Seed Accelerator program and 37 inquiries overall. “I think it’s tremendous to say that in less than a month we’ve had 37 people come forward,” Sanga said. “I think that shows there’s a lot of demand, activity, an entrepreneurial spirit in Eau Claire that we’re tapping into.”
The Seed Accelerator is a free, six-month program aimed at entrepreneurs with scalable business ideas. Four to six entrepreneurs who are accepted to be in the program’s first cohort will receive six free months of membership at CoLab, one-on-one mentoring, access to numerous resources, and eligibility to apply for WiSys seed funding. Applications for the first cohort were due March 9; the next deadline is Sept. 4.
“We have opened it up to any and all types of entrepreneurs,” Elaine Coughlin, community manager at CoLab, sand of the Seed Accelerator. “We’re not really putting a lot of parameters around it because this is our first cohort. But overall, the idea is it’s a scaleable idea – we believe the entrepreneur can really run with the idea with the assistance and guidance of our steering committee.”
That steering committee includes several Chippewa Valley businesspeople and representatives of local business-oriented organizations. In addition to Coughlin, members include Becca Coleman of the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp.; Ann Rupnow of the UW-Eau Claire College of Business; Dough Rhoten of jamf; Becca Cooke of Red’s Mercantile; and others.
Coughlin said CoLab is excited to be part of the VentureHome project. “CoLab is a co-working space, but our underlying mission is to help people start business and expand businesses in the community,” she said.
VentureHome-Eau Claire is meant to be a four-year pilot program, with funding from WiSys to get it off the ground, Sanga said. Eventually, WiSys hopes to create VentureHome branches at all 11 Wisconsin communities with comprehensive UW System campuses (such as Eau Claire, Menomonie, and River Falls), but that will take time, Sanga said. “What we can provide is a franchise model,” he said. “We can provide a lot of centralized work. We have statewide partners.”
These partners can provide everything from research and technology patented by the UW System to intellectual property advice to “concierge services” tailored to a startup’s specific needs, he said. The assistance is provided under the umbrella of WiSys, an independent nonprofit agency that serves as the technology transfer office for the 11 comprehensive campuses in the UW System to patent and license technologies.
“The WiSys VentureHome launching in Eau Claire represents another exciting development for our community’s vibrant idea and innovation industry,” UWEC Chancellor James Schmidt said. “UW-Eau Claire’s faculty and students have long partnered with area businesses and organizations, as well as successful alumni, to provide research and expertise that inform the launch of new ventures. This partnership takes those connections, and the potential outcome of joint endeavors, to the next level.”
Want to learn more about VentureHome-Eau Claire? Visit venturehome.org/eauclaire or search for them on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.
