Got An Idea? You Can Win Big

the annual idea challenge helps spur entrepreneurs

Have you got a great business idea burning a hole in your brain? Since 2007, the Idea Challenge, an annual contest sponsored by the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp., has been boosting local entrepreneurs. If you’ve got an idea, you can submit an application to the program anytime ...

Rolling With It: UW-Stout class helps farmer with fence cart invention

The Discovery Center at UW-Stout takes pride, among its varied services, in helping entrepreneurs flesh out ideas for products or businesses. “We have a good process – an initial feasibility study – that asks people the right questions. We can get a good idea if it’s going to fly or not,” said Roger Gehring, a development engineer with the Discovery Center ...

Get Ready To Launch

UW-Eau Claire's entrepreneurial training program helps budding businesspeople prepare their plans for success

On a Tuesday evening, they leave their day jobs and families behind. They gather – this week, there are 14 of them – in a small classroom on the UW-Eau Claire campus, toting binders, notebooks, and – most importantly – dreams. These dreams of forming new businesses or expanding existing ones will be examined, amended, and honed ...

Another Dynamic Success

new firm flexes its muscles in fitness equipment industry

In a former life, I was a gym rat. Bar bells, weights, clangs, and grunts. Few women subscribed to this lifestyle then. The places were filled with testosterone and iron, black-colored equipment. They were dark, dank, and messy. Sometimes, this neatnik got a workout simply by putting things back where they belonged ... no matter how much they weighed ...