StartUp Dubuque Presentation Copyright 2014
City of Dubuque Action Items # 1.
ITEM TITLE: StartUp Dubuque Presentation
SUMMARY: NICC President Dr. Liang Chee Wee and Cartegraph CEO Jake Schneider
to provide a presentation on StartUp Dubuque.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Presentation
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
0 Background Papers for StartUp Dubuque Supporting Documentation
To: Mayor Roy Buol
Members of the Dubuque City Council
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From: Rick Dickinson, President-Greater Dubuque Development p
David Lyons, Consultant—Greater Dubuque Development j
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Date: 9/30/15
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Re: BACKGROUNDERS- StartUp Dubuque and Sustainable Innovations �!
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Dubuque has aggressive programs for community development,economic development and
sustainability. Attached please find background papers on two new components of that work for our
discussions at the Council Work Session and Council Meeting Monday, October 5t".
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We look forward to our discussions.
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STARTUP DUBUQUE
Mission. The mission of StartUp Dubuque is to create and foster an entrepreneurial environment within
the greater Dubuque area by providing services to encourage, cultivate and promote growth and 1
success of start-ups and early stage companies. The "locus"for StartUp Dubuque will be in the Schmid
Innovation Center where it can take advantage of the co-located support from Greater Dubuque
Development, NICC/Small Business Development Center and numerous other providers of service to I'
small and start-up ventures.
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Organizational Structure. Several structural options were considered for this effort and vetted against
the following criteria:
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- How effective the overall structure would be in allowing the mission and goals to be
accomplished?
- How quickly could the structure be in place and how low could costs/expenses be kept?
- How flexible could the structure be to enable it to respond to opportunities quickly?
Based on analysis of those needs and available options the recommendation was to proceed with j
utilization of the existing 501C(3) under LDDC oversight (River Valley Initiative Foundation). The
Foundation, incorporated in 2002,was developed primarily to give local contributors to
community/economic development the opportunity to do so in a tax preferred way and under the
oversight of a non-profit Board of Directors. The existing Board is a mix of GDDC and community
leaders.The existingArticles of Incorporation and By-Laws are focused on the charitable
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endowment/gifting activity of a Foundation, and the general purposes is to improve the quality of life of
citizens in the region and to support the Greater Dubuque Development Organization. This structure
allows StartUp Dubuque to access existing administrative support and tax-deductible contributions
without distraction to their focus on key economic and environmental outcomes.
Strategic Design. It was felt allowing a flexible committee to work quickly and innovatively, and then
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passing their recommendations to a larger Board for implementation,was a good starting design.
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River Valley 501C(3) --> Greater Dubuque
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Board Duties {
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-SI representative -Review/approve 'll
committee
StartUp recommendations
representative
Lyons/Wickham Lyons
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Start Up Sustainable
Dubuque Innovations
For StartUp Dubuque our initial work reviewed existing practices at other community entrepreneurial
support systems, "incubators" or"accelerators" and possible structures to consider for Incorporating
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those best practices into an operational model for Dubuque. These best practices reviewed included,
but were not limited to:
- Small business classes and entrepreneurial training programs (business plan, accounting and
finance, HR management, contingency/disaster planning, etc)
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- Entrepreneurial event development/hosting (techbrews; MeetUps; 1,000,000 Cups of Coffee,
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etc)
- Co-working space and protocols (offices, rents, access, etc)
- Provision of basic amenities (internet, office equipment, conference rooms,etc)
- Incubator services (application processes, mentoring programs, business counseling/coaching, etc)
- Financial assistance and angel investor networking (from existing loan and grant programs to
creation of an angel investor fund).
Additional review was conducted of available strategic design options using the following criteria:
- How effective the overall strategy would be in allowing the goals to be accomplished? a
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How simple and "user friendly"would the strategy be for small businesses and start-ups?
- How duplicative services and additional administrative/bureaucratic processes would be avoided?
- How quickly the strategy could be in place and operational?
How low could costs/expenses be kept in implementation and operation of the strategy?
- How would the strategy create the needed "entrepreneur-centric" environment and leadership?
Based on analysis of the potential start-up and small business needs versus the existing community V
assets available to provide support, the recommendation was to proceed with a simple design using
primarily existing services, existing staffs and collaborative relationships to begin, and growing as
appropriate to demand/funding.
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The initial thoughts on duties and approaches for the Committee were generally: j
Duties Approach
Create centralized services Maximizing existing resources
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Establish rules/processes Avoid duplication and delay
Be inclusive Work with business, educators, creative community
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Recommend assistance Use collaborations
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Suggest promotional efforts Define niches/real value-adds
Build community Have entrepreneurs lead
Members. The effort is lead by a talented and diverse group of business leaders and experienced
entrepreneurs:
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Dr. Liang Chee Wee (President- NICC)
Jake Schneider(President-Cartegraph)
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Colleen Callahan (President- Dubuque Digital Services) '
Kevin Lynch (President—Net-Smart, Inc.; City Councilman)
Julio Medina (CEO- Medevelopment)
Emily Puls (Co-owner- East Mill Bakery)
Tom Preston-Werner(Co-founder GitHub; Co-founder CodeStarter)
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Maurice Jones (i! of Dubuque, Economic Deelopment Director)
±EPriest (FundeGy&9) )
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Nancy Dunk I (President Dee@le Community Foundation,State Repmmm#&% ]
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