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Tech Town Hall Pella Blog

Tech Town Hall Pella kicks off with five great panelists at 3PM at Central College:

GB: Greg Ebling, Superintendent Pella Schools RH: Rick L. Hassman, CIO Pella Corporation DC: David Corbin, CIO Vermeer Corporation JM: Jim Mueller, Pella City Mayor AC: Andy Campbell, Founding member and Marketing Director Impakt Athletics

Our discussion is moderated by (BW) Brian Waller, President of Technology Association of Iowa

BW: to the Mayor: Describe Pella’s current infrastructure

JM: Pella’s infrastructure is driven by businesses that need high speed capabilities like Vermeer, Pella Corporation. How do we provide high speed opportunity for residents? High speed is essential for a community to survive and thrive, and on the business side, high speed is a requirement to attract talent. The city of Pella looks forward to making investments in infrastructure and we are thinking about how difficult would it be to put fiber in every home. Currently, the community is getting rid of wires and we are moving towards everything being buried underground. [comment from DC about using Vermeer] And we are supporting the industry by using vermeer equipment!

BW: to Andy: Talk about being a startup in Pella

AC: Being a tech start up means you’re poor. [laughs] We help coaches get a mass amount of data (football) high schools/colleges. To our customers, we don’t talk about analytics - we talk about making their lives easier. It’s a challenge; athletics industry is very anti-tech, not techy.

We have the advantage in the midwest bring a tech startup in the sports industry

BW: to the Pella Superintendent: What hardware do students have access to?

GE: We provide macbook airs for students grades 7-12 each student gets a computer, 5-6 grade students get computers as well, but they don’t take them home. Younger students get ipads. We are looking at moving away from the air soon. What is the next device? A lot of schools have gone to 1-1 devices [like we have]. Devices allow you to do cloud-based applications. Something that doesn’t have a processor is much cheaper. Industry is getting away from more expensive devices [for scale to get to 1 device, 1 student] - can be very expensive to maintain. We have a $500K investment from the school annually to maintain 1300 devices. Apple will have to react to maintain schools as customers. Moving forward - some schools do “bring your own device” models (smartphone/laptop).

BW: how does one navigate a career to become a CIO of Pella? How do we demystify this role?

RH: I started in manufacturing, wanted to be a baseball coach or college professor. I went to Dyersville (Field of Dreams) and worked for a toy maker. I then became a business manager. I understood the tech piece, and had a good grasp of the business side of things. I don’t have a deep tech background - I depend upon the team for that. You need to understand how IT can support the business.

BW: Vermeer leverages the colleges/universities well for interns and hiring. How do you interact with colleges/professors and what are your hiring practices?

DC: Pella is a great place to raise a family, but it’s more difficult to attract young people. We have many ISU grads. We started a conversation with ISU and talked to profs and grad students to develop a very robust intern program. After a student finishes an internship and goes back to school, they can continue working at the Ames location. We have a strategy to develop new tech near a place like ISU. We just finished construction on a new building with office space and a high bay space. We use video conferencing. It’s less than 1.5 hours to Ames from HQ in Pella. ISU is just the first step in this venture. We plan to do that at other universities.

BW: to Andy: data analytics - how are we going to groom college students and get students into data analytics and get them good at it?

AC: Students often go into marketing because they say they’re not good at math. In order to do data, you have to understand stats - to run regressions and understand variances. You have to understand that piece for decision making. This starts early - we have to look at how we teach math. Take a long view so we don’t weed out students. It takes math and problem solving. Teach students to look at math as problem solving.

DC: I have a daughter (student) working on homework on Friday afternoons talking to her teacher online working on a problem and that’s exciting. This teacher is a leader. How many of you were doing homework on Friday afternoons? [BW: I wasn’t doing it Monday afternoons!]

RH: So much data out there - anyone can take data and prove their hypothesis. You can use data to support anything. Let the data tell the story. Capabilities and application of data is dependent on the individual.

BW: teachers with passion - how do we find them?

GE: When I was an undergrad in math, I was a kid who learned algorithms to solve problems. Conceptually did I always understand? No, I didnt. At Pella, starting in 1st grade, we use “singapore math” - a concrete way that a symbol means two different things. What do these concepts mean? I had a better “number sense” as a kid. What we see in Pella kids is they are moving faster later on because they have “number sense.” Everyone of us has a sense of if we are good or bad at math.

With teachers like Josh Steenhook - it’s how they teach it as well as if they are a good or bad teacher. We can all memorize things and teachers will praise that, but more importantly, can kids apply it and understand what that they are doing?

Question from the crowd - Kathy: to Dave - when did you start the big data journey?

DC: We ll it’s not big data yet, because it’s only a few big machines. We want to correlate that data to the answer questions our engineers have. We buy components that have performance metrics and we look to see if they perform to a certain level. How does that affect the life of components? When might the component fail? The last thing people want is their equipment to break. This equates to a person in education or the health of a person. We started that adventure several years ago, we experienced a hiccup because of connectivity.

Question from the crowd: How do you find the right people?

RH: Four years ago we sat back and looked at our mix. It’s like an athletic team. We needed a better mix. We needed to progress so we revamped [our hiring practices]. How do we go after more college or less experienced people. This allowed us to revitalize our internship program. Through TAI, we are able to grow our internship program through government funding [lobbied from by TAI]. You have to set up an environment that allows for growth.

Question from the crowd - Kathy: to Andy: are you in the wearable space with helmets and pads?

AC: No, we want to work with those companies to help analyze that data and help provide answers. When this play is being run, we can say well “this is what’s happening.” Within the NFL, you are seeing changes and rule changes based on data [that shows when injury happens].

BW: tech is very forward thinking and disruptive, when driving around this historic, beautiful town that you want to preserve, how do you find that balance [with innovation/tech disruption]?

JM: The one thing I’d like to do is create an environment that is calm, conservative on the surface and be futuristic behind the scenes. We are knocking down wires. Private investment is more nimble, we want to encourage private investment for the betterment of the community, but we understand this is a high investment. We are working together to create a great living environment for our children. We want to make sure we are able to provide what people need to future generations.

To the panel - how do you prepare for cyber threats?

DC: We spend a lot of time thinking about this. We have a robust plan. We educate the team to deal with issues, such as with a phishing campaign.

BW: Who are the players?

Crowd: Tip number one you never share that answer.

RH: This is the entire business. A vast majority of compromises are due to human error. The largest issue documented was a thumb drive that got picked up in a parking lot, plugged in and took down an entire system. It’s like a theory with a bear: you don’t have to be the fastest, but you can’t be the slowest. There must be constant investment to improve systems and protect them. It’s how you build your apps and set up your infrastructure. If you don’t work your department correctly you open yourself up to vulnerabilities.

BW: what is the intersection between business and education?

GE: Pella has a career academy, which are business/school partnerships armed with a program. Partnerships support us financially and businesses tell us what they need. Vermeer is a leader. There are also statewide stem initiatives - we hear about needs from statewide stem conversations and bring business into the school and they want to come.

RH: Get young kids to get into tech field. We need tech courses that can get credit. That is key for us - everybody in the room - they [students] make choices to fill their requirements. We should encourage them to take courses that check that off. Tech is as important as math or science.

Crowd: singapore - battle to be fought?

GE: How standards are applied locally is determined locally. Pella is pretty progressive in process and educators are going to help make decisions. We aren’t dictated in how we teach it. It comes down to people having success teaching a certain way and that is how unique processes grow. Singapore has a ton of success with kids in math. Singapore philosophy developed in the US and was then adapted in Singapore and adopted her in the US.

BW: What is one big idea you have for Pella?

GE: Relational component - how can older generations connect with younger generations? What can be done - how can we connect people that are techy, that aren’t 20 or under and how does that connect to tech in real life? Mentoring, programs to connect multiple generations. Tech can help us cross generational divides. How can we bridge that?

JM: High speed wireless connectivity for residents, Pella isn’t a typical small town, and we want people to know that you can create a great life here.

AC: I’d like to see an accelerator. Many are specific to industry, we could support a manufacturing accelerator.

DC: Better amenities that would attract young tech professionals to the area and what are those amenities?

RH: A focus on analytics - look to the colleges. I sit on the board of Loras they are really looking at analytics and it’s really growing. It’s a skill set that is desired everywhere. We need to infuse that into colleges or high schools.

JM: Would like to see wireless access points on top of existing light poles (or windmills!)

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Urbandale Live Blog

Tech Town Hall Urbandale kicks off with five great panelists at 4PM:

- Erin Rollenhagen, President, Entrepreneurial Technologies - Frank Vedder, IT Specialist, Local Senior Vice President - Dan Liebfried, Director, Solutions Infrastructure, John Deere ISG - Joe Riesberg, Vice President, DICE - Steve Bass, Superindent, Urbandale Community School District

Our discussion is moderated by Perry Beeman, Senior Staff Writer at the Business Record

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Mayor’s remarks:

Urbandale - 46% job growth in the Tech Sector in the past year, 1.7% more than the national average

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Thank you to our sponsor, McKee, Voorhees, and Sease 

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4:15

Perry: What are you up to right now?

Erin: Develop custom web and mobile apps. Not a concern 8 years ago, when we only had flip phones. A lot of growth in web apps, too. We help people do that.

Frank: Provide technology solutions for insurance companies. Improve pricing accuracy, getting things into market. Data analytics, the internet of things,  Infusing information into decision process.

Dan: John Deere has more recently invested in technologies to automate farm equipment, like autotrack for machinery, and now mobile apps to help operators and customers make better decisions.

Joe: Career placement. A bunch of vertical sites. Competitor to monster, indeed. Specialized in tech sector. Focused on contextual awareness. Best data on where your best talented individuals are. Career planning. Connect all those dots.

Steve: Learning about tech. Uniqueness of Urbandale - systems improvement is focus.  Looking at data from everything. Lead the way - engineering. STEAM focused. A ways to go. We have a tech integrationist, tech in the school, but can go further in terms of having kids create things.

4:21

Public Question, Antoinette Stevens: Very interested in STEM. How do you see schools mitigating that issue?

Steve: 15 AP Courses. Looking into something like Waukee’s APEX.  It is a challenge, but a very valid one.  Moving toward problem-based learning.

Common core- minimum standards, needed for consistency, but we can do more.

Audience member: What are others, companies, doing to parnter with schools, education

Dan: Investing in education.  Robotics, hands-on training. Encouraging employees to give back through volunteering, PTO for volunteering. Dollars for doers matching. Have to be giving back earlier in order to have talent.

Frank: Technology team with teacher through TAI, opportunity for employees and kids - Hyperstream. Grown dramatically over past few years. Also TAI’s apprenticeship program.  Way for kids who want a more direct path to job.

Erin: Even as small employer has been approached - speak in schools, volunteer after school.

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4:27

Perry: Should we look at manufacturing?  Where does it fit in with these apprenticeships and training?

Dan: Tons of opportunities. Hiring was fast for awhile.  Parterning with schools like DMACC helps kids know they have opportunities. Opportunities like robotics that requires skilled labor. Whole range to no degree to PHD

Audience member, Joe Eckert: We’re participating in SXSW, will you to lure people back to Iowa?

Joe: We could, I like the idea!

What’s a major challenge facing your business?

Frank: Talent acquisition. Finding the right tech skills in Iowa.  What can be done - look at what has been, i.e. Google coming, recognition from the press.  We need to compound that message.  Talent shortage will not go away.  Tech in curriculum, education is important.

Dan: Right talent in cloud technology is difficult, esp in leadership. Role of public institutions, associations, start kids early, attract them to stay here, make sure they know they have opportunities. The community is more diverse than they think - get the word out.

Joe: Problem of internet access outside of Des Moines. City/region can push for internet access. Outsourcing not a good strategy. “Rural sourcing” - provides quality of life we have in Iowa, but compounded by problem of access.

Perry: What is Erin’s perspective as a women in her career?

Erin: Not deterred. Statistically bad for women, but my challenge was not being a woman - talent acquisition, etc, more challenging.

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4:37

Audience: What initiatives for securing your information, and what effect on employment in your company?

Joe: Data can tell customers (contextual awareness) where they can get a better job based on paths and where they live. A lot of available information. Security is an issue that has come up frequently recently.

Dan: Not if but when and how you respond to hacking. A ton of resources in monitoring, in house and with partners. Make sure partners have this integrity.

Frank: Increase in spending in security 3-4 times other IT spending. Have found external bugs.  Need help from partners to 

Erin: Developing things for other people, need to convince clients to increase security. Need to be prepared, be aware.

Perry: Can you talk about the schools, Steve?

Steve: Issues with online bullying, harassment. Students manage to hack into school Facebook page. Security is number one.  Working with law enforcement. Every school is equipped with surveillance cameras and electronic doors. Issue at forefront, every month we have this conversation about security and technology plays a part.

Audience: Retention - one or two items your doing to retain top talent?

Joe: Computer Fridays, fun activities that ppl don’t have - culture and engagement.

Dan: Making sure that employees feel connected to our purpose. At JD our purpose is feeding the world. Connecting employee lifestyle to purpose. Then, if you went to other John Deere locations, things are different, but I preach it’s less about the hours but more about getting things done and how you treat your coworkers. Adapt to changing workforce.

Frank: Give people the right opportunity for initiative and to engage with the business. See the results of their work, the business impact of what tech can bring to the table. Tech is rapidly changing - instill this changing, new skills in employees.

Erin: Extra challenge small organization - no corporate ladder of titles. 100% performance based compensation. Keep ppl who are driven & smart engaged. Our employees work 38 hours a week, have a life outside of work. Fire bad clients.

Steve: Culture is a huge thing as well for us. As superintendent I make an effort to be visible. Be approachable, relationship building. Not going to shoot the messenger.  The data is the date, we work to make it better. Not about making people happy, but engaging them. Light the fire in their belly, not under their butt.

Joe: Have worked in Europe. American culture where it’s a badge of honor not to take vacation, but as leaders need to focus on outcome delivery. Some have even gone to 35 hour work week.

Audience: How has technology changed work culture?

Joe: Huge role, but can go too far. Video conferencing can be great, but something to be said for water cooler talk. As leaders questions who is remote and what are the inefficiancies.

Dan: Great augmentation, but can be too much. Think through the right protocols of how people interact. Far away from no human interactions.

Frank: We’re becoming more geographically distributed. Over the holidays, those who were there said they were more productive. Strike balance. Enable collaboration, but allow people to step aside.

One thing high on list

Steve: Join Tech committee to learn vision

Joe: Moving to the cloud, AWS.

Dan: Continue to press upon employees, tech is the piece that is going to advance agriculture 

Frank: Find ways to be sure that people are focusing on the right priorities.

Erin: More time on internal projects, i.e. documentation.

#iowatechtownhall

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[techtownhall]

Presidental Tech Town Hall Live Blog

Today’s Presidential Tech Town Hall kicks off at 4:00 PM with the following panel:

Julie Samuels - Executive Director, Engine

Eric Engelmann - President & CEO, Geonetric, Inc

Helen Adeosun - Co-Founder and CEO, CareAcademy.co

Bruce Lehrman - Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Involta

Our moderator is Jennifer Hemmingsen, Opinion Editor at the Gazette

###

Governor O’Malley to speak and meet with panel at 5:30 PM

Carly Fiorina to speak and meet with panel at 6:30 PM

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4:09 — Technology Association of Iowa president Brian Waller and Engine executive director Julie Samuels are on to welcome the crowd and introduce today’s panel.

Julie: Our organization works across the country with startup community. I hope to help shine some light on what we see across the country and how it applies here in Iowa.

Eric: Geonetric is interested in building tech talent in the healthcare space. We’ve invited several candidates to visit our offices, two have. At the ISA, we’re interested in the innovation space.

Helen: We’re focused on how education, healthcare and issues of access for women. I’m interested in how we can leverage resources and make them widely available.

Bruce: My day job is Involta but I have a passion around entrepreneurship and creating new business ventures.

Q1 to panel: What is going on with tech in Iowa?

Eric: A lot of fire. The scene has involved a lot in the last few years. Really active in the metro hubs but also statewide. The issues tend to be around immigration (access to more tech talent), how you grow tech talent (access to health insurance for entrepreneurs), etc.

Helen: As a startup founder, we started in Boston but saw coming to Iowa as a way to work more hand-in-hand. Talking nationally, we’re looking at resources for many more companies.

Bruce: I left a good job to start my first companies, it wasn’t supported by the University at the time. We’ve seen that change a lot in the years since. Thats been purposeful, its taken a lot to change the culture in the last 20 years.

Q2 to Julie: Does this jibe with what you’ve seen in other communities?

Julie: Yes, the support we see in Iowa is similar to what we see in other strong communities nationwide.

Julie asks: Do companies at ISA stay here in Iowa? 

Eric: There is no preference on staying in Iowa but its a bit easier to get in if you’re from here. We admit people based on their merit. 3 of 10 the first year, 4 of 8 the second year from Iowa. About half of them stay—not the point of the program but a cool byproduct.

Julie: That seems like that is what the community should be driving for. High growth, new firms are what drive all job growth nationwide. You want that here, right? That’s wonderful.

Eric: The model that we built is for a cohort of companies—10 at a time. We, as a community, learn to build a group of companies really fast. You see that everywhere that accelerators exist. We’re not going to attract a bunch of existing companies, we need to build them here.

Helen: We made a collective decision in our company to start here. We sussed out the merits of this accelerator and there is an intention of helping us grow here.

Julie: Talk more about why you chose ISA.

Helen: We’d reached out to other ISA companies and did research on how they attribute their continued success or survival. We also new that Geonetric background in healthcare and we were excited to have direct access to that company and their network.

Q3 to Panel: From a startup perspective, how should politicians make the immigration process more accommodating?

Eric: if you’re a startup from certain parts of the world, its hard to bring your startup here for an accelerator. 

Bruce: There’s a severe shortage in tech talent nationwide, it limits the ability to innovate. There are lots of ways to tackle that and one of those ways immigration.

Julie: Politicians tend to talk about immigration a lot but the issue hasn’t really moved. Its shocking—nationwide you see talent, immigration as an issue but we haven’t seen it happen.

Eric: The public schools have started to introduce STEM concepts but a lot of players have stepped in to fill the need of STEM education. Coder Dojo, the Iowa BIG School, Kirkwood and others are options. All with different time horizons.

It tends to be a bunch of white dudes, for the most part. But we’re looking at how to address that, too. its a lot of little tiny movements trying to effect change.

Bruce: CS isn’t consider a core science or math. Bright kids with packed agendas don’t often make the time to study Computer Science as an elective.

Julie: That is where policy will matter. Funding is the primary factor but also having qualified educators to teach it.

Helen: The answers (to the technology access question) are simpler than you think. Its integrated tech into an english curriculum. What helps people of color or women see themselves in a tech firm is as simple as seeing photos of people who look like them on the walls.

Julie: Access to capital is another issue that I hope will talk about. Investors tend to invest in people like themselves, in this case white males. People form certain ethnic minority groups or remote geographies should be helped by things like the new equity crowdfunding rules passed this year.

Q to panel: Do people think that Iowa + Tech don’t go together?

Bruce: I think its a common theme from around the country (not just the coasts but also places like Ohio). There is capital sources looking towards smaller communities but it takes more work to get that. The rules around stopping people from fundraising needs to be looked and resolved to help make this better.

Eric: You can go to SV or NYC to raise money. People here have done that. As you get bigger and bigger dollars, the company winds up owned by somewhat not in Iowa. Sometimes that is ok but often times its an issue for the future of that company here.

Bruce: There’s been a lot of work done with seed funds and such to get first level financing done here in Iowa. But bigger money really needs to be done out of state.

Q to Panel: Access to Broadband—how does this initiative play at this point in Iowa?

Eric: I’m from the city but I do know its not available in all areas.

Julie: Right now, the economy is slowly and unevenly coming back. Places that are slow to come back need our help. In places without fast internet, you can’t start a business. We think a lot about the best ways to ensure this is even across the country—for instance, I’m guessing we don’t have a lot of competition here for ISPs. Where there is fast internet, there is economic activity.

Q from the crowd: The patent process for independent inventors to defend their patents is really weak and not effective. How do we strengthen it?

Julie: There are serious problems in the patent system. Congress is looking at this. Its been complicated by bad actors in the space, people taking advantage of loopholes in the process. That has given the whole system a bad image. We’re working tirelessly on that.

Q to panel: What more can our community do to make legislators and governors understand that these issues are important?

Julie: These issues don’t tend to follow party lines. Candidates are afraid to offend their own parties during caucus/primary season. So they avoid them. Its bad, we want to fix that. You can help by making noise about these issues. If the candidates don’t hear from you that this is important, they won’t talk about it.

Q to panel: Are entrepreneurs reluctant to be politically active?

Julie: Yes, they’re often just busy building their company. They also don’t want to draw attention to themselves separately form their core business. They don’t want regulators to suddenly become interesting in their industry.

Q to panel: Internet access & rural parts of the state.

Bruce: You have to have enough people & demand to generate enough revenue to expand internet access. In a lot of underserved areas, there isn’t enough demand for private companies to expand. Mobile is an option, the government can step in and help with the economics—otherwise, I’m not sure how its going to happen.

Eric: The macro issue is competitiveness on a international scale. It seems like Estonia is kicking on our ass on a lot of areas. Bandwidth is not a concern that they have. Other parts of the world have explosive startup scenes–we need to decide what we’re going to do with that.

Q to panel: We traditionally measure econ impact by jobs—how does this differ with startups?

Eric: In our first program, we were focused on tech-based startups. Realistically, our target is companies that will be $10-100MM someday. Thats not a blip in SV. As an organization, we’re also trying to support businesses even much smaller than that. The first time solopreneuer. We want to think about the whole spectrum, solo to scalable startup.

Julie: Thats important. With that support, people will stay.

Bruce: The number of jobs in our city that started out as entrepreneurial companies and have developed here is tremendous. The larger our community the better chance we have to see more of those here.

Q to panel: Privacy and cyber security.

Julie: I don’t think any candidates will be able to avoid this issue. Cryptography, surveillance, and privacy. You have the gov’t that wants easy backdoor access to user information from companies. You have tech companies who value their customers privacy who have pushed back. They know that once you create that backdoor, its a vulnerability to their software that can be exploited in many ways. Internet-based companies know that internet depends on trust. If trust breaks down on the internet, then the internet breaks down. That is a problem.

Bruce: I think the general pop would be interested to know what privacy laws are related to your digital footprint. The current laws were written before email existed. You’re operating in a digital world, where everything is communicated electronically, with little privacy and protection at all. People would be shocked if they really understood this.

Q to panel: How can the gov’t be more entrepreneurial?

Eric: We happened to get an SBA grant and we were invited out to Washington DC. There were a whole bunch of orgs applying for “Challenge Grants”. The SBA figured out it was easier to incentive solutions to challenges with grants vs trying to do big RFP/Procurement solutions to the problem.

Helen: We need to get entrepreneurs thinking about innovating and disrupting by adopting and bringing in the old guard—like local gov’t. Local gov’t should seek out those companies that will be innovative and help to solve their problems.

Q to panel: Patents.

Eric: Its a balancing act. You have to have a system that allows you to support the holder while also allowing people to defend it. Figuring out how to thread that needle, to solve that issue is tough. Its a gov’t construct and the gov’t will have to figure it out.

Q to panel: District 1 is currently doing a Congressional App Challenge through, see them if you want to know more.

Julie: The Congressional App Challenge brings a challenge to a district, then allows high school students to compete on solutions. It helps to shine a spotlight on all sorts of people doing exciting things. It gives them a soapbox.

Q to panel: Tech & healthcare-how do we get politicians to help trust tech?

Eric: The changes are coming one way or another. Private industry will move first. TelePharm in Iowa City is providing pharmacy services to rural communities that wouldn’t otherwise have a pharmancy. People are going to demand it. 

Bruce: Its the consumerization of healthcare. The industry will change and the gov’t will have to keep up. They have to happen because of cost and they will happen because of demand.

Julie: This is why you need to be involved. To make sure the gov’t doesn’t screw up the implementation.

Q to panel: More about convo around investor dollars + tech talent coming to Iowa

Eric: Examples include things like angel investor tax credit, the bigger peice is convincing people that this stuff actually happens here in Iowa. Investors aren’t plugged in as much as we’d like—we need to be really loud about what is happening here. New ways to reach investors—things like equity crowdfunding. Have other ideas? Let me know.

Helen: CareAcademy is funding by Pipeline. Which is focused on career women and making sure that they’re educated as angels and in the place to make their own investments. Educating the angels, raising up potential angels is important, too.

###

5:16 Break time

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5:34 — Jennifer re-introduces the panel and the candidate: Governor O’Malley.

O’Malley takes the stage, his remarks focus on what he’s done as the Governor of Maryland. Examples given includes recognition by the US Chamber, they way the looked into their local strengths, like R&D research dollars, and they created an $80M Maryland innovation fund with tax dollars to strengthen their startup ecosystem and to attract VC interest to Maryland.

Then he moved into talking about general leadership and his philosophy of governing. Sitting at the center (not atop the pyramid), changing the culture, giving freedom, etc.

Q from Julie: You’re one of the first politicians that has used the word “iterate”. If you were president, how would you deal with the iterative process in lawmaking?

Its frustrating for entrepreneurs to work with govt because fo the culture clash. Its so great when it happens. What I’ve found that works is making sure that the databases of all the parts of govt land on a common platform. It needs to be open—you need to show me what you’re doing, how you’re doing and if you’re doing it better than last week. If you can’t measure it, then maybe we don’t need it.

I created Baltimore’s first CIO and Maryland’s first CIO. Most important was the Chief Innovation Officer—I put that person next to my office. That was important but so was creating strategic goals for the state. They all had deadlines.

Q from Eric: You mention state programs that foster entrepreneurship, how do you transfer those to the Federal level?

We need to put in place career and tech programs in our HS to put kids in the role of innovators. Fed govt can play a big role in that. The beauty of the Startup America initiative is that it wasn’t just a big theme, it went down to the local level. We also need an initiative for rural broadband. We connected all of Maryland with the help of Fed. programs.

Q from Helen: How would you ensure that women & people of color have equal access to opp. to create businesses and startups?

Education, again, is important. We increased in funding at historically black colleges in Maryland by 40%. We made all of our universities hubs for innovation. We set the highest goals for women & minority business participation of any state. We may have had similar goals in the Maryland innovation fund. 

I’m looking for answers to—please share yours with me.

Q from Bruce: A common theme around the country is trouble finding good technology workers. Local tech firms are having to steal from each other. Talk to your policies around immigration & education:

Along the theme of inclusion, I’m an advocate of comprehensive immigration reform. It should be easier rather than harder to come here and get education, they should be able to stay here and contribute to economic success. Low hanging fruit, we should do more at the HS level and make more use out of our community college system.

Apprenticeships are part of this, too, but it should be sector/cluster driven.

[Observation: O’Malley uses the word “cyber” quite a bit, presumable in lieu of “technology”]

Panel: Whats your number one issue for the candidate?

Julie: Access to high speed, internet access. Also, patent reform.

Eric: Keeping entrepreneurship front & center. Most candidates gloss it over.

Helen: Great opportunity ahead in the classroom around STEM fields

Bruce: The country was built on entrepreneurship, it creates more jobs than anything else, its opportunity for our kids—focus on enabling that. Gov’t should be a positive force to help innovation.

###

6:07 — Jennifer introduces the next candidate: Carly Fiorina

Fiorina takes the stage, she starts by talking about her blueprint to take the country back from the career politicians. She talks about dangers related to America not-leading. She wants to defeat ISIS. Her remarks are focus on Clinton, Obama, terrorism, dangers of refugees, etc.

She circles back to technology talking about problems with cybersecurity and terrorism vulnerabilities. Notes that the cybersecurity strategy is woefully out-of-date, says that our adversaries such as Russia & China are focused on this.

Says that private companies need to take the lead on this—government needs to get out of the way. Political class wants to dictate leadership in an area they don’t understand. She says she’ll gather the best & brightest tech leaders (not politicians) to work together on security issues. Says she’s advised many government security agencies & held the highest civilian clearances.

Says that she’ll create a Central Cybersecurity Command.

Summarizes her talk by circling back on defeating ISIS, the world is a better place when America is leading, technologists need to lead on the issue not politicians, etc.

Q from Julie: How would you ensure that its not just big tech at the table but also small startups/investors?

Small companies innovate 7x faster than big companies. Because of less bureaucracy, less process, more risk taking. All the big companies started out as small companies. Best & brightest innovators need to get together on cybersecurity, whether from big or small. 

We need to put out challenges to all great companies to help us solve big issues. That will happen faster than if done by govt.

Q from Eric: Its historically been hard for entrepreneurs to acquire health insurance, without Obamacare, what you put in place?

I understand why the idea of Obamacare is appealing but its not achieving those goals. So it must be repealed. We need to replace it with: 1) State-managed high risk pools 2) the free market 3) gov’t mandated provider costs, prices and outcomes.

Q from Helen: How would you support women as workers, CEOs and founders?

Entrepreneurship and innovation have always been the drivers of economic growth in this country, they are 2/3rds of new jobs, they employ 50% of the people. We need to make it easier for new companies to form, for people to take the leap.

The current state of government is destroying more companies that it is creating. The complexity of the tax code, etc. If we simplify it, you don’t need to waste your startup capital on accountants. Simple makes it easier for small & new to prosper.

Women have always been great entrepreneurs. Example of becoming a hair dresser (something that women often aspire to). It currently takes 1 full year of regulation to start in this field. That must be simplified—thats how we make things more accessible.

We must build meritocracies—in the workplace and the gov’t. If we don’t do that, women will not advance. Seniority systems hold women back.

Q from Bruce: Theres a shortage of skilled & trained tech workers, how do we address the shortage?

We shouldn’t be abusing the H1B visa program. Some companies are. We need to enforce a “pro-American” immigration system. We’ve been talking about this exact problem in this industry since at least 1995. We’ve grown the dept of education many times but the quality of our education has declined. 

We need to move the resources and decision making to local sources, local colleges, etc.

One thing that the panel thinks the candidate should think about it:

Julie: Net neutrality.

Eric: Keep entrepreneurship front & center.

Helen: Care givers as part of the discussions.

Bruce: Cybersecurity and issues for local businesses who may not even realize that they’ve been effected.

###

6:44 — Brian Waller takes the stage to thank the participants and dismiss everyone to Tech Brew.

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Council Bluffs Live Blog

Today’s Tech Town Hall kicks off at 3:30 PM with a great panel:

David Fringer - CTO, Council Bluffs Community School District

Nancy Williams - CIO, Boys & Girls Club

Dusty Davidson - Co-Founder & CEO, Flywheel

Bob Mundt - President/CEO, Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce

Our moderator is Brian Waller, President of the Technology Association of Iowa.

### 3:41 - Our moderator Brian Waller starts the day with introductions of the sponsors.  Bob Drake, from The INS Family of Companies, introduces his companies and reads off today’s panelist bios.

Q1 to Nancy: What do you do in your role as CIO?

We’re a non-profit that serves kids age 6-18, we have clubs & sites in Omaha & Council Bluffs—11 total sites. Our technology is thought of in education and career development but its my belief that it needs to be everywhere throughout the clubs. Everything that we do has a data component. That data leads to outcomes. As a nonprofit, if we’re asking for money or receiving money and have to account for it, we’re always thinking about outcomes.

We have 300 staff members and computer labs in many of our sites. We’ve found that age doesn’t determine competency, sometimes we’re working with higher level tech with younger kids rather than vice versa. We offer Lego robotics, Hyperstream, etc.

Q2 to David: What do you do in your role?

I have three official roles: manage all tech infrastructure in the district, manage the enterprise systems & data center and (most importantly) I work with our instructional technology team. We work with community groups like Boys & Girls Club & the city library. Our Lincoln High School data center is a capstone project built from the racks up each year by the students. Its a result of our work with the Google Data Center. Thats a great partnership on our site, since we can’t bring our students to their facility for security/privacy reasons.

Unofficially, I also work on partnerships like with the City of Council Bluffs. We have a great announcement coming up on a partnership to provide free wifi in our community. 

We’re a 1-to-1 district in grades 3-12, so we manage a tremendous amount of devices.

Q3 to Bob: As the chief salesman for Council Bluffs — what are you selling?

We work primarily with our business community and that community had seen tremendous changes in technology in my time. Specifically, we work with companies to retain and expand their presence here in Council Bluffs. Technology is tremendously important to that community. The announcement on public wifi, that is something tremendously good for us. Fiber optics, Google’s infrastructure here, etc. are all great assets that we can use to make our environment the best that it can be for business.

Our last role and biggest challenge is to develop the workforce needed to suit the jobs that are available today. We rely on educational institutions like Iowa Western for help with that

Q4 to Dusty: How do you describe what you do?

Flywheel is effectively the third tech company that I’ve started since I turned 25. I grew up in Council Bluffs, went to ISU, and didn’t think that starting a company is something that I would do. Starting a company seemed to be the only way to avoid a job that I hated.

The goal for any tech startup is to start with an idea and a team and to grow it rapidly over a short amount of time. One of the incredible things about technology is that you can do that from anywhere. The team doesn’t even have to be in the same city/region.

I didn’t intend to come back to the region but I realized that I could make an impact here. I spent 7-8 years building my companies but also helping to share the story of others doing innovative things in the region.

We tend to subscribe to the model that the way that wealth is created and progress is created is by growing the next Google-like company from here. We’re really strong champions of encouraging people, young and old, do to that.

Q5 to Nancy: How has your job changed in the last 14 years?

When I started we had 3 sites, 3 servers and 35 computers. We were break/fix mode and I knew there had to be a better way. My background is in Agriculture but I’m advocate for STEM & the scientific model for learning. Over time, I’ve convinced leadership that we can spend the same amount of money but by being proactive rather than reactive and we’ll be able to better retain tech staff.

We created the first tech budget. It took about 5 years but we saw significant change. In 2010, after we grew to 6 clubs, we had way more staff, served a 1000 kids a day—but things weren’t as they should be. We hired additional staff to work with our users freeing me up to focus on strategy, programming and partnerships.

Google has been huge in helping us with funding & grants. We upgraded our whole infrastructure 3 years ago. We have a virtualized network at one site, we have a network for staff and one for kid and we block Spotify (laughs).

We went from paying $50k per year to outside consultants to just $5k. We’re now able to serve over 1800 kids per day.

Q6 to David: What technology tools are we arming students with in Council Bluffs?

Students in grades 3-12 are digital natives. They have high end cell phones on their own, so they devices they get at school aren’t ever sexy, they don’t need to be. We use a $300 device that is portable, serviceable for 3 years, etc.—a Chromebook. 

We can support a lot more of these devices with less staff. We have 1 tech staffer for 1400 users.

Its now less about the device and more about the instruction. Teaching them to be safe and be ethical users of our network, to be good digital citizens.

Q7 to David: How are budgets handled in your org?

We’re fortunate to have a strategic planning process. Once we decided to include a 1-to-1 model in that plan, our superintendent decided that we had to fund it. The low cost of the Chromebook has helped us to keep up to date with limited funds.

In our case, the funds are predictable and yearly — not from soft sources like grants.

Q8 to Dusty: Growing up in this school district, what tools did you have?

I remember when they put a single computer in each class room. I remember it being a big deal at the time. I helped lobby for us to get 4 computers networked in one classroom for video games (laughs).

I taught myself to program with a book—which this audience can imagine. If I said that to 8th graders that wouldn’t believe it. The vastness of resources available to digital natives is incredible. 

We hire a lot of software engineers. Many didn’t need to go to school to learn to program, they grew up doing it. 

I was on the cusp of this becoming available but today, in a lot of ways, if you have an interest in technology you have an incredible array of opportunities to be able to do this.

Q9 to Bob: Having Google in Council Bluffs, what sort of impact does it provide locally?

They’re here because of the availability of power, the water they need to service their operations and our fiber optic capacity. As well as the workforce in the area,

We’re in the center of the country, which helps them to send information all over. We don’t have earthquakes and we had land available for them to operate and expand.

Its helped to put us on the map. I can’t say that we’ve directly got companies to locate here because of their presence but we have had a great positive backlash from them being part of our community.

We’re seeing companies evolve to match the Google way of work.

Now we need to create a place where people want to come, where employers want to come. As we recruit the people, employers will follow. We don’t chase companies anymore, we create an environment for startups to build.

Q10 to Dusty: Can you elaborate on your other companies besides Flywheel?

The first company was a consulting firm, we built software & websites for people. We never liked consulting, that was trading time for money. We wanted to build a product. The second company was Tripleseat, we sold software to restaurants. We built the software here, partnered with a company in Boston that still sells it today. I then started Silicon Prairie News to help find people like us. I started Flywheel exactly three years ago. We host Wordpress websites for specifically for designers. We’re a team of 30 people. We can be located here but have a global impact regardless of our physical location.

Q11 to Panel: Technology isn’t inherently diverse — how do we help change that?

Nancy: People need to see themselves in the technology space. There’s a systematic concept of equity related to diversity in tech. It has to be an environment they want to be in. Their (young people’s) world is totally different. Today’s youth are used to a different world—they don’t see diversity ... they see friends. They’ll forgo big money to be in an environment where they want to spend their time.

We do need to equip kids who don’t have access to tech. They need to learn to be content creators not just consumers. They have to know that people care about them, that they can bounce back from rough spots. In technology, you won’t always get it right the first time, maybe not even the 51st time, you have to be able to iterate until you get success. This generation is used to instant gratification, so thats a concern.

Equity, exposure, engagement, giving them the tools.

David: All those things (laughs). We try to do this early and often. We have programs at every level to address this. Many of our high school robotics team members are white boys and this is a problem. We think if we start earlier, when boys and girls still see themselves as equal, they’ll stick with as they grow up.

The path to IT jobs isn’t always college. Many people are already ready for IT jobs after high school—there are many ways to get there.

Bob: I’m not sure that I have much to add (laughs). One of the 8 pillars of community success is diversity—in all aspects. We need to work on that not just in Council Bluffs but all across Iowa. Our children are starting to recognize diversity is just part of life and they should value it. The fact that we have computers in the hands of our 3rd graders—girls and boys—will make a difference as they grow. 

Dusty: I like that the discussion has been around getting broader engagement earlier in life. Its fantastic and so critical. My concern is what happens when they grow and they hit the workforce. We focus a lot on that part of the problem. At the top, you have to embrace that diversity is a critical piece of innovation, collaboration, a vibrant work place. Ideas that come from diversity help us shape how we innovate on product, culture, customers. etc.

Not a lot of companies think this way and that is a problem.

Second, once you embrace this, you look at it and see that its a hard problem. Flywheel isn’t perfect but its a core philosophy and something that we’ll improve over time.

We support organizations working on improving this issue with both money & by being involved. 

If this isn’t better addressed, an entire generation of people are going to hit a wall and find other options. Its trending upwards, the fact that we’re having this conversation is critical to changing it.

Q12 to Panel: From the perspectives of the services you provide/serve, what are greatest opportunities and greatest challenges?

Nancy: Our opportunity is the sheer potential. Our challenge, working with kids age 8-14, is finding people to facilitate our programs who understand or at least aren’t fearful of STEM. We have the tools, money isn’t the barrier. Its the people part that is the greatest.

David: Our opportunity is the ubiquitous access to technology, programs, and classes. The challenge is getting our specific Council Bluffs kids to see themselves as software engineer, entrepreneurs, etc. We need kids/families to think even bigger. The potential in our kids are unlimited but only if they can see if for themselves. 

Q13 to Panel: What is the relationship between Council Bluffs & Omaha?

Bob: Well, Omaha is a suburb of Council Bluffs (laughs). Having a 1M+ metro area (including Omaha) really helps us in marketing the region. We’ve taken tremendous strides in working together in recent years. The Omaha startup environment is better right now but we’re working on making it better here. We want to create space in Council Bluffs for people to innovate.

Dusty: I grew up here, live in Omaha now. I’ve lived there long enough to see the perception of Council Bluffs from the Omaha side. It isn’t the rosiest. I spend a lot of time here with family and I’ve seen a lot of transformation. Very soon, I think, its going to become apparent how much progress has happened here, how Council Bluffs has leapfrogged Omaha in many perspectives. The riverfront, Iowa Western, etc. More and more people will realize that in the near term.

Q14 to the Panel: Whats your big idea for Council Bluffs?

Nancy: Free wifi! But that is done. (laughs) Innovation stations where anyone can access tools that don’t normally have access to. They can develop ideas, 

David: Not a technology issue but this community needs more middle class housing. More homes priced from $175K to 225K. 

Bob: Continue creating a diversified workforce to support the community. No one industry can support us going forward.

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Ames Live Blog

Today’s Tech Town Hall kicks off at 3:30 PM with a great panel:

Dan Culhane - President & CEO, Ames Chamber & AEDC

Patrick Donovan - Technology Integration Specialist, Ames Community Schools

Bill Adamowski - Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Iowa State University

Dave Tucker - Vice President of Engineering, Workiva

Our moderator is Matthew Patane, Technology Reporter for the Des Moines Register.

###

3:35 TAI President Brian Waller kicks things off here in the Workiva Atrium by introducing today’s sponsors.

Kristi Peterson from sponsor The INS Family of Companies introduces the panel and our moderator, Matt Patane

Q1 to Dave: As VP of Engineering—what do you do?

Finding and recruiting great talent, matching people to challenging work, managing what the business requires vs what we can do from a tech standpoint and pushing the limits of technology.

Q2 to Bill: What do you do in your role?

I just moved back to Iowa from Silicon Valley and my mission is to build out the innovation ecosystem in Ames, Des Moines and the whole corridor. We want to commercialization research tech, allow students to connect up & create startups, and get the community involved in the ecosystem, as well.

Q3 to Patrick: What types of tech do you use in the classroom?

We’re 1:1 with Macbook Airs in the high school, 1:1 with Chromebooks in the middle school. We have 3D printers and various other equipment throughout the district.

Q4 to Dan: Is the process of recruiting a tech company to Ames any different than other companies?

The approach is the same. At the end of the day we focus on the expertise of ISU and how it dovetails into the companies. There’s a critical mass of infrastructure and companies to support research-based companies.

Q5 to Dave: When you’re recruiting, who are you looking for and how do you get them here?

We’re looking for people who are great software developers—at every level. ISU is a great pipeline for us. We try to reach out nationwide through our cloud technology blog. Our challenge is always to first get them here, once they’re here they appreciate what we have here.

Q6 to Dan: How do you recruit people?

The challenge to us is focusing on the student pop of ISU & the other schools in the region. We want to retain them here in Ames after they graduate. Iowa used to only have jobs in Des Moines & Cedar Rapids but in today’s environment there are quality jobs all across the state, including in Ames/Story County.

Q7 to Bill: How do you get students interested in Entrepreneurship so they’ll stay here?

We need to instill the idea that you create the next Workiva, work in the next Workiva or work at Workiva today. Companies are coming to the research park to tap into the innovation and access the students here in Ames. That is what will spawn the whole ecosystem/environment. It will allow us to keep people here and attract people here. 

Q8 to Patrick: How can schools encourage kids to get into technology?

Each district is doing something different and we’re all a bit behind the times. We have a lot of participation in clubs in Ames related to this. We give them tech, devices so they can now do what they want.

We’re always looking at how to bring in more technology. Funding in the state is accessible for this (more so than to pay teachers).

Q9 to Dave: What insight do you have for other entrepreneurs who want to enjoy the growth that Workiva has?

It can be a challenge to access capital here. We had founders who had that experience that allowed us to be successful with that. We had support from a lot of places, DMACC, State of Iowa, Ames Seed Capital, etc. 

If you’re trying to build a business, take advantage of the resources.

Q10 to Bill: Same Question

One of the common themes is having a good support infrastructure and funding. We’re creating the Startup Factor—a next generation accelerator. Take invitations from the university, form the community and connecting them to the right mentors, advisors, capital, etc.

We’re also building connections to VC firms on the coasts and bring them here into Iowa. We’re also looking at creating seed-level funds. Iowa has some later stage funds but we need more capital available to companies earlier.

Q11 to Dan: What is the Chamber doing for entrepreneurs?

We work with city resources and the state resources, we have Ames Seed Capital, LLC which is cool because it helps lead to follow on money from the managers and others involved in the fund.

The Bio-Chem tax credit that failed in the legislature would have created more funding for biotech companies. We spent a lot of time on that.

Q12 to Patrick: Are independent clubs & camps better or should tech be integrated into curriculum?

We want to support the clubs as much as we can because schools are slow to change. We should integrate into the classroom but its a long time coming to be able to do that.

Q13 to Bill: Ames is so close to Des Moines, should they have separate ecosystems?

I’d turn it around the other way. I’d pull all of these things together into one ecosystem. We don’t have as much capital as other cities—so we need to leverage each other. We don’t have too much...we actually don’t have enough infrastructure. We need to share more and work together. We need to leverage the resources that exist and bring the Central Iowa community together and the whole state.

Q14 to panel: This panel is all men—is it that a problem in the Iowa tech community?

Dave: We hire a reasonable number of women at Workiva but we need more. There needs to be more opportunities to train women in technology throughout our state so the pool of applicants is bigger.

Bill: If you’re female and want to start a tech company, lets talk. As we create more female-led companies we’ll see momentum for that grow. There are also resources out there targeting female companies.

Dan: We have another city visiting Ames in a few weeks. We’ve noticed that most of the meetings we’ve lined up are with middle-aged, white men. We’ve realized that its a challenge and we need to strike a balance here in our community.

Q14 to Patrick: how do you evaluate the 1:1 initiative in the schools?

We look at the individual classrooms. Laptop purchases don’t tie to standardized test scores. We survey the students throughout the year to see how they’re using the tools and talk with teachers about how they’re adapting their classrooms to use the tech.

Q15 to Bill: A lot of students are interested in going on to Silicon Valley—why did you leave?

I liked Silicon Valley but I had previously lived in Iowa. We moved back primarily because our adult kids are here. I’d tried to get them to come to California but they wanted to stay in Iowa.

We live in Iowa by choice.

Dave: I have a similar story. There has to be a lot of people in that situation who left after college. We’re missing on the opportunity to show all these people what we have now in Iowa.

Dan: One of our members once said that “if the science is exciting enough, we’ll be able to recruit to Ames”. Thats the same thing I see here at Workiva.

Dave: When i talk to students now, they have an allure to Silicon Valley. Thats why Google, Amazon, etc. recruit alot at Iowa State—because our graduates are trained well.

Bill: Its very expensive in SV. I would start companies here rather than there. Cost of living there is out of control. The innovative, very smart people in SV are looking to start their own companies. They’ll work for you for 6 months than leave.

I’d rather build a business here with the talent that wants to be in Iowa. If you want to hire a team, hire them here.

Q16: What lessons can we take from bigger tech hubs here for Iowa?

Dave: We have SV-style companies here in Iowa (look around at Workiva). We use that to attract technology employees.

Q17: How do you plug companies who are moving here into this ecosystem?

Dan: I think it starts with this like this event. Often times we think we have the infrastructure to support emerging businesses but we don’t hit everybody. The reorganization of the EconDev unit at ISU will help with this. We do have work to do on this front, no doubt about it.

Q18 to Patrick: Is there a disconnect between ISU & Ames Schools in technology?

In the classroom, it varies. Many of the businesses are connected to the schools. We’re working to make sure that our grads have the skills they need for the Ames community.

Q19 to Panel: What does Ames need to produce more Workivas?

Dave: We need a hub, maybe right outside these doors (laughs)—where we can mix ideas and people and those interactions will spark new companies. 

Bill: Watch what we’re doing with the Startup Factory and other initiatives in the next several years.

Dan: We now have Uber in Ames so you can always get home safely (laughs). We need to amenities and environments that give people the opportunity to say “yes”.

Patrick: Make sure the resources are available for our students. If we have the resources, smaller class sizes, etc. we’ll be able to innovate.

Q20: How do we export technology opportunities to rural parts of the state?

Dan: I think Vermeer coming to Ames is a great example. They’re sustaining themselves in Pella by introducing their culture & tech to future employees while they’re still at ISU. If they already like Vermeer, they’re more likely to take that job in Pella after graduation.

Dave: We need to merge the gaps geographically. We need a statewide technology community that is more connected and then smaller towns will have a better chance at tapping into it.

Q21: What is your advice to better build a network before we graduate?

Dave: Internship programs are a great start. Hackathons, guest speakers in classes, etc. Those are our employees reaching out to students, students should take advantage. 

Bill: Clubs, events, volunteer opportunities. Reach out to the Pappajohn Center and the ISU Research Park. Find out whats available, participate and get connected.

Patrick: I tell students they need a digital presence. They need to share their creations. If someone is looking for your name online, they should be able to find you. You can start that network online through social channels. Social media isn’t just evil—its very useful. Use the tools you have.

Dan: Its all about access. Degree programs are important but its really about who you know. We have a “See yourself in Ames” summer intern program at the Chamber. Take advantage of that. Students want access and the people that they want access to are at those events.

4:35 Dave Tucker dismisses the crowd to the Tech Brew & Pig Roast.

Following Tech Brew, Workiva will be demonstrating their technology to the community here on site.

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Sioux City Live Blog

Today’s Tech Town Hall kicks off at 4 PM with a great panel:

Skip Perley - CEO, Thompson Electric

Ryan Schaap - CIO, Wells Enterprises

Beth Trejo - CEO, Chatterkick

Sean Richardson - Founder, Flyover Technologies

Kathy Bottaro - Director of Technology, Sioux City Community School District

Our moderator is Tim Seaman, News Reporter for KCAU TV

###

4:07 And, we’re off. TAI President Brian Waller kicks things off, excited to be doing this event in his home town.

Jeremy Craighead, from top sponsor Security National Bank, is here to introduce the panel and today’s moderator, Tim Seaman.

Q1 to Ryan: Talk about the changes in the energy industry

Ryan: In the power industry, there is a lot more focus on security in the las t5-10 years. The government has an interest in stability of the grid, etc. That will be here for many years. Ice cream industry is actually similar. I’m learning the sales side of the business but the systems footprint in the same in both.

Q2 to Skip: You’ve seen as much as anybody in your career, talk about change:

Skip: Our company and myself, we’re so embedded in technology. It starts with our customers, where we’re often installing the technology. We’re doing traditional electrical work for companies who are ‘exploding’ with tech. We do traditional electrical work now with 3D CAD, digital site layout and total station GPS. We;re experimented with augmented reality helmets as part of the install process. The way we manage the business, every field person has an iPad to view drawings, submit time, etc. no one is using paper anymore.

Q3 to Beth: In your industry, you’re proving technology, talk about that:

Beth: We’re the softer side of tech. I do the same thing as my great-grandfather who built his insurance business on handshakes & calling people by their first name. The shift is to a 24 hour world. Its our culture, its how people connect—thats the biggest change we’ve seen about the industry changing.

Social platforms shift without warning and often. When you’re handling big accounts that depend on those platforms, you need to be on it and be able to find the advantage for your clients.

Q4 to Kathy: Where are we on the curve of implementing tech in the classroom?

Kathy: Thats the challenge. We’re preparing students for the unknown, for jobs that don’t yet exist. So we start with teaching the mindset that will allow them to be successful.

We’re implementing an exploratory program into middle schools for STEM & coding, that will then move into 9th Grade as well as the elementary schools

Q5 to Sean: Talk a bit the education you got and how you translate it into what you’re doing now

Sean: As a Morningside grad, I learned development and business processes as part of the curriculum. I had the opportunity to explore both sides of the business while doing entrepreneurial activities.

Q6 to Skip: Talk about apprenticeship in your industry

Skip: In the construction trade, groups come together and build large formal groups to manage it. Its harder to do when its more fragmented but the concept of partnering with a more experienced person is fabulous. The social, community, leadership pieces can be a downside. You miss out on what you’d get iwht other programs.

Q7 to Ryan: Same question.

Ryan: At Midamerican we’d train up interns into professional roles. At Wells, I have 65 IT staffers plus 5 interns that we hope to draw into the organization full time. Its a great way to get young people into the business.

Q8 to Ryan: How do you recruit to Le Mars as a tech city?

Ryan: Free ice cream (joke). We look for people already committed to the area. We also have to have state-of-the-art facilities & tech to show them when bring them in. We always show them what we can offer here.

Q9 to Kathy: What do you see out there in the support from the Iowa Legislature. What do they need to do to allow you to do more?

Kathy: The Governor’s STEM initiative is a great program. On the flip side, we’re always relying the legislature for our funding. When its not there, decisions have to be made. We’re reliant on the funding—it dictates what we can and can’t do. We’re doing really well in Sioux City, always thinking about the students.

We have a great partnership with RTI, we have Silicon Valley connections, connections with the CompSci department at Morningside. We haven’t really done that with local businesses but we will do better—starting today.

Q10 to Beth: How do we recruit and grow tech in Iowa?

Beth: On a mindset level, you can’t control the technology in your environment. Its not a control issue, its an education issue. Rather than prohibit, let’s talk about how you should use that tech to help our business and community.

Q11 to Sean: How do people avoid the roadblocks that you faced in getting started?

Sean: We started when I was in school, we saw the need was out there for software developers. Getting involved in Sioux City GO & Startup Sioux City, really helped. I’d say get involved in Sioux City.

Q12 to Sean: Did you have trouble bridging the age gap?

Sean: Not really, Just put yourself out there. Be genuine.

Q13 to panel: Are you ever at a disadvantage by not adapting fast enough to changes in tech?

Skip: The decision about whether or not we’re going to adopt a new technology isn’t real—you’re going to do it. The question is just ‘when’. If you wait until you need it, its too late. You have to make those decisions from your gut. Its expensive, you can’t do everything. You need to pick and choose—sometimes we’ve messed up, sometimes we’ve won out..

Ryan: At Wells we’re a mix of both, we balance between 5, 10, 20 year technology decisions where we are slow to make the call. But we’re also really progressive—see what we’re doing with Bomb Pop’s twitter feed.

Q14 to Ryan: Cybersecurity is a daily threat, what is your peer group doing to defend against issues?

Ryan: Wells, from a disaster recovery perspective, we have a backup system where we do real real-time replication We have a small security staff in house and we count on external partners to monitor our networks and defend against incursions. We depend on a different external partner for containment, forensics and response.

This is a huge market for startup companies, by the way.

Q15 to panel: Talk about the tech infrastructure and assets necessary in small communities

Kathy: Data connections on phones have helped bridge the gap for students in high school who don’t have tech assets at home. Its a harder situation as we move to the 1-to-1 model in middle school

Ryan: We’re flexible with our workforce, our team lives all over the region. We allow them to work from the office & from home. Thats a big advantage for our team.

Q16 to panel: How do you balance the choice of platforms and costs?

Kathy: We don’t just think about cost, its also about what will suit that student in the long term. A Chromebook is the cheapest option but we don’t always go with that if not the best decision for the student. Skip: We selected Apple instead of Google (Android) for field technology because that is the platform that had the apps we needed at the time. Today there more even but now we’re committed to the choice that we made.

Ryan: I started a software developer out of college, in my experience it didn’t really matter what platform you used in school, what does matter is a fundamental understanding of systems and processes.

Q17 to Beth: 

Beth: Sioux City’s business community is progressing in its understanding of these concepts. We have clients on the coast that aren’t any further advanced, they have the same problems. We’d love to have a high growth startup come to this area because the energy surrounding it so great.

Q18 to Kathy: Coding in the classrooms, is that elective or required course?

Elective in the middle schools. 

Q19 to Kathy: What about girls getting involved?

I’d have to look at the enrollment but it is always on my radar. We did start a “Girls Can Code” after school club. It often depends on the program and the teacher.

Q20 to Ryan: How do we improve diversity?

Ryan: At Wells we’re pretty diverse in age, nationality, gender and always working to get better.

Q21 to Sean: Was your college program diverse?

Sean: Not really but the professional environment has been more so.

Q22 to panel: You’re young, you’re a founder, why did you stay in Sioux City?

Beth: I’ve had a lot of opportunities and I realized the geography doesn’t matter. Your life is what you make of it. I feel safe here, I have great friends here. Big cities are attractive ... but then what?

Sean: I had opportunities in Des Moines & Omaha but my girlfriend, now wife, was still in school. My dad was here and I wanted to work with him. I was involved in the startup scene here, I saw where it could go and I wanted to be part of creating it.

Q23 to Panel: Is selling Sioux City getting easier?

Skip: Recruiting, no. Appeal, yes. When people come back they see how awesome it is. We’re changing the view of what people think. Its hard to recruit high level engineers. Once they’re here they want to stay but getting them here is tough. Its hard for us do the sam in Omaha.

Ryan: I agree with that. When we look for candidates outside the midwest, its hard to get them to consider Sioux City or Le Mars.

Kathy: We recently filled a Comp Sci teaching position. That was hard to fill as the candidate pool is very small.

Q24 to panel: What is your big idea for Sioux City?

Beth: Not a big idea, necessarily, but I would love to see some sort of a phone-payment parking meter system in town. It hurts our downtown to only use coins. There’s a culture change (towards the future) that needs to happen here in Sioux City and thats just one example.

Kathy: Sioux City schools has 14,000 students. I’d really like us to be competitive nationally in Comp Sci, software design, etc. Were just starting out but I think we have the people, resources and will do to that.

Ryan: I see big cities having startups specialize in analytics for data. They’re drawing mathematic and statistical grads. If we could draw those people it would be great.

Sean: I want a lot more startups downtown. We’re headed that wya. We ahve Venture School coming, we’ll do a Startup Weekend and Launch Week.

Skip: We’re still behind. Tech isn’t viewed as vital to businesses here as it is in Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Des Moines. If we did a ‘technology summit’, get a really good event to raise the level of awareness in our community (even amongst competitors).

5:04 Tim dismisses everyone to Tech Crew. 

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Spencer Live Blog

We’re getting setup now for Tech Town Hall Spencer, the fifth tour stop on the Technology Association of Iowa’s road trip across the state.

Today’s venue is StartupCity Spencer.

The Panel:

Debi Durham - Director, Iowa Economic Development Authority Mark Gruwell - Co-Chair, Iowa STEM Council Computer Science Committee Leann Jacobsen - Principal, StartupCity Spencer Don Van Oort - President and CTO, R&D Industries/Thinix Ellie Wiemers - Principal, Spencer High School

Our moderator is TAI president, Brian Waller.

###

3:25 — TAI’s Patrick Quinn is starting things off today announcing the winners of the Pitch & Grow event.

David Hensley from University of Iowa’s JPEC talking on behalf of the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute. A week long program for 32 students from across the state who are living, learning and networking around entrepreneurship from the Iowa Lakes-area. OEI students are participating in Pitch & Grow and the Spencer Tech Town Hall as part of their program.

Pitch & Grow winner is Russel Karim of Millenial Ventures, LLC/FanFood (Iowa City). FanFood is solving the problem of waiting in line for food vendors at sporting events and potentially missing the big play.

FanFood is a mobile app available on the iOS and Android app stores. You can pre-order & pay for your food, then have it delivered to your seats—skip the line and don’t miss the play.

http://www.fanfoodapp.com/

And now on to our Tech Town Hall. Our moderator Brian Waller introduces the 5 panelists of the day.

Q1 to Don: As a tech leader in this area, why have you been succesful?

Don: I think its the ability to adapt. Tech is constantly changing, we can’t get used to doing things one way. The tenacity to work hard, dig in everyday and do the best work is probably the key thing.

Q2 to Leann: You know Iowa tech better than anyone, why is this part of Iowa special?

Leann: Smart people with great ideas are everywhere. Our kids do work all over the country, when they want to come home to raise their kids, we want a community to support them. Thats why I am here.

Q3 to Debi: What makes a community stand out in Iowa?

Debi: Engaged citizenry. I always ask a community, where are your youth? Are they engaged? We’re not building communities for us, where building for the next generation.

Q4 to Mark: What is computer science?

Mark: (internet issue, sorry!)

Q5 to Ellie: How do we get more tech programs into the classroom?

Ellie: We work with the STEM council, we work with local communities. We work alongside the business community.

Q6 to Ellie: What exciting things are going on here in Spencer?

Ellie: Spencer high school isn’t yet a 1 to 1 school, but we do rely heavily on chromebooks. We do use computer labs in our industrial tech and manufacturing programs with specialized software—we want the kids doing what the businesses are doing as soon as possible.

Q7 to Mark: What are the recommendations you offered the Governor?

Mark: The biggest issue seems to be the recommendation to require computer science credits. There are several supporting recommendations to help achieve that, as well. The other really important one is to insure that schools have the appropriate technology & staff to implement all the recommendations.

Q8 to Debi: Employers are asking people to train at the speed of industry, what do you think about that?

Debi: We’re a state of 3MM people. The world is looking towards us to feed the world, to drive innovaiton and to fuel the world. Companies are looking for collaborative problem solving. The eyes of the world on us as a state and its time now for all of us to solve them.

Q9 to Leann: What advice do you have to OEI students?

Leann: Dream big and go fast. Networking and community is so important, have a community, know who they are.

Q10 to Leann: What does community mean to you?

Leann: having the relationships and knowing how to utilize them. Its not 7 point of Kevin Bacon in Iowa, its 2 points. Who you know can connect you to who you need to know.

Q11 to Don: Do you have the resources here that you need?

Don: We recruited 31 universities across the country, so no—we don’t have the workforce here. This is a world economy, if we’re going to attract world-class talent we have to build world-class products. Not just technology but in all areas.

Q12 to Ellie: How are you collaborating with industry on workforce issues?

Ellie: At Spencer High, our manufacturing program needed help—it wasn’t meeting industry needs. Our instructors visited with the industry and that started the first partnership. We’ve used those relationships to acquire skills and tools from industry for our students. We’ve been able to “turn high school on its head” and think about traditional high school subjects (english, etc) as supporting the skills they’re learning working on the job at area manufacturers. We’ve done the same thing with the construction trades, as well. Next will be doing the same thing with entrepreneurship and then health sciences.

Q13 to the panel: What effects do you think the efficiencies in tech will help the middle class?

Debi: It will raise wages for the middle class. The governor has goals to raise middle class family income by 20%. That will be done through tech. It will change how we do manufacturing and will raise family incomes.

Q14 to the panel: Can you give us an update to “connect every acre”?

Don: Generally, you probably just need better external antennas. City’s have franchises that grant to carries for internet connectivity. The City need to know the actual requirements needed in your town so they’re only granting the franchise to service providers who can actually provide it to everyone who wants it.

Debi: It you want rural development in Iowa, you need connectivity. The governor has passed the right policy but we don’t have funding for it. That will come. As a state, we own a lot of fiber. I don’t think we should compete with the private sector but we can wholesale license this fiber to providers to provide better solution. We’re not there yet but we’re closer than we were a year ago.

Q15 to Mark: Are community colleges prepared to train and meet the need of IT workers?

Mark: Community colleges have the ability to be flexible and nimble. New businesses needs can quickly be addresses at these colleges. They’re creative and good at meeting those needs, despite inherit challenges.

Q16 to Leann: How did tech in Iowa change in your 10 years at TAI?

Leann: People did know about our tech or entrepreneurial communities in 2005. Great things were happening but people didn’t know about them. The state’s largest paper didn’t want to cover it. Now look at this room and how many people are here; there’s a critical mass of people who care about technology.

Q17 to Ellie: How do we teach entrepreneurial thinking at the middle/high school level?

Ellie: Teachers need to challenge their students to be curious, to use technology, to question, to work on the chalkboard/smartboard. 

Leann: Going back to the earlier question, thinking back on ten years—there are communities now, all over the state. They’re interconnecting statewide. Take a bow for helping with that.

Q18 to Ellie: How are you hiring/training to meet new challenges in the classroom:

Ellie: We do look for people who have the skills in new hires. We find teachers who have an interest and then expand on that. We train teachers any way that we can.

Q19 to panel: Are tech wages in Iowa competitive nationwide?

Brian: On a national level, we’re probably a bit low but top performers can get top wages.

Don: Top grads are commanding competitive salaries—otherwise we would’nt be able to keep them here. People can go anywhere, work remotely, etc. 

We need to go back to the basics with kids—go to work on time, show up everyday, etc. Debi & Gov. B. have an excellent strategy to get this done.

Q20 to Don: What tools did you have in your toolbox growing up to be a tech leader?

Don: We need to expose kids to technology as soon as possible. You have to try and focus as early as grade school. A career in tech can be a lot of things—these are all opportunities to participate in the digital economy from Iowa.

Q21 to Debi:

Debi: its connectivity. Not just broadband but connectivity to our universities and business leaders. Everyone is accessible, just reach out to them! Its ok not to have the answers—seek out the people along the way who can help you find the answers.

Q22 to Mark: What are some tech success stories in this part of the state?

Mark: Technology as it applies to renewable energy at Iowa Lakes has been a huge success for the whole state. With the aid of industry, we’re going to see even more success. Tech can create wedges between people, though, so don’t let that become an issue between you and your team or you and your customers. 

Q23 to panel: Is there an ambitious idea or initiative that you’ve not seen yet?

Mark: Iowa needs to gain a reputation as a leader not only in STEM education but also applying STEM and putting forth great ideas.

Debi: Iowa should own biochemicals. We own biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) and we should own biochemicals. We have the ability to do it—its your generation that is driving this. Talk to your Senators and legislature about this.

Leann: Iowa is uniquely poised to be best in class for rural economic development. We can lead in developing the model for small town growth heading into the next generation

Don: Improve high school exit test scores so that we’re beyond the national average. We should graduate people with an advanced education at that high school level.

Ellie: From an ed standpoint, all of things start with kids when they’re young. Role models, listening, collaboration are all necessary to accomplish these things.

Q24 to panel: why do you do what you do?

Ellie: I love seeing kids and the potential that is available in each of them.

Mark: To solve problems, interact with people, get results. 

Debi: Telling the Iowa story to the world.

Leann: I get to work here at StartupCity in the place that I want to be—Spencer Iowa.

Don: Providing excellent solutions for our customers. Seeing our team solve problems that benefit our customers.

4:35 — Brian closes the session.

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Iowa City Live Blog

Its about time to get started with the Tech Town Hall Iowa City being held as part of EntreFEST

We’ll be starting shortly from the Hotel Vetro. 

Today’s panel:

Pat Steinbrech - CIO, ACT

Daniel Reed - VP for Research and Economic Development, University of Iowa

Josh Cramer - CEO & Founder, FullStack

Matt Degner - Director of Schools, Iowa City Community School District

Our moderator it the Des Moines Register’s technology and innovation reporter: Matt Patane.

###

3:30 PM, TAI President Brian Waller kicks things off, introducing today’s sponsors: the University of Iowa, IEDA, OneNeck IT Solutions and EntreFEST.

Zach Sanderson, program director at DEV/IOWA takes the stage to introduce the speakers.

###

Q1 to Pat: Talk about how ACT is getting into the digital space?

ACT is about working with students from 3rd grade through 12th and into their career fields. We have 50 years of research on how students mature over time. We are very paper based, like most testing companies. Education is going through a transformation like most industries — the challenges are the same for us. We talk about we start to introduce technology into school systems. We need to meet our students/schools wherever they are in the process whenever they’re ready. We expect paper to be around for a period of time but we need to prepare ourselves for the digital future, which will arrive at different times for different schools. Digital transformation requires us to rethink how we reach the customer. We’re a company that provides a service, that service is now on paper but we need to start the conversation with our students as early as possible so we can help them stay on track.

Q2 to Dan: How do you get startups started at the University of Iowa?

We have 20,000 students who have gone through entrepreneurship training on campus in the last few years. its a substantial part of our undergrad pop. Its not just for people starting businesses. The notion that you’ll stay in one job your whole career is gone. These skills help them in whatever jobs they go on take. We have several programs on campus for getting started, for getting mentorship, for helping with funding. The ecosystem is the SINGLE most important thing that matters to entrepreneurship. The bigger it is, the more it matters.

Most student startups start with modest capital. Research-based startups are different. The time to market for a drug or biomedical startup is a decade. It can cost $100MM. Most will still fail. Aid to this sector is very different than to IT based startups but both are very important.

Q3 to Josh: People that you mentor — what do they need most?

As good as the programs are at UI, no one actually comes out of college knowing how to start a startup. You can’t learn everything from a book. Venture School & the Lean Startup are all great models that do help entrepreneurs be better prepared for success but they only get you so far. What I hear from entrepreneurs is that they’re getting stuck on various things — there’s an art to designing a business model.

Trying to execute on a 40 page business plan doesn’t work when you’re trying to do a technology startup. Its something that no one has ever done before. You need a framework, a way to anticipate whats not going to work and a plan for how to address it.

Q4 to Matt: What do you see in your schools today?

A couple things — our responsibility lies in how to we teach students to think like entrepreneurs, like coders? Thats our charge. We have content/subject area responsibility but we have a shift in how we do that. We have partnerships with UI & Kirkwood that gives our HS students some different opportunities. We’re also giving that challenge to our teachers — how do they teach like entrepreneurs?

The challenge isn’t not having enough technology but how we stay current with it. How do we stay relevant to our students and prepare them with multiple skill sets so they can adapt across their career.

Q5 from the floor: From the testing & academic side, is their a model to measure efficiency with tech skills?

Pat: There is, there is data around that. We know what success looks for a student entering college. Its not just what they know but if they have the independent thinking skills to organize themselves. 

Testing is “taking the temperature” at points in time. Period testing is like manufacturing. We’ll find ways to test in the future continuously, without the student knowing they’re being tested.

It must be continual so that we can take action, rather than just points in time. Technology helps us change the game less around our business and more around how we reach everyone. We have to figure out how to work more closely with the schools and align more around their key indicators, goals, points, etc. 

Its not a US-based thing. We’re in a world economy.

Q6 to Pat, whats the role of Khan Academy in education?

Tremendous role. Online text and examples and videos and the technology that provides that are critical. There are a lot of them. I like “Quizlet” for younger kids. They’re all components, part of the educational ecosystem. It will evolve iteratively and change over time. What works now will refine and get better as teachers use these tools.

Q7 to panel: Do students who study entrepreneurship stick around Iowa?

Dan: Yes and yes. There is a brain drain. You can’t doubt that. Most counties are losing population other than the big metro areas. Both matter. In terms of retaining talent, its not unique to Iowa. The ecosystem is what matters. No single thing will change this. Availability of risk capital matters. Like minded & diverse opinions matter. Experienced management staff matters. Its all part of the solution.

We have a great network here but its not like Silicon Valley. We’re not as dense. We have a rich network but not a dense network. We educate entrepreneurial students to try and get them into that network early.

Q8 to Matt: Do students care about tech? Are they seeking this info on their own? How does that relate?

We talk about digital natives and digital immigrants. Students like tech but theres a whole world theyre not attuned to. We have that responsibility to connect them to that. We need to transfer some of that into our deliberate consistent curriculum, not just in clubs and activities and with friends.

As teachers increase their comfort with tech they see great ideas and innovative experiences in how to utilize this.

Q9 to Josh: As someone who is growing a startup in Iowa City, is it tough to attract talent? How does the community keep kids here?

I’ve been hiring technical talent in Iowa for 15 years. We’re producing world class work so we hire world class talent. Its sometimes hard to do here, so I have hired outside the state. We have a distributed team, our team is US-based but we’ve had almost 20 people in 20 locations. There are disadvantages to that sometime, just like there are being all under the same roof.

Culture is something that we need to do better at. Rock star engineering students still leave for SV. A denser network with more opportunities will help. I can now name people who have come back from SV as they’ve seen opportunities develop here in Iowa. Density in iowa will always be a challenge so we need to meet it head on. its one of our greatest challenge.

Dan: nothing succeeds like success. You need critical mass. if you don’t have critical mass and you fail, you might have to move. That doesn’t happen if you have critical mass.

There is a desperate shortage of IT talent in iowa. At all levels! Fortune 10s — you can make 7 figures in Iowa right now. Basic web development talent is missing, too. All levels are need.

Josh: no great engineer becomes a great engineers at graduation. They must be able to educate themselves. Really world class engineers are passionately learning all the time—they need to interact with other great engineers and technologists so they can learn.

Dan: we are making progress.

Q10 to Matt: I know that theres talk of a disconnect in what tech is available in the schools & whats available in the home. Is that a problem here?

We do talk about this a lot. We’re well positioned relative to some other states but theres a lot of pieces in play. We’re well positioned in IC, theres a big commitment to that here. It will be a continual question — we’ll never say we have completely appropriate technology, after all what works today will not work tomorrow.

Q11 to Pat & Dan, why did come to Iowa City at this point in your career?

Pat: Family. My husband is from Solon. We’d spent 22 years away and ACT is an exceptional organization to work for. We are so engaged in our mission that it is wonderful. Our current team has talent on par with talent I’ve worked with all through my career.

Dan: Most of life has been as an academic, I always wanted to combe back and be an academic. This a world-class research university with a wonderfully diverse talent basis. I’m a midwesterner at heart.

Q12 to panel, What does Iowa Cityneed to keep technology growing?

Pat: I think from our standpoint, a company of 1500 employees, its really a set of great partners and a great way to plug-and-play with them. Being part of an ecosystem and a reach to our whole market is important.

Dan: We need to ensure the ecosystem to grow. We need availability of risk capital and diverse talent to grow. We need to be able to make & new original mistakes, not repeat those who have come before.

Josh: I could say talent shortage or financing issues but I take a holistic view: everything is so intertwined we have to make everything better. Fixing one issue doesn’t fix the problem. I used to think it was just teaching entrepreneurs to create better startups but we’ve done that to a degree. We need to do a lot more of it.

I’ve spent time in Boulder and 40% of companies who attend Techstars there decide to stay. The community is there to support them. Something similar could happen with our startup accelerator here. 

We also need mega-successes. There are a few in progress but we haven’t had the big one happen yet.

Matt: I’d also like to say “more of everything” (jokes). It is a new ecosystem and environment that our students are joining. Its different than when we left school. We need to get them plugged in and partner with local businesses and startups and show them whats possible.

We need support for schools that look different. That aren’t traditional. That have different models in how we do education — we can’t continue to add value if we don’t continue to change.

###

4:31 Matt Patane dismisses the room for TechBrew and the rest of EntreFEST.

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Takeaways–Cedar Valley

The Cedar Valley was our third stop of ten on the Tech Town Hall tour and its been interesting to see how the discussion changes to fit the host community. This week’s discussion, our first in a university-community, was definitely influenced by the University of Northern Iowa.

A major topic was curriculum and preparing students to provide immediate value to technology employers upon graduation.

Kate Washut of FarReach and Andy Van Fleet of Visual Logic Group, the two entrepreneurs on the panel, talked extensively about internship programs and company culture.

They spoke, along with Kavita R. Dhanwada, the Associate Dean of the UNI College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, about the need for interdisciplinary education experiences and the importance of technologists learning the so-called “soft skills” of problem solving, creativity and communication.

Senator Bill Dotzler, spoke from his perspective in the legislature about two main themes: the current and future talent gap for technologists in Iowa and the need to add a “A” for the “arts” in the focus on STEM education.

He closed down the discussion with a reminder that its on us, the technology community in Iowa, to make sure that our representatives in the legislature are aware of the issues we think are important. Thats an ongoing challenge, as he said 25% of the legislature turns over with each election.

Thanks to Katherine Cota-Uyar, the Associate Director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at UNI for facilitating a spired discussion.

Our next Tech Town Hall is May 20th in Iowa City as part of EntreFEST. See you then!

[techtownhall]

Photo recap of the Tech Town Hall Cedar Valley

[techtownhall]

Tech Town Hall Cedar Valley Live Blog

The third stop on the TAI Tech Town Hall Tour will start shortly here at the UNI Center for Energy & Environmental Education Auditorium in Cedar Falls. 

Today’s panel:

Kavita R. Dhanwada - Associate Dean, UNI College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences

Senator Bill Dotzler - Senator, Iowa Senate District 31

Andy Van Fleet - Founding Partner, Visual Logic Group

Kate Washut - Partner, FarReach

Moderating is Katherine Cota-Uyar - Associate Director, John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at UNI

###

Things now getting under way with President Brian Waller who introduces TAI and the tour.

Thanks to the sponsors IEDA, OneNeck, INS family of companies, Community Bank & Trust, EntreFEST and UNI.

Paul Kinghorn of UNI’s Center for Business Growth & Innovation is now up to introduce the panel.

###

Q1 to the panel: What is one opportunity and one challenge with regards to STEM?

Kavita: Opportunities are vast—we don’t even know what they are yet. The challenge is how to grab those opportunities. It starts with education. Think about you can learn to learn.

Andy: We look for people who can think creatively & strategically. It can be tough to find those in one person, that’s the opportunity and the challenge ahead of us. 

Kate: Opportunity in the jobs that are available, now and down the road. It provides motivation for students to want to consider STEM opportunities. Its a challenge because the talent available won’t meet the demand from the jobs.

Senator Dotzler: [jokes] I do better with true/false & multiple choice questions. Seriously, we need “arts” and STEAM, not just STEM. You need to get young people excited about programs—art can do that. We need to help employers connect with Young Professionals in the technology world. There’s a role on the state-side to help, like the internship program.

###

Q2 to Andy: How difficult is it to find people with those problem solving skills? How can do better?

We have a 24-module user experience program for our interns. We invest alot of staff time in the program. We recruit for that program to make sure that we can intern candidates who will benefit from the program. At the end, they have to build a project and pitch it back to us, the company. It takes a huge investment of our time to get them there. I’m not sure how you bring that curriculum back to the campus but we’d hope to do that.

Senator Dotzler: 19 years ago the biggest issue facing technology in Iowa was not having enough individuals to fill the roles and its still the biggest issue today. The legislature is working on ways to recruit people here. We do that through the colleges. W/CF and DSM are able to recruit but we need to do that around the rest of the state. I’m working on the Iowa Next program to make many aspects of the state outside of the state attractive for recruiting.

###

Q3 to Kavita: How do educators prepare students for this need?

There’s a perception that everyone within an industry knows their own technology skills but they don’t need to know anything else. That needs to change, people need to be able to communicate outside of their industry. Its “soft skills” (she doesn’t like that term). Skills like articulating the idea, problem solving, communication, etc. As educators in a tech field, we need to make sure our students understand this.

###

Q4 to Kavita: Are we doing this well enough in the liberal arts field?

I think students are getting it. Students don’t necessarily like it but they’re doing it. As educators we need to help them understand its importance and how it relates back to their field.

###

Q5 to Kate: As an employer, what skills are you looking for from new grads?

Problem solving, creativity. Fundamental programming skills, too, but not as important as the desire to continue learning since things change so fast & so often. Continuous learning is key.

I wonder if there are opportunities for more interdisciplinary communication. Its not just Comp Sci majors who have solid skills, its musicians that also make for good programmers. Musicians may not think about that — if they were exposed to those concepts earlier in the path, they may start thinking that way.

Kavita: I agree that interdisciplinary programs are important but the industry needs to communicate back to academia about whats coming out thats new and whats important.

###

Q6 to Senator Dotzler: Is there anything the state can do for schools like UNI to get scholarships to out-of-state students? To import talent?

We’re working on freezing tuition but the current house bill hurts UNI. The new state allocation is a mistake in that it pits the regents schools against each other. We should focus on importing students to our schools rather than competing between schools. ###

Q7 to Andy: Do you lose staff after you train them up?

We have a low turnover rate. I do wonder if we could start a program to pay people’s salaries for a year after college to stay and incubate an idea rather than leave to go to the Bay? $40k goes a long way in Iowa.

Senator Dotzler: The state can help pay for interns. You’d be get a 50-50 match to pay for a student who is in school. That opportunity can help them decide to stay.

Life-long learning is so important. The moment you graduate your knowledge becomes stale, you need to renew that.

[speaks to manufacturers not aware of the change landscape in advanced manufacturing}

###

Q8 to Andy & Kate: What advice do you give parents & educators with regards to company culture?

Andy: We have a fun culture (scooters, on-site barista, ping pong, etc). These are perks not culture. We have a set of culture tenets (lists them) that we care more about. As we get the culture right and people care about the culture, we celebrate it with the perks.

Without living the culture, the perks are just a shell.

Kate: We live the core values and thats how we evaluate employees. We have a deliberate focus in our hiring on whether or not candidates would be a good fit with our culture. We survey the candidates to see if we can uncover that. it helps them as much as it helps us. They’re not going to like it here if they’re not a fit for the team.

We talk about the culture alot. People know about us because they’ve heard about our culture. Thats an important thing.

###

Q9 to Andy & Kate: How many non-traditional hires have you done? People who weren’t right out of school

Maybe 3? We tend to hire people who have graduates of our internship program. Its challenge to hire others.

Kate: We’ve done a few, more so for supporting positions like project management rather than for software development roles.

There’s no reason that someone with 20 years experience in something couldn’t change and learn software development.

###

Q10: All businesses today are technology business, what role do "average” businesses have in helping to promote technology?

Andy: JD Powers is now ranking cars based on their user experience. Navigation, changing the radio, etc. Who thought back when Ford was developing the Model T that technology would be how we’re comparing them today?

Senator Dotzler: Technology is approaching magic. I grew up watching Star Trek and things that were shown in the future on that show are now becoming real things. The future is amazing, technology is growing an exponential rate. The talent pool here isn’t keeping up. We can’t waste any potential student. We need to get them excited about technology, they live in that world now we need to interface that. We need to show them a path to success, to find something in the business world that they can connect with. 

The world we live in dictated by politics, your opinions and efforts can shape policy. The tech community in Iowa needs to educate the legislature on what they needs are.

Kavita: If you look at major advancements this century for everyday life, its all due to technology. Everything that we touch has advanced due to the technology. The idea may come from science but its carried further by technology.

###

Q11 to panel: What is the one thing that we can do to improve our community?

Kavita: I think ti should STEAM as well, Leaving out the arts can turn off kids. We can promote it to K-6 age children, that’s where they get excited. They can turn off at that point and not stay engaged. Promote STEM, STEAM and thinking creatively. Check out the STEM focused summer camps at UNI: robotics, exploring the prairie, etc.

I’d like to also focus on getting more diversity and more girls into these fields, too. Andy: I started out as a biology major, it wasn’t for me. I liked art so I moved into graphic design and thats how I got to technology. Encouraging the arts is important.

Kate: We need to acknowledge that these fields are hard. We need to be creative & innovative in designing these programs so that kids stay with it. We need to get creative with the business community on how they get involved in these programs, too.

Senator Dotzler: Take this information and take it back to your elected officials. Talk about its importance with decision makers. Both in the legislature & the school board. The more input from the industry to the legislature the more informed the decision making process will be. 25% of the legislature turns over in each election—its a continual process to educate them.

###

4:43 Katherine dismisses everyone to TechBrew.

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Tech Town Hall Takeaways—Mason City

The biggest theme at this week’s Tech Town Hall in Mason City was discussion on how to set the North Iowa-area apart as attractive to tech workers (now and into the future).

Tony Brownlee of Kingland Systems and Mike Trasatti of DealerBuilt encouraged people to seek out more established technology hubs (like Austin and Silicon Valley), to learn from their experiences and to see what makes their communities attractive.

Tony also shared that one limiting factor to recruiting tech workers to North Iowa is not enough potential jobs for trailing spouses. 

Chad Schreck of the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation shared the idea that with today’s connected economy, most tech businesses can be located literally anywhere so its on North Iowa community to give people a reason to locate here rather than somewhere else.

Other takeaways:

Shannon Latham of Latham Hi-Tech Seed moved to North Iowa as a trailing spouse for her husband’s job and decided to create here own role, which was facilitated through technology.

Half of Latham’s staff works virtually.

Community colleges will be vital in filling the skill gap for manufacturing jobs as the population continues to shift from rural to urban areas. City kids don’t often grow up doing things (such as learning to weld) like the past generations did growing up on the farm.

Ashley Flatebo of Lincoln Intermediate School:

They don’t differentiate between boys and girls in the STEM fields in 6th Grade. They look at them all as engineers and scientists and they’re equally expected to do the work.

They invite business community members into the classroom to shadow students. The get to see what the students are learning and identify if skills are missing. They also become experts in the classroom.

[techtownhall]

KIMT News Report on the Tech Town Hall Mason City

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Tech Town Hall Mason City Live Blog

The second stop on the TAI Tech Town Hall Tour is Mason City. We’ll get underway at 3:30 PM with introductions by the Honorable Eric Bookmyer, Mayor of Mason City.

TAI President Brian Waller kicks off the day thanking DealerBuilt, the North Iowa Corridor, NIACC and IEDA for sponsoring the event.

Today’s panel:

Mike Trasatti - CEO, DealerBuilt

Chad Schreck - President & CEO, North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation

Ashley Flatebo - 6th Grade Teacher, Lincoln Intermediate

Tony Brownlee - Partner, Kingland Systems

Shannon Latham - Vice President, Latham Hi-Tech Seed

Moderating is KIMT News 3 Anchor, Sarah Danik.

###

Q1 to Mike: What skills do you want to see from high school and college students as they enter the workforce?

As a tech provider to the automotive space, we’re post jobs that get worldwide attention. Communication skills are often a lost art — not necessarily tech skills but communication skills.

We’re looking for basic tech skills and practical experience. Educators/community need to communicate better on the skills that are needed for the workforce. New hires need to be able to pick up in the middle of a project, not just start from scratch. ###

Q2 to Chad: How do you support tech entrepreneurs? We need to do a better job of coordinating all the resources in the community (Pappajohn, NIACC, Community Schools, etc).

###

Q3 to Ashley: How do educators think about skills needed in the future? We want to be sure and make sure that our kids know how to collaborate, they know how to work across the curriculum, project based-learning in all fields. ###

Q4 to Tony: What does Kingland do? We help the largest financial institutions manage their data. Data will soon be as foundational as language. Facebook uses data to make your experience better. We do the same thing but with boring stuff, to keep financial institutions out of trouble. We’re the largest provider of internships to ISU students. ### Q5 to Shannon: How has tech changed how Latham does business? As a family owned company, tech allows me to have experiences with customers across all 6 states.

We’ve been blogging since 2008, a great way to showcase company culture and products. Our name says “hi tech” so we make sure hi tech is all across the company — even in our communication.

###

Q7 to Ashley: How do you encourage more females to get into STEM?

Honestly, I don’t differentiate. All our students (boys and girls) are scientists and engineers and they’re all expected to do the work. ###

Q8 to Panel: The Governor has proposed high speed broadband baseline across the state, what’s the mean to North Iowa?

Mike: It would really help all businesses who go national, international to handle the workload. We have a data center in Osage. This will help us keep more of our business in the state.

Chad: Its probably a bigger issue in more rural areas, faster is better and will help us (even here) stay competitive.

###

Q9 to Tony & Mike: What data to you collect about applicants that are thinking of coming here? Why choose Mason City over bigger cities in other places? Tony: The bulk of our hires come from ISU with comp sci or software E degrees. They may not want to come here at age 22 but a little older and they do (benefits like schools and recreation). A limiting factor is jobs for trailing spouses. We look for people with Iowa roots. As smaller towns decline Mason City/Clear Lake should be positioned well but we need to keep growing. We need more opportunities.

Mike: I agree 100%. Particularly thinking about trailing spouses. We’ve lost candidates because the spouse didn’t think they’d have a job available for them in the area.

Shannon: When we moved home for my husband’s job, I had to create my own job. Technology facilitated that. 

###

Q10 to Panel: What else can our communities do to become “a high tech hub”?

Tony: Go to Austin, Go to Silicon Valley. See what they’re doing. Software people enjoy a certain amount of freedom. Its not the traditional 8-5. Marketing our community as a recreational hotbed and showcasing the the “life” part of work/life balance. Mike: Agreed. Study other communities on how they create/retain high tech workers. Success begets success. Businesses (like those on the panel) should get together and talk about how we all work to bring more tech people to the area. ###

Q11 to Ashley: How do teachers/classrooms adapt to ever changing technology needs? Teachers don’t actually get to choose. We’re lucky at Lincoln because of all the tech available. When we do get new tech, I spend a lot of time learning it and trying it out. I depend on my students to help me and each other to help each other — its part of our learning process ### Q12 to Shannon: As urban areas grow, does that change the skills/workforce available to you? People who grow up in urban areas don’t always grow up with the opportunities working on equipment (example welding) that people who grew up on the farm did. Community colleges will be important in helping to close that gap between available jobs and skills.

###

Q13 to Panel: Are there any particular obstacles you see to establishing this area as a tech corridor? Chad: There are certain things that college grads are looking to experience and we’ll expect to lose people who really want to try living in Chicago.

The perception of rural Iowa as a bad place, even locally within Iowa, we need to fight that perception. We need to talk more about rec opportunities, quality of life, downtown development, etc.

You can do tech businesses anywhere, so we have to give people a reason to do it here (instead of somewhere else). ### Q14 to Panel: How do you cultivate technology in younger school ages?

Mike: We don’t communicate as well with the community (schools) as we should. We need to go to the community and embed ourselves with the community at the elementary age and then we’ll have a better chance of holding on to them as the get to workforce age.

Ashley: We invited businesses from North Iowa to come to the school and shadow the students for a day (starting at 5th & 6th grade). It gives them a chance to see what the students are learning, to give us feedback and those skills and to be an expert in the classroom. Tony: 20 years from now, we’ll be connecting limitlessly. You will be able to perform work from anywhere. Parents today need to be educated that they’re kids need to know how to program. ISU only produces 60 software engineering grads per year with many more needed by all the data companies in the Midwest. That educational funnel needs to start sooner so that there are more available at the time the graduation. ### 

Q15 to Panel: Talk about the role of the virtual worker? Shannon: Half of our employees don’t work from our office. We need to work as a region to brand North Iowa as a more attractive place. 

Ashley: We’re training our students for jobs that haven’t been created, yet. We think of them as “virtual learners”. We’re using google docs, chromebooks, self-paced learning to prepare to be virtual workers.

Chad: People now move where they want to live, then find something to do there. We do need to to more with branding and getting the message out. ### Q16 to Chad: Has there been a movement to do a collaborative workspace here?

We have an incubator space at NIACC, we’re looking at doing something similar in downtown Mason City and Clear Lake. We’re exploring other opportunities to generate activity, too. ### Q17 to Ashley: Are students interested in STEM careers?

Yes, we try to use vocabulary that supports it, doing events like Science Night and the STEAM Festival. 

###

Q18 to Panel: Are you using social media to show how great North Iowa is? Tony: No (laughs)

Shannon: Yes and its really opened up a dialogue, you should be doing it. It will help your business. Mike: We’re consumer facing. There are 17000 dealerships nationwide. We’re promoting our company on social, not necessarily our community. We use the “Mason City” on our business card as a way to generate a discussion. Chad: As economic developers, we should develop an easy way for people to share how great Mason City is. Give the tools to everyone in the room to help promote the area.

Shannon: Twitter has helped me meet folks locally in Franklin County. Sometimes social helps you connect on a local level, not just promote on a wider scale. ###

Q19 to Panel: Are there opportunities for North Central Iowa to educate North Central Iowa on great companies here (like those on the panel)? Sarah: From a media standpoint, events like these are a good start. We’re covering the event (for the news). We can’t always do in-depth reporting on companies. Companies should reach out to us (the media) via Twitter and tip us to stories, pitch news ideas, etc. ### 4:35 Sarah Danik wraps us. Tech Brew starting across the street at 5 PM.

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Thank you to our Tech Town Hall Mason City sponsors.

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Tech Town Hall Mason City

Tuesday, March 17 from 3:30—4:30 PM

Join us at North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation (9 North Federal Ave, Mason City)

Panelists:

Tony Brownlee - Partner, Kingland Systems

Ashley Flatebo - 6th Grade Teacher, Lincoln Intermediate

Shannon Latham - Vice President, Latham Hi-Tech Seed

Chad Schreck - President & CEO, North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation

Mike Trasatti - CEO, DealerBuilt

Moderator:

Sarah Danik - KIMT News 3 Anchor

[techtownhall]

Photo recap of the Tech Town Hall Des Moines.