Madison’s startup scene has grown exponentially over the past five years. For example, when I helped to launch Madworks Coworking at University Research Park in summer 2013, three other coworking spaces opened around the same time. Thus, we went from one to four, just like that.
As a result, there’s no better time to start a business in Madison. Every entrepreneur in the area should be thankful for our bountiful resources:
Space – It’s still a renter’s market in Madison, and many building owners will offer flexibility in their leases. In addition to the coworking spaces we have, Madison also has makerspaces such as Sector67 and the Bodgery.
Mentorship – You can find help through groups like WWBIC, the SBDC, Merlin Mentors, the UW Law & Entreneurship Clinic and the Doyenne Group. Plus, we have the Madworks and gener8tor accelerator programs.
Continuing education – Madison College is bolstering its entrepreneurship curriculum (and even hosts the Madison College Challenge). WARF has a free program called UpStart [transparency: I teach in it] for female and minority entrepreneurs, and the AmFam DreamBank offers regular, free programming.
Events – What better way to meet peers and learn about the startup world than a live event? A partial list includes the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference, the Early Stage Symposium, the Madison Startup Fair, Spring Tech Kickoff and Forward Festival [transparency: our client], which itself include the Badger Startup Summit, the Forward Tech Conference and the Madison+ Ruby Conference. Plus, we have several recurring hackathons, including Build Madison, and networking events, such as Capital Entrepreneurs.