A new entrepreneurial hub is bringing together three local accelerators at the foundation of Madison’s start-up community to help foster the growth of new companies.
StartingBlock was conceived about two years ago, when several entrepreneurs came together with a desire to collaborate, Troy Vosseller, co-founder of Gener8tor, said.
“We see this as a physical location for people who are interested in entrepreneurship, maybe for the first time, to come as a first step,” Vosseller said.
StartingBlock, set to be located on the 800 block of East Washington, is based around three companies that are already well-known throughout the Madison area: Gener8tor, Capital Entrepreneurs and Sector 67.
Start-up companies will be able to rent out the remaining office space at a subsidized rate, Scott Resnick, StartingBlock executive director, said.
Vosseller and Joe Kirgues co-fouded Gener8tor, which is an accelerator for start-up businesses. It incubates companies and helps them fundraise initially, Resnick said.
Gener8tor currently operates out of a space on Capitol Square, but they will be making StartingBlock the new location of their operations when the building is completed, Vosseller said.
Capital Entrepreneurs is a community group designed to help foster the entrepreneurial spirit in Madison, Resnick said. The final member of the trio, Sector 67, is a collaborative space designed to help individuals develop innovative technology, he said.
All three of the organizations will be housed within StartingBlock Madison, and will be instrumental in providing programming and other services to other start-ups that opt to be housed in StartingBlock.
Each of the three organizations has experience with helping ideas become reality, whether through companies or individual products, Resnick said.
“Each of the core members have been at the bedrock of the entrepreneurial catalyst that has occurred here in Madison,” Resnick said. “By joining forces, we believe we are able to accomplish so much more for the community.”
Locating Sector 67 in the same building as a multitude of entrepreneurial endeavors is one characteristic of StartingBlock that is unique, Resnick said.
Sector 67 offers what is called a “makerspace” — a community-operated space for creating, described to Resnick once as what looks like the “myth-busters’ laboratory,” he said. Having a “makerspace” so close to the business side of entrepreneurial work will be beneficial for everyone involved, he said.
Currently, there are no other entrepreneurial hubs of this scale in Madison, though there are similar successful organizations across the country, Resnick said.
Creating a hub for start-ups will also help garner outside attention for smaller businesses by making it easier for investors to find them, Vosseller said.
StartingBlock is partnered with three educational foundations in Madison: University of Wisconsin, Madison College and Edgewood. These foundations will offer classes to develop skills, such as how to program, start a business and incubate other technology-based companies, Resnick said.
StartingBlock will likely be working closely alongside university students, serving as a “pipeline” to the university, Resnick said.
“We envision that there are many juniors and seniors who not only want to start companies out of UW, but want to later stay here in Madison,” Resnick said. “This is the spot for someone who is a student or a recent graduate to find a home.”
In some cases in the past, entrepreneurs from Madison ended up going elsewhere in order to start their business because there were not enough opportunities to foster entrepreneurial endeavors locally, Resnick said. StartingBlock seeks to create a climate that will not only keep local talent in Madison, but also create a draw as a start-up hub.
Resnick said he hopes to break ground for the project this winter, with the building in operation by the following winter.
