Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series of stories about rural innovation in Iowa. See the first story about food carts here and the second story about Native Prairie Bison here. Stephanie Bias was studying event management at Iowa State University when her mom first came up with a big idea: Open an…
ISU CYstarters held its 2020 Demo Day virtually, live streaming announcements on YouTube and Facebook last week with more than 160 community members tuning in. The event announced three categories of awards, including the first Ted Bair Cystarters Awards in memory of Ted Bair, former Iowa State regional director at…
As Lauren Jones grew up in rural Iowa, she watched her extended family lose options for groceries one by one. Jones grew up in Clarinda, a town of about 5,000 people served by two grocery stores, but most of her extended family was based in nearby Hamburg, which had fewer…
A powdered shampoo (Powdu). An after-school chess club and traveling team (Chess Utopia). An online platform designed to simplify the resume-building experience for rising college students (CourseLink). And a comic book-framing shop that pivoted to quality prop replication for international customers (Comic Sandwiches). Students and graduates of Iowa State University…
The 2019 CYstarters Demo Day, which showcases Iowa State University student teams in the CYstarters Accelerator, will host members of the public on Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iowa State Economic Development Core Facility in the ISU Research Park. RSVPs are recommended. The 11-week CYstarters program…
Fifteen student entrepreneurs are joining the 2019 CYstarters cohort, an 11-week intensive program managed by the Iowa State Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. Businesses in the cohort are: AI for Microscopy, Camp Aramoni, CattleTech, Chess Utopia, Comic Sandwiches, Courselink, Flourish, Iowa Virtual Reality Labs, Jensen Applied Sciences, One Hop Shop, Pink Panda,…
Applications are now open to Iowa State University students or recent graduates for CYstarters, a 10-week summer accelerator assisting participants with their startup or business idea. Selected students will receive $6,500 for an individual or up to $13,000 per student team to spend the 2019 summer pursuing their business model…
“Diverse” would be one way to describe the field of 15 startups leaving their final impressions on the 2018 CYstarters cohort during Wednesday’s last pitch. “Distinctive” fits all 19 founders. From a wireless boombox design to the making of a wedding reception tablescape, Iowa State University graduates and students showed…