“Impromptu Studio not only provides a great work environment for shared office space in Des Moines, it provides a great spot for meetings and conferences.  I highly recommend that all local Des Moines and surrounding businesses hop on and support the Studio!” – James Eliason, Founder and CEO of Twittad

We love being a part of the great things that are happening in Des Moines and hope to be a part of everything for a long time to come. So a big thanks goes to James and Twittad for their continued support in making Impromptu Studio a sustainable reality.

What Now? a six-part entrepreneur survival guide is a six-part educational series for recent entrepreneurs, layoff casualties looking for a networking edge, and anyone who thinking about ditching “The Man” and starting their own business. For each conversation, we’ve paired up two really smart people from here in Des Moines to share their personal experiences. Highs, lows – everything. What Now? a six-part entrepreneur survival guide is brought to you by Lava Row and 48Web and hosted at Impromptu Studio. All proceeds will from the series will go towards keeping Impromptu Studio a low cost option for entrepreneurs and a hub for the technology community in Des Moines. Ten tickets for each part will go up for grabs the week before the respective part via a random Twitter announcement from @nathantwright or @abrudtkuhl. Make sure you follow them to catch the announcement!

Note: Lunch will be provided. Network and eat from 11:30-12pm. Speakers start their conversations at 12pm and go until 1pm.

Making the Jump: Mistakes and Hurdles

Friday, January 30 – 11:30am-1pm

Join Liza Kindred (Lullabot) and Brian Hemesath (Diligent IS, Catchwind) as they discuss common pitfalls and mistakes made when forming a business, and how to overcome various logistical and emotional obstacles.

Networking: Get out there!

Friday, February 13 - 11:30am-1pm

Andy Drish (Principal Financial Group) and Justin Brady (Test of Time Design) will share various methods of getting out there and networking yourself socially and digitally – whether you’re looking to start your own biz right now or a few years down the road.

Avoiding the Day-to-Day: Staying Inspired & Motivated

Friday, February 27 - 11:30am-1pm

Ron Wagner (comic book & storyboard artist) and Teri TeBockhorst (serial entrepreneur & former owner of East Village Books) join forces to talk about the emotional side of being in business for yourself: how to stay motivated, how to avoid depression, and how to constantly reinvent yourself.

Running Cheap & Lean: Bootstrapping 101

Friday, March 6 - 11:30am-1pm

Jason Walsmith (The Nadas, Authentic Records) and Doug Mitchell (CreateWOWmedia) Gabriel Glynn (Asset Protection Specialists) share success stories (and horror stories) of how they bootstrapped their respective businesses.

Character: Don’t be an @$$hole

Friday, March 20 - 11:30am-1pm

Brett Trout (Law Offices of Brett Trout) and Adam Steen (25 Connections) talk about the importance of character in business relationships, and how it can affect your reputation, referral network and bottom line.

Marketing: How to get creative in a tight economy

Friday, April 3 - 11:30am-1pm

Mike Ferrari (SmartyPig.com) and Mike Wagner (White Rabbit Group) share various ways in which they’ve creatively (and inexpensively) marketed their businesses in a tight economy.

I personally was quite inspired when the discussion ceased.  Venture capitalists seemed quite eager to reach out and engage young entrepreneurs. The VC’s were genuinely interested in forging real relationships with those around the table. That was the biggest take-away for myself. However….

At the meeting there were several people that had shown up with the sentiment ” I have a great idea, you should give me money.”  Realistically, this is not how the world of VC works. We need to work together with Iowa leaders to build a community that supports young business and recognizes the type of idea that, when given funding, will really take off. We need to not be so caught up in thinking about what that money would mean to our business if . We also feel that VC’s will not be the central solution to the brain drain. There are many other factors involved with making Des Moines a thriving community. We’ve attached a few others opinions of the meeting.

What do you think?

Thoughts from Scott Kubie of Rock Iowa

A caveat: To me, the technical definition of Brain Drain – a net loss of skilled or educated young people – is not as important to me as the loss of some of those young people in particular – the artists, the musicians, the cultural entrepreneurs- the creative class people that can make Des Moines a pretty kickin’ place to live. Boring yuppies who would never buy art or go to a show moving out of the state doesn’t really tug at my heartstrings. –

The recent Brain Drain roundtable at Impromptu was revealing, though in my opinion not particularly helpful. Conversation is rarely a bad thing, but can be when it is not followed by action. As a member of the “creative class” and veteran of the DSM non-profit cultural “scene”, I’m no stranger to conversations about the brain drain. Conversations, and more conversations, and more conversations. What many at the table at Impromptu revealed is that they are not particularly interested in addressing the problem at hand, but rather the problems in their hands. Me, me, me. How do I get money for MY business? How do I become successful? Why isn’t anyone helping ME? I’d rather resist cliche, but you all know the JFK quote that comes to mind.
I wish Des Moines’ technology entrepreneurs all the best of luck. I really do. However, trying to build “the next Google” in Des Moines is hardly a basket worth putting any eggs into. Are we incapable of having a strong, culturally diverse community without birthing the next Web 2.0 wonder in our own backyard? I should hope not. Funding tech start-ups and reversing the Brain Drain are both important problems, but in my opinion not all that connected. Getting real businesses here that need to employ real people at real, competitive wages will go a lot farther.

My first comment at the Roundtable was that the Generation Iowa report seemed accurate, but, again, hardly useful.Young people like good paying jobs and not having giant student loan debts? Stop the presses.

I think the impasse our community is at right now is that not a lot of people are willing to work in the middle on this issue. On one side, you have snotty 20 and 30-somethings who already have good jobs and money to burn that bellyache non-stop about how terrible Des Moines is, how there’s nothing to do, how much the nightlife sucks, etc etc. On the other side, you have advocacy organizations and people in positions of power sugarcoating everything and blathering non-stop about what an amazing community this is for art and culture, how the next creative-class revolution is already happening here, how easy it is to be an artist or musician in Des Moines, etc. And then, somewhere in the middle, you have the reality of the situation. There are some good things happening in Des Moines, but there are some major, major problems as well. There are too many excuses being made on both sides. The “everything sucks” crowd is apparently illiterate, as I rarely seem to have trouble finding an interesting band to check out or art exhibit to peruse on any given night of the week. The “we’re doing just fine” crowd has apparently never spoken to an actual artist or musician or someone else trying to make a living as a cultural entrepreneur. I’m working on a collaborative art studio right now and am running into plenty of artists that can’t even afford $100 a month for studio space.

Here’s my short version: put up or shut up. There’s a lot of work to be done. Bellyaching isn’t work. Stating the obvious isn’t work. Spending money to do reports based on 2000 census data that state the obvious isn’t work. Grant-supported cultural events that support bad art or dead genres of music isn’t work. “Advocacy days” isn’t work. There’s too much hand-holding and
too much back-slapping and not enough impassioned, aggressive cultural development.