I was recently at a meeting with some startup community builder friends and the idea came up that entrepreneurial ecosystems can really benefit from having a community "flag" to rally around and get all the elements—people, companies, investors, chambers, etc.—moving in the same direction.

Politico Magazine published a lengthy story this week entitled: How America’s Dullest City Got Cool—One meeting, a visionary planner and old-fashioned Iowan cooperation reinvented Des Moines, Included in the story is a section on Gravitate and its role in our startup community.

The first Startup Weekend event in Iowa was held in Des Moines in July 2009 (see my post here). Organized by Shane Reiser and held at Impromptu Studio, it attracted 30 participants who created four companies throughout the three day event. 6+ years later, our community staged, supported and executed simultaneous events for the first time ever in four cities across the state last weekend.

Community building isn’t what you’d call a traditional career option. You won’t find it in the Federal Government’s Standard Occupational Classification system (yes, they have one) and there are only a handful of us pursuing this full-time in the Midwest.

I’m going to use post series as a chance to explore issues related to community building over the next several weeks. I’ll tackle a few topics that are always front of mind for me, like funding a community building role, participation by the community, empire building, event organizer fatigue, etc., and hopefully check in with experts from around the region.

Geoff talks with Nathan about the role of social & digital marketing at a large grocery campaign, the rise of #hychi and why it takes to get "truck status"

Derian Baugh, founder of Men's Style Lab (Des Moines), announced on Facebook that the clothing subscription startup had accepted a spot in the Winter 2014 class at gener8tor, an accelerator in Madison, Wisc.