In March UpCraft Club was part of the Small Business Administration's InnovateHER competition...and we WON! Since that competition, the SBA has been incredibly helpful in connecting us with opportunities to continue moving UpCraft Club forward and a month ago they asked if I'd like to travel to the APEC 'Women and the Economy' forum in Lima, Peru as part of the US State Department delegation. During the forum, Russia held a pitch competition, co-sponsored by the US and Chinese Taipei and UpCraft Club was asked to represent the United States!

Matt Patane, technology and innovation reporter for the Des Moines Register and Geoff Wood, community builder at Gravitate, sit down for an in-depth discussion of the companies, events and ideas making news in the Iowa innovation community.

Topics discussed on this episode: NCAA tourney in Des Moines, follow up from SXSW, calling Matt out on Twitter, UpCraft wins national InnovateHER, CYstarters at ISU and Mediacom announced gigabit service for all

Feedback, thoughts or suggestions? Hit us up on Twitter or email the show at mvp@gravitatedsm.com

Matt Patane, technology and innovation reporter for the Des Moines Register and Geoff Wood, community builder at Gravitate, sit down for an indepth discussion of the companies, events and ideas making news in the Iowa innovation community.

Topics discussed on this episode: Global Insurance Accelerator announces new class, UpCraft Club finalist for InnovateHER and the St. Martin Land Company.

Feedback, thoughts or suggestions? Hit us up on Twitter or email the show at mvp@gravitatedsm.com

Matt Patane, technology and innovation reporter for the Des Moines Register and Geoff Wood, community builder at Gravitate, sit down for an indepth discussion of the companies, events and ideas making news in the Iowa innovation community.

Topics discussed on this episode: InnovateHER, Startup Weekend, Harrisvaccines and Merck Animal Health, community for accelerator graduate startups, media and recognition for funded startups vs bootstrapped startups

Feedback, thoughts or suggestions? Hit us up on Twitter or email the show at mvp@gravitatedsm.com

Matt Patane, technology and innovation reporter for the Des Moines Register and Geoff Wood, community builder at Gravitate, sit down for an indepth discussion of the companies, events and ideas making news in the Iowa innovation community.

Topics discussed on this episode: Iowa Startup Accelerator Launch Day, Yahoo! Digital Democracy Conference, InnovateHER, Startup Weekend, Technology Apprenticeship programs.

Feedback, thoughts or suggestions? Hit us up on Twitter or email the show at mvp@gravitatedsm.com

Gravitate is the host location in Central Iowa for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) InnovateHER Challenge, a program established to help promote and female and family-focused companies.