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.

Last week I participated in my third annual EntreFEST, held again in Iowa City, and it was better than ever. I've seen the event rapidly grow and evolve over the years and as I think back about the experience, here are five thoughts.

Find Geoff at EntreFEST!

Here’s a quick behind-the-scenes look at why we’re working to grow EntreFEST into Iowa’s entrepreneur conference and how it’s shaping up this year.

A guest post by Amanda Styron West

Midway through my sophomore year at Truman State University I got a call from Joe Dallago, a good friend of mine since high school. Joe was studying at the University of Iowa and he was just pissed; complaining that he had bombed a test because of one question he couldn’t get on his study guide. He emailed his professor, his TA and was sitting in the middle of the library but he couldn’t find the answer. There were 400 students in that class and he had no way to talk to any of them. One of his classmates could have probably answered his question in a couple of minutes and he would have been fine.

A guest post by AJ Nelson