For many entrepreneurs, taking that first step towards starting your own company can be a daunting one. It takes planning and preparation to go out on your own and make something great. For Levi Rosol and We Write Code, that first step happened to start out of necessity.

Last week was busy.

From about 8 AM on Monday morning through 3 PM on Friday, we packed Paul Singh’s schedule full of presentations, meetups and office hours. When I first talked with Paul, just over a month ago, about potentially squeezing in an Iowa week on his North American Tech Tour he said that he wanted to come here to get to really know what it is like to be part of our startup community. He wanted to meet the people, see the companies and experience the life of an Iowa entrepreneur.

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!

The Iowa Tech Tour starts on Monday! Tremendous thanks to everyone who has helped pull this together in a really short time frame: Deanna Bennett & John Jackovin in Des Moines, Jessalyn Holdcraft & Eric Engelmann in Cedar Rapids and Diana Wright & Sam Schill in Ames. It's going to be a great week!

The full tour schedule is available here but I want to highlight a few events where anyone and everyone can meet Paul Singh and join in the fun.

Nestled in the heart of Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood, Smokey Row is a cozy coffee shop known for its retro diner style and constant stream of customers. The triangle-shaped brick building welcomes coffee-drinkers of all types in droves through its doors for meetings, late night study sessions, or simply a much-needed burst of caffeine. Located just over the interstate from Drake University, this local favorite pulls large crowds of students (both high school and college) and entrepreneurs alike. 

With locations in Pella, Pleasantville, and Oskaloosa, Smokey Row has become a central Iowa mainstay for good coffee, friendly service, and an inviting (albeit noisy) atmosphere to get things done.

We've had the good fortune to be able to schedule events in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Ames that week so I hope that you'll be able to join us somewhere along the ride. If you're coming into Des Moines for the tour and need a place to land in between events or a spot to get work done for the day, come see us at Gravitate where we are hosting free/open coworking all week long. Our friends at Vault Coworking & Collaboration Space are making their space available on Thursday 7/21 for anyone needing a spot the day that the tour is visiting Cedar Rapids.