Forward Fest will once again feature the popular Clash of the Tech Trivia Titans, slated this year for Aug. 24 at High Noon Saloon.
Among the annual events aimed at raising Madison’s profile as a hub of one kind or another is Forward Fest, a multi-day federation of events relating to entrepreneurship, from ideas and inspiration to investment and innovation.
“If you attend all eight days, you will meet everyone in the startup community that you need to meet,” says festival co-founder Matt Younkle. “Forward Fest is where it’s at.”
Since its launch in 2010, Forward Fest has grown from just three events to more than 40 for this year’s extravaganza.
Aside from a few core events, like the GLS Conference and the Business Bar Camp Networking Happy Hour, anyone is free to host an event as long as it is open to everyone and can be tied to entrepreneurship.
“The outcome is always very interesting,” Younkle says.
While Forward Fest, which runs Aug. 18–25, may be where it’s at for entrepreneurs, is Madison the place to start a business?
In June, a study published by the influential Kauffman Foundation, which studies the nation’s “entrepreneurial ecosystem,” showed Wisconsin startups that manage to survive the first few years in business don’t see much growth compared to those in states with similar populations.
Even more disheartening, Wisconsin ranked dead last in the foundation’s Kauffman Index, an annual ranking of the best states for starting a business.
But Madison has largely gone against this trend, and bucked its reputation as having a mostly public-sector employment base. In 2014, between 80% and 90% of Madison’s job growth occurred in the private sector, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But Dan Blake, a partner in HealthX Ventures, an investment fund that formed around 2015, says that while the state hasn’t committed to nurturing a startup culture, cities like Madison and Milwaukee certainly have.
“If you look at it longitudinally, Madison is known as a market where venture capital firms can find a good deal,” he says. “Madison has a reputation as a place where innovation is happening.”
Unlike other early-stage investment firms, HealthX focuses exclusively on digital health-care-related startups. “We look at companies all over the world,” Blake continues. “Two of the companies in our portfolio are based here in Madison.”
He says governments alone can’t make a state a great place for entrepreneurs. Perhaps more important is access to people with new ideas and expertise, like that offered by the University of Wisconsin or Verona’s Epic Systems.
Blake says events like Forward Fest play an important role in connecting members of Madison’s startup community.
“As an investor, they’re almost like an interview, a first step in a relationship where you begin to see the opportunities around you,” he says.
And this year’s events seems to offer a little something for everyone, from seminars for minority business owners to talks on balancing parenthood and business ownership.
Winnie Karanja, founder of Maydm, is hosting “Code Madison Forward,” which builds off of the work her nonprofit does in introducing minority children to the world of computer programming.
“We have a lot of students who like Pokemon Go — our trick is getting them to realize they can create these things.”
There will also be plenty of suds, including the annual Forward Fest Ale by MobCraft Brewery.
“The startup culture is a work-hard play-hard culture,” says Younkle, whose company uploads customers’ music collections to the cloud. “When you finish the day and wind down, you’re going to have a beer.”
