5 Things Fargo Can Teach Your Community

Smart community builders are making Fargo the new cool place to live

I recently spent a couple days in Fargo and met some of the country’s best community builders. On the surface it looks like they are building a startup culture through a series of events like Startup Weekend, Startup Drinks, and TEDx. When you dig a little deeper, though, you’ll see that the core group pushing Fargo is very deliberately building the city into the next cool place to live. While there is plenty of credit to go around in Fargo, I’m specifically interested in the guys who started Emerging Prairie — Greg Tehven, Jake Joraanstad, Miguel Danielson and Andy Christensen.

Ben Milne, the CEO of Dwolla, skipped the 2014 South By Southwest in Austin to attend Startup Weekend Fargo and serve as its gratis keynote speaker. Milne later tweeted, “I had no idea how much awesome was in #Fargo” and “Best Startup Weekend I’ve ever been to.”

There are five key lessons that Fargo is teaching us.

1. Be Relevant in Other People’s Lives

Greg Tehven is perhaps the most visible and vocal community builder in Fargo. I know Greg because he shows up for events that are important to me in my area. Greg recently attended my conference Wire Me Awake in Vermillion, South Dakota. Greg also shows up for others in Brookings, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, Guernsey or anywhere he can represent Fargo. In a world where relationships are often built superficially, Greg brings authenticity because he is interested in other people’s communities and other people’s interests.

But then there’s the ask. It’s really hard to say “no” to Greg when he asks you to participate in an event in Fargo. When somebody shows up for you, it’s easy to reciprocate. It’s the premise of Gary Vanynerchuk’s book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. Give, give, give before you ask. It’s why I agreed to judge Startup Weekend Fargo and it’s probably why Ben Milne skipped South By Southwest.

2. Celebrate Others In Your Town

I live in an area where people are creating really cool things, but we do get caught in our silos. Fargo is anti-silo. At the finale of Startup Weekend, the organizers brought up 11 people to share their upcoming events. It was nice that they were literally given a stage as individuals, but it was also a show of all the cool things that are happening. And for all of us from outside of Fargo, we got to see how vibrant the town is.

3. Brand Everything

@PeterFromFargo, @SarahVonFargo, @NateFromFargo, @GregFromFargo, @JakeFromFargo. Those are a few of the people who’ve made their Twitter handles a billboard for their community. I found that the branding goes deeper. Greg told me that he lived in the Cathedral District of Fargo. When I got to the Cathedral District it turned out to be an emerging neighborhood near downtown that was named so by Greg, Jake Joraanstad and others. They said it’s the place where artists and entrepreneurs live. There is a Catholic cathedral and a Lutheran church nearby, so they simply came up with their own name for the neighborhood. Greg actively promotes the Cathedral District and when introducing me to others, he’d make a point to say things like, “Brittany lives in the Cathedral District.”

Miguel Danielson is launching Fargo’s Startup House in the neighborhood, a place that will subsidize rent for entrepreneurs and have the best internet in the state.

4. Be Transparent With Your Supporters

The Emerging Prairie guys promote a lot of events. Greg says that they hold their events in as many art spaces as they can. Startup Weekend Fargo had its finale at the historic Fargo Theatre. Startup Drinks is often at the beautiful Ecce Art Gallery. 1 Million Cups is at the Plains Art Museum. One of the best things they do, though, is to have an honest conversation with the venues and sponsors. “When we have limited funds for a particular event, we’ll go to the venue and ask what their lowest price is. Then we’ll ask them what their highest price is. If we take a low price for an event today, we’ll always volunteer to pay the high price in the future when we have more sponsorship,” said Greg. That transparency prevents someone from feeling they are being used. They are building an army of supporters, backed up by venues and institutions.

5. Don’t Expect a Profit

Sometimes startup communities struggle because people question the motives of the people “in charge.” The Emerging Prairie guys all have their own businesses and they hold each event knowing that they are putting way more in then they could ever get back out. When I visited, they were talking about their plans for a new co-working space. I said, “So how does that make money?” Greg said the hope was to break even and that is their hope on most everything. Some of the Emerging Prairie Guys have bought several residential rental properties (where else but in the Cathedral District) and that is a way to make a little money, but also to stay invested in the future of Fargo.