Open Letter to Fargo
12 cities in 14 days. We traveled across America by train to find — and invest in — small businesses outside of San Francisco.
Fargo was City #4 as we hopped from Whitefish to Chicago.
Dear Fargonians,
Or is it Fargonites? Fargoers? Fargons? Hmm. What’s the right demonym here?
Dear People of Fargo,
We all had such a lovely time visiting your home and meeting those of you that we met. Fargo reminds me of my childhood city (Syracuse, NY) and I imagine it’s a nice place to live. I came not knowing what to expect — except perhaps “deep winter” — and was pleasantly surprised.
Team Wefunder came with the goal of meeting as many entrepreneurs as we could, so we could better understand the challenges businesses face and how we could help with our fancy Regulation Crowdfunding technology.
Thank you to Annie Wood for giving us a warm welcome at the Prairie Den co-working space, and for wrangling a group of founders into your very informal — but awesome–conference room.
Nick, Mike and I were reminded Wefunder’s early days, when the company began in a co-working space in Cambridge, MA. We’ve come a long way from where we started, and I think you Fargons are at the beginning of your own long journey.
Thanks to the founders who came out to meet us, or showed us around their shop. We got to meet John at 3DOM who taught us a few things about the 3D printer material business and showed us how the sausage gets made.
We also met Andy of Advanced Bone Tech, who has figured out how to simulate the texture and structure of human bone with 3d printing. For the first time in my life I was able to seriously ask about the market rate for human skulls.
And we got to meet Tim of Rosey’s Bistro who has done some impressive things in the world of restaurants and is about to open a snazzy grilled cheese restaurant.
And thanks to Sandy’s Donuts for making, and then selling to me, a delicious Cookie Monster donut.
The Silicon Prairie Tech Bloom
Your startup ecosystem feels as if it is in its infancy. There’s a small group of passionate people working on things they care about, helping each other in ways they can. And there are a few budding industries, like drone tech.
I believe you guys are near an inflection point.
Can you grow tech in Fargo to fill the hole oil is leaving behind? It’ll be hard, but there exists a path.
This is because the whole tech ecosystem is changing. Geography is becoming less relevant. And while Silicon Valley may hold its general software dominance for a long time, there are cracks. If you can hire great people and fund your business, Silicon Valley loses its grip.
The biggest change in how the world works is crowdfunding. Up until now, your funding options have been limited. There are only a few dozen angel investors in town and even fewer venture capitalists — that’s not enough.
To grow an ecosystem you need investments. You want successful entrepreneurs investing in new entrepreneurs, passing down resources and expertise. You’ve seen the ripple effects from Great Plains Software. Imagine that times ten or a hundred.
When you can build a business from anywhere in the country and get funded from people from around the world, you can leapfrog the usual teeth-gritting, sluggish start needed to build a healthy ecosystem for investors and founders.
If you build something people want and need, your fans and your community will be able to invest $100 in your company come May 16th.
But this is all talk, you guys need to do the walk. I believe there are a lot of smart, hard working people in Fargo who deserve a chance at building impactful companies. A global economy is at your fingertips should you choose to go after it.
My advice is for you is to keep plugging away. Keep growing. Focus on building things that people want. Find customers and talk to them. Learn as much as you can and make mistakes as long as you don’t make the same mistakes twice. No one today sets out to invest in a startup from the midwest, so give them a reason to. Make status-seeking investors brag about how they invested in Silicon Prairie. Ever heard of it?
You Have Great $2.50 Whiskey Cokes
Anyway, I’m done with my rambling and will end with slightly — only slightly — embarrassing clips of our team. We ended our Fargo stay at a lively karaoke night at a bar that I can’t remember the name of. It was fun, we drank too much, and then we tried to entertain y’all with our off-key singing and killer dance moves.
Later,
Greg Belote
