Latest News
The Artist In Residence here at StartingBlock, Sasha Debevec-McKenney!
Meet StartingBlock’s new Artist in Residence, Sasha Debevec-McKenney! She is a poet whose work has appeared in The Yale Review, Nashville Review, Peach Mag, Underblong, TriQuarterly, Granta, and Poem-A-Day. Sasha was also the 2020-2021 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry...
A message from the new Entrepreneur in Residence at StartingBlock – Heather Wentler
Hello StartingBlock Community! I'm excited to be your new Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR). This role has been held by some amazing people in the past who have left big shoes for me to fill. The EiR role is an effort to best support you and your venture(s) as you...
Tony Evers wants to use federal COVID funds to boost startups
The Innovate 608 podcast is for professionals on the go. It’s about entrepreneurship — the journey, the community and a place to hear about bold new things happening in Madison and Wisconsin. Hosted by Nora Roughen-Schmidt and produced by StartingBlock, Madison’s...
StartingBlock Highlights Diversity and Collaboration in the Madison Startup Community during Forward Fest
StartingBlock Madison is hosting three events centered around highlighting diversity and collaboration in the Madison startup community during the 12th annual Forward Festival. The Forward Festival is Wisconsin's largest technology and entrepreneurship festival,...
Social Impact Cohort Participants Announced
StartingBlock, in partnership with the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and Associated Bank, has selected eleven social impact entrepreneur teams for StartingBlock’s 2021 Social Impact Cohort. The selected teams each have business...
Member Benefits Available May 1
StartingBlock Madison is offering benefits for members beginning May 1. Members will enjoy cafeteria style insurance plans starting at just $25/month and will include: vision, dental, life and virtual health. For information about insurance offerings and membership...
StartingBlock Madison Praises Governor’s Budget in Support of Entreprenuership in Wisconsin
On February 14, 2021 Governor Tony Evers announced that his 2021-2023 executive state budget will include the following highlights to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation for all Wisconsinites: -$100M new venture capital fund of funds with emphasis on...
StartingBlock Welcomes New Board Members
StartingBlock Madison announces the appointment of four new members of its Board of Directors. Joining the Board of Directors are: Ed Javier, Becca Cooke, Max Fergus and Heather Wentler. “All four of our new Board members embody the values of our organization and...
Announcing StartingBlock’s Next Executive Director: Nora Roughen-Schmidt
On behalf of StartingBlock Madison, Inc., it is my pleasure to announce the selection of Nora Roughen-Schmidt as our next Executive Director. Nora emerged from a very talented pool of more than 60 candidates. Nora is a relationship builder, an accomplished...
Startups — Now is the time to find summer and fall internships. Seriously.
If you are a startup, you should hire an intern -- now. Yes, in the middle of the covid crises when teams are virtual. We know that it sounds crazy. But, because of covid, many companies, large and small, are letting employees go and pausing planned hiring. This...
Schedule virtual office hours with Nhi Lê, StartingBlock’s Entrepreneur in Residence
StartingBlock's Entrepreneur in Residence, Nhi Lê, provides mentorship, business development and strategy, and connections to mentors and investors for StartingBlock Madison members and small-to-medium-sized businesses in the greater Madison region. She serves...
StartingBlock Madison’s team grows
Marc Yarmoff and Nathan Eggenberger join as Community Manager and Membership Manager respectively. Over the last two months the StartingBlock Madison team has grown with two recent new hires. We are excited to announce the addition of Nathan Eggenberger as our...
Calling all Social Entrepreneurs!
Do you believe in business as a force for good? There's so much interest in social entrepreneurship but do you know that means and how social entrepreneurs can distinguish their social mission using new certification and legal structures? Do you know the difference...
An Intern’s View of StartingBlock Madison
Eduardo Castillo interned at StartingBlock in Summer of 2019 as part of the CEOs of Tomorrow program. Recently, Eduardo came back and spent a few days of his spring break volunteering at StartingBlock. He sat down with Executive Director, Chandra Miller Fienen, to...
StartingBlock: 2018 A Year In Review
Happy 2019! Now that the holidays are over and we have rung in 2019, the StartingBlock Team thought it would be a good time to take a look back at 2018 accomplishments and what is on the horizon for 2019. 2018 Highlights We opened! After five years of work,...
StartingBlock selects eight social impact entrepreneurs & teams for its Social Impact Initiative
StartingBlock, in partnership with the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and Greenbush Strategy Partners, has selected eight social impact entrepreneur teams for StartingBlock’s Social Impact Initiative. The selected teams each have...
Social Impact Initiative Competition Announced
Change-Driven Entrepreneurs, Win Free Space at StartingBlock! StartingBlock, in partnership with the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and Associated Bank, seeks the best and brightest social impact entrepreneurs to join us as...
StartingBlock showcases Shaun Ritchie, CEO of TEEM, on what makes the Salt Lake City innovation ecosystem tick?
Ever wonder how mid-sized cities break through to become entrepreneurial startup phenoms? Recently, StartingBlock hosted a lunch and learn with Salt Lake City entrepreneur, Shaun Ritchie, co-founder and CEO of Teem Technologies. Prior to co-founding teem, Ritchie ran...
We Did It! We are officially open!
We did it! We are officially open! And what a great soft opening we had last night with over 400 supporters and community members braving the tornado warning and pouring rain to join us. It was a fantastic night for the four founding partner organizations --...
StartingBlock Showcase: Cubicall
StartingBlock Showcases . . . Cubicall One of the key opportunities that StartingBlock has is showing off technology and innovative ideas of Madison-area entrepreneurs and innovators. Trust us, we are already working on showcase posts about the StartingBlock...
Eight New Members Join StartingBlock Madison’s Board Of Directors
StartingBlock Madison is proud to announce the appointment of eight new directors to its board as it prepares to open its doors next month. Along with immense leadership experience, the new directors bring national and regional representation to the Madison-area...
StartingBlock Madison Announces Inaugural Startup Partners for New Entrepreneurial Hub
We are excited to announce twelve startups that will comprise our opening cohort of companies and form the heart of the StartingBlock community. We are proud, humbled and excited to have such an impressive, diverse group of startups at StartingBlock. The First Dozen...
Talent Maximizer Series #6: H.R. 101
Our final workshop in the Spring series -- H.R. 101 -- brought back Karen Bender , this time joined by Sharon Egan of QTI. H.R. isn’t for everyone, but as the Founder of your startup there, are rules and regulations you should implement and be...
Talent Maximizer Series #5: Developing A Startup Friendly Compensation Package
This week's workshop--Developing A Startup Friendly Compensation Package--featured Melissa Turczyn from Michael Best & Friedrich. It’s no secret as an early stage startup, you most likely don’t have enough capital to pay market rates for talent when it comes time...