Indianapolis: Startup Community on the Verge
Indianapolis is home to me. I enjoy my out-of-state weekend adventures and urban exploring at conference visits outside the state, but Indy is my home base.
In the past 18+ months that I’ve lived here, our entrepreneurial community has seen the addition of Indianapolis startup-centric blogs, a weekly newsletter of startup events, and a bunch of hack-a-thons where ideas and talent converge to create new software products. We have awesome startup spaces to work, like Developer Town, and SproutBox, with more on the way in 2011. Our pool of talent and network of developers is quickly evolving, providing plenty of opportunity to fuel startup ideas. Developer-centric events like IndyPy and the Indianapolis Ruby Brigade are fostering knowledge sharing and collaboration among the sharpest programmers in the area.
Indy is on the Verge. The people, the places, the technology, and the timing are right just right for the community to tip the scale. That’s why we rebranded our event (formerly Hackers & Founders, a name borrowed from the West Coast) — to own what we’ve built, and showcase what’s happening.
I started the group with a few friends just over a year ago. We never expected our small group of twelve fresh-faced 20- somethings to grow into a a monthly meetup that would draw crowds of 250+ entrepreneurs, developers, and investors from not just all around Indiana, but other major Midwest cities like Chicago and Cincinnati. It’s inspiring to see.
When I think about what it takes to build a sustainable entrepreneurial environment, I know Indy’s got it: fresh talent, regular startup-centric meetups, and a collaborative community. I’m excited to see how things evolve in 2011 as we continue to grow and create new businesses.
I’m so appreciative of all the people and organizations, both in Indianapolis and around the world, who make our startup community so exceptional. Thank you.
If you haven’t experienced Verge, or Hackers & Founders as it was once called, this video will give you a taste of what it’s all about:
Matt, you’ve done a hell of a job transforming Hackers and Founders in to an amazing community that is very deserving of it’s own unique brand. Great work, and I look forward to helping however I can in 2011.
Matt-
I love what you are doing with Verge. I’m in Cincinnati, and would love to learn from your experience, and get something started like this over here in Cincy.
Why the name change from Hackers & Founders Indianapolis? Was there a legal issue, or has your vision changed? Or, as my wife suggested (but it didn’t dawn on me) is it the negative connotation of the word Hacker?
I’ll do my best to be at the next meeting. In the mean time, thanks for the vimeo videos. Those are really inspirational!
@Brandon Thanks for all your help in making sure things run smoothly. I truly appreciate all your contributions to the Indy startup community. I’m confident that many others feel the same way.
@Jerry Thanks! I’m a big fan of Cincy and actually lived there for a summer while working at an ad agency.
We renamed the event because, as a startup community, we’ve become our own thing (Hackers & Founders is originally a Silicon-Valley-based event, from which we borrowed the name). Our events aren’t really anything like the the Hackers and Founders meetups they have out in the Valley and in NYC. Nothing against what they’re doing — we just wanted to own our identity and to provide more of a vision going forward.
Our identity is Verge because our entrepreneurial environment is on the brink of new ideas, software products, and business success. We’ve created this monthly event that’s a convergence of the talent and innovation that fuels our startup community. We’re a little bit raw and uncut, and we like it that way. No frills — just good business and good times.
Sorry I’ve missed these events but I love the passion.
I’m an educator with a startup/software idea I think would work. What’s a good way to connect with a developer who could critique it to see if it has value?
Hey Matt,
You can find developers at Verge who might critique your project. Our meetup page is the best place to get plugged in there: http://meetup.com/vergeindy. You can also find a lot of developer-centric events on meetup (indy.rb, IndyPy, etc)
Hope that helps!