By: Ed Javier, EMJ Consulting In the few months of living in the Milwaukee area, I have been networking, attending events and observing the startup scene. There is a lot happening here, and it’s interesting for me to see how it all works. But one potential roadblock that I have heard repeated in conversations is the perception that groups within the system are working in “silos.”
When key players and organizations are not sharing information and resources, essentially doing their own thing, startup growth is stunted. According to Brad Feld, author of Startup Communities, one of the crucial components to a healthy startup ecosystem is Network Density. This concept is based on the existence of a well-connected community of startups, groups, events and individuals that work together to benefit the whole.
Last week I witnessed first hand that the silo perception in Milwaukee may soon be an old school mentality. The Milwaukee Quick Pitch event at Miller Park was hosted by Jessica Silvaggi and Brian Thompson from the UWM Research Foundation, along with Kalpa Vithalani from The Medical College of Wisconsin, and Laura Savatski from The BloodCenter of Wisconsin. This pitch event showcased teams from their respective incubators. By working together, inviting new faces like myself and other industry folks from outside their own institutions, it was obvious that these three groups were doing their part to foster Network Density.
This is not the first time I have met groups and individuals that are sharing and connecting within the startup community here in Milwaukee. I would love to hear from you about other examples of groups, individuals and events building Network Density. If you are still stuck in with the “siloed” opinion, I’d like to hear from you as well. With leaders like Jessica, Brian, Kalpa and Laura showing us the way, we can all learn to work together and advance the Milwaukee startup ecosystem.
Ed Javier has been working in the tech space for more than 15 years. He is an experienced executive that helped build and scale start-up companies such as Cars.com and HomeFinder.com; lead technology SaaS product launches into new industries; and most recently, as the General Manager, pivoted and sold the leading real estate website in the Philippines to Rocket Internet. Ed and his family recently moved to the Milwaukee area. Connect with Ed on LinkedIn.