TechTalk: Ostanik, Scholten among town hall speakers

Tech town hall speakers lined up

The first of 10 town halls to discuss Iowa's technology community has its lineup of speakers.

The Technology Association of Iowa is hosting the town halls across the state this year. The first is set for Des Moines on Feb. 12.

Speakers at the town hall include Principal Financial Group Chief Information Officer Gary Scholten, the state of Iowa's CIO Bob Von Wolffradt, Waukee Schools teacher Michelle Hill and Funnelwise founder Matt Ostanik.

I'll be moderating the town hall. We will start with a few questions for each speaker, but then open up to the floor.

The town hall is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the Register's first-floor conference room in Capital Square, 400 Locust St. It's diagonally across from Big City Burgers and Greens.

A Tech Brew at Gramercy Tap across the street will follow the town hall.

Other town halls are scheduled for Mason City, Ames, Sioux City, Cedar Valley, Dubuque, Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Spencer and Cedar Rapids.

Anything in particular you want to hear the Des Moines speakers talk about? Shoot me an email at mpatane@dmreg.com or attend the town hall and ask the question yourself.

Startup Accelerator applications open soon

The application period for the Iowa Startup Accelerator's second round will open Monday.

The Cedar Rapids-based accelerator's organizers have a plan to run it for five years. They started with a $1 million to provide $20,000 each in seed funding to 10 startup teams a year.

Last year's group of teams went through an intense 90 days of development where they pitched hundreds of times to mentors and potential customers. The class included Iowa-grown startups, such as Re-App and HowFactory. Others came from New York, Delaware, Israel and Australia.

The accelerator is the first program run in Iowa. It's followed closely by Des Moines' Global Insurance Accelerator, which will start its first class later this month.