The first StartupBrew event of 2024 was held at Brewhalla, Feb. 7, from 8-9:30 a.m., with a packed crowd of attendees invested in the Fargo Moorhead entrepreneurial ecosystem. StartupBrew’s ethos is “that entrepreneurs do better when they have access to each other and the greater community that supports them”. As StarupBREW has ballooned it became a central hub for events like curiosity week where entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters come together to create an environment where people are willing to invest their time, energy, and attention to hear the stories of successful entrepreneurs and learn from their journey in the startup world.   
 
To kick off the event, Hannah Kogler, mission impact manager of BIO Girls, a non–profit focused on empowering young girls’ self-esteem, was featured before Natalie Lemnus and Sadie Schaefer. Schaeffer, from Emerging Prairie, Startup Brew’s parent organization, gave a recap of 2023. Schaefer highlighted the impact of Fargo–Moorhead‘s entrepreneurial ecosystem, where 35 events took place with over 5,000 attendees. 
 
The Speakers for today’s event were Ashley Ham of Dear NICU Mama and Tim Kuhn of Heroes Compass. The two shared their stories and impact. 
 
Dear NICU Mama, a non–profit focused on creating a community of support to mothers with babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), was co–founded by Ham. Ham’s own child was born 3 months prematurely, after which she was taken to the NICU. With her son in the NICU, Ham began to look online for information to understand what was happening. Feeling isolated, Ham was dejected as she only found articles depicting negative stories of NICU babies and their families’ lives. Remembering her own experiences, Ham was deadest on “changing the narrative of NICU parenthood,” where she could bring hope to hopeless situations. 
 
Kuhn of Heroes Compass, a non–profit dedicated to supporting military and first responders, began his talk with an interactive exercise. He told participants to take out their phones and send a message to their hero’s. A military member himself, Kuhn started Heroes Compass to honor his late father’s passing, to combat the rising suicides of veterans and support them in challenging times.  
 
Kuhn, to tie the veteran crisis to the larger public, had his first event, a 22–mile walk Sep. 22 at 9:22 a.m. 22 is the number of veterans who take their lives every day, and with September being suicide prevention month, this was a way to tie in public perception with personal remembrance.   
 
Heroes Compass’ focus on first responders came about as a second initiative took place after the loss of officer Jake Wallin who was killed in the line of duty in Fargo, North Dakota. Kuhn, who was former college roommates with Zach Robinson, another officer involved in the shooting, decided he needed to show support. Through Heroes Compass, Kuhn, with a partnership from Sandy’s Donuts, was able to raise $11,000 in two days, which he then gave to the families of the four officers involved in the shooting. 
 
After giving a description of their organizations, an informal 20-minute Q&A session took place where Schaeffer moderated the session. One question asked involved the impact of the work they did. Ham discussed how her podcast helped a “legally blind” mother gather hope and courage, while separated from her child in the NICU. When asked about what the entrepreneurial ecosystem could do to support them, Kuhn encouraged participants to reach out and challenge each other to build an environment of support. In StartupBrew fashion, he asked participants to do something as simple as buy the person behind them a cup of coffee, as a gesture to pay it forward.  
 
As the event ended, Lemnus showed gratitude by thanking everyone involved in the continuation of the ecosystem’s success, while ending the note by announcing the speaker for next Wed. Feb. 14, Chris Smith of Kipsu.

Davíd Moreno is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at daví[email protected].