In search of ‘the next big thing’: group expands to reach entrepreneurs and spread tech message throughout Upstate
At the speed of the digital age, the Iron Yard is expanding its reach, both physically and in terms of programming. The small staff, volunteers and community supporters are attacking the challenge of growing a tech community from any angle available: educating adults and children, reaching to other cities, and anchoring a hub for indie tech/creative culture.
The Next Big Thing: Spartanburg
Ten startups moved into the Iron Yard last summer to hone their businesses and raise capital during the 13-week The Next Big Thing business accelerator program in Greenville. Staring in July, a second program will begin in Spartanburg, focused on jump-starting businesses at the nexus of healthcare and technology.
Program manager Kate McCarthy said the expansion to Spartanburg reflects the Iron Yard’s regional outlook. A lease has been signed at a building next to the HUB-BUB arts center and Zarza Restaurant on South Daniel Morgan Avenue owned by John Bauknight of RJ Rocker’s Brewery, also in Downtown Spartanburg.
The location will put The Next Big Thing in proximity to HUB-BUB, which pushes Spartanburg’s art scene in much the same way the Iron Yard intends to push its tech scene. The universities, medical school, growing hospitals, and student population are assets that the startups could use to grow their businesses in Spartanburg, McCarthy said.
The Spartanburg Accelerator will kick off with a community Start-Up Weekend in June. “It’s kind of like smooshing an accelerator into a weekend,” McCarthy said. People in the community will get to experience an abbreviated process of collaborating; pitching and trying to win prizes such as free legal advice that would help grow their businesses. The full accelerator program begins July 15 in Spartanburg and March 11 in Greenville.
The Next Big School
All the small companies that could take off from the accelerators will need the right setting to grow quickly, but Iron Yard co-founder Eric Dodds said the Upstate is not it. Yet. What’s missing are enough Web workers who could fill jobs if companies expand rapidly and rely on complex websites and applications.
“We were thinking about the availability of Web developers in Greenville, and the reality is there aren’t any available,” Dodds said. “There’s a deficit. We probably get a few emails a day for people looking for experienced people.”
Seven of the companies from last year’s accelerator stayed in Greenville, one of which came from Ohio. Unsatisfied with the idea that companies born here eventually might be forced to leave, the Iron Yard is launching Intensive Code Education School, a three-month adult education program in April.
“Don’t know anything about code? Don’t worry,” the website says.
The promise is that after three months of 60-hour weeks, students will be able to build gorgeous websites and digital products. The school is not yet accredited and won’t cover theory, but promises that graduates will be prepared to build on the skills they learn. That is on top of the housing and new Apple laptop included in the tuition price.
What’s more, the school promises to refund tuition to those who enroll in a placement program and do not find a well-paying job within six months of graduating. With jobs such as Web developers, computer systems analysts and software engineers topping just about every list of in-demand jobs – with salaries in the $55,000-$100,000 range – it might be a fairly safe bet. Two similar schools have started in Denver and Chicago in the last couple of years.
The Iron Yard is actively recruiting both students and teachers, hoping to add back-end engineering, mobile development and Web design to its course offerings. Students of all backgrounds are welcome to apply, passion and personality being more important than prior experience, Dodds said.
“There needs to be passion for what we’re doing, building things on the Internet, technology. And the reason for that is that it’s going to be a lot of really hard work,” Dodds said.
The Next Big Space
Having outgrown its office space in the NEXT Innovation Center at Church Street and University Ridge in Greenville, the Iron Yard is moving downtown. Although they will be underground, the 30,000-square-foot space in the former Windstream Building – across from the ONE project – puts them in a booming location.
Dubbed “The Forge,” the space will also house a number of other enterprises that operate in the tech and creative industries. Indie Craft Parade will move its daily operations and annual festival to there. The Iron Yard’s CoWork communal work space will move there from Washington Street and will also expand, as will education and accelerator programs that were housed at NEXT. In addition, a video production studio, architect, electrical engineer, graphic designer and Web development company have already committed to the space.
“There’s a lot of energy that’s created when you put a lot of people in the same space who have a common goal of working with some level of creativity and solving problems,” said Dodds.
Details of the lease agreement are still being worked out with developer Bob Hughes, but at least two of the occupants will have moved in by the end of the month. The Forge’s goal is to be a major hotspot in the tech “ecosystem” to which tech types so often refer. And just like ecologists, the Iron Yard is focused on introducing key elements to ensure that the ecosystem will thrive for a long time to come.
