How Physical Space Fuels Community and Innovation with Emily Krueger

from the crossroads of America in the Hoosier State of Indiana this is get in the podcast focused on the unfolding stories and extraordinary Innovations happening right now in the Heartland on the show today's Emily Krueger president and CEO of 16 Tech Innovation District but the story of 16 tag is ultimately one about the collaboration that exists in Indianapolis and in Indiana more broadly and that makes this a place that's great for entrepreneurship no prior to starting at 16 Tech Emily was the VP of administration at ldi one of Indiana's largest private companies prior to that she worked for former U. S senator Richard Luger in a variety of Capitol Hill and campaign positions in today's show we are going to cover how physical connection can fuel Innovation some of the amazing opportunities for everyone at 16 Tech how 16 Tech has impacted its local community and what's in the works for the future development of the 16 Tech Innovation District Emily we're so excited to have you on the show today as grateful residents of the 16 Tech Invasion District Welcome to get in thank you it's great to be here yeah we're really excited to talk all about what's going on here at 16 deck we are recording this in 16 deck we have been recording get in every episode right here in 16 Tech and I'm eager to hear a little bit more about your backstory where you grew up what how that kind of influenced what you're doing today can you take us back to maybe like your earliest memories of innovation entrepreneurship and business in your own life sure so I was born in Indianapolis although I grew up primarily in Pennsylvania and my mom's a social worker by training and my dad's career has been in marketing and sales for technology companies as Tech has evolved over the course of his career so I find that where I've landed today is a pretty interesting intersection of both of my my parents professional career paths and I remember um one of my dad's jobs was working for a company that built scanners and so we got to go to the office and check those out it took up a whole room and now I can do on my phone what my accompany that my dad had worked for their product so do you remember who that was the company's name was scan Graphics scan Graphics they're based in Philadelphia good title yeah I've been very apropos but I think having seen my dad go through technology Bubbles and Technology changes and there were at times job losses as a result of that too I think it gave me some appreciation for the entrepreneurial journey and then also watching my mom as a social worker who worked in medical care settings really instilled in me a desire to do things that benefited people but combined with this notion of doing things at The Cutting Edge of technology and Entrepreneurship and my careers had a couple chapters to it as you've acknowledged I started with my career working on Capitol Hill and did so as a 23 year old who thought I wanted to change the world and do something International and after about five years of being on the hill I looked around and realized all the people whose jobs that I wanted were people who are coming up up to the hill and they were coming from the private sector and so for me that motivated me to go to business school and I got my MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and eventually ended up working for ldi which is a private company here in Indiana fourth generation family company and its Origins were actually as a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and the opportunity for ldi existed as Postal Service and transportation was transitioning from wooden crates and by the time I joined the company obviously that was no longer a growth opportunity the company had sold its initial holding had invested in distribution businesses and was effectively going through its third iteration when I joined as the chief of staff and so for me it was a super exciting opportunity to be with a company as they were going through a diversification process so helping to identify acquisition opportunities and be a part of that diligence team as well as working with the portfolio companies that were of different Industries different sizes Etc and in many respects it was like a MBA finishing school for me my my time with the ldi and it's a place I could have stayed for a long time and when the opportunity to join 16 Tech presented itself for me it really combined all of these experiences it allowed me to get back into a role that was directly aligned with Community benefit which was something that I had missed from my time in public service but it allowed me to do something entrepreneurial 16 Tech is a startup we're a non-profit startup and I was a second full-time employee hired and in many respects saw my role as a CEO is like being the co-founder of this organization and so it's been incredibly rewarding to watch not just our team come to life but also the physical place come to life and then for me I get really excited about what we're doing not only just to support entrepreneurs but to lower the barriers to participation in entrepreneurship which I fundamentally believe in I've inadvertently married my Target customer my customer my my husband is a Serial Tech entrepreneur and I have a seven-year-old stepson who is likely going to be the exact same and I I get really excited about creating those opportunities as well as exposing other people to the types of opportunities that exist through entrepreneurship and so that's part of what fuels me and some of what I'm eager to dig into today oh us too I'm curious because it is such a Hot Topic in the tech especially in the startup industry mbas I have heard startup Founders be like oh mbas they're totally useless in a startup environment I've heard Founders be like I just did my first startup and I'm gonna go get my NBA before doing my next one because I feel like there's so much I don't know and missed out on and so I feel like it can be a polarizing topic and I'm curious what you learned when you got your MBA were there a couple of like keyless lessons that you learned that you're now applying at 16 Tech warning classic MBA answer it depends so it was a fabulous experience for me because I was coming from the political Arena and I I did the full-time MBA program and I was fully immersed in it and I had an incredible experience at Kellogg made wonderful friendships the social the networking was just as much a part of what I was seeking at that stage of life as it was the additional professional experiences and skill set and but I've encouraged a lot of people to look at part-time MBA programs because I don't think there's any other program that's as relevant and gives you the opportunities to apply on a daily basis what it is you're learning in the classroom and as a non-traditional student that's what I was considered coming from the political Arena candidly it was hard because I didn't have a basis of knowledge oftentimes to apply to my MBA so there's a part of me that recognizes that my MBA experience was a rather academic experience and a part part of me that wishes I could go back and do it again now because I've got such a stronger foundation and knowledge to build upon but it was really pivotal for me at the time and I think it can be a real opportunity for others as well having married a tech entrepreneur I've realized I'm not one I'm not exist to support entrepreneurs and you guys need help at times I don't know what you're talking about looking at you too I get really excited about being around people who have strong Visions but then helping to enact that and so I don't know if you need an MBA to go to to pursue a Tech Career and to be an entrepreneur right what I find with a lot of entrepreneurs is you can't stop them from doing things and for me the MBA experience was something that I felt like I needed to be able to move forward in my career and so I just recognize that in that entrepreneur DNA you may not need an MBA to be successful it was foundational for me yeah I got a thousand questions now that Club moving forward from that I want to Circle backwards real quick sure were there anything is there anything today that you look back in the political experience so you're in in that world for five years was there anything that that you learned in the political world that's quote unquote it's just the same as entrepreneurism or or or a dynamic that wow that just wouldn't exist in one world or the other like any shocking things that you look back and you're just like these are two different worlds and this is a big reason why or yeah that The West Wing is like the closest that I've ever been to political sphere yeah and like working for Richard Luker right I can't remember what his background was but I don't know where he was he a political person all through his career was he in business I'm not sure but I'm just curious if there's any fun stories that that you can share or correlations what I've Loved is the ability to translate between said I think that translating between Industries being able to bring the language of business to the political Arena and vice versa as part of what's just fueled me inherently there are there were definitely times in the political Arena where the ROI the decision making is totally different than it is in a business setting what's deemed as risky is very different because it's oftentimes measured in reputational Risk rather than in Infinity so the the thought process the decision-making process is oftentimes very different one of the things that when I look back on and is a way that I've demonstrated some entrepreneurship in my own career and trajectory even in the political arena is most of the jobs that I've had are ones that no one had before me and I usually wrote my own job description and that happened first in the Luger Arena as well and it happened when I was in business school I wrote my own job description for the two internships that I had one of those was with the Chicago climate exchange and this was the summer of 2009 when cap and trade legislation was being debated on the hill and I was working for what would have been the premiere trading platform for climate products Financial products during that summer and they'd never had an MBA intern before and I saw that opportunity I pitched them on it and I spent that summer learning from them that's awesome and I did the same also working for Baxter a large company but as a sustainability project an intern there so how did you get these awesome opportunities right these are like really different opportunities and very different like portions of the world how did you get these opportunities I've always been someone who's been motivated by learning and I really like having an impact on places and organizations and people I would not be good in a job where I had to do the same thing over and over again and that's probably the tendency that I share most with a traditional entrepreneur but I also know that I'm not as big of a risk taker as many entrepreneurs and I like I've just always sought out large problems and wanted to be be a part of the solution for them and even going back in terms of my academic career I spent three years as a chemistry major I dropped my chemistry major as a junior that's probably one of the secrets I don't share but you've managed to pull out of me during this podcast and the reason was I was sitting in a lecture hall and in a physical chemistry class and I can in my mind's eye I can go back and find myself in that lecture room and I recall the professor describing how to calculate the velocity of a particle as it hit the sides of an imaginary box and I thought I'm done I'm done this doesn't how the only path that I saw forward for me at that point was being a professor or a researcher and there's some incredible Serendipity in the fact that now I'm in an environment where r d is happening on a daily basis in 16 Tech and I think if I'd had an exposure to the types of job opportunities and career paths that would have been possible with that where might I have ended up but so I've just always been a variety junkie ever since I was little I love to read and learn and so this is a great environment for me because we're growing as an organization but on a daily basis I'm getting to interact with startups and the life sciences hard tech B2B SAS social impact University researchers who are pursuing commercialization opportunities and assistant Deputy secretaries that's right yes yeah and all that's happening here at 16 Tech that's really cool you mentioned chief of staff was one of the first roles that you had in the private sector that is a position that I've seen just take off in particular in the tech and startup space high growth tech company space can you talk a little bit about what a chief of staff does and what that position is I love that role and that's one of the roles that I wrote my own job description for and interestingly I was approached for this position because of someone who knew that I had worked in the political Arena and so they asked me ldi looking for a chief of staff do you have any idea what this role is or could be and I thought I've got this and I was very fortunate to have learned from a variety of people in the political Arena and one of those was Luger's chief of staff and so for me the chief of staff role very early in my career was a way to allow me a seat at the table to watch how decisions were made and to be the person who then helped carry those decisions out and Implement them and I loved that I really saw that role as being the right hand to the CEO it is it's a huge role and being the person that was responsible for helping make the things happen that that you know they the decisions that they had made and the risks that they were willing to take and so I find that it's a really powerful role it can be a great opportunity for someone who's trying to figure out what functional area do I want to be in and maybe they're not ready to make a decision yet and you get some wide exposure to the organization and I think as a chief of staff and someone who has counseled others you want to make sure that whoever you're working for has a really good admin because you don't want to end up becoming a glorified admin but if you're working with the right executive and you help that person get the right resources around him or her it's an incredibly powerful role and it allows you to have a seat at the table and while in the Luger Arena I was not the chief of staff I was a political fund designee so I did fundraising for Luger out in Maryland DC and Virginia for political action committees and individual donors and so that was again a moment where I'm in my early 20s a seat at the table in in very in rooms with foreign diplomats CEOs Etc and I love and I no one was asking for my opinion but I was soaking up every single minute of it and then the chief of staff role I think really allows that for people what else did you learn from your time in government that now directly impacts the work you're doing at 16 Tech what's helpful for me in 16 Tech is being able to communicate an Roi to our public sector investors and we have received significant funding from the city of Indianapolis from the state of Indiana and I think it's really important that we're able to recognize and share with them what return they're seeing on their investment so I have a sense having worked in the political Arena of the types of wins that they are looking for and that helps me know how to connect what's happening here at 16 Tech to their goals and Ambitions of the companies that are located in 16 Tech right now we have at least four that have relocated from out of state these are smaller companies and they're not the ones that yield the large headlines right because they're not investing significant capex or bringing significant jobs on day one but these are fundamentally the types of companies that we want here and that are going to be growing our ecosystem and have the potential to make significant investment in the future and so help to connect those stories in terms of what we're doing and how that might it can matter and what it means for our elected officials I think is part of what I can bring to this role in a way that's really compelling can you tell us a little bit about the story of 16 Tech itself I know you have so many stories about the amazing companies that are here but I feel like the story of 16 Tech that I've heard it's just fascinating how it came to be and I know I don't even know the whole story it's a long one and and so it it truly uh when I first joined 16 Tech I was surprised because my first couple months people kept showing up and handing me versions of plans that they had been a part of going back decades wow so the area that 16 Tech resides on historically and still today is the site of the city of indianapolis's water infrastructure so there were some buildings here but not a lot and people were not encouraged the only reason to come was to pay your water bill when this building where we're doing the podcast was at the time the headquarters of the Indianapolis water company and it's important to recognize that geography because fundamentally it's what has made the site expensive to develop and what's also taken at a fair amount of time in order to get to a place where we're able to see and experience the growth and momentum that we have today but the story of 16 tag is ultimately one about the collaboration that exists in Indianapolis and in Indiana more broadly and that makes this a place that's great for entrepreneurship not because entrepreneurs need safety nets but because they need environments in which the risks that they're going to take ideally are minimized or the friction in order to grow their companies is reduced and that's ultimately what our stakeholders came together other and said we need a clear destination for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Indianapolis and this land is the largest undeveloped land closest to downtown so it was the perfect spot for it and it's also the perfect spot because of some of the research assets the corporate assets that are adjacent a recognition that what's happening right now is oftentimes the tech enablement of the life sciences and advanced manufacturing Industries and we're also doing this in a neighborhood which has a strong history and culture of innovation madam CJ Walker who is the first self-made female millionaire in our country her manufacturing facility was located in the same neighborhood in which 16 Tech exists so there's a lot that's really neat about why this place and also the opportunity to exist but it took a long time and one of those lessons was there was no organization that was dedicated to overseeing the development of the Innovation District so our community came together and said we're going to do this but then when you don't have an entity that has resources including capital and people things don't happen and so it was really the leadership of the Central Indiana corporate partnership that in 2015 came together and said this still matters and in order to do this we've got to get an entity in place that's able to lead this and that's when 16 Tech Community Corporation was birthed so one of the odd things being a part of 16 tag is that people often have 20 plus years of history in their mind but as an organization we've just got five years of operations and when I joined as a CEO I knew we had a credibility gap to close and we've been sprinting like hell these last five years to close that Gap and we did so in the midst of extraordinary circumstances during the pandemic and I've referenced the three buildings that we have open but there's over 90 companies working in 16 Tech over 700 people who are calling this home we now have shovel ready access to nine remaining development parcels and we're ready to go and not only are we ready to go but there are some really exciting things happening in our community that are just going to catapult this and a big one is what's happening at IU and what's happening at Purdue in Indianapolis what is happening with Purdue and IU I think we all know they're decoupling they're realigning and I think that this is great they are it's really exciting also going back in in weird ways why this opportunity is exciting for me Senator Luger who is such a defining figure in my career IUPUI was formed during his mayoral Administration and it was a recognition that you can't have a great City without a great University and so IUPUI was a response to that Community need for a great University and it served its purpose but it's time to let both universities pursue their independent Visions in Indianapolis and 16 tag is the land that's closest to them it's the play box it's the sandbox for IU and Purdue for their faculty researchers as well as for their students and you need spaces outside of the University campus environment in order to create exposure to Industry that helps keep students here and recognize helps them recognize that Indy is a place where they can start their career and it also creates the opportunities for faculty who are increasingly attracted to universities because of the opportunities to commercialize their ideas it gives them the opportunity to do that in settings like 16 Tech that resonates with me so much because I went to both Purdue and IU in West Lafayette and Bloomington and I was learning so much not just in the classroom but even more so off campus I was working as a cad detail computer automated design detailer at in Lafayette across the river from West Lafayette when I was at Purdue and when I was at IU I was starting a company and so I needed to be out outside the University because universities don't make great customers all the time when you're getting a startup off the ground and it's only one customer I love that that is a lens through which to look at 16 Tech and I don't think about it that much when I'm here because we're usually like hosting events in the 16 Tech area or we're in our offices heads down he's building stuff and it's really cool to think about that as like another lens through which to look at this entire area of just bringing those universities in and I've seen Notre Dame here I've seen like more universities Ball State here there's more than even just Purdue and IU what you're highlighting is to the distinguishing features of the 16 Tech Innovation District they're more than 100 Innovation districts around the world what we're doing is not unique but the the industry strengths the geography the corporate stakeholders the university partners that are here are that's what makes our ecosystem truly unique that's what offers different opportunities than you're going to find in other markets and so 2 two things one we're building from the ground up I talked about that already because this land is historically been the site of the city's water infrastructure most Innovation districts start with underutilized University real estate assets and what that also signals is the second thing that really distinguishes 1610 we are a playground for multiple universities typically an innovation district is led by a single University and it becomes the place to interact with them and we have six universities that have a presence in 16 Tech so 16 Tech is also becoming a place where our universities can collaborate together a great example of that is the analytics initiative that's housed here and brings together IU Notre Dame and Purdue our three tier one research universities are here in 16 Tech collaborating together on data analytics projects and resources that are bringing together some of our top corporations the state as well and so we're really excited by that we had an interesting moment in the evolution version of 16 Tech where in 2019 as we were designing this building which we're sitting in right now we got together a bunch of universities and colleges from across the state and we pitched them on a university Commons we thought that would be a great idea let's make a One-Stop shop where you can all be here and we'll put all your flags out around the hallways Etc and what we learned through that meeting was they were all excited about being at 16 Tech they were all excited about conversations where they could come to be together but they didn't want to do the same thing right and interesting going back to some of the differences between the political sector and public sector and the private sector and what's happening at IU in Purdue we were trying to force them to do the same thing right and instead what we've created is an environment where today we have six universities that are here and they're engaging when 16 Tech in different ways and those align with their unique capabilities their own strategies and their own Ambitions and so we're just really excited to see what that continues to being for 16 Tech we sit at this intersection of the hard Tech Corridor which the president of Purdue University has coined and extends from West Lafayette down to Indianapolis and we also sit right at the intersection of the hard Tech Corridor with a scitec corridor that IU has also indicated as part of its vision and all of that is in 16 Tech and we're also adjacent to one of the largest excuse me actually the largest hospital construction project in the country the IU Health District that's in the works is going to be really exciting and I use School of Medicine the largest medical school in the country all of these things are right here and 16 Tech is the place where we can bring people together ibris across the parking lot talk about that as well how's that tie in yeah the Indiana biosciences Research Institute is one of the anchors in 16 Tech and in many respects the need for the ibri is what drove the need for 16 Tech I find it really compelling that our two of our buildings are anchored by startups themselves the ibri as well as EMC squared and so that's also part of what at the end of the day I think is going to make the 16 Tech story really compelling is it's not only a place for innovators but it's been developed and anchored by innovators and we've done that in different Industries and in different sectors and the ibri paved the way for that the ibri is effectively a translational Research Institute and bottom line what that means is they take the research and they figure out how to apply it at the bedside and so they started off being focused on Diabetes which made a ton of sense because of the strength that we have with Eli Lilly being one of our corporate stakeholders in Indiana but they've expanded from that and they are now doing incredible things in pediatric oncology they are at the Forefront of Alzheimer's research and they've effectively created a place and through the ibri in many respects as like 16 Tech were Switzerland right they've got corporate funded research they've got the university funded research and in evolving their own business model they've also allowed startups in the Life Sciences to use the wet lab space that they have excess capacity for and so there's 13 companies that are incubating right now at the ibri they're also in the process of opening a drug Discovery lab as well and what's really neat we talk so much about how the office has changed as a result of covid but r d has changed too it's distributed and so three of those 13 Life Sciences startup companies in the ibri are from out of state and they relocated in Indiana because the science goes farther here what do you mean by that so you try getting a 5x5 lab bench in Boston and Cambridge or in the Bay Area make sure I heard you correctly so 5 out of 13 startups in ibri three out of the 13.

oh three I'm sorry three out of the 13. it's a big percentage are from out of state that relocated here because they can do what again the science goes farther science goes farther you heard it here first but there's something yeah I'm really intentional in saying that because I think we all know that the cost of living here is better but what that also means is the runway that you have as a startup goes farther and that really means a lot when you're in these Capital intensive Industries like the life sciences and the hard tech and when you don't have to be at the lab every single day it means you can access the lab almost like you access a gym membership and so the way that the ibri has used the additional lab space to provide incubator space for Life Sciences startups is really exciting and it means that there are companies from the coast who are calling because they want to be here and maybe they just want to be here for a period of time that's okay yeah sure but at the end of the day it's a really interesting model in terms of have you ever heard of them have you ever heard them quantify 3x 4X I've not but I do know one of the companies that's at the ibri a Depot Therapeutics Karen Wooster is the CEO and she told me I believe that a lab bench a 5x5 lab inch in Cambridge would cost about 7 500 a month ibri it's about 750 bucks holy cow so that's the difference yeah wow yeah that's amazing let's go it sounds very similar to some of the hard tech stuff that I've learned about here in 16 Tech I know glassboard whose Studio we're using right now thank you glassboard they were saying the same thing that all of these Coastal companies that pre-pandemic they had their in own in-house r d and their own people on staff all those people moved around the country during the pandemic and they don't have people on site anymore it's hard with hard tech when you don't have your employees to be able to like come in and quickly design something prototype something and so that business that's headquartered here at 16 Tech gets a lot of their business because these big companies are like we don't even have the capacity to do that anymore can you help us and I know they're growing like crazy yeah there's a lot of really interesting things that are converging in this conversation and that comment one physical places still matter and Indiana has strengths and life sciences and Manufacturing this is the most manufacturing intensive state in the nation so we need places to build physical products and but we can do that in distributed ways and one of the other trends that I find really fascinating is it's never been easier to prototype a product than it is today we're sitting adjacent to our maker space where we've got lots of 3D printers electronic benches you name it what that means is the equipment that companies previously had to invest in order to create competitive advantages for their product Innovations no longer creates the competitive Advantage when you've got 3D printers and easy ways to prototype products so what that means is we can create shared environments where you can have competitors that are using the same equipment and resources because the intellectual property and what makes them competitive is not in the equipment itself it's in what they're doing with it and so that's fundamentally part of what we're creating here is access to Shared resources for these highly intensive a capital highly Capital intensive Industries to help de-risk that entrepreneurial Journey for those startups and life sciences and Manufacturing and so I'm getting all excited I want to go out next year yeah let's get in there and then a quick break from our normal programming I have Erica schweire CEO from Elevate Ventures here in the studio today Erica thanks for being here yeah thanks for having me and you're going to tell us a little bit about this rally Innovation conference that's coming up yep so it's the largest cross-sector Innovation conference in the world we're going to feature six Innovation Studios so think hard tech software Sports Tech Ag and food Healthcare and Entrepreneurship is going to kind of be our catch-all I love that so tell me what is who's it for yeah it's for innovators entrepreneurs investors honestly anybody probably listening to this podcast it's going to be a multi-day thing in downtown Indianapolis yep people coming in from all over the country and maybe even all over the world to be here that's our hope yep and the dates are actually August 29th to the 31st perfect and if people want to find out more information about speakers tickets things like that where can they go yeah so they just go to rallyinnovation.

com and sign up for communications they can also get their tickets I love it you heard it here rallyinnovation. com we'll see you there I was gonna say do you have any success stories of companies like using the Makerspace and growing and just any of those stories from actual entrepreneurs that are in 16 Tech right now growing their businesses sure our first graduation in 16 Tech was actually one of our members here in the Makerspace and it was the first company that moved into machine when it opened in Spring of 2021. you've heard me talk about the importance of having different Industries companies of different sizes Etc ironically our first graduation was a traditional artist so Caitlyn who is the CEO of cream and concrete she had her business here and within a year a business totally exploded she bought a building that is adjacent to 16 Tech and continues to be a member here and use the equipment so we do have some graduations through the graduation yeah calling it a graduation yeah yeah there's really cool things that are happening here and we were talking about a hard Tech so one of the companies that has located from out of state Cambridge actually over at EMC squared is named 24m they're a spin out from MIT wow Volkswagen owns 25 of that company they're located here in 16 Tech doing really cool battery research our newest member of the machine maker space is a company named Rogue AI it's an AG tech company and they're building 700 pound drones right here that they're using to help distribute fertilizer Etc more efficiently and effectively there are such cool things that are happening here one of the members in our Makerspace is someone who is helping to who is effectively creating a product that allows for small batch making of pills if you have something that's a highly specialized medicine and you need just a couple of them that has Veterinary uses a whole bunch of applications we've got a spin out from IU's chemistry Department Chris Benson is the CEO of Halo 4 which is a company also located here in our Makerspace they have an incredibly powerful fluorescent which has a whole bunch of applications from Scar Tissue remove oval Etc so we've got companies that are doing all sorts of really cool things here and we do we celebrate those successes when even that means they have to leave us I would love to do like an actual graduation ceremony sometime at a powder keg event like any time you want to bring up and we can showcase like hey and by the way we're going to graduate someone and we can put the mortar Boards out in the crowd and throw them up and graduate them from the Makerspace and I'll give a shout out to glassboard because we're using their podcast Studio here in our Makerspace and they were one of the early Believers and adopters of 16 Tech they needed more space than we had the ability to service them with so they bought a building that was close by and that's where they've located their company but they've maintained this space here and the membership here because they're a growing product engineering team there is equipment that it does not make Financial sense for them to buy it's too expensive and they don't use it all the time but they do use it frequently enough that it makes sense for for them to have this presence here so that's another way that having these shared resources enables startup companies that we might not have the perfect spot for them but there's a reason for them to have a membership here to access some of the resources that might not make stage at that might not make sense for them at that stage of their growth one of the things I love about 16 Tech is just how much the organization has engaged the surrounding community and businesses and people and homes that were here in the neighborhood long before 16 Tech can you talk a little bit about some of those programs that you're currently doing and just how you've brought in look at all the people in the food space out in the amp there's just so much there we're located in the Riverside Neighborhood which is one of the neighborhoods of the near Northwest of Indianapolis and we also support the neighborhoods of the near West Hawthorne hallville We Care Stringtown as well as the flanner homes and Ransom Place neighborhoods that's roughly 40 000 residents that make up those geography fees 76 percent of whom are persons of color and were it not for their support 16 Tech Community Corporation would not exist and so the engagement with our neighbors began before 16 Tech was formed as an organization and so our commitment to them is deep and we would not exist without them and so we have worked very intentionally not just to build a physical infrastructure for vertical development in the district for lab buildings Etc but to create a social infrastructure which is also welcoming and inclusive to those who are closest to us and that's why our mission is so intertwined with supporting entrepreneurs but also lowering the barriers to participation to The Innovation economy so what that means is we have scholarships and discounted memberships to all of our spaces for residents in the neighborhoods around 16 Tech we have a community investment fund leases in the district 10 cents per square foot goes to a community investment fund we're now getting ready for our fifth cycle and we've awarded more than 1.

5 million dollars of grants in the neighborhoods around 1610 those grants are four projects that benefit our residents and they are reviewed by a committee that is made up of a majority of residents and each Grant application has to demonstrate that it has resident support to be a part of it we have a street team that we engage so roughly six individuals that we pay six months out of the year to help us engage with our neighbors we have engaged Neighbors in design projects for public infrastructure and public spaces and we also then in the bringing online the amenities for the district the food and drink and social spaces very intentionally cultivated a mix of tenants in those spaces that have direct connections to the neighborhoods around 1610 so the amp food and Event Hall was really meant to be an answer initially to our startups who wanted to know where my employees going to eat because their cluster truck can only go so far and and we opened a food Hall at a time not only when we were coming out of a pandemic and people were wondering what that meant for public spaces but also pretty early in our development as a physical place and the reason we did that is to make a very clear statement that this place is for you and by having people come to 16 tech for food for drink for Fellowship it creates a sense of belonging and so of the roughly 20 food and Retail tenants that we have in the amp 100 are independent owned and local 65 percent are female and minority owned or operated 50 are new business Concepts and roughly five of them have direct connections to the neighborhoods around 1610 so whether it's Chef Tawana whether it's Monique and Cara Hawkins with wings and greens whether it's Corey the food architect people are coming because there's a relationship that exists architect the food architect yeah you gotta go try the CMOS yeah Rick and our team has that every day he loves the CMOS the CMOS no the SEMA the CMOS is great and then Corey will also make some Specialties usually some vegetarian or vegan dishes that if you can catch them his soups are also fabulous as well but Karen Monique Hawkins Kara's grandfather was the first person to open a liquor store on Indiana Avenue their family has 90 years of history in this neighborhood and this is just such a great example of how we live out our mission right our Target customer is that Innovation driven entrepreneur there are wonderful programs and resources for your more retail entrepreneurs but we really exist to drive that Venture backable scalable Innovation driven Enterprise but we exist to support entrepreneurship and so we've made sure that in bringing on our food tenants that we are supporting food entrepreneurs and not just any food entrepreneur also the ones that have direct connections to our neighborhoods are on 16 Tech and so for us part of what that shows Is our commitment to creating opportunities for inspiration here meaning if you come to 16 tech for food and drink maybe you learn about a career in advanced manufacturing or if you get exposed to hard tech and it can open your eye eyes to the possibilities and you see yourself someplace maybe you didn't think was possible to see yourself and we've been really intentional in the design of our spaces in order to create those opportunities and it's part of what really motivates me personally and excites me about not just what we're doing but how we go about doing it here can you talk a little bit it's almost time for the lightning round but can you talk a little bit about what's next for 16 Tech what are you excited about we've really come out of a phase where we were focused on the public infrastructure these first five years a lot of what happened at 16 Tech was underground and so what excites me the most as we move forward is moving very clearly into this programmatic phase a 16 Tech we definitely are responsible for developing spaces and bringing spaces to the market but we exist to make sure that there is value that goes beyond the physical space and so that move into programmatic work having a direct role in helping to support or The Innovation ecosystem not just through the delivery of space but through programs Partnerships education networking events I'm really excited about that so you can expect to see a lot more from us in terms of events Etc but because of the work that we've done on the public infrastructure you can also expect to see a lot more buildings coming out of the ground and as I mentioned we have nine remaining development Parcels we have three Parcels that are developed today and so we've got a Runway of probably five to seven years in front of us where there's going to be significant physical development in the district and we're really excited about what that's going to mean for the support of our startup ecosystem us too us too gosh I could talk to you probably another six hours about this but I think we only have time for three more questions and they are a lightning round Quest it's like brene brown lightning round yeah except it's Nate Spangles she always gave the questions to her guests in advance is that how Nate Spangled I'll do my best yes I am not made for Jeopardy my mind we love the authenticity yeah so quick responses first thing that comes to shut up your head all right three questions here's the lightning round all right so outside of the amazing entrepreneurial ecosystem what is Indiana known for oh actually the first thing that came to my mind was the trail Network which is probably not something that a lot of people recognize but this is a really amazing City to bike in and we also sit at the intersection of a lot of that the Indianapolis cultural Trail is a wonderful resource and so that's something that I really enjoy about our community that I don't think is widely appreciated but it's something that's friend of mine for me are you a cyclist I love to ride my bike yeah yeah we do team walks back here by the White River just behind the office part of why we picked the office that we did is at his face that's great we go out there and walk any nice day we get I am a I'm an aspiring cyclist so I definitely resonate with your a high as an Iron Man next weekend yeah hang on Nate if I'm not mistaken I love that answer anyway that's awesome I think this date has a very intentional push right didn't know Hoosier lives or Governor Holcomb is behind this whole push that no Hoosier lives more than six miles from a trail I think it is I think that might have been Ballard I'm coming Statewide though State really Statewide I'm pretty he said something in the State of the State address that one of the goals initiatives Statewide is it know who's around I may have the mileage slightly off yeah but it was really awesome it's truly amazing my sister lives in Manhattan and she's been out there for more than 15 years Riverside Park is larger than Central Park it is the third largest Municipal Park in the country and it is such an underutilized resource and asset it's beautiful yeah it's true there is a lot here that can really be accessed through the trail Network which is pretty neat that's amazing so if you're gonna have to add that too yeah this is the Lee's landing round it's all right sorry around what is that it's now a few and a half hours later so Emily our last question is no what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana the Albanese gummy shop in northern Michigan well it's not in Indiana when I said I say it's Northern Michigan in Northern Indiana right at the border between Indiana Michigan and Illinois yes Albanese Candy Shop you gotta check that out he essentially makes all of the gummy bears in the world it's amazing Albanese the albany's just the what gummy bear in the world I believe they're like the largest manufacturer of gummy bears hell yeah let's go and the way that you can tell whether you're eating a gummy bear from Indiana is that the belly has an A on it so look at the belly that's the gift check the belly all right there we go and final question who is someone that we need to keep on our radar someone who is doing big things first person who comes to mind there are so many people in 1610 who are doing really cool things but I would offer Ganesh with conversite as one of those and so this is a B2B SAS company headquartered in 16 Tech and part of one of the trends that's really fascinating right now is what's happening with large language models and chat GPT exposing that and effectively Ganesh and his company have a bot that helps with data analytics and Supply Chain management and so I just think he was ahead of this in many respects and so I think he's doing some really cool things I love it from from large language models Healthcare gummy bears we covered the entire Spectrum the trifecta I love it we covered a lot of ground yes Emily thank you so much and thank you for everything you're doing for 16 Tech and for Indiana thanks we appreciate having Powder Keg here in 16 Tech we love having the Elevate team stop by and be a part of what's Happening Here as well and we invite you to continue to consider this as your playground absolutely amen we love it thanks Emily congrats on all your success it's awesome thank you this has been get in a powder kick production in partnership with Elevate Ventures and we want to hear from you if you have suggestions for a guest or segment reach out to Matt or Nate on LinkedIn or on email to discover top tier tech companies outside of Silicon Valley in hubs like Indiana check out our newsletter at powderkeg.

com newsletter and to apply for membership to the powder cake executive Community Check out powdercake. com premium we'll catch you next time and next week as we continue to help the world get in since you just listened to this podcast you might be thinking about starting one for your company lucky for you our partners over at cassid have you covered cassid is the first and only podcast in video marketing platform made specifically for B2B Brands I love this about them the platform makes it possible to publish Syndicate amplify and measure the value of your podcast and video content in fact we use it for our podcast here at Powder Keg and if you're a startup you should listen up because cassid for startups is definitely for you they are offering exclusive deep discounts of up to 82 percent off retail price for qualifying startups connect with casted at casted. us slash powderkeg