Entrepreneurs / Small Business  June 1, 2015

TinkerMill founder: Entrepreneurial support system taking shape in Longmont

LONGMONT — Scott Converse on Monday said a movement to create a system to support entrepreneurs in Longmont is beginning to gain traction.

Converse, a Longmont native who has worked at Apple, Paramount Pictures, Motorola and MCI Inc., spoke to an audience of about 75 people Monday at a luncheon presentation on the Xilinx Inc. campus during the first day of Longmont Startup Week 2015.

Converse, founder and president of the 2-year-old TinkerMill, a nonprofit at 1840 Delaware Place in Longmont where people of all ages and backgrounds can meet to learn new skills, teach others and build things, said the makerspace is just one part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem that also must include group meetups, co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators and funding mechanisms.

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“It’s all about creating an environment that is friendly to entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that “Longmont today is what Boulder was 20 years ago,” referring to Boulder’s reputation as a hub of innovation. “There are a lot of extraordinary people in Longmont representing a wide range of fields. It’s all a matter of fostering a philosophy of inclusiveness.

“When I was at Apple, we put engineers and artists together and came up with great products,” he said, alluding to the idea of using both sides of the brain.

Converse said the TinkerMill is serving as an institution where people can gather, bounce ideas off each other and build things. It has 201 paying members and another 1,000 people who participate through the mill and various meetup groups. Members can use sophisticated equipment acquired through donations and city grants to prototype their ideas. It also rents space to inventors where they can work on their ideas while tapping the knowledge of others. Converse said about six startups are currently at the TinkerMill.

Other groups in Longmont are providing elements needed for a successful ecosystem. Converse said Terry Gold’s Launch Longmont recently leased the second floor of the Time-Call building on at 350 Terry St., where it will offer co-working spaces for entrepreneurs. Converse pointed out that the Longmont Community Foundation is creating a Longmont Entrepreneurial Fund to help startups, taking equity positions ranging from 0.25 percent to 2 percent, and put returns back into the fund.

For a schedule of events for the rest of the startup week, go to www.longmontstartupweek.com.

LONGMONT — Scott Converse on Monday said a movement to create a system to support entrepreneurs in Longmont is beginning to gain traction.

Converse, a Longmont native who has worked at Apple, Paramount Pictures, Motorola and MCI Inc., spoke to an audience of about 75 people Monday at a luncheon presentation on the Xilinx Inc. campus during the first day of Longmont Startup Week 2015.

Converse, founder and president of the 2-year-old TinkerMill, a nonprofit at 1840 Delaware Place in Longmont where people of all ages and backgrounds can meet to learn new skills, teach others and build things, said the makerspace…

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