04 Jul Innovate 608 podcast offers entrepreneurs a new way to connect
Entrepreneurs can be isolated, often working long hours alone or as part of a small team, only coming up for air (and maybe pizza) as needed.
As chained to the lab bench or coding script as entrepreneurs can be, they must also be consumers of news and information. Current events and trends can shape — or disrupt — their ideas for products and companies. Potential competitors can be making headlines at their expense. Other entrepreneurs can be talking about successes and failures in ways that would broaden their outlook.
Like others, entrepreneurs consume news in different ways. It can be in print, as with this column, or in any number of digital forms that range from video to audio to social media to online news services.
An upcoming addition to the news menu for entrepreneurs in Madison is “Innovate 608,” a podcast hosted and produced by StartingBlock, one of the city’s most familiar startup hubs. Sponsored by American Family Institute, the first episode of Innovate 608 will soon be available at go.madison.com/innovate608.
“We wanted to come up with a way that entrepreneurs who are on the go can be connected in a way that works with their busy schedules,” said Nora Roughen-Schmidt, StartingBlock’s executive director. “There are a lot of great stories to tell involving entrepreneurs and the communities around them.”
Innovate 608 will run about a half-hour per episode every two weeks. Listeners can tune in for specific interviews or “binge” on multiple shows, Roughen-Schmidt said, depending on their schedules.
Guests will include entrepreneurs, such as Ben Camp, chief executive officer of RehabPath, and people with expertise in finding financial resources, making an effective investor pitch, staying sane in a hectic world and more. An early invited guest is Gov. Tony Evers.
The Innovate 608 platform is provided by the Wisconsin State Journal and Madison.com and represents another example of convergence in the news industry. Once a print-only citadel, the State Journal and Madison.com offer news across a spectrum of delivery formats.