Dream Big Grow Here Winner Reflects on Journey

There is never a perfect time to shout “”YOLO”” from the rooftops and start building a business. There’s always an excuse, a reason to wait. It’s like making a commitment to eat better and exercise more. The best day to start, is always tomorrow.  Unless you can’t. Unless you have to know… Can I do this?

EntreFEST has played a big part of my journey. You can read more about it here. For our HowFactory team, this year’s EntreFEST was like an emergence. We’re a scrappy team that brings passion to everything we do. We just care so much. So, to be recognized by the judges and our peers by sweeping the Dream Big Grow Here contest is a true honor.

From the ISA, to being the first Iowa company to participate in TechCrunch Startup Battlefield, and now this… what an incredible 6 months! While it may be me up on that stage, it’s the ultimate team effort. Without Angie spending a lunch hour entering us into DBGH, Alyx’s design chops on the slides, Dave’s amazing code on the demo, and Nicole’s tireless coaching during pitch practice, I would never have gotten to that stage.  But at the end of the day, HowFactory is about building a business and having my co-founder Kenny Stevenson up on stage with me was special. We built this business model together, and the market is responding. That’s the real story.

Huge thanks to Rob Williams, Valyn Reinig, and everyone at UNI for making DBGH such a success. And congrats to all the other teams, what an honor to share the stage with you!

Building a startup is full of moments that can shatter you. But when you have team that you can share wins with, you realize it’s about the people you build the company with. Keep Growing.