IASourceLink Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary: A Letter From Our Leader

Welcome! Patrick here with a few thoughts on the ten year anniversary of IASourceLink. For those that haven’t heard, IASourceLink has been serving the small business and entrepreneurship community for the past ten years in Iowa. Launched in November of 2012, the IASourceLink platform is operated as a partnership between the University of Northern Iowa and the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of the team since the beginning of the program and we have come a long way. We envisioned the program to be a clearinghouse of information to help businesses of all stages. To date we have had over 500,000 visitors to the website and our nearly 400 resource partners have assisted thousands of businesses through referrals from IASourceLink. While we don’t always hear the outcomes from those that get information, we have heard from hundreds on how we have helped them realize their dream of owning a small business.

Without all the various staff, including our direct team of Amy Kuhlers (IEDA), Kyle Coogler, and Sophie Troxell, students, and partners that have contributed their talents, we wouldn’t be here to celebrate ten years. I am incredibly grateful for all of their efforts and thankful for the time that we got to spend together.

Our goal continues to be having a resource rich and easy to access wealth of information to help start and grow small businesses. I am excited to continue to work with partners throughout the state to build the best resources for Iowans!

– Patrick Luensmann