Dr. Greg Pogue and Jonathan Alba were invited to participate in Boise Startup Week. The IC² team took the opportunity to meet with community, university and company leadership in the region as well as participate in a keynote State of the Ecosystem Panel Tuesday afternoon. During the panel, advances in the Boise ecosystem – including startup growth, funding access, and exit were discussed. A major announcement was the launch of a new Stage.0 seed fund in Boise.
Dr. Pogue was asked to provide assessment of the Boise ecosystem compared with other communities that IC² Institute has worked and suggest important next steps. Dr. Pogue said, “Boise has made notable progress as an innovation community. It is full of people with “can do” attitudes who are committed to the region’s future. It offers the coffee shops, breweries and places – such as Trailhead – required to bring the startup community together to create, mentor and grow successful ventures. A more concerted understanding of new startup opportunities that fit the community identity is required as well as deeper human engagement from successful ventures and established companies to help service and startup business grow successfully. A strategic approach is to integrate corporate talent and university students with the startup community. 
Those connections will provide multi-dimensionality and startup pipeline opportunities. The IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin is excited to partner with the community as it realizes its vision and acts to create its future.”
This is the second visit by the institute to the region. The first visit was to understand the community through initial meetings and attending TreeFort. This second visit focused IC²’s attention on the future of the entrepreneurial community in the region.