In 2020, Platteville, Wis., resident Julie Hewitt turned her hobby crafting wooden decor into a business with her husband, Peter.
“We added more things, and pretty soon, it went from one room in our house to now everything’s in the basement,” Peter said. They made wooden decorations, accessories and artwork that they sold at craft shows.
“Then, it went from the basement to, the garage is full and we can’t park our cars in the garage,” he said.
The couple needed to find a better space outside of their home, but they were not ready to open a retail shop. They found the Platteville Business Incubator.
The complex dotted with workspaces off Business U.S. 151 on the west end of town offered them below-market rent and an array of services to help them develop their business.
“You don’t have the huge bills right away,” Hewitt said. “It kind of works you up, so it lets you grow your business.”
Leaders at the incubator connected the Hewitts to Platteville Main Street Program, which helped them find a retail location when they were ready to take over a place of their own in 2024.
Now, Hewitt’s Handicraft Haven has its own space at 25 E. Main St. The business offers a range of handcrafted wood products in store and wholesales custom products to a handful of local businesses.
“We’re into about two and a half years now here, so this is where we ended up — kind of where we wanted to be,” Hewitt said.
Resources for entrepreneurs in the tri-state area are expanding amid a growth in business incubators, investments from local colleges and community leaders seeking ways to help fund small businesses.
Still, hurdles such as access to funding, networking and other resources remain for those looking to start their own shop.
“The resources we have are about as good as I’ve seen it in my 26 years,” said Ron Brisbois, executive director of Grant County Economic Development Corp.
Incubators grow
The tri-state area is home to a handful of business incubators that provide entrepreneurs a space to get their start, build connections and learn to manage the many facets of business ownership. These spaces are gaining traction and building up their programming.
“We help entrepreneurs from the very beginning when they just have an idea or as they go through their journey and they’re trying to navigate different aspects of growing their business,” said Eric Dregne, director of innovation services at The Innovation Lab in Dubuque.
The lab offers low-cost coworking spaces, office space and business coaching.
“Having a place where you can get mentorship, where you can make an affordable start and not have to risk so much capital, that increases the likelihood of success,” Dregne said.
About 40 businesses are members of the lab or engaged in its programming at any given time, according to Dregne. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, about 20 businesses were involved with the lab at any given time.
“I think Dubuque’s ecosystem is definitely getting stronger over the past 5 years or so coming out of COVID,” Dregne said.
In nearby Jackson County, Maquoketa, Iowa, is home to Innovate 120. The coworking space was founded in 2021 offering programming for entrepreneurs and business owners and grew into a high-tech coworking center.
“We went through an extensive renovation about a little over three years ago, which completely overhauled the space,” said Robert Abbott, Innovate 120 founder and executive director. “Everything (was done) to basically make it a showcase for business, not only in a small town in Iowa, but something that could meet the standard for anywhere in the country.”
The space features meeting rooms, co-working offices, educational programming and events aimed at helping youth and adults engage with entrepreneurship and innovation.
Innovate 120 built an e-commerce accelerator over the past two years with the support of the Iowa Economic Development Authority to educate local entrepreneurs on how to build an online business, specifically through Amazon.
“Even though we’re in a small town, we have absolutely no disadvantages to being part of that world,” Abbott said. “We just need to develop a program that gives them kind of the roadmap for how to do it.”
Innovate 120 also hosts a program supporting local high school students in pitching startup ideas and a six-week summer internship for high schoolers to take on challenges posed by companies such as John Deere and Google. More than a dozen students take part in the program each summer, which culminates in a strategy presentation to senior leaders at those companies.
Universities expand opportunities
Across the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, Platteville Business Incubator is undergoing a change in leadership and a shift toward greater collaboration between academia and private business.
University of Wisconsin-Platteville took over management of the incubator less than a year ago. The city provided $31,500 to the incubator this year, according to city officials.
The incubator offers reduced rent, educational programming, workshops and mentoring by members of its board, which is made up of business and academic leaders and entrepreneurs.
“We have really been trying our best to bring all of those resources — student energy, community building, projects and expert staff like our faculty — to this space to actually improve our daily interactions with the tenants here,” said Andrew Woodard, Platteville Business Incubator manager and UW-Platteville Huff Family Innovation Center director.
The university’s innovation center brings together students, faculty and community members to work on innovative projects, including a service to create product prototypes.
“We are kind of seeing it as like, things could start at the Huff, and then they could continue at the incubator,” Woodard said.
The university’s Department of Performing and Visual Arts is gearing up to sign a lease at the incubator to create an art incubator.
“We’re hoping that it becomes kind of the front door to other artists and creatives actually considering the incubator as a place to start a business because of that network and that connection to the space,” Woodard said.
On the other side of the coin, university leaders hope the art incubator adds to an interdisciplinary mix at the space and contributes to the broader ecosystem, much like how the mixture of students from different majors at the Huff creates a diversity of ideas.
“We already have a pretty diverse audience of folks (at the incubator) but allowing for those kinds of front doors that are maybe a little different than what’s historically been at the incubator, I think, will create some important and interesting interdisciplinary shifts,” Woodard said.
Meanwhile, the University of Dubuque is constructing an 87,000-square-foot innovation center on its campus that is set to open in the fall of 2027.
“We want students to have more of that technical background and can see a product from start to finish, not just the elements,” said Joe Bormann, who was hired last month as director of the university’s Chlapaty Center for Innovation.
The center will be an open and collaborative space with a range of equipment, pitch spaces and meeting areas.
“It’s supposed to evoke curiosity when you see people running 3D printers or a mill or working in a culinary suite,” Bormann said. “There will be a lot of activity, and it will be on display.”
Students from all majors will be able to participate at the center. University leaders are looking at bringing industry partners and professionals to the center to mentor and work with students.
“This could have a regional impact,” Bormann said. “This type of innovation ecosystem — the University of Dubuque helping students and partners explore ideas — can strengthen our workforce and create new opportunities throughout the tri-states.”
Dubuque’s Loras College is in the planning stages of an entrepreneurship program to support data indicating that half the members of Generation Z want to own their own business, according to Eric Eller, dean of The Francis J. Noonan School of Business, Engineering & Innovation. The school is working with business partners in the community to shape the program.
Meanwhile, Kevin O’Brien, a 2011 Loras graduate, is bringing a new incubator to Dubuque’s Main Street.
He recently purchased 1033 Main St. and plans to turn it into a space for community gathering. He intends to reopen the bowling alley on the second floor and open a business incubator and community engagement space on the first floor.
“I want it to be rotational, where businesses can get their start on Main Street and spread their wings and fly to another downtown Dubuque space or elsewhere,” he said.
He hopes to fill the space with individuals who are selling a product or offering a service and who want to engage with the community, which will help create a community hub. The spaces will be listed on the market soon.
“I want individuals to cross-pollinate ideas, be very creative and bring new and interesting things to Dubuque,” O’Brien said.
Hurdles remain
When Dan Dreessens, Bart Nies and Scott Chyko founded Delta 3 Engineering out of the Platteville Business Incubator in 2003, they worked 100-hour weeks developing the business during the day and building their office in the space at night.
The founders mortgaged their homes to finance the startup. Their banker helped secure them a Small Business Administration loan, which improved their cashflow early on. The founders scoured grant programs for other funding, but the programs had long wait times between application approval and the delivery of money.
“The incubator was able to find smaller programs, but almost equivalent amount of money based off our business plan, to get that money sooner,” Nies said.
Nies’ advice for entrepreneurs is to surround themselves with good people who help fill their needs.
“We knew how to do engineering, but we surrounded ourselves with good accountants, bankers, insurance people and attorneys,” Nies said. “All of those people helped guide us on whatever we needed.”
Now, Delta 3 Engineering employs about 45 people across two offices in Platteville and Dubuque.
Fledgling businesses in the tri-state area still encounter some of the same challenges, including struggles to access funding, find resources and network with the community.
“The gaps are more around helping people find access to the resources that exist than whether or not the resources actually exist,” Dregne said.
He sees an opportunity to create more spaces where entrepreneurs can find one another and the resources they need to grow — something already starting to happen.
Local leaders launched 1 Million Cups, a free networking group that meets every Wednesday in Dubuque, a little over a year ago. The group has grown from a handful of business owners to around 40 entrepreneurs and business leaders attending each meeting.
Platteville Business Incubator lead Woodard believes there is a need to bring different business groups together across the region.
“One thing that seems to lack is a little bit of getting people from one town to go over to the other town to share ideas and trade notes and grow that network even further,” he said. Hybrid models and shared content among incubators could serve as a solution.
One effort to address that challenge is The Rural Ideas Network, a virtual resource under the same nonprofit that operates The Innovation Lab and connects coworking spaces, economic development groups and nonprofit organizations across seven states.
“It’s a platform for creatives and entrepreneurs in rural communities who want to find each other and want to find coaching and other entrepreneurial supports but also other tools and resources for making new ideas happen in rural communities,” said Dregne, who serves on the organization’s leadership team.
Bridging the funding gap
Some businesses still find it hard to secure funding to get off the ground, however.
“There is a still a lack of capital and access to capital,” Brisbois said.
The most common question Brisbois has received throughout his career is business owners asking about grants to businesses, but those are extremely rare, he said. Still, his organization awarded more than 25 grants to small businesses across Grant County this past year. The grants averaged about $5,000, with the largest being around $10,000.
“We’re not necessarily helping a manufacturer or large-scale projects, but for entrepreneurs, it seems to have been effective,” Brisbois said.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., which provided the funding for those grants, funds counties, cities and economic development organizations to award micro small business grants.
And some cities and counties who don’t receive that funding are finding creative ways to offer micro grants to budding entrepreneurs.
“Several communities have developed such a program using tax increment financing, private donations or other public funds,” Brisbois said.
The state of Wisconsin and federal government also allocate funds to organizations such as Grant County Economic Development Corp., Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and city governments to administer revolving loan programs. These provide low-interest loans to small business owners.
In Dubuque, The Innovation Lab holds an annual competition in which local entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a team of judges. Three are chosen to receive a portion of $25,000.
“It’s a great way to celebrate entrepreneurship, support businesses and engage our partners and funders in thinking about the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” Dregne said.
In Illinois, the Galena Area Chamber of Commerce is taking over the Genz Small Business Development Fund this year, which provides up to $10,000 to startups and businesses in need in Jo Daviess and Carroll counties.
The move is part of the chamber’s efforts to build up its programming, including launching a young professionals group this fall for 18- to 30-year-olds.
Outside of grants, there are private investors in the region looking to finance startup ideas, but they can be difficult to access.
“You need the skillset and track record,” Brisbois said. “You need a strong resume to get the attention of investor groups.”
Main Street businesses — small shops, bars or restaurants that make enough to pay the staff — often do not meet the standards for angel investing. Those investor groups target companies with products or services that can drive returns for investors.
“There are some angel investor groups in Dubuque, and there are some statewide, and they are always looking for good deals,” Dregne said.
The Innovation Lab helps business owners find low-cost ways to prove that their product or service has a fit in the marketplace.
“My experience is that when businesses have a good business plan and a clear fit in the market, they can typically find funding relationships that help them get started and grow,” Dregne said.
Most of the time, local banks serve as the primary funder of new businesses either through traditional lending vehicles or federally backed SBA loans.
“There is not one magic tool that will help,” Brisbois said.
He recommends entrepreneurs reach out to local economic leaders, such as chambers of commerce, economic development corporations, Small Business Development Centers and city officials. They can help business owners plan, understand available resources and get connected to those resources.
“We sit down and talk to you to help you figure out the best pathways and work through the process of opening your doors in our county,” Brisbois said.
