Heartland Tech Weekly How to tell better stories about Middle America in 2018
0Heartland Tech Weekly How to tell better stories about Middle America in 2018.
If you’re like me, stories dissecting the highlights of 2017 and predicting top trends for 2018 have started taking over your News Feed. I know some readers and writers find them too formulaic (why does everything have to be a top 10 list?). But I find that taking stock of what we talked about in 2017 is helpful to understand what we didn’t talk about — and should talk about — in 2018.
The guiding question I’m focused on as I prepare for 2018 is: How can we better understand Heartland tech startups in 2018? By “we” I don’t just mean VentureBeat. Who are the stakeholders that can really improve the conditions of tech communities in Middle America? And how can we help them have conversations that are more finely tuned to the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs in these places face every day?
We’ll continue to look for answers leading up to our BLUEPRINTevent on March 5-7 in Reno, Nevada. At BLUEPRINT, you’ll have a chance to hear from executives of prominent tech companies and economic development leaders about how to plug in to up-and-coming tech hubs across the country.
But, we’re not waiting until January to start talking about what we can do better in 2018. One of our frequent guest writers, Dustin McKissen, wrote about 3 ways local government can make their city or state more startup-friendly in 2018. (Hint: talk to entrepreneurs about what “startup-friendly” actually means.) And Monica Laufer with the startup research firm Engine discussed 5 lessons every U.S. startup community should take from 2017 into 2018.