Carroll, Iowa's HUB 712 realizing vision with clustering innovation, out-of-state reach

A Texas tech professional, a leader in an emerging Austin-based legal technology and services company, recently spent a full week remotely in Carroll, Iowa's HUB 712, a hive of entrepreneurial energy and small business activity.

Mitch Wilde, the Chief Customer Officer for ZenBusiness, a company that provides an easy, all-in-one platform and trusted guidance for small business owners, connected to his clients and associates from a co-working location in the HUB 712 last week.

It's more evidence for the realization of the vision Carroll economic development leaders have in transforming an idle building — the former post office and one-time prime location for Western Iowa Networks — into a vibrant business center at one of the city's more visible locations on the northwest side of the Highway 30-Adams Street intersection (603 N. Adams St.)

Wilde said he had the high-speed Internet and environment needed to be productive as he visited Carroll with his wife, Kelle, whose mother lives in Carroll.

"I read about it, how the HUB 712 is an incubator for startups, which fits right in with the business that I do, and the passion with helping entrepreneurs start businesses," Wilde said. “I think this is an incredible idea. And, I would love to see this filled up every day.”

Wilde is a native of Schaller in northern Sac County and an alum of Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. He moved to Texas shortly after college and has built a career in the Lone Star State.

Before driving with his wife from their home in Seguin, Texas, a city about 30 miles from San Antonio, Wilde checked online for business co-working center, "hoteling" options, in Carroll. Wilde figured he could make do with a blend of time at his mother-in-law's house, coffee shops and the public library, but was encouraged to find the HUB 712, which has six offices and two open-air spaces occupied full-time by a range of businesses — with cubicles, desks and a conference room all available for hourly, daily and weekly use for local entrepreneurs or traveling professionals like Wilde.

"I was really struggling with thinking of coming up here for a week, how would I be able to really fully function from a work perspective?," Wilde said. “And this allowed me to do that. I was trying to figure out, am I going to have to just jump on the video calls? This allowed me to just be fully functioning, just like I was sitting in the office, or in my office at home that has high speed Internet. It allowed me to fully function, and didn't interrupt my day at all. So it's great to have this here.”

The permanent business occupants of HUB 712 are:

— Ray Hansen, Ag Innovation Specialist, Small Business Development Center

— Cody Baumeister, Owner/Partner at Osiris Communications

— Mike Dybevik, Sales Manager at Osiris Communications

— Brock Meyer, Specialist, Sales Operations at Twist Bioscience

— Sue Gehling, Founder at Classroom Clinic

— Joe Brincks, Owner at Seventy-One 30 Photography & Video

— Douglas Burns: Mercury Boost, marketing, media, film producing

For more information on HUB 712 reach out to Jennifer Luengas-Otto, HUB 712 Director of Services, at (712) 775-3687 or by email at jennifer@hub712.com

The HUB 712 website is: www.hub712.com

(Kimberly Tiefenthaler is the executive director of the Carroll County Growth Partnership and the Carroll Chamber of Commerce.)