Letter: Local entrepreneurial culture vibrant

I'm writing to offer congratulations for a terrific event that was held March 4-6 in Cedar Rapids.

UP Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Startup Accelerator and Geonetric hosted Cedar Rapids Startup Weekend 2016 which takes brave souls through an intense 54-hour whirlwind of learning how to pitch and start a new business. Startup weekends provide a kinetic opportunity to connect local and regional individuals interested to start a business to mentors and resources that can help give their ideas some 'legs” and/or help them realize that maybe another idea would be better.

I was active in the Iowa entrepreneur/startup scene close to a decade ago. I've gone off to do other global work, but have returned to share knowledge and give back. I was astonished to see the growth and energy that has created a vibrant community. I was honored to serve as a judge and spent Sunday night impressed and laughing with four other volunteer judges, local successful community leaders, and we had a tough time choosing between several somewhat nascent, but very promising, proposals. We are fortunate to live in an area with so much talent, vision and energy; I cannot wait to see how entrepreneurship continues to evolve in our region and I look forward to continuing to help.

Just when the world is ready to write off today's youth as lacking engagement, they only need to connect with these young visionary 'doers” to see that the future looks very bright (http://www.up.co/communities/usa/cedarrapids/).

Lisa Spellman

Iowa City