Jan. 28, 2019

1 Million Cups is moving its weekly entrepreneur speaker series and focusing more on local business owners in a spring lineup that starts this week.

The group’s Sioux Falls chapter started five years ago this March. The format includes a 20-minute speech from a business owner followed by a question-and-answer session.

This year, it will be held at 9 a.m. each Wednesday at the Museum of Visual Materials, 500 N. Main Ave.

It previously was at the Orpheum most weeks and at the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship once a month, which created some confusion, according to Matt Paulson, one of the co-organizers. The plan is to take quarterly trips to financial backers, which include The First National Bank in Sioux Falls, Midco and Zeal.

“To remain relevant to today’s entrepreneur, we are undergoing a ‘soft reboot’ and really focusing on building a community surrounding entrepreneurship in 2019,” Paulson said, adding that the new venue is a more tight-knit space to better foster communication.

The event also will no longer be livestreamed.

“We want entrepreneurs to attend in person and meet like-minded individuals, with the aim of creating collisions, collaborations and partnerships,” Paulson said.

The speaker series also will focus more on owners of unique local businesses, he said. Last season also included community leaders and nonprofits.

“Our audience has told us they are most excited to hear the stories of owners of unique local businesses … and the lessons that they have learned along the way,” Paulson said.

Here’s who is lined up to speak this spring:

• Jan. 30: Addie Graham-Kramer, The Event Company
• Feb. 6: Mike Ridder, Blueprint Business Advisory
• Feb. 13: Dave and Ryan Austad, Austad’s Golf
• Feb. 20: Chelsea Tracy, Chelseas’s Boutique/Underneath the Clothes
• Feb. 27: Martin Eller, EGE Group
• March 6: Five-year anniversary, speaker TBD
• March 13: Mitch Jackson, Queen City Bakery
• March 20: Lauren Forsch, Amigas, and Rebekah Scott, Rebekah Scott Designs
• March 27: Rich Naser, USD Discovery District
• April 3: Anthony Molzahn, Project Phoenix
• April 10: Greg Tehven, Emerging Prairie
• April 17: TBD
• April 24: Natalie Eisenberg, Click Rain
• May 1: Matt Jorgenson, Rehfeld’s Art & Framing
• May 8: Ben Pankonin, Social Assurance
• May 15: Joe Hubers, Passenger Productions

1 Million Cups is accepting speaker applications for April through July. The focus is on unique local business owners who have been in operation at least one year. Apply online here.