HowFactory | Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber

Co-founder Trace Steffan accepts the Harold Brock Innovation Award.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber presented their Annual Awards on Thursday, March 31, 2016. Howfactory received the Harold Brock Innovation Award.

HowFactory, a Cedar Valley startup business has developed software to better create, manage, and distribute knowledge documents, standard operating procedures, training, and other key documents for industrial manufacturing and other companies. The idea co-founder Trace Steffan started toying with in his home office in 2012 has become one of the fastest growing and most acclaimed tech startups in Iowa.

After developing their business model at the Iowa Startup Accelerator in 2014, HowFactory received a $50,000 investment from Built by Iowa. HowFactory was the first Iowa company to be selected to the national Tech Crunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield. In 2015, HowFactory swept the Dream Big Grow Here awards at Entrefest , then was named the Silicon Prairie News’ New Startup of the Year.

HowFactory is a vital member of the Cedar Valley startup ecosystem. HowFactory is a founding member of Millrace, the Cedar Valley’s first subscription based tech co-working space. The firm supports and routinely participates in One Million Cups, Startup Weekend, and a host of other initiatives to nurture innovation in the Cedar Valley.

View the video here.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is the world’s largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth, and expand economic welfare. We’re celebrating all across Iowa with activities designed to reach every type of entrepreneur, from Main Street to corporate, from test lab to home office. Over 30 entrepreneur and small business related events will be happening all across Iowa during Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 17^th through the 21^st. IASourceLink has compiled these events and made them available on the Iowa Global Entrepreneurship page at iasourcelink.com/gew.

The Cedar Valley is kicking off this week with several entrepreneurial initiatives. First is the official launch of Cedar Valley 1 Million Cups (1MC), on Wednesday at 9:00am. Each week, the 1MC program offers two local entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their startups to a diverse audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs. Presenters prepare a 6 minute educational presentation and engage in 20 minutes of feedback and questioning after they present. Entrepreneurs gain insight into possible ways they can improve their businesses. More information at cedarvalley1mc.com.

The presenters for Wednesday’s event will be Trace Steffen with HowFactory, and Dan Beenken with Advance Iowa. HowFactory is revolutionizing the way manufacturers and other companies create, use and update work instructions, standard operating procedures and training. HowFactory just completed the Iowa Startup Accelerator and was chosen for a $50,000 investment from Built By Iowa at Launch Day just last week. Advance Iowa is the State of Iowa’s comprehensive consulting program designed to work with midsized companies to enhance their growth.

Thursday from 12pm-1pm UNI MyEntre.Net will host a free business webinar on “Small Business, Big Profits: Advanced Google Analytics,” made available on IASourceLink. During this online webinar, Megan Horn from Cedar Falls based Far Reach will teach participants how to optimize Google Analytics to provide data quickly, analyze visitor traffic to gain key marketing insights, run a/b testing for real results, and show how landing pages can improve conversions.

Finally we’ll celebrate the ending of Global Entrepreneurship Week in style with Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend is a 54 hour event powered by Google where developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, build products, and launch startups. More information at swcedarfalls.com.

For more information contact Rob Williams at (319)273-4333 or by email at rob.williams@uni.edu