F2 | THE MILL | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 Thank you for reading about The Mill and this important inflection point in our city’s history. The world is changing quickly, and Bloomington needs to change with it. To stay a vibrant city, Bloomington needs to grow wages and create jobs. Growth creates opportunities, and without continual growth and renewal, our citizens have fewer opportunities. While our unemployment rate has historically been one of the lowest in Indiana, we need to improve our performance in other economic health indicators. Before the Great Recession, payroll employment grew moderately in the Bloomington metro area. Since (and including) the Great Recession, we have lost 880 jobs. Despite relatively strong national economic indicators like a 4.1% quarterly GDP and the lowest unemployment rate since 1975, wages are just now growing. They’ve actually decreased while consumer pricing has increased. In other words, in today’s Bloomington we have less money and things cost more. Viewed alongside the increasing consolidation of population into cities, this job decay and wage stagnation mean Bloomington is losing ground to other cities who are growing. In activating The Mill, we aim to reverse these trends. The most effective ways to do that are through coworking and startups. They are two sides of the same coin; they’re both
entrepreneurial, and together they create the nutrient-rich soil for a healthy community. And luckily, we have great resources to nurture that change. Combined with a great quality of life and great quality of place, Bloomington has resources that are the envy of other cities: a multibillion dollar medical device company, the world’s largest community college, the world’s third largest naval warfare base, and a worldclass research institute known over the globe. The Mill will harness those natural resources to launch and accelerate startups. Companies of five people or less are responsible for nearly all new job creation, so this mission will spur job creation and wage growth, which create more opportunities for everyone. And we’re already seeing high-growth companies found and grow here. Companies like Secretly Group who maintains offices around the world, Hanapin Marketing who is a 5x Inc 5000 honoree for fastest growing companies in the nation, Cheddar who raised $1.5mm in funding, and Envisage who counts the Department of Homeland Security among its clients. The Mill will build more Secretlys, more Hanapins, more Cheddars, and more Envisages. It will allow our community to accomplish more, faster. To everyone who has supported this gargantuan project, thank you for making this
decade-long initiative a reality. And to everyone who wants to become involved, please visit our website to sign up for our events newsletter. What a wonderful gift the City of Bloomington has given future generations – a reimagining of a Shower Brothers building that will give life to more innovation-driven businesses just like them (employing women and African-Americans before other companies did, they also produced 60% of consumer and invented laminate veneer!)… but made for the new economy. One thing we know about the story of The Mill is that opening will be just the first chapter. We’re confident that in 20 years, we’ll all look up and say, “Wow, I knew The Mill would have a big impact on the trajectory of Bloomington but I didn’t realize to this degree.” Cheers to the future!
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Congratulations Dimension Mill and the City of Bloomington on this fantastic facility!
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WEDDLE BROS.
CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES
Thank you to the many construction contractors and tradesmen that have worked on the Dimension Mill and Trades District infrastructure project. Your dedication has made this a huge success.
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Congratulations
MILL WEEK EVENTS
on the Grand Opening of The Mill. Cassady Electrical Contractors is proud to be a project partner.
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2200 Tapp Road • Bloomington, Indiana 47403
WELCOME HOME To the innovators, the changemakers, and the entrepreneurs: Welcome home to the Dimension Mill. We are proud to celebrate the opening of The Mill and the impact it will have as an inspiring home for new ideas, innovation, and collaboration.
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www.CFBMC.org
ALL EVENTS LOCATED AT THE MILL, 642 N. MADISON ST. SUNDAY, NOV. 11 ■■ Ignite Bloomington 19 @ 6 to 7 p.m. Ignite Bloomington is an event for people from all walks of life. Presenters just need an idea to share and the guts to get up in front of the room for five minutes and tell everyone about it. MONDAY, NOV. 12 ■■ Code + Coffee @ 8:30 a.m. An informal gathering to meet others interested in coding. ■■ Future 101 | Cryptocurrency @ noon This month, Adam Terwilliger will be giving a presentation on the basics of cryptocurrency. Guests will come away with an understanding of what cryptocurrency is, and how it will (or already is) affecting your everyday life. ■■ Level Up | Creating a More Welcoming Workplace @ 6 p.m. A panel will be discussing what it means to truly be welcoming and supportive to women, the unique challenges that women face in the workplace, and how everyone can contribute to a workplace culture that actively supports the success of women in the workplace, no matter the field. TUESDAY, NOV. 13 ■■ Design + Donuts @ 8:30 a.m. A casual discussion covering all forms of design, such as graphic design, UX, products and more
Congratulations to The Dimension Mill Congratulations! on the Grand Opening!
We were proud to be a part of Thanks for including HFI! Commercial—Residential the project.
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OUR FOCUS IS YOU. Business Formations & Transactions, Contracts & Agreements, Corporations, LLCs, B-Corps, Business Succession & Estate Planning.
400 W. 7th Street, Suite 110 Bloomington, IN 47404 www.bloominglaw.com
(812) 676-6030
Committed to bringing you high-quality legal services that consider the unique needs of you, your family, and your business.
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Free Lunch + (Un)networking = Collide @ 11:45 a.m. Every month, COLLIDE features a guest speaker who’s invited to come on and speak for five minutes about what they do. They speak for only five minutes, without any questions. If you have questions, feel free to ask them afterwards. This month’s featured speaker is Simon Beaverton, Principal Consultant at Future Wonder! ■■ Science on Tap Gets Tough on Climate Change @ 6 p.m. Learn about the work of the Environmental Resilience Institute, and how they are researching the ways that Indiana can prepare for and adapt to coming Environmental change. WEDNESDAY, NOV. 14 ■■ Marketing + Muffins @ 8:30 a.m. Meet with others interested in marketing and get notes on a current project ■■ Food For Thought | Let’s Talk About Stress, Baby @ noon In this interactive working lunch, Jean Scallon will be leading an interactive conversation/presentation about stress, goals, and selfcare, and how to implement effective solutions and services for companies looking to cultivate a human-centered workplace. ■■ Office Hours with Mark Solon of TechStars @ 1 p.m. (Invitation only) ■■ ITIA Callout Meeting @ 4:30 p.m. Do you want to help shape Indiana’s technology policy? ■■ Books @ The Mill | An Evening with Scott Russell Sanders @ 7 p.m. Join for an evening with Scott Russell Sanders and Jane Martin as they have a wide-ranging conversation about Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, The Mill’s first community book selection for 2018 THURSDAY, NOV. 15 ■■ Launch Party @ 5:30 p.m. After a little over a decade, The Mill is finally ready to open! We’ll be featuring a whole slew of events, music, drinks, and speakers to celebrate our new facility at 642 N. Madison St. FRIDAY, NOV. 16 ■■ Office Hours all day (Invitation only) ■■
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BEFORE AFTER
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 | THE MILL | F7 PHOTOS COURTESY
CHRIS HOWELL PAT EAST GEOFFREY MCKIM THE HERALD-TIMES
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Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” —WARREN BUFFETT
Congratulations to The Mill on its Grand Opening!
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</ HIRING YOU >
Explore the benefits and apply at:
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Proud to support the opening of the Dimension Mill
A
ll of the innovation set to go on inside The Mill is going to need some serious financial backing. Fortunately for Bloomington entrepreneurs, a new partnership with the city of Columbus will help usher in $2.5 million through a collaboration between Dimension Mill Inc. and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. Representatives from Bloomington and Columbus identified $1 million of funding that will be used to leverage $1.5 million from Indianapolisbased venture development firm, Elevate Ventures. Entrepreneurs and startup companies with the potential for high growth are immediately able to tap into some of those funds and resources created by the partnership. The formation of this regional partnership came out of necessity but was also extremely organic, Dimension
Mill Inc. executive director Pat East said. “We were actually trying to raise all of the money ourselves and what we realized about part of the way through is raising a million dollars for something that is very pro-business can be very difficult,” East said of the decision to bring in another community. “We ultimately decided on Columbus for a handful of reasons. One, they are full employment similar to us, so they can’t lure manufacturing. It’s all small start-ups and growing by ones and twos. They have a fairly progressive mayor there, too.” East and Dimension Mill Inc. board chair Jane Martin and others visited Columbus to meet with Mayor Jim Lienhoop. “Half an hour into our meeting he literally says, ‘I’m sold. What’s the next step?’ In a good way, we were taken aback,” East said. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and Lienhoop gave
their cities’ support to the partnership during a Facebook Live town hall last month. Lienhoop said Columbus’ legacy manufacturing companies, including Cummins, have a history of workers who tooled around after working all day to flesh out a new concept or automotive part. Though small tool work has given way to automation, Lienhoop still sees innovation live on. “The old model for how we spurred innovation and assured growth has really fallen out of use today. The paradigms, if you will, are shifting,” Lienhoop said during the announcement in October. “That model doesn’t seem to be replicating itself. The entrepreneurial spirit tells us, sooner or later, people who work there will want to try something on their own. Part of what we’re trying to do is continue that history, that culture of entrepreneurship.” Hamilton was still excited weeks later about the partner-
ship between “two really proud, smaller cities that don’t interact a lot in official formal ways.” “This just clicked. I mean, their sense of their entrepreneurial manufacturing, texture; our ecosystem of arts, creativity and healthcare, informatics and all that, really clicked,” Hamilton said before The Mill’s ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 31. “It’ll be interesting (and) I hope it creates a really interesting dynamic going forward.” The partnership offers financial incentives and formal support for those budding entrepreneurs. Columbus’ $500,000 comes from a variety of sources. Lienhoop said around $300,000 was publicly funding through the city’s Economic Development Income Tax funds, with the remainder paid by philanthropic individuals and organizations in the community. Bloomington’s committed $500,000 contribution comes entirely from private corporations and entre-
preneurs. The city of Bloomington has indirectly supported the partnership through the redevelopment of the 103-year-old former Showers Brothers building in the downtown Trades District. The Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the retention, development and attraction of quality jobs in Monroe County, is thrilled with the partnership. “It’s incredibly important because what it does is provides access to venture capital to these companies, one of their critical needs,” BEDC President Lynn Coyne said. “It’s a state-run fund, it’s very professionally operated and now they have a presence and a reason to be here and the funds also come back here. So it’s a very important kickstart for this whole community and this whole innovation sector.”
We support The Mill. You should too. The startups, the innovators, the dreamers — just like our founders, Bill and Gayle Cook. Help other companies get their start in Bloomington. Contribute to The Mill’s crowdfunding campaign: http://bit.ly/JoinTheMill
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© COOK 11/2018
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Columbus partnership ushers in valuable capital
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Ivy Tech entrepreneurship alumnus Ben Crandall, CEO of Crandall Custom Concepts, LLC
Coding school for kids takes advantage of community space within The Mill
Enroll now!
Ivy Tech offers entrepreneurship classes, consulting and resources through the Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship. Enroll now in Ivy Tech’s business administration/entrepreneurship program or choose from more than 40 other programs in the most in-demand fields in the local area. JEREMY HOGAN | HERALD-TIMES
ivytech.edu/entrepreneurship
Jane Bombkamp, right, helps Aidan Armstrong during coding camp at the South Bend Codes School, Tuesday, October 30, 2018 in Bloomington, Ind.
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Blue Burro
N
Helping companies get procurement right. Pre-construction planning Procurement Management Contract Management Procurement Technology
www.bburro.com 812-778-3325 Procurement Services & Technology
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ot every beneficiary of The Mill will be a fulltime tenant or migrating freelancer. Some, like the South Bend Code School, just need a place to meet. The South Bend Code School holds classes for children age 7-18. Every Monday and Tuesday afternoon, they meet with small groups of budding programmers with all levels of experiences to work on coding basics and coding languages. The for-profit organization started three years ago in South Bend, after co-founders Alex Liggins and Alex Sejdinaj noticed that the high school students she tutored felt like they didn’t have many post-graduation options because of barriers like money or grades. They expanded to Bloomington earlier this fall and have been hosting classes at Cowork on South Rogers St. But as with all of Cowork’s full-time tenants and guests, they’ll be moving their classes to a 30-seat classroom at The Mill designed specifically for community use. “We’ve been really happy with the way that the Bloomington classes are progressing. Students are exploring a number of different coding languages and building projects that interest them, from exploring web design to using the programming language, Python, to build a classic game of
hangman,” Liggins said. Liggins noted the program’s two instructors, Camisa Vines and Jane Bomkamp, are both IU students and offer the students great academic and career exposure. The mission of the South Bend Code School -- to teach young children how to code and that coding will be a viable career choice when they’re older -- fits right in line with The Mill’s thinking, Dimension Mill executive director Pat East said. “The folks from South Bend Code School actually contacted us and said, ‘Hey, we’d like to open up in Bloomington.’ I was like we’ll do whatever we can do to ensure this happens,” East said. It was an easy decision to make, Liggins said. “We selected Dimension Mill for our Bloomington South Bend Code School location because we wanted to teach our students in an environment that helped foster creativity and innovation,” she said. “We are so thrilled to be able to offer our programs in a place that supports our mission and work, and allows our business to build community with other Bloomington entrepreneurs.” They now host classes in South Bend, Bloomington, Fort Wayne and Elkhart. For more information, visit www.southbendcodeschool.com.
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CONGRATULATIONS DIMENSION MILL!
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Dimension Mill Inc. board led by those who know best
W
hen it comes to managing a coworking space, who better to lead its development than those who will benefit the most day in and day out? That’s why of the 16 members on Dimension Mill’s board of directors, more than half are entrepreneurs themselves who will be working out of The Mill. Pat East, Dimension Mill Inc. executive director and CEO of Hanapin Marketing, said that was a conscious decision. “We knew we wanted it to be entrepreneur-led. The majority of folks on the board are entrepreneurs,” East said, while all sectors of the community are represented by at least one member. “Everybody on the board is super engaged and really committed. All super, super smart people, all bringing really good voices to the table helping us make smart decisions.” The board is chaired by retired venture capitalist Jane Martin, who assumed the role at the invitation of Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton. She previously chaired the city’s Wage Growth Task Force. The Mill’s renovation was made possible by a significant influx of cash from the city and its Redevelopment Commission. The city purchased the building from Indiana University in 2012 and retains ownership of the building. “I think Jane brings terrific experience in raising money. Part of this is raising money to help make this Mill happen. The City is doing the physical part but Dimension Mill, Inc. had to raise significant operating money for the first several years, so Jane’s got great connections and experience in that,” Hamilton said of Martin’s qualifications. “Also, she just has a wonderful ability to connect with the new economy -- with people, young people typically, many who are part of the new economy, and Jane fits right in. She’s enthusiastic and a great collaborator with them, who are really the whole lynchpin of this Trades District.” One of those young entrepreneurs that Martin has made a connection with is Ellie Symes, CEO and co-founder of The Bee Corp and a member of the The Mill’s board. Martin was one of the first people to convince Symes to start her company and also sits on The Bee Corp’s board. “The Dimension Mill’s board has pillars represented from all over the community. We have people like Pete Yonkman from Cook and Tony Armstrong from IU; Tina Peterson from the Com-
munity Foundation and the mayor,” Symes said. “I really think my unique role on this board is that I’m the only one who started their business while they were still a student at IU. So my role has been to help bridge that gap and see how we can get more students actually working out of The Mill.” Symes, who also sits on The Mill’s programming committee, said it was a no-brainer to move her company from next to Cowork to one of The Mill’s private office spaces. “People are very energized by this space and we’re very lucky to have the Cowork community preserved because it’s one of the most special things we have in this community,” Symes said. “We all just sort of get an upgrade.” Mike Trotzky, CEO of Cheddar, is another board member who is moving his company into The Mill. He said it’s been a move a decade in the making, and one that will have fringe benefits for many other companies and entrepreneurs, he said. “If you’re a venture capitalist, getting to come to one space and walk around and meet 10 companies, 20 companies that are happening all in one place instead of getting in a car and driving around town, it makes a huge difference in investing in an ecosystem here,” Trotzky said. “So I think we’re all going to benefit from that just through concentration.” The Mill’s board has also made it a priority to make The Mill a soft landing place for individuals just beginning to build out an idea, whether that’s through attending events or using The Mill’s collective networking knowledge. “I think about this place as the entry point,” Trotzky said. “If you have an idea for something you’d love to build and you’re not sure how to start, that’s how you start. You walk in the door here. So I think that kind of location that’s always open that people can just walk into will encourage a lot more people to start companies. And then once they do, we have an entire support system all around you of people who have gone through the process of creating their first companies, figuring out how to do ownership, how to manage investors and all that proces to make it so much easier than it would be if you were just sitting on your own trying to figure out how to do that in your basement. “I think it’s going to be a huge catalyst for pursuing their dreams and making cool things in Bloomington.”
ENTREPRENEURIAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pat East, CEO and Co-Founder, Hanapin Marketing
Ben Swanson, CEO and Co-Founder, Secretly Group
Ellie Symes, CEO and Co-Founder, The Bee Corp
Jane Martin, Retired Venture Capitalist, Board Chair
Jennie Vaughan, Chancellor, Ivy Tech Community CollegeBloomington
John Hamilton, Mayor, City of Bloomington
Lynn Coyne, President and CEO, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation
Matthew Anderson, Founder, Adproval/ Mavenly
Michelle Cole, COO, Envisage Technologies
Mike Trotzke, CEO, Cheddar
Pete Yonkman, President, Cook Group and Cook Medical
Tina Peterson, President and CEO, CFBMC, and CEO, ROI
Tony Armstrong, President and CEO, IU Research & Technology Corporation
Tyler Henke, Co-Founder, Cowork Btown, and CEO, Ziptility
Warren Cutshall, General Counsel, Miller Real Estate
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INNOVATION HAS A NEW HOME With the opening of Dimension Mill, Bloomington’s creative community has a new space to gather, collaborate, and turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s innovations. We congratulate everyone involved with the construction of this groundbreaking facility and look forward to seeing what our partners create within its walls.
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