Small Business and Startup Stories DSM

Gain Compliance CEO Burch LaPrade shares how Greater Des Moines' (DSM's) status as an insurance hub served as a major motivator for his startup.

At the height of the Great Recession in 2009, Megan McKay decided to build a brewery in the small Iowa town of Knoxville on the edge of Greater Des Moines (DSM). Peace Tree Brewing Company has since expanded to the Historic East Village in Downtown DSM and Grinnell. The business now employs 14 full time and 35 part time employees.

Your loved one is getting married and you’re trying to find them the perfect gift. After you procrastinate too long to make that memorable keepsake, you decide to check out their registry only to find it limited to items found in big box retailers. You print the list of stuff and see the items that remain are a Crock-Pot and an oven glove. So, you opt for the safe bet — a gift card. 

If only there was another way.  

That’s what sprang to Kaitlin Byers’ mind when she went through that cycle several times with friends’ weddings. Frustrated with having to shop at big box stores for wedding registries, Byers teamed up with Tallis Strub to come up with Marry My City— an online platform that allows couples to curate and create their own wedding registry with local experiences rather than stuff.  Think cooking classes and date nights at local mansions. 

Melissa Carlson picked up a passion for graphic design as a student in high school. She credits her interest in creativity, art and design to a high school teacher who encouraged her to pursue the field at university. 

Carlson studied at Grand View University in Greater Des Moines (DSM). After landing her first job at a publishing company, a second at an ad agency and then at an architecture firm, she then founded 818 Designs.

After working in venture capital, Australian Ryan Gerhardy launches Pitchly in Greater Des Moines (DSM).

By Gabe Glynn’s own account, he has had a winding entrepreneurial career. MākuSafe began in early 2016, with a beta product tested in late 2016. The wearable technology has some smart software behind it that incorporates machine learning. The five devices first tested created seven million data points in a month.

The Sherlock’s startup, Pablow, is an insurance aggregate focusing on the travel insurance space. The platform connects with the APIs of six major insurance companies like AIG and Allianz to provide access to travel companies offer travel insurance vacation rentals after the sale.

Greater Des Moines (DSM) entrepreneur Tracy Fuller’s story began in 1987. Her son had passed away and she was looking for a way to get off the couch and into the world. Fuller started a company called Happy Occasions.

In 2004, the name changed to InnovativEvents when the company’s customer base went international. From the Sydney Opera House in Australia to a castle in Ireland, the company now produces events for corporate clients managing AV, sound, food and décor.

Greater Des Moines (DSM) games company, Hatchlings, recently turned 10-years-old. In that time, it has amassed 15 million users and shares a prestigious award with Tesla’s Elon Musk. The company began when DSM entrepreneur Brad Dwyer started a Facebook game called The Worldwide Easter Egg Hunt, which became a viral sensation amassing 1 million users in its first year. In the game, players from around the globe try to collect all 5,000+ different eggs and compete to get the highest score each month.