As Wisconsin looks to position itself as a place for startups and tech companies to thrive, its growth depends on the young tech talent it nurtures and develops.
Wisconsin startups raised a record amount of venture capital funding in 2018, and this year fast-growing companies like Milwaukee's Bright Cellars and Madison's Understory have raised VC rounds from top early-stage investors.
But to fuel the momentum in Wisconsin's tech economy, the state must prove it can attract and retain top tech talent. That trend appears to be happening especially in Madison, for example, as it was recently recognized as one of the country’s top destinations for Millennial homebuyers, which has in turn helped Madison’s growing startup and tech ecosystem. UW-Madison also announced a new school of computer, data & information sciences, which aims to support a new wave of Wisconsin’s entrepreneurs.
To get a sense of some of the state's top young entrepreneurs, techies, builders and innovators, Wisconsin Inno has unveiled its second-annual Inno Under 25 list (you can check out last year's list here). The list is based on nominations and Wisconsin Inno’s editorial selection process.
Here are the rising stars in Wisconsin's tech scene you need to know.
Ben Breitenbucher, 21 Co-founder, Blue Line Battery
Breitenbucher is the co-founder and the director of business development for Blue Line Battery, a lithium battery manufacturer based out of Whitewater, WI. A recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Breitenbucher helps structure and manage operations and drive strategic development for Blue Line.
The company has created a mobile power system that's designed to move industrial equipment hassle-free. It's designed for a variety of industries including industrial, small electric vehicles and solar power.
Alycia Doxon, 24 Chief operations officer, Frontdesk
Doxon, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the COO of Frontdesk, a VC-backed corporate housing startup that aims to be the Airbnb for business travelers. The startup raised a $2.75 million round in August and is backed by travel industry veteran Bill La Macchia and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry.
While at UWM, she was the president of the school's Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization and completed the University Innovation Fellows program based out of Stanford University. She was also the first place winner of the Lubar School’s Business Ethics Competition and a winner of the Scheinfeld Entrepreneurial Awards competition. She's also the co-founder of Our.News, a startup that creates "nutrition labels for news," making it easier for consumers to determine what is real and fake news.
Nathan Eggenberger, 24 Member manager, StartingBlock
Eggenberger is the member manager at StartingBlock, a co-working space and entrepreneurial hub for Madison startups. A recent graduate of UW-Madison, Eggenberger has leveraged his university entrepreneurship network to design and implement an internship program at StartingBlock, along with helping make StartingBlock the best place to work for Madison startups.
At UW-Madison, he was the UW-Madison Director of Google for Entrepreneurs' Startup Grind, was on the Leadership Committee of Capital Entrepreneurs, and was the founder of several startups, including a student-run co-working space and a digital tool for fashion influencers. Today, he's currently building a company called Omen, which is designed to be both an online game and self-improvement tool.
Brandon Fong, 23 Head of in-product marketing and customer experience, SuperHuman Academy
Fong runs marketing efforts at SuperHuman Academy, a company that creates learning and memory courses, books, podcasts and other media on topics like health and fitness, productivity, finance and more. In January, he co-created a premium course called Ultimate Advantage, which teaches anyone how they can shortcut their career success by learning how to connect with successful people. The idea is to find someone who’s achieved you want to in life, and find a way to learn from them. It quickly took off, generating about $45,000 in sales within one week.
Isabella Hutson, 21 Inside Sales Manager, EatStreet
Hutson helps lead Madison-based food delivery company EatStreet's inside sales team, including hiring, training, and managing sales interns. She has helped lead EatStreet's sales as the company has grown to become one of Wisconsin's most notable tech companies. Joining EatStreet as an intern, Hutson has received two promotions in the last 12 months.
Founded in 2010, EatStreet serves 250 cities, delivering from 15,000 restaurants. It has raised nearly $45 million in VC funding.
Endre Krumholz, 23 Artist relations director, LÜM
A graduate of UW-Madison, Krumholz is the artist relations director at Live Undiscovered Music (LÜM), a startup that's built a streaming music platform and social network that helps up-and-coming artists grow their fanbase. The startup, which has raised $1.2 million in funding, has grown to over 20,000 users. Krumholz has connected creatives across the Midwest and opened up a network of collaboration between musicians while working to grow the LÜM community.
Israel Lugo, 25 Co-founder and chief operating officer, Urban Misfit Ventures
Lugo is the co-founder of Milwaukee-based Urban Misfit Ventures, a company that operates IEEG, a storytelling company, and MKE Misfits, a community and events company. The company helps create compelling visual stories and partners with brands to help them reach their audience. Earlier this year, Urban Misfit Ventures was selected to participate in a national accelerator program from Boston-based Hubspot. Lugo is also set to appear on an Amazon Prime TV show centered around entrepreneurship with fellow Urban Misfit Ventures co-founder Quentin Allums.
Sam Lister, 19 Founder, BLNK Slate Media
Lister is the founder of BLNK Slate Media, a startup he launched one year ago that leverages video storytelling to connect brands with consumers. He recently launched a second business, Snack Size Media, which aims to provide social media videos at scale for companies. He started creating content on LinkedIn in August of 2018 and since then has amassed millions of views on the professional networking platform.
Erin Magennis, 22 Founder, CalmLet
Magennis is the founder of CalmLet, an app that helps people manage stress and anxiety in the moment. The startup provides personalized stress management recommendations that give people tools and techniques to effectively handle stress. CalmLet was a round 1 winner of the Foxconn Smart Cities Smart Future competition and was the community first place winner at the Concordia Launch Pitch competition.
A graduate of Carthage College, Magennis is also the community organizer at Code for Milwaukee, which is a civic-tech group that works with government, non-profits and civilians to build technology-based community solutions.
Anna Mathieu, 24 Supply chain manager, Propeller Health
An industrial engineer and graduate of UW-Madison, Mathieu joined Madison digital therapeutics company Propeller Health as an intern in 2016. After joining the company full-time in 2018, she was quickly promoted to supply chain manager, where she has helped transform the company by leading an initiative to increase the company’s distribution by 25X, thus helping more people with chronic respiratory diseases. She's also worked with Propeller's manufacturing partners to reduce cost.
Last year Propeller was acquired for $225 million by ResMed.
Olivia Menzia, 22 Founder, Liv a Little Ice Cream
Menzia is the founder of Liv a Little Ice Cream, a vegan ice cream brand she launched during her final semester at Marquette University. The ice cream quickly caught on with students, selling 100 half-pints in the first two weeks. She's also the creative manager at Blue & Gold Ventures, Wisconsin’s only student run business program.
Menzia is also the artist behind Milwaukee Brewing Company’s mural, and is a freelance graphic designer for several other startups.
Jack Pawlik, 23 Founder, Drip
At just 23, Pawlik is already somewhat of a serial entrepreneur, having helped start four businesses in Madison including LineLeap, an app that helps you skip the line at popular bars and nightclubs at 21 cities across the U.S. LineLeap took part in the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator earlier this year.
Pawlik's main focus today is Drip, a Madison startup that looks to be the Starbucks app, but for local coffee shops. Drip allows coffee shops to offer their customers mobile order ahead features and connect them on a shared rewards program. The startup won Transcend, the largest student run innovation competition in the country, and was awarded $15,000. It was also accepted into gener8tor's gBETA accelerator and participated in its spring 2019 cohort. He graduated from UW-Madison earlier this year.
Josh Shefner, 22 CEO and founder, Blue Mangoes
Shefner is the founder of Blue Mangoes, Milwaukee-based startup that makes organic dried fruits while empowering rural women farmers in places like Uganda, Kenya and Haiti. The company makes passive solar dehydrators, which work without electricity, to make dried fruit from produce that would have otherwise gone to waste. It has created a network of 11,000 farmers and trained over 900 women in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Blue Mangoes was one of eight startups selected to this year's Target Incubator program. The program aims to boost startups with “better for people” or “better for the planet” business ideas, giving each business a $10,000 stipend and access to Target’s resources and mentors to help them grow.
Gabriella Suliga, 21 President and director of events, Marquette Blockchain Lab
Suliga, a current political science and philosophy student at Marquette University, is the president of the Marquette Blockchain Lab, a resource for blockchain innovation in the Milwaukee area. Since taking over the lab last year, Suliga and her team have hosted the 2018 Milwaukee Blockchain conference at Northwestern Mutual and the 2019 Digital Economies Summit at Cream City Labs, hosting over 800 tech developers, entrepreneurs and business professionals at the events.
She also led a workshop on student entrepreneurship at Harvard University this past February, and won the title of 2019 Miss Milwaukee Area and has spoken at high schools across Wisconsin to inspire students to go into entrepreneurship.
