Technology veteran Rich Foreman is launching Startup Folsom, an informal effort to engage and build the tech entrepreneurial community in a city with many tech workers.
Foreman is CEO of application development company Apptology. He is also the local director of Startup Grind and a board member of StartupSac, both networking and support groups for entrepreneurs.
Startup Folsom will have a couple of local events monthly in Folsom featuring fireside chats with successful entrepreneurs. It will also host Beer & Geeks informal networking meetings for technology entrepreneurs.
Regionally, Sacramento’s startup scene has grown in the past decade, Foreman said. Sacramento, Elk Grove, Roseville and Woodland each have active economic development efforts aimed at supporting startups and entrepreneurs.
“We have all these technology companies based here (in Folsom), and we have to go outside our city to get these resources,” Foreman said.
For its first fireside chat, Foreman will interview Kevin Nagle, chairman and owner of Sacramento Republic FC. Nagle is also the former CEO of Envision Pharmaceuticals, which reached annual revenue of almost $5 billion before it was acquired by Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) for $2.3 billion in 2015. Nagle is also a member of the ownership group of the Sacramento Kings and on the investment board of Folsom venture capital firm Moneta Ventures.
That first fireside chat will be on Oct. 27 at 11 a.m. at Granite City Coworking.
The Beer & Geeks social meetings will be Oct. 13 at Escape Folsom and Nov. 3 at Granite City Coworking.
Folsom has the ingredients to support startups, Foreman said. It is home to research and development campuses of tech powerhouses Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) and Micron Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), as well as homegrown education technology company PowerSchool Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PWSC). It's also home to Moneta Ventures, the region's largest venture capital fund.
Folsom also has coworking spaces, including Granite City Coworking and the Northern California Innovation District.
At this point, the Startup Folsom effort is “pretty grassroots. It’s not formed as an organization. Rich is exploring what can be done,” said Laura Good, co-founder of StartupSac.
“StartupSac can’t be everywhere,” Good said. “The more the merrier. The stronger the ecosystem is in one area, the stronger it makes the whole region. I’m pretty excited about what’s going on.”
Foreman hopes to get the city to support the effort, but he’s first concentrating on showing that people will show up to these events.
“What I can control is building the community,” Foreman said.
Foreman is well known in the Sacramento startup community. He launched the effort to bring Startup Grind’s fireside chat series to Sacramento in 2014. The hallmark of a Startup Grind event is a fireside chat with a featured guest, usually a successful entrepreneur.
In addition to Foreman's role with Startup Grind and his board position with StartupSac, he’s also a mentor at the Growth Factory’s accelerator program in Rocklin.
Local cities have been building economic development programs to support startups. Elk Grove for four years has offered startup businesses cash. The city of Roseville this year pledged more than $1 million and office space in its newly opened Roseville Venture Lab, supported by Growth Factory. Yolo County and Woodland support the Lab@AgStart, a coworking laboratory space in Woodland. Sacramento supports multiple efforts for entrepreneurs, including its Economic Gardening program that supports companies with free consulting.
