2026-06 Update: Strengthening Startups & Commercial Cocktails & Conversation

WEDC Provides $10,000 in Funding to Expand our Startup Ecosystem

With many great partners alongside the La Crosse Area Development Corp (LADCO), we collectively received $10,000 from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp (WEDC) to help strengthen our area's entrepreneurial ecosystem. What's an ecosystem, you may be asking?

It is a variety of organizations shown in the diagram above that are united in helping startups succeed by uniting around that common goal. In doing so, resources are identified, clear to participants, and the pathway is clear on how to fund their business from ideation to incubation to investment, acceleration, and growth of our area by having another successful business.

The funding is designed to hold two events that may spark innovation within our startups as well as our existing businesses. There is entrepreneurship and INTRA-preneurship (innovation from within an existing company either launching a new product or an individual starting their own company).

LADCO is working with partners such as the Small Business Development Center, SCORE, La Crosse County Community Development, the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission, the Coulee Region Business Center, 7 Rivers Alliance, WWBIC and Revby, as we initially plan and then expand the conversation to additional partners.

Out with Two to Add Two (Well Three) Events

To make room for two events, LADCO decided not to hold our Membership Appreciation event this summer. Then I learned that if you hand out awards, people think it's an annual meeting. So we are combining our Industry Appreciation event with our Annual meeting.

And then we finally found our champions to help us launch a new endeavor.

LADCO Launching "Commercial Cocktails & Conversations" event

With many thanks to Frank Wilk at Knight Barry for creating the idea and signing up to sponsor a casual event that will combine invite-only networking among our commercial realtors and sponsoring contractors with some light, strategic conversation. Our goal is to learn how LADCO can fuel more commercial sales and projects -- which are key to growing our businesses, our tax base, and jobs.

LADCO is grateful for our inaugural sponsors who also signed on to help: First American Roofing, Old National Bank, and Wieser Brothers General Contractors.

The invites will be in the mail shortly for this exclusive event.

Economic Forum & Development Dialogues to be Announced Soon

LADCO's new staff (our newsletter makes the announcements) are planning the upcoming Economic Forum as well as two more Development Dialogues for this year.

More to come!