Projects & Programs

Start Fort Wayne collaborates with business, education, nonprofit, government, economic development, and other community partners to develop and implement projects that impact our region to strengthen entrepreneurship.  

Start Fort Wayne is a founding member of the Fort Founders Collaborative, where over 50 organizations and individuals from the 11-county region come to get bi-monthly to report out on what they are doing to support entrepreneurship. This not only fosters a sense of collaboration in the region, but also removes duplication of services and identifies gaps in support for entrepreneurs.

In October of 2017, an assessment was done of the entrepreneur ecosystem in Fort Wayne. The results of that assessment are here. Start Fort Wayne has projects to impact the maturity of our entrepreneur ecosystem. Those projects that fall under three areas of impact: Community, Education, and Space.

1 Million Cups - We were the first to bring 1MC to Indiana! These are weekly events for local entrepreneurs to meet and present their startups to the thriving peer network of founders in Fort Wayne. The coffee is highly encouraged.

Start Up Week - Planning is underway for 2019 for a week-long, collaborative, community event that will focus on entrepreneurs, founders, and start-up culture.

The inaugural Start Up Week will be October 14-18, 2019. More details to come!

South Bend Code School // FW -  Starting in September 2017, we are partnering with South Bend Code School to open South Bend Code School // Fort Wayne to help students learn the fundamentals of web development & design, software craftsmanship, & entrepreneurship.

SBCS // FW is an app incubator for teens and young adults that grants students experience conceptualizing, designing, and building an application that works towards solving real world problems. 

At the end of the program, all SBCS /FW students present their applications at a major tech company and exit with a portfolio of work. 

SBCS // FW will teach students Javascript, HTML, CSS, and C# through the industry-standard in game design and development through Unity.

Atrium - The Atrium is the home of SFW. It is our 5,500 square foot coworking space in downtown Fort Wayne. 

In this space, entrepreneurs and others can work together. The whole idea of coworking is to bring innovative, creative people together and let the ideas collide.

We also host events - some for business, some just for fun. And we have rental spaces available for outside organizations for meetings, conferences, or lunches. Visit the website or contact us to learn more at atrium@startforrtwayne.com or at 260.969.9393.

Atrium is a member of the Indiana Coworking Passport. This means that Atrium members have access to 45 other coworking spaces around the state!