We're now four months into doing the monthly Iowa Startup Power Rankings and I'm tweaking things just a bit. Rather than posting towards the end of the month with a floating time frame for recognition, I've decided to push the publish date until after the first of the month. That means that we'll be able to consistently recognize the efforts of the people and companies in our community from the calendar month prior. Also, it means that this post isn't technically late even though today is August 3rd and the post is about July (when all else fails, change the rules).

When it comes to finding a good place to work remotely, quiet public environments can be few and far between. Despite it’s “punny” name, Cafe Diem is a coffee shop sure to make you seize the day and get things done.

If you’re working from home, around your kids’ schedules or just want to get outside of downtown a bit, Cafe Diem brings a bit of suburban love to our coffee shop coworking series. Located in an Ankeny strip mall alongside a pet store and the deep dish pizza fan favorite Wig and Pen, Cafe Diem is an unassuming locale that dares to surprise you with its plentiful work stations and relaxed environment.

For many entrepreneurs, taking that first step towards starting your own company can be a daunting one. It takes planning and preparation to go out on your own and make something great. For Levi Rosol and We Write Code, that first step happened to start out of necessity.

Last week was busy.

From about 8 AM on Monday morning through 3 PM on Friday, we packed Paul Singh’s schedule full of presentations, meetups and office hours. When I first talked with Paul, just over a month ago, about potentially squeezing in an Iowa week on his North American Tech Tour he said that he wanted to come here to get to really know what it is like to be part of our startup community. He wanted to meet the people, see the companies and experience the life of an Iowa entrepreneur.

In March UpCraft Club was part of the Small Business Administration's InnovateHER competition...and we WON! Since that competition, the SBA has been incredibly helpful in connecting us with opportunities to continue moving UpCraft Club forward and a month ago they asked if I'd like to travel to the APEC 'Women and the Economy' forum in Lima, Peru as part of the US State Department delegation. During the forum, Russia held a pitch competition, co-sponsored by the US and Chinese Taipei and UpCraft Club was asked to represent the United States!

The Iowa Tech Tour starts on Monday! Tremendous thanks to everyone who has helped pull this together in a really short time frame: Deanna Bennett & John Jackovin in Des Moines, Jessalyn Holdcraft & Eric Engelmann in Cedar Rapids and Diana Wright & Sam Schill in Ames. It's going to be a great week!

The full tour schedule is available here but I want to highlight a few events where anyone and everyone can meet Paul Singh and join in the fun.