The Pitch Questionnaire with 1 Million Cups’ Nate Olson
Name: Nate Olson
Occupation: Analyst in the Entrepreneurship Department, the Kauffman Foundation
Tell us about your work: My colleague Cameron Cushman and I share the Kansas City Entrepreneurship portfolio. Our job is to engage the community of entrepreneurs in Kansas City, create programs and events that can serve as education tools for the entrepreneurs and, it’s hoped, accelerate the growth of their companies by doing so.
Tell us about 1 Million Cups: The Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Team developed 1 Million Cups as a way to engage Kansas City’s entrepreneurs on a weekly basis, educate the community about the great startups in Kansas City, and to accelerate the growth of these companies by doing so while building a dynamic and diverse entrepreneurial community. As a team, I think we sensed an opportunity to fill a gap in the Kansas City startup community through weekly educational programming. Two startups per week, six-minute presentations, 20 minutes of Q&A.
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Current neighborhood: Brookside East, whoop whoop!
Who or what is your sidekick? My iPhone and my guitar. iPhone for practical reasons — it gets me through the day. But my archtop hollow-body electric is a trusted friend and brings me a lot of joy.
