I meet with people building, funding, running, and wrestling with technology in Milwaukee. From coffee shops to Teams calls and happy hours around the city, here are 5 things that stand out over the last month.
1. There’s a rush on storytelling.
In July I wrote about the Executive AInxiety nobody’s talking about.
In that article, I talk about how we need more trust. And more spaces to leverage trust to have honest, compassionate conversations about what we don’t know.
Then, help each other figure it out.
What happened after I published that piece? Organizations started coming to me.
Of the fifteen to twenty firms I’ve talked to over the last few weeks, each has had their version of the same statement: we need help telling our tech story.
Here’s why that’s interesting to me. Just a few years ago, there weren’t many legacy Milwaukee companies who wanted to talk publicly solely about tech.
Today, the people doing serious tech work here want the world to know about it.
(btw, if you want your tech story told: steve@experiencemilwaukeepodcast.com)
2. The worry within every conversation: talent.
You heard this in my conversation with the CEO who represents 3,800 Wisconsin businesses. It’s not technology keeping manufacturers up at night. It’s people.
I felt that everywhere this month. Not just in a couple conversations, but in more than two dozen meetups, meetings, and events around the city.
How does this all connect? The storytelling rush and the talent worry are the same story.
Every company that begins to tell its tech story makes Milwaukee more relevant and relatable.
Thus making storytelling an important part of talent infrastructure.
3. I promised you trust over a brewski. I meant it.
The AInxiety article ended with a goal of building trust that lets leaders admit what they don’t know. Best done over a brewski. Well, how about whiskey, too?
So here it is: Experience Milwaukee Bourbon Club is BACK!
If you were a member of the club from 2023-25, you know what this means. If you weren’t, it’s a collection of regional business and tech leaders coming together every other month at a different Milwaukee venue.
No agenda, programming, or pitches. Just valuable connections and honest conversation over your favorite pour. Even if that’s a brewski or a mocktail. (Don’t drink? We don’t care. It was never really about the booze anyway.)
The relaunch meetup is Wednesday, October 14 (during Wisconsin Tech Month) from 6-8PM. With giveaways of allocated bottles from Xorbix Technologies!
Interested? You can request your spot in the club here.
4. Going multi-city means a slight name tweak here in Milwaukee.
On July 27, I launched a second tech-focused media publication in another city.
Why?
Because leaders there told me the same thing I’m hearing here: we need help telling our tech story.
The demand for this kind of storytelling is growing. It’s not just a Milwaukee quirk. And the model we’ve been building together right here, people first, honest conversations, and community + content, is what I’m taking there.
And that brings me to a change you’ll see here very soon. Experience Milwaukee is becoming Tech in MKE.
Same stories. Same happy hours. Same “love you, Milwaukee.”
What’s changing is that the name will finally say what this has become: a place where you can come for what’s happening in tech in MKE.
And it will sit alongside its new sister publication. (Comment if you want to know the new city.)
5. Here’s my direction as we head into fall.
Earlier this week, I asked what our unfair tech advantage is. The handful of comments on this article have been great. Keep ‘em coming!
Here’s my question added to my question.
If we’re really worried about keeping and attracting talent, but people can’t come to a place they’ve never heard of, then who’s job is it to make sure every ambitious person in and around Wisconsin has heard something about what’s happening here?
I’m living part of that answer, one happy hour and one article at a time.
But it can’t just be me. Or just a few of us.
I want to hear from you about a story you think nobody’s telling. I’ll get on it.
Love you, Milwaukee.