Charting the course

Hello everyone. My name is Doug, and I am an entrepreneur, with all the bumps, bruises, scars, wins, successes, and everything else that comes with it. Like many of you, my passion for creating something new or improving upon an idea to positively impact the world around me is what drives me. Now, I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to serve as the new Executive Director of Distillery Labs, where I get to  support the many entrepreneurs in our region. And I am pretty darn excited to get started! 

We, as a region, have an incredible amount of assets and resources to help us flourish as a startup community and entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

We have a history of innovation going back more than a century. We have a level of work ethic and resiliency that surpasses nearly any other region in the country. We have academic and corporate institutions that are actively engaging with and supporting local intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs. For these reasons, and many more, I'm confident that the Peoria region will one day be globally recognized as one of the best startup communities in the world. Make no mistake, there is a lot of work yet to be done, and it will take the commitment of a generation before we start to reach a fraction of our full potential. 

As a "startup for startups," there are many areas of focus for the Distillery Labs team in the coming months and years as we build upon the great progress already made by so many people. However, at the very top of this list of focus areas is a short, four-word statement that sums it all up, and it is the lens through which all of our thoughts and efforts will go through.  Those four words are to Serve and Support Entrepreneurs. This is the single most important thing we can do. It is, admittedly, a very general statement and will mean different things to different people. However, if we're not serving and supporting entrepreneurs every single day, then we do not have an entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

I am looking forward to meeting each and every one of you and learning about your ideas, your dreams, your successes, your failures, your challenges, and your impact on our community. In the coming weeks, I will be setting up open “office hours” so that any one of you can schedule a specific, dedicated time to meet with me to chat about how I and Distillery Labs can serve and support you..

I sincerely look forward to working, building and living with you all in this amazing startup community and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Doug