Roseville's Venture Lab lease renewed after first-year success

The Roseville City Council at its Dec. 20 meeting approved the renewal of the Venture Lab's lease after its success during its first year. The Roseville Venture Lab is a public-private partnership between the city and nonprofit start-up accelerator Growth Factory that helps aspiring entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. The lease was previously approved in April 2022 since it aligned with one of the city's priorities outlined in its budget, which is "enhancing economic vitality." According to Economic Development Manager Wayne Wiley, "This effort would help establish a more diverse approach to our citywide economic development strategy. In addition to this, it was really intended that this be a comprehensive effort aligned with regional needs while also helping attract capital and talent to our local economy." Wiley said the Venture Lab has had more than 2,000 people visit and offered 50 programs within the first year. "What that means is it's resulted in increased tales tax revenue from the attendees patronizing the downtown businesses, and it can really help grow the ecosystem and bring awareness to what we're doing in Roseville," Wiley said. Programs such as Roseville Rising, Placer Robotics and Business Blend have been created through the Venture Lab. Other programs, such as CAD (Computer Aided Drafter Certificate) class, have partnered with the Venture Lab to bring more opportunities. CAD Class CEO Josh Manley said, "I had the pleasure of partnering with the Venture Lab and the Growth Factory to pilot a brand new program here in the city of Roseville. For 12 weeks, students learned how to make 3D models and how to turn those 3D models into real prototypes. Those students blew us away." The Venture Lab has seen success in its first year, which leaves the rest of its plans for the next four years. They plan strategic implementation for the next year, capacity building and partner value for the third year and program enhancement for the fourth and fifth years. According to Wiley, the program remains on budget. Growth Factory Co-Founder Monique Brown says students have exceeded expectations, and she has heard compliments from many who have visited the Venture Lab. "We hear it all the time in our kind of greater work around the region," Brown says. "We have people walking into our building on a daily basis that have moved here from the Bay Area and are so excited that this exists here. We have people who have lived here for years and have never been to Downtown Roseville who come and are delighted by what they see. So I think both from the attraction piece as well as just building the brand of leaders and business and innovation, I think it's accomplishing its goals." The success speaks for itself through the stories of students who have found the Venture Lab useful. Michael Tkachuk is a Granite Bay High School senior who is building up a business. Tkachuk is a co-founder of RentlBay, a platform with the purpose of connecting homeowners and property managers. Through the Roseville Rising program that arose via the Venture Lab, "I learned how to take an idea and materialize it into what is now an in-development program," Tkachuk said. Tkachuk said his major takeaway was his boost in confidence and communication, especially because he has a stutter. He says without his experience through Roseville Rising, he wouldn't have had the confidence to share his experience during public comment. "These two things when they come together are all you need to make a successful company. I do not think I could've gone through a better experience," said Tkachuk. "I would recommend it to everyone, and I've already suggested it to all my friends." Growth Factory intern and Roseville Rising alumni and mentor Haley Garrett had a similar, positive experience. "I came from a family of entrepreneurs from the Greater Sacramento Region, and I didn't have any entrepreneurship experience prior. However, when I had the opportunity to intern at the Growth Factory, I learned of Roseville Rising," said Garrett. "The Roseville Venture Lab has done such great work. … Moving forward, I know that after going through the Roseville Rising Program, and I'm so interested in start-ups." A Roseville resident who identified himself only as John sees the value of the Venture Lab's availability to students; however, he has concerns for the students' ideas. "It's the perfect environment to draw people together because it's free," John said. "My concern is our youth. When the youth have these ideas, and they find somebody captive to share their ideas with, what elements or guidelines are set to assist in not taking advantage of the youth? I see the youth being taken advantage of by investors." All of the Roseville City Council agrees the Venture Lab has seen great success, as they have witnessed students' ideas come to life, the draw of people coming into the community and the economic opportunity of the Venture Lab. Councilmember Scott Alvord said, "Several of us have attended these events over there. It's fantastic. It's exciting to watch the eggs crack open and the chicks hatch and quickly grow." Councilmember Tracy Mendonsa said, "There's a saying that you never want to be the smartest person in the room because that means you're not open and learning. I never have a problem when I go over to the Venture Lab because I'm immediately humbled. Every time I've come over there, I definitely walk away thinking, 'I did not know what I didn't know,' and I think it's been very exciting just to see the passion from each one of the people I've interacted with, and that's something that's missing." The council unanimously passed the renewal of the Venture Lab's lease, faithful in the growth to come.