ROSEVILLE, Calif. — A lot of people don’t know there’s a place for local entrepreneurs to meet and be creative. You don’t have to go very far because it’s in Roseville.
The Roseville Venture Lab opened in fall 2022. It offers a variety of programs, workshops and networking events to support startups and small businesses. It’s part of a greater economic strategy to revitalize the downtown area.
“This is also part of a larger regional effort too to really foster that venture development infrastructure. So, we’ve worked with community partners including Sierra College, the Carlson Center at Sac State, Placer County, so this is a larger effort," said the city's Economic Development Director, Wayne Wiley.
The goal is to keep local entrepreneurs in the Sacramento region, like MindfulText, a startup that’s used the Venture Lab space since it opened.
When MindfulText founder and CEO Mark Montalban’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, he made it a habit to text her something good every day.
“It really helped her change her behavior to prioritize her wellness and as her child I really cared about that,” said Montalban.
Those simple texts are now significant in his life.
“MindfulText was really born out of this idea. Can we help people improve their well-being practices simply through text messages," he said.
What better place to try it out than the Venture Lab? He participated in their Roseville Rising Program. It gave him the opportunity to work with the Growth Factory, a public and private partnership with the city that funds some of these projects through grant money.
Rick Spencer, co-founder of the Growth Factory, explains how they can do that.
“That Roseville Rising Program was six weeks, which we went through specific curriculum to help him understand how to message his product, his services and his company to have a better value proposition. We have what’s called a ‘corporate innovation network’ at the Growth Factory and we have partners like the Sacramento Kings, SMUD, Sierra College [and] Five Star Bank,” said Spencer.
“It was super awesome to be able to meet with folks and present in-person and get feedback in-person,” said Montalban.
What began on a personal level for the founder of MindfulText is now expanding into the university setting and other workplaces.
“If we build world-class companies here, there’s plenty of capital that can be brought to Sacramento to scale these world-class companies,” said Spencer.
And that appears to be happening for MindfulText. Montalban’s team earned a contract with the city of Roseville to engage with their employees.
