Community workshop offers space for entrepreneurs to brainstorm

Sector 67 offers access to tools prospective business owners need

MADISON, Wis. — As Madison continues to grow, so does the number of start-up businesses in the city, and one start-up is helping others like it get a head start.

Sector 67 is a community workshop that opened four years ago with the goal of providing equipment and resources to anyone who is interested in using them. For a monthly fee, Sector 67 offers access to all the tools prospective business owners can imagine — from wood-cutting and wiring to laser printing and programming.

“It’s not so much the tools and the resources,” Director Chris Meyer said. “It’s most importantly the people that are here that you can bounce your ideas off of, or get help from.”

“It offers a lot of interesting people to work with who are all working on similar ideas across the spectrum — from software to hardware to everything in between,” Sector 67 member Jim Rasmussen said.

More than just a place to tinker with toys, Sector 67 offers a creative space for entrepreneurs to brainstorm together and learn from one another. People like Rasmussen are looking to take their business to the big time.

“It’s a wonderful blend of tools you wouldn’t afford to have yourself, with skills you probably don’t have yourself,” Rasmussen said.

Sector 67 has invested thousands in equipment you can’t easily find elsewhere, but the real value here may be the crowd this space attracts.

“That’s what’s unique or valuable to this space and environment, it is offering a continuum of different people or different things but all working toward the similar goal of building something cool or something constructive,” Meyer said.

Sector 67 has 80 members, about one-third of whom are entrepreneurs working on a start-up business or product.