Beyond the Parade: Hoosier Entrepreneurs Who Built at Home

I spent eight straight years celebrating homecoming week through high school and university without really understanding what it was all about. Sure, I knew there were dances, spirit weeks, parades, and football games. I could feel the elevated buzz, the sense that this was a special week. But the why didn't click until much later.

At the time, it felt like the celebration was for me. For me and my friends to have one exciting week of spirit and activities before returning to the routine of school. In the self-centered way teenagers experience the world, I thought homecoming was about making our senior year memorable, about celebrating our time at the school.

But homecoming was never really about current students at all.

It turns out that just as I spent four formative years as part of that community, so have thousands of others. And the attachment people feel to the communities that helped shape who they are is a powerful thing. Powerful enough that decades later, alumni will drive across state lines to walk the same halls, sit in the same bleachers, and reconnect with the people and places that molded them.

That's when it made sense. Homecoming isn't about the current students. It's about creating a moment where current and past members of a community can celebrate together. It's about telling stories thirty years apart that somehow feel familiar because they happened in the same place, shaped by the same spirit.

Maybe that's why homecoming hits differently in Indiana and across the Midwest. In places where families have lived for generations, where your high school gym doubles as the town's community center, where Friday night football games are the social fabric of entire towns, the concept of "coming home" carries weight. It's not just nostalgia. It's an understanding that these communities are worth returning to, worth investing in, worth building something for. The same pull that brings alumni back for a parade and a football game can bring entrepreneurs back with an idea and a business plan.

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That's what homecoming really is. Not just showing up to celebrate what was, but sticking around to build what's next.

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That pull is real. I've seen entrepreneurs who could have built anywhere choose Indiana instead. Some stayed after graduation. Others left for the coasts, gained experience, and came back. The reasons vary, but the pattern is the same: people building something in the place that matters to them.

Scott Dorsey: From Graduate to Commencement Speaker

Scott Dorsey is one of those stories. In 2024, I sat in the audience at my own IU commencement and listened to him speak, 35 years after he walked across that same stage in 1989. There he was, addressing my graduating class from the exact spot where someone once wished him well into the world. If that's not homecoming, I don't know what is.

After graduation, Dorsey stayed in Indiana. He and co-founder Chris Baggot launched ExactTarget in downtown Indianapolis, betting on a city with untapped potential. What they found was a Midwest work ethic focused on treating people right, a pipeline of talented university graduates, and a collaborative business environment that got things done. ExactTarget went public in 2012 and was acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion the following year, employing 2,000 people worldwide with three-quarters of them in Indianapolis.

But Dorsey didn't cash out and leave. He co-founded High Alpha, a venture studio that's launched dozens of companies. Through Nextech, he's brought computer science education to nearly every Indiana high school. When he spoke to my graduating class, his message was clear: the community that gave him the foundation to succeed deserved that investment back. That's homecoming. Not just returning to celebrate what was, but returning to build what's next.

16 Tech: Building a Home for Innovation

For nearly two decades, it was just an idea. A 2002 study envisioned an innovation hub on Indianapolis's near westside where scientists, engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs could collide and create. It took until August 2020 for that vision to become real, led by Bob Coy, a Notre Dame graduate who'd previously helped build Cincinnati's innovation ecosystem as president and CEO of CincyTech before bringing his expertise home to Indiana.

The 16 Tech Innovation District opened on 50 acres, bringing together life sciences, technology, advanced manufacturing, and engineering. Today, more than 200 companies call 16 Tech home. The Innovation Hub provides workspace, a maker space, and an artisan marketplace. But what makes 16 Tech special isn't just the buildings. It's the Community Investment Fund that reinvests lease revenue back into surrounding neighborhoods.

This is homecoming at a community scale. Creating a place where Indiana talent doesn't have to leave to find opportunity. Where startups can grow alongside established corporations. Where the next generation of entrepreneurs has a literal home base to build from.

The Startup Ladies: Creating Space Where There Was None

In 2014, Kristen Cooper moved to Indiana from Pennsylvania and discovered something was missing. Women entrepreneurs in the tech community faced challenges that weren't being addressed. So she started a monthly meetup that grew into The Startup Ladies, a membership organization that has supported hundreds of women founders and helped them raise millions in funding.

Cooper didn't grow up in Indiana. She came here for work. But she found her calling in building what Indiana needed: infrastructure for women in entrepreneurship. TechPoint named her Community Champion of the Year, IBJ recognized her as a Woman of Influence, and NAWBO awarded her Woman Business Owner of the Year. The Startup Ladies now hosts the annual #InvestInWomenFounders Summit and provides mentorship, education, and networking for women across the Midwest.

This is a different kind of homecoming. Not returning to where you're from, but choosing where you belong and building something that makes it easier for others to stay.

John Wechsler: Building a Place Worth Coming Home To

If homecoming is about returning to the communities that shaped you, John Wechsler has spent his career making sure there's something to return to. After studying at IU, Ball State, and IUPUI, he built his career as a founder and executive across a collection of Indiana-based ventures. He didn't leave to chase opportunities elsewhere. He focused on growing it here.

In 2012, he launched Launch Fishers in the basement of the Fishers Public Library. What started small grew into a 52,000 square foot facility and became a cornerstone of the state's startup scene with more than 600 members, helping put Fishers on the map as an entrepreneurial hub. He went on to launch Launch Indiana, a statewide mentorship initiative, and the Indiana IoT Lab, a space for companies building connected technologies.

Wechsler recognized that many experienced entrepreneurs wanted to return to Indiana. His work created the infrastructure they needed to build companies and stay rooted. His career is a reminder that homecoming isn't just about coming back. It's about making sure others can too.

The Real Homecoming

Homecoming isn't about the students currently walking the halls. It's about everyone who came before and everyone who'll come after, all connected by the same place. And in Indiana, like much of the Midwest, that connection runs deep enough that people don't just come back for a football game. They come back with business plans.

The entrepreneurs and organizations building here could have gone anywhere. They chose Indiana. Not because it was easy or obvious, but because the place that shaped them was worth investing in. That's what homecoming really is. Not just showing up to celebrate what was, but sticking around to build what's next.