As the community celebrates 10 years of the Innevation Center, the 夜色视频 is spotlighting the people and ideas that have shaped its vibrant community.
Below, Innevation Center resident member Daniel Price, CEO and principal of Engineered Fire Systems, talks about his experience working at and growing businesses through the Innevation Center.
I’m the CEO and Principal of Engineered Fire Systems, a fire-protection design firm serving the western U.S. We focus on residential and commercial fire-sprinkler systems and related building-safety technologies.
"Immerse yourself. Show up to the talks, meet people and collaborate – the real value of the Innevation Center is the community you build inside it."
I first joined the Innevation Center in 2017 when running Breadware, an IoT startup that had just relocated from California to Nevada. I was inspired to join the Innevation Center community because it offered an instant gateway into Nevada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem – connecting us with other startups, investors and the University community.
Growing Breadware from 10 to 30 people and eventually moving into our own office was a major milestone – and then returning years later to open Engineered Fire Systems’ Nevada office felt like coming home.
Raising venture funding for Breadware and later expanding EFS in Nevada – both were made possible by the network and support fostered at the Innevation Center.
It connected me to an incredible mix of entrepreneurs, University researchers and civic leaders. Reno’s “1.5 degrees of separation” is real – and the IC is where those connections happen.
Through connections made at the Innevation Center, our company became involved with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and was later selected to represent the State of Nevada on a trade mission to the Middle East – visiting Turkey, the UAE and Saudi Arabia in 2022.
The Innevation Center has reinforced how valuable community and flexibility are for growth. The IC’s month-to-month model and energy were far better than being locked in a long, dull lease.
The events, workshops and constant flow of new ideas – the entrepreneurial energy at the IC keeps you thinking bigger. It’s the beating heart of entrepreneurship in Northern Nevada – earnest, collaborative and free of pretension.
In the next decade, I hope to see more young professionals building companies that make it through Series A and B rounds – and more success stories that stay rooted in Reno-Tahoe.
