How could a month go wrong when you kick it off by announcing John Machacek running for mayor in 2030? Of course, April 1 always brings many laughs; the rest of the month was filled with new milestones and lots of activity in the Fargo-Moorhead startup community.

Some highlights of this month were Women’s Startup Weekend, North Dakota startup Coschedule pitching at Google Demo Day, and some big updates from the UAS industry – including Vine Rangers landing an FAA exemption and Botlink launching their beta testing.

We also saw some unique ideas being built up by Fargo locals. One of our most popular articles this month was about the work of Dre Steinwehr, an NDSU student who developed and tested a tea-based pesticide, and found it to be equally effective and healthier than many conventional pesticides.

Yet another Fargo native is currently running a Kickstarter for her creation of necklace-inspired headphones, a design she hopes will be a trend-setter everywhere.

This month we also had a momentous 1 Million Cups: Jim Bastian, an 89-year-old inventor and scientist, took the stage as 1 Million Cups most experienced presenter. Not only that, but he also received the first-ever standing ovation.

Two programs we covered this month to take note of are the Operation Intern program – which can match up to $30,000 of your business costs for paid internships this summer; and the Speaker’s Bureau, which is placing industry professionals into classrooms in an effort to weave industry with academia.

The first-ever Startup Roundup Survey for startups in the Fargo-Moorhead area also wrapped up this month, with 45 participants and a wealth of insight for the health of our startup community. Check out our 8 main take-aways here.

We finished off the month with a big announcement for Emerging Prairie. After a bit of a hiatus, Greg Tehven is back as our fearless leader to continue building on our mission to connect and celebrate the local community. And we’re certainly happy about that.

Come at us, May!