Ben McDougal is a tech founder, content creator, and caffeinated community builder. His modern superpower is the art of connection, which he leverages to merge traditional roles with innovative side hustles. Ben also trusts in the unmatched energy of accelerating others.
Ben was born in Ohio. He’s lived his life throughout Des Moines, Iowa. After graduating from Loras College with a computer science degree in 2004, Ben interviewed as a video game tester in California. Realizing that was not viable, he returned to Des Moines and started at a web development firm in Iowa. For over eight years, Ben would help all types of business owners tell their stories online and accumulated over one million dollars in sales.
In parallel to this commission-based role, Ben started his first side hustle in 2006. He had played soccer his whole life and used online marketing to launch The Iowa 3v3 Soccer Challenge. With support of family and friends, Ben hosted two events before selling the company to a local soccer club that continues to host this annual event.
In 2007, Ben co-founded Jet Set Studio and launched Gathering of Gamers. This was back when MySpace was cool. Gathering of Gamers grew into a nationwide social network for video game enthusiasts. To connect gamers in real life, Jet Set Studio also hosted live video game events. As eSports emerged, Jet Set Studio hosted larger video game tournaments throughout North America. The Iowa Pro Gaming Challenge, UGC Niagara, and iconic Guitar Hero events were all huge milestones and remarkable achievements. In 2011, Jet Set Studio launched Tournament Seeker. This platform allowed competitive gamers to find live and online video game tournaments. Today, Jet Set Studio is only a sliver of Ben’s diversified career portfolio, but the XP earned building a video game community, will be forever sweet.
In 2012, Ben retired from web development and went in-house at a high-performance home builder. For eight years, Ben made nice things look nice as he aligned the Drake Homes brand to match the quality of new homes they built throughout Des Moines. His intrapreneurial and multimedia marketing activity included web development, photography, videography, social media, print, and events. Along with his creative work, Ben championed change to boost internal efficiencies and enjoyed working alongside the tenacious team.
In 2015, Ben launched his third company. FliteBrite infused technology into the food and beverage tasting experience. To do so, FliteBrite patented the world’s first electronic serving system. The early embodiment of this innovative technology was an electronic beer flight paddle. Each paddle featured a color touchscreen on the handle. For thirsty customers, #SmartFlights provided dynamic details made to share. The Wi-Fi enabled paddles connected to an online dashboard as well. This gave breweries, restaurants, and bars a modern way to showcase their products while collecting data-driven insights. The entire experience was designed and manufactured by this company’s trio of co-founders. The team chose time over money, but two years without sales left the startup vulnerable. When efforts to raise capital failed, the team shifted to serving smart flights with a mobile app. As the software-only approach was being tested, it caught the attention of the Iowa Brewers Guild. A partnership would lead to FliteBrite adding a beer festival app to their product line. Today, FliteBrite serves up a beer festival app that’s enjoyed by event organizers nationwide. The mighty team, recognized brand, and patented electronic serving system is poised to deliver, while expanding into new markets as well.
In 2020, Ben co-founded OpenOpen, an open house scheduler to optimize communication for the home building and real estate industry. As teams coordinated open houses, this tech startup converted endless emails, text strings, and annoying website updates into single clicks from any device. This saved time, generated leads, and boosted sales for home builders and real estate agents. The COVID-19 pandemic, a wild housing market, and shifts in founder-market-fit left this quest sputtering and was wound down, but the experience remains appreciated.
The story of Ben’s art would not be complete without sharing how his life has been caffeinated by 1 Million Cups. 1 Million Cups (1MC) is a nationwide movement developed by the Kauffman Foundation. The format of this educational initiative is simple. Entrepreneurs come together every Wednesday morning to enjoy caffeinated conversations. Along with enjoying free coffee together, different entrepreneurs present their businesses each week. After concise presentations, the attendees ask questions and provide supportive feedback. This educational experience accelerates the presenter, enlightens the audience, and unites entrepreneurial ecosystems nationwide. 1MC started in Kansas City, then Des Moines and St. Louis launched the first remote locations in 2012. As 1MC became a weekly dose of innovative energy, Ben volunteered and would lead the 1MC Des Moines organizing team for over five years. As more 1MC communities launched nationwide, the Kauffman Foundation formed a new position to sustain growth. Ben helped to build this leadership role and became the first Midwest Regional Rep in 2018. He continues to support this educational program and connects over 50 organizing teams from Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and beyond. This work that felt like play, was a caffeinated calling he’ll always remember, and the uncommon friendships will last a lifetime.
Extra Shot
Yes. Ben has enjoyed coffee with a vast variety of entrepreneurs! Learning and collaborating with so many leaders has been a life-changing blessing. In the connected era, Ben’s willingness to lead without a map characterizes how a diversified career portfolio, leveraged by generosity, inclusivity, and the art of connection, can nourish an entrepreneurial lifestyle.
In 2021, Ben expanded his leadership by teaming up with Techstars. He teamed up with Kerty Levy to lead the Techstars Iowa Accelerator for two years. Ben’s role was to support founders as EIR, host workshops, tell stories with multimedia marketing, have fun, and connect dots through ecosystem development. This was a vibrant time. Although the accelerator sunset, Iowa is more connected and augmented ecosystem allies continue to support entrepreneurship: together.
Ben also built Pour Over Publishing, which continues to activate book distribution after You Don’t Need This Book: Entrepreneurship in the Connected Era was first published in 2021. This timeless relic is available in softcover, eBook, audiobook, and a collector hardback edition. YDNTB has sold 6,000+ copies nationwide and extends Ben’s impactful keynote speaking. for students, educators, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and community builders. Along with his book, Ben generously published new writings every Wednesday for over three years. This library became known as Roasted Reflections.
In 2023, BEN BOT was engineered with large language models and embedded influence layers to sequence writings from the Roasted Reflections library. This conversational AI is the co-host for You Don’t Need This Podcast and allows NFT owners access to endless insight, brewed through BENergy. Speaking of podcasts, it’s 2025 and Ben has now shipped two seasons of a weekly podcasts that include 75+ weekly episodes. This entertaining creative season is called You Don’t Need This Podcast and is enjoyed by listeners like us, who do things like this.
Looking ahead, humans seek purpose and peace. The meaning of life is a paradox, but we often find purpose in our work. This makes it natural for anyone passionate about anything, to consider entrepreneurship. Ben teaches us that when we play 80 hours to avoid working 40, serendipity is sparked, and change can be championed on the timeline of now. Be curious, stay wild, and until we meet again…
