Millennials Are Making it “Hapn”

For Immediate Release:
November 12, 2012

Millennials Are Making it "Hapn"
M2020 Spark Tank Winners Launch Hapn.co

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Three months and six strangers later, local Millennials are launching their solution on how to find out whats happening right now in Northeast Indiana. This new online event discovery platform, Hapn.co, began as the seed of an idea between strangers who met at the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership's Millennial 2020 Spark Tank event in July.

The six strangers were one of two group winners at M2020 Spark Tank, which hosted over 100 Millennials (ages 15-25) for a day of project and idea development. Those Millennials have since become business partners, launching their beta website this week at Hapn.co . The website is a go-to destination for up-to-the-minute local things to do and also allows businesses to connect with their target audiences by informing them about what they have to offer.

Resources for consumers and businesses include:

• A geolocater to identify businesses near a user's current location
• What events, restaurants, specials, etc. are happening right now
• Business profile pages featuring hours, directions, events, specials, etc.

"It was great coming together with five other Millennials that I didn't know at the Millennial 2020 Spark Tank event," says Josh Smith, one of the founders of Hapn.co and an employee at Fort Wayne Trails. "We've been hard at work for three months making sure this website is functional in order to bring together Millennials and businesses."

The website has multiple functions with one main goal: What's happening now? Once a business enters their data into the system, it receives a profile page, showing the consumer everything that business has going on right now: their events, specials, hours, etc. An individual can visit the website to find what's happening on Friday night or search their favorite restaurant to find their hours.

"This is a great way for businesses to showcase themselves to Millennials right now. There are things to do here," says Steve Batzka, another founder of Hapn.co. "We just haven't discovered them all yet, and Hapn.co wants to help Northeast Indiana do that."

This one stop shop for what to do in the region is just another story of how Northeast Indiana Millennials are taking a step forward towards innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship. To that end, this month, the Hapn.co team presented their new site to the Regional Opportunities Council (ROC), the investor board of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership that oversees Vision 2020.

"The Regional Opportunities Council was very impressed with the Hapn.co project and the innovation of the Hapn.co team," said Vision 2020 Director, Katy Silliman. "Connecting area Millennials with our region's leaders is just one of the ways Millennial 2020 is working to increase the attachment Millennials have to our region and further develop, attract and retain their talent."

Millennial 2020 is an extension of Vision 2020 , a regional initiative stewarded by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership. Millennial 2020 gives Millennials an active voice and role in Vision 2020 and directly aligns with Vision 2020's mission for Northeast Indiana to develop, attract, and retain talent.

The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership was formed in 2006 to help build a globally competitive economy in Northeast Indiana. It is a public-private partnership focused on generating business leads and building regional capacity through product development and effective regional collaboration. In 2010, the Partnership launched Vision 2020 to bring the region together around five key areas (the five pillars) for economic growth: 21st Century Talent, Competitive Business Climate, Entrepreneurship, Infrastructure and Quality of Life. Through its combined efforts in business development and capacity building, the Partnership supports its 10 member counties: Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley.

If you want to make your business profile page or you just want to know what's happening now visit Hapn.co to sign up for their free beta testing site this week.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Courtney Tritch
Marketing Director
Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership
260.469.3460
courtney@NEIndiana.com

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