In 2006, Adam Keune arrived at the University of Iowa as a business student drawn to entrepreneurship. The university’s John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC) was his opportunity to explore that path, which would ultimately bring him back to the school in a new role almost 20 years later. 

With help from the JPEC, he co-founded a startup that he scaled for more than 10 years and stayed involved with the center as a board member and entrepreneur-in-residence.

The Marion native returned to the university full time in August 2024 as the JPEC’s executive director as well as managing director of a new venture capital fund.

“It’s been a real full-circle moment for me,” Keune said.

The JPEC at UI is one of five entrepreneurial centers located at Iowa higher education institutions created by the late community leaders and philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn. The centers provide entrepreneurship education and outreach to students and entrepreneurs across the state.

Keune succeeds David Hensley, who stepped down as executive director in 2023 after leading the JPEC for more than 20 years. Hensley now leads UI’s new undergraduate entrepreneurship program.

Hensley nudged Keune toward the executive director role after bringing him on part time to manage the university’s newly created venture fund Hawkeye Ventures.

Keune said he didn’t initially see himself as suited to a role in academics, but Hensley reminded him the JPEC develops students and entrepreneurs outside the classroom. 

“Really what we’re here to do is encourage people to really jump into entrepreneurship and it’s a lot more than just students. JPEC touches a lot of folks all across the state,” Keune said.

Over the course of his relationship with the JPEC, Keune determined that the center can do a better job helping companies scale their operations.

“I think JPEC has done an incredible job of getting startups to that early stage, minimum viable product and encouraging them to take that idea to market, but then once it gets traction we just don’t do a great job of saying, ‘Oh boy, you just raised a bunch of money, you’re going to need some more help. It gets real hard at this point,’” he said. 

Keune aims to build on the JPEC’s foundation while homing in on ways to prepare startups to operate in a rapidly changing business environment.

This will mean tapping into alumni, getting students real-world experience in startups, helping founders leverage artificial intelligence tools and investing in companies through the new venture fund, he said.

“Now it’s what does JPEC 2.0 look like?” he said. “The landscape has changed a lot, and I am the first one that’s going to tell folks, having worked with a lot of higher ed institutions at my last company, we need to start innovating. We can’t just talk about innovating, we actually have to do it.”

Going into the family business

Keune grew up with several entrepreneurs in his family to take after.

He spent summers visiting his grandparents’ dairy farm in northeast Iowa.

“I would actually say [farming is] one of the hardest businesses because there is no taking a break as an entrepreneur. My grandpa, I think it was over 30 years he spent every single night at that farm,” Keune said.

Keune also helped with his dad’s storage business — and although cleaning out storage units was not glamorous work — he said it taught him what it takes to run a business, as he would do one day. 

“My dad [and] my grandparents were in it with him … they were very adamant about customer service and listening to what people had to say,” he said. “I just really liked the idea of being able to run it and finding ways to interact with people.” 

While at UI, Keune and two friends co-founded Higher Learning Technologies. CEO Alec Whitters, then a dental student, wanted a more modern way to study than paper flash cards.

None of the founders brought in any software development background, but after more than 10 years, they grew the company to more than 40,000 daily active users and expanded to provide study materials for a variety of professional exams.

“I think [starting a business] is the most humbling experience you can do in your life because you got to have grit because you’re going to fail so many times,” Keune said. 

He said he learned to recognize that there were often factors outside of his control that could influence the business. 

“There’s so many external factors that are constantly changing that, for me, it was learning to don’t let the highs get too high, don’t let the lows get too low. Just keep pushing forward,” he said.

He said having the right mentors who had experience building education technology companies were crucial to the company’s success. 

“It was instrumental and I know how important that is for these startups. So how do we get them not only the classroom help they need, but now how do we go out in the real world and say, ‘You need real expertise? Let’s go find that for you,’” he said.

Creating JPEC 2.0

Keune plans to expand the JPEC’s mentorship program, with the help of Hawkeye alumni who can offer specific expertise to guide founders who are preparing to scale.

His vision is for one-on-one relationships rather than a mentor working with many startups.

“You’re going to pick one company, you both have a really good bond and kind of understand each other so that way we can carry those [relationships] along,” he said.

The JPEC will also introduce an alumni angel investor network to connect alumni who are interested in investing in startups coming through the center.

Keune said in his role he can be the conduit connecting potential investors and startups raising money.

“We’ve got several [investors] where they’re like, ‘I’d love to invest in startups. I just don’t have the time to look at all these deals,’” he said.

Keune said his outlook for a JPEC 2.0 includes giving companies the agility they’ll need for the future, in which he feels AI will be a critical tool.

To a young startup with limited funding, AI tools that require no coding skills to create a prototype of an app, for example, could transform how quickly their product goes to market, he said. 

“Those things where you were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get prototypes 10, 12 years ago are now monthly subscriptions,” he said. “They’re not going to be perfect, but they can at least get you a prototype to go and take to customers and say, ‘What do you think of this?’”

Bringing that mindset to the JPEC means working with startups on quick ways to get a version of the product in front of a potential audience to gather feedback and then iterate.

“That’s what I’m all about is iterating and speed to market, especially for startups. … Can we do it a quick, easy and cheap way to test to see if people actually want that versus … [planning] it for six months and roll it out and everything needs to be perfect.”

He said the JPEC also has a role to get students real-world experience in startups or other businesses, whether to determine if entrepreneurship is the right path or learn about business uses for AI.

He saw some of the students who worked at Higher Learning Technologies go on to build new companies.

“I felt like the nice thing about having interns in a startup [is] you get to see every aspect of it,” he said. “If I could go back and change one thing about starting my own business, I really wish I would have worked in a startup prior to starting my own because you just get the feel for it.”

Keune said the introduction of Hawkeye Ventures at UI will allow the JPEC to pair efforts around mentorship and education with equity investments. 

“In addition to capital, I think the biggest piece is we are going to surround you with expertise, and I think it’ll give us a competitive advantage over other funds. … I think that’s going to be a big differentiator is really saying, ‘OK, what do you need now?’” he said.

Hawkeye Ventures: A look into the new fund

Like venture funds at many of its peer schools in the Big Ten conference, UI’s Hawkeye Ventures will invest in university-affiliated startups.

“Whether you are a university student, alumni, faculty, staff or even just completed one of our JPEC entrepreneurial programs … you’re also eligible to potentially be a part of that fund,” Keune said. Companies do not have to be based in Iowa to be eligible.

Since the university is a public institution, the funding for Hawkeye Ventures will be provided by donors, Keune said. It recently launched its first round of fundraising, seeking to raise $10 million. 

Keune said it’s a unique way to contribute to the university.

“It’s one thing to give scholarships and training, but it’s another to say, ‘Oh, this is going toward creating that next Facebook, or that next [Integrated DNA Technologies],’” he said.

Keune said the goal is to become a self-sustaining fund, using returns to invest in more startups and grow its resources to manage investments. Hawkeye Ventures will target pre-seed and seed-stage investments, with checks ranging from about $50,000 to $200,000. 

Investment decisions will be made by an investment review board, whose members will include people with angel investing and private equity experience. 

“It’s not going to be an easy process. It’s not like just come knock on the door and we’ll write a check. … Our goal isn’t necessarily just to make money. We also want to make sure we’re making smart investments because this funding is coming from donors and we want to make sure that we’re able to [invest in] companies who are ready to scale, who have the team around them,” Keune said.

He said he wants to demonstrate that the JPEC is backing up its message with funding and actions that fill the needs of startups.

“I think we just want to be a catalyst for that to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to help put this all together. We’re going to help organize it.’ And then try and highlight some of our best and brightest,” Keune said.

He said the JPEC and Hawkeye Ventures, as well as stakeholders across Iowa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, should be a “front door to entrepreneurship” that helps entrepreneurs connect to the right resources.

“We have to find a way to unify this message and not try [to have] everybody doing everything kind of in silos,” Keune said. “I think building that ecosystem and saying this is Iowa, this is what we do and how do we connect people, I think that’s going to be just as important as writing the checks.”

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GET TO KNOW ADAM KEUNE

Hometown: Marion, Iowa 

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business from University of Iowa 

Hobbies:  “I love travel. I’ve been to over 30 countries. I think every single person should do it. I think it’s eye-opening when you get out of your comfort zone.”

Reading Recommendations: Scott Galloway for business reading, Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Andrew Huberman for health reading. 

Contact: adam-keune@uiowa.edu

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