Alex Rodriguez, not to be confused with the New York Yankee, is a promising player in the Twin Cities technology scene.
Rodriguez, 22, son of a small construction contractor from Eagan, is co-owner of a fledgling company called WorkMand, a soon-to-be launched management platform for contractors that automates everything from pulling city permits to hiring laborers.
"I got into technology and applications and social media in high school at Simley High [in Inver Grove Heights] and began to realize that this was also about business," Rodriguez said. "I started reading Techcrunch.com and showing up at tech-industy events."
Rodriguez, who left a good tech job to launch WorkMand, also is the first minority entrepreneur-in-residence at CoCo, the co-working and collaborative space provider based in the Grain Exchange Building and other sites and home to hundreds of start-ups. CoCo, in the first of several initiatives that will include minority fellowships, is partnering with Google for Entrepreneurs and Code 2040 to accelerate minority participation.
Rodriguez also will receive a $40,000 stipend, support services and attend a retreat at the Googleplex in Silicon Valley this summer. Rodriguez, who has been financing WorkMand with his partner out of their pockets, said winning the competition to be an entrepreneur-in-residence has relieved the financial and other stress of launching a new business.
Rodriguez, a collaborative sort in a collaborative work community, also is an adviser to CoCo leadership.
"He's involved in every decision we make," said CoCo CEO Kyle Coolbroth. "We want to have a place where there's no fear of, 'I don't belong here … '
"Our members have built an unrivaled community of intelligence, experience and support that we want to share broadly and more diversely."