Our founder, Steve Glynn, dreamed up Spreenkler in 2006 while mowing his lawn. He'd been having all sorts of "what-if" conversations with people he knew—friends,colleagues, even people off the street—and he knew other people must be having them,too.

As he mowed up to the neighbor's sprinkler, he had an epiphany: What if there was a group in town that worked sort of like a sprinkler—a Spreenkler—siphoning off creative people from all sorts of different industries, pooling their knowledge and talents, then dispersing their combined strength throughout the community?

After beginning in January 2007 as a handful of like-minded folks who exchanged thoughts at a local café, we've grown a ton, and so have our ideas. We now bring in speakers from all over the world, as well as our own backyard.

Plus, we're more than just a meetup: We're a bona fide creative services agency as well. We hire students to do creative work for some of the Milwaukee region's best and brightest businesses and nonprofits while helping our members get their own ideas off the ground.