Entrepreneurs in Residence

Patrick McGowan: Founder and CEO of Punchn

With more than 30 years in innovation, communications and design, Patrick McGowan founded Punchn in 2020 after realizing he “looked like a potato on camera.” Since then, he has helped professionals achieve clarity and confidence in communication. A teacher, facilitator and student of powerful communication, McGowan collaborates with leaders looking to expand their influence and professionals seeking to articulate their value with clarity.

His career includes leading health care innovation, managing a manufacturing startup and facilitating almost 500 group meetings. He brings deep experience, tools and frameworks to help people communicate effectively.

Unique strengths: Curiosity, communication and range; genuine interest in people’s goals; expertise in crafting messaging; broad industry experience that encourages new perspectives.

In his own words: I get excited to see people excel personally and professionally. I believe in Startup Sioux Falls and its mission: to empower founders. If I can support others in the same way I’ve been supported in the past, I’ll call that a win.

Peter Burghardt: Founder and CEO of StringTree

A lifelong guitarist and collector of rare instruments, Peter Burghardt recognized a major gap in the online marketplace for serious musicians, collectors, and dealers. With StringTree, he is building a premier auction marketplace platform that combines trust, transparency and a community-driven approach to redefine how high-value instruments are bought and sold.

With a background in venture capital, product development and startup acceleration, Burghardt also has spent over a decade helping early-stage companies scale and succeed. Before founding StringTree, Burghardt served as the executive director of The Batchery, a Silicon Valley accelerator where he worked with hundreds of founders to refine their business models, raise capital and bring products to market. He also has served as a general partner at IA Seed Ventures, a Berkeley-based seed-stage investment fund.

Key strengths: Go-to-market strategy, formation, fundraising strategy, sales, marketing.

In his owns words: I’m excited to help scalable startups prosper in Sioux Falls.

Will Cromarty: Founder and CEO of Kirkwall

Will Cromarty is a former CIA officer and national security subject matter expert in critical infrastructure defense. He is the CEO and founder of Kirkwall, a venture-backed software company focused on monitoring and securing critical infrastructure — or as they like to call it, “keeping robots on their best behavior.” The team draws on collective decades of experience at the CIA, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Google, the special operations community and multiple federal contractors from startup phase through IPO. In 2024, Kirkwall was named the No. 1 startup in South Dakota as the grand prize winner of the Governor’s Giant Vision Competition held by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Key strengths: Bootstrapping, venture capital and angel fundraising; pitching and persuasion; scrappy low-budget minimal viable product build-outs; and mental well-being and resilience for founders.

In his own words: “I’m excited as an EIR to help first-time founders make their first dollar.” His best productivity hack: “For true uninterrupted deep work time, you need to physically place your phone into another room with the ringer off. If your phone is available, you’re going to look at it.”

Jessica Meyers: Co-founder and CEO of PorchLight

Jessica Meyers has spent decades in the people business and is the co-founder and CEO of PorchLight, a talent recruitment firm that connects rural communities with the 21st century workforce. She also brings extensive nonprofit board experience and excels in organizational strategy and build-out.

Unique strengths: Expertise in building new, unique systems from scratch; strong skills in process creation, metrics and people management; passion for goal-setting and structured hiring/termination systems.

In her own words: I’m excited by the chance to support other business owners and founders at different stages of their journey. I’m also experienced in helping navigate major career shifts, having done a 180-degree change in my 40s.