Startup Garage Podcast #1: The Story Behind It
TL;DR: Startup Garage's first podcast episode has Julie Adkins and Josh Barker unpacking the story and mission behind the organization.
Founder Jon VerLee started Startup Garage as a Calvin University club in 2022, and it became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in October 2025.
What sets it apart from other West Michigan entrepreneurial orgs: faith-driven, built for the earliest-stage founders, and everything is free.
The community runs on three pathways - Events, Connections, and The Forge - all rooted in caring for the founder as a person, not just the business.
Our First Podcast Episode Is Live: The Story Behind Startup Garage
We just published the very first episode of the Startup Garage Podcast, and we wanted to use this space to walk through what it's about - and why we're glad it exists.
In episode one, Executive Director Julie Adkins sits down with Josh Barker, CEO of City Innovations and the leader of one of our Forge groups, to talk through the story of Startup Garage: where it came from, what makes it different, and what it looks like to build a business as a mission rather than a side project.
Where It Started
Startup Garage began with one person's willingness to say yes. Founder Jon VerLee spent years as a youth pastor in Ada before starting his own church software company. After nearly a decade building that business, he exited in 2021 and instead of stepping away from entrepreneurship, he leaned further in. Jon has a heart for college students, young professionals, and anyone chasing a God-given vision for their work.
In 2022, he brought that heart back to his alma mater, Calvin University, and started a club called Startup Garage. What began as mentoring students and hosting a single pitch competition grew into an accredited two-credit practicum — essentially a collegiate incubator. As the vision grew, so did the question: what would this look like outside the walls of Calvin?
That question became an answer in 2025, when Julie came on full-time alongside Zach Booker to bring Startup Garage into the broader West Michigan community. By October 2025, Startup Garage was a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, now guided by a seven-person board. As Julie put it in the episode, "We have just been building the plane as we're flying it" - and that honesty about the process is part of what makes the story worth telling.
Not Just Another ESO
West Michigan has no shortage of entrepreneurial support organizations, and Julie is quick to say how grateful she is for all of them. But in the conversation, she names three things that set Startup Garage apart: it's unapologetically faith-driven, it's built for founders at the very earliest stage - before they have a product, a plan, or even the right vocabulary - and everything it offers is free, made possible by the time, talent, and treasure of a generous community of entrepreneurs further along in their journey.
As Josh said early in the conversation, "I look at work as my mission, and that's what Startup Garage is all about." That's the thread running through the whole episode: business not as a separate compartment from faith, but as one whole thing.
Three Ways In
Julie and Josh spend time unpacking the three pathways that make up the Startup Garage community: weekly Events like workshops, fireside chats, and networking; Connections, the personalized coaching and matching that helps founders find the right person or resource at the right time; and The Forge, small groups of six to eight founders walking through faith, family, and business together for twelve months. As Julie says, Startup Garage cares "more about the founder than the business", and every pathway is built around that belief.
Watch Episode One
This episode is just the start of a lot more honest conversation about what it looks like to build with purpose. Watch the full episode on YouTube, and if you haven't already, sign up for our Monday newsletter at startupgarage.org to catch every new episode as it drops.
