Founded by Kathy Sample and Bill Brinkerhoff, Argus set out to solve a simple but stubborn problem: how to make it easy for people to buy local food year-round, in a way that’s fair to farmers and convenient for customers.
In the ten years since opening their first café and market, Argus has become a beloved Ann Arbor institution — and a national model for strengthening local food economies. Through a mix of deep customer discovery, careful data tracking, and close partnerships with local producers, they’ve shown that a community-driven, farmer-first retail model can thrive.
At our November Sustainable Innovation Meet Up, Kathy Sample will share the Argus origin story and lessons learned along the way: what’s changed since launch, the challenges of scaling local food systems, and how Argus is helping others build their own “farm stops” across the country.
Event Details
8:00–8:30 AM – Coffee and conversation
8:30–9:00 AM – Featured talk
9:00–9:30 AM – Q&A and more networking
Join us to connect with local innovators and explore what it takes to build sustainable food systems that truly feed both people and place.
We’re excited to launch a new season of the Sustainable Innovation Meet Up on Thursday, September 18 from 8:00–9:30 AM at Mothfire Brewing in Ann Arbor.
This month’s session—“Crafting Community: Sustainability & Creativity at Mothfire Brewing”—features David Becker, Co-Founder of Mothfire Brewing. David will share how sustainability and local partnerships are at the heart of Mothfire’s mission.
This September event also serves as a lead-in to the Sustainable Future Forum, part of a2tech360—our region’s biggest week celebrating innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.
Event details Wednesday, September 18 8:00–9:30 AM Mothfire Brewing, 713 W. Ellsworth Rd., Ann Arbor Coffee and light breakfast will be provided
The Sustainable Innovation Meet-Up is a monthly gathering that highlights corporate sustainability innovations and fosters networking and community. Each session brings together professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders to exchange ideas, learn from local case studies, and spark collaborations that drive positive change.
We’re grateful to our sponsors—Ann Arbor SPARK and the Green Business Challenge—for supporting this series. Like the new look? Thanks to Cathy Colson for graphic design.
What do plants on sheets, insects on pins, and frogs in jars have to do with entrepreneurship?
Heliconius charitonius tuckeri specimen from Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida imaged by Virginia Craig, photo courtesy Gil Nelson.
Naturalists and scientists have been collecting butterflies, pressing plants, and catching fish to document the evolution, radiation, and diversity of the world’s organisms since the early 1700s. These preserved voucher specimens have been locked away in research and private collections for centuries, difficult to access even by scientists who didn’t know where everything was. Close to 15 years ago, the National Science Foundation created iDigBio as the U.S. hub for digitizing and mobilizing biological collections data. iDigBio led by elevating members of the community doing digitization well and then they built the foundation to aggregate the data created during this work. Its servers on the University of Florida campus currently host over 147 million specimen records and 66 million associated media files.
In December 2023, I joined the team at iDigBio as an embedded entrepreneur to explore mission-aligned pathways to sustainability for one of the largest and most important scientific data infrastructures in the country.
This work was part of a larger initiative launched by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NobleReach Emerge to help research infrastructure projects transition toward broader impact and long-term viability. iDigBio was selected as one of just eleven projects nationwide to participate in this visionary program supporting research translation and sustainability. Read the press release
Our cohort of science infrastructure projects faced a shared challenge: how do you sustain open, mission-critical data platforms without a built-in revenue model?
What Science Entrepreneurship Looked Like in Practice
The goal wasn’t a commercial spinout, but rather a durable structure to support iDigBio’s mission and values.
My work as an embedded entrepreneur centered on strategic discovery, stakeholder alignment, and identifying viable, mission-consistent revenue models for long-term sustainability. This included conducting over 70 interviews with biodiversity scientists, collections professionals, policy experts, and applied ecologists to map community needs and emerging opportunities. We talked to people familiar with iDigBio and those we thought would benefit but did not (yet) use biodiversity specimen data for environmental decision-making.
We found common challenges around incomplete data, technical aspects of mobilizing these data (for data publishers), and locating cleaned, relevant data at scale for research. We heard many calls for the digital extended specimen, especially integration with genetic sequence data. Several interviewees expressed an interest in a natural language chat-like interface for finding what they sought in the database (yes, this is foreshadowing).
We found that people not yet familiar with iDigBio did not understand the scope of its work at first glance, and so we refreshed the homepage and included new calls to action for corporate sponsorship and data services.
Refreshed iDigBio homepage as of summer 2025.Additional calls to action included corporate sponsorship as of summer 2025.
We used the identified community needs to guide internal and community conversations around sponsorship, data services, philanthropic funding, and operational partnerships. We outlined a vision where digitized biodiversity and extended specimen data underpin research, policy, and economic decision-making. These specimen data provide an unmatched historical baseline for environmental monitoring.
A Passionate, Collaborative Community
iDigBio’s strength lies in its community—curators, technologists, researchers, and collections professionals committed to making biodiversity data available, discoverable, and useful. I was fortunate to work alongside existing partners—AIBS, NSCA, and SPNHC—and to initiate conversations with related organizations such as the Nature Tech Collective, a dynamic network of researchers, technologists, and entrepreneurs exploring the intersection of nature and data.
For example, Gil Nelson, iDigBio’s Director, spoke on “The Power of Digitized Voucher Records for Biodiversity Monitoring” at the Nature Tech Collective NTC Now webinar in June 2024, highlighting how specimen data supports real-time environmental decision-making.
Data from digitized natural history collections provides an important source of information for environmental decision making.
Field Notes from a Mostly Remote Year
While most of this work took place remotely, there were energizing in-person moments along the way. We kicked off with an in-person meeting in Gainesville, and then I traveled to Tempe to meet with the Symbiota team. I joined the community at Digital Data 8 in Lawrence, Kansas, and participated in the Advances in Digital Media workshop at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. While most of the interviews were online, I jumped at the chance to visit and collaborate in person with researchers at the University of Michigan Research Museum Center here in Ann Arbor.
Austin Mast speaking to attendees at the 2024 Advances in Digital Media conference in New Haven, CT.
Although remote, it was hardly a lonesome year. The online collaboration was lively, with good humor and critical thinking in equal measure. We were buoyed by the enthusiasm and creativity shown by every community member we interviewed or met in person. iDigBio really had a strong community, valued what they had received, and were eager to participate in shaping our sustainability planning.
No Missed Jackpot — But Plenty of Insight
At Digital Data 8, iDigBio held a session on sustaining scientific infrastructure, including experts from iDigBio, Environmental Data Initiative, MorphoSource, NobleReach, Specify Collections Consortium, and USA National Phenology Network. Leads of these important community resources spoke to the attendees about lessons learned and challenges faced as they transitioned from NSF grant funding to something more community-supported. More recently, the USA National Phenology Network, published a paper with their embedded entrepreneur showing their work on this topic: their future sustainability likely lies in a blend of public funding, grants, philanthropy, and mission-aligned service offerings. Read their perspective
Our team, like others in the NSF/NobleReach cohort, faced a hard truth: open scientific infrastructure doesn’t often produce the kind of intellectual property that drives university spinouts. That openness is a feature, not a flaw, but it does complicate the business model.
This experience deepened my conviction that science entrepreneurship doesn’t always mean spinning out a product or chasing a venture-scale outcome. Sometimes, it means protecting and evolving open infrastructure in ways that preserve its value and grow its impact. Increasing access to these data is a key principle, and so many congratulations to the advanced computing and information systems team at University of Florida for launching the biodiversity chatbot: iChatBio this spring.
Me, Libby Ellwood, and Gil Nelson in Washington D.C. for the NSCA Board Meeting December 2024.
Deep Gratitude for Thoughtful Collaboration
Working with the iDigBio team was one of the most rewarding parts of this project. Their open, good-natured, and thoughtful collaboration made it a joy to contribute to such an important and community-centered initiative. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to work alongside:
Gil Nelson, whose enthusiasm, warmth, and commitment to inclusion sustained the team and shaped the spirit of this engagement from day one—I learned so much from his deep belief in iDigBio’s people and mission.
Austin Mast, who brought long-term strategic vision and a sustainability mindset to both iDigBio and the Digitization Academy, and whose thoughtful questions pushed the work forward.
Jose Fortes, who brought focus to scale and systems, and always contributed unexpected, generous observations that deepened the conversation.
Pam Soltis, who regularly recentered the group on iDigBio’s integrated vision, shared valuable global insights drawn from her broad scientific engagements, and—along with her students—kept us focused on the ecological and environmental applications of these data.
Libby Ellwood, a generous collaborator whose broad community perspective helped align vision with action—from partnership development to keeping iDigBio focused on its core strengths.
Nico Franz, whose work on Symbiota exemplified practical sustainability and who brought intellectual energy and a willingness to challenge assumptions that helped refine our thinking.
David Jennings, whose critical thinking, organizational rigor, and steady support helped hold the team together—his candor and guidance were key to every piece of progress we made.
The teams at the University of Florida, Florida Museum, Florida State University, and University of Kansas that I had the pleasure of meeting and who gave generously of their time, wisdom, and wit throughout the project.
I’m proud of the work we did and inspired by the community I met. As iDigBio and others continue integrating biodiversity data into the decisions shaping our planet, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines—and seeking out the next opportunity to connect science, data, and sustainability at scale.
Join us for the June Sustainability & Innovation Coffee Meet Up.
50 States of Sustainability: Lessons from Veridian A short film and live Q&A on reimagining development in America
Join us for an inspiring morning under the tent at Veridian at County Farm! We’ll screen the 20-minute documentary 50 States of Sustainability: Veridian, followed by a live conversation with sustainable development leaders Matthew Grocoff and Sara Hammerschmidt.
This event offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at a groundbreaking net-zero community. Hear from the team reshaping how we think about housing, neighborhoods, and the future of development.
Join us for the May Sustainability & Innovation Coffee, a monthly gathering of changemakers, entrepreneurs, and leaders advancing climate and sustainability solutions across Michigan and the Great Lakes region.
This month’s conversation explores the future of water in a changing climate.
We’re excited to welcome two featured speakers:
Val Brader – Principal at Rivenoak Law and Rivenoak Consulting, and former Director of the Michigan Agency for Energy. Val brings deep expertise at the intersection of law, policy, and clean energy innovation.
Joel Brammeier – President and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a leading voice on freshwater protection, policy, and community engagement throughout the Great Lakes region.
Michigan’s legal history viewed water as a common enemy and prioritized converting swamps into farmland. As precipitation patterns change, Michigan faces increasing concerns about flooding. At the same time, the state must consider how to manage areas where water levels may be lower than ever—potentially requiring new limitations on water use. Given these challenges, what lessons can Michigan, a water-rich state, learn from its arid “frontier” sister states as its own climate becomes more volatile?
Matt Kirsch speaking at the Sustainability & Innovation Meet-Up – February 2025
If it seems like I’m suddenly, loudly everywhere, here’s why: I’m intentionally reconnecting with people, with ideas, and with what’s next.
Remote Work Was Great Until It Wasn’t Enough
Like many of us, I have been working remotely for years now. My work—mostly with scientific and technical teams at universities and early-stage startups—is location-independent and often global.
And I’ve loved it. Remote collaboration is flexible, efficient, and creates the space—mental and physical—for deep, focused work.
But something shifted and connecting only online became strangely draining. Even as someone who values solitude, I missed people in the same room. I needed the friendly waves, the raised eyebrows, the casual sidebars. I missed being a part of a local community.
Coworking Helped. IRL Events Even More
That shift led me to join a coworking office in Ann Arbor. I wasn’t just looking for a desk, I wanted casual, familiar camaraderie: “non-work work friends.”
I don’t go every day, and if I have a schedule packed with video calls, it’s simpler to stay in my home office. Yet, on days and tasks when I need to work through something tangled, think deeply, write, or resist the urge to procrastinate, I need my coworking desk. There’s something grounding about the quiet hum of others working nearby—it helps me settle in, focus, and work through problems.
But coworking was just the start.
I wanted to connect more intentionally and IRL (in real life) with people I admire, with communities I care about, and with the local ecosystem of mission driven leaders and entrepreneurs. So I started organizing and attending more events.
Exploring What’s Next
I’m also in a moment of transition, exploring what’s next in my career. That’s a big part of why I’m showing up to more events, and why I’m investing energy into hosting some of my own.
Sustainability & Innovation Coffee Meet-Up at Bamboo Ann Arbor, March 2025
These gatherings have been a joy to me. I’m grateful to be surrounded by people who are curious, generous, and community-oriented.
Let’s Connect
If you’re also navigating change, looking for connection, or just feeling the need to get out of the house, I hope you’ll join one of these meetups. Or shoot me a note—I’d love to hear what you’re working on, what you’re excited about, or what kind of community you’re craving right now.
Here’s to finding energy, inspiration, and opportunity—together, and in person.
