Doug Cruitt admits he’s had his ups and downs in his 15-year career as an entrepreneur and a business consultant.
“I've failed a lot, I bring that to the table. And as an entrepreneur, what I perceive as kind of the two most important things for any entrepreneur, no matter how big or small, is the passion and the perseverance,” said Cruitt, who is in his first week as the new executive director for Distillery Labs.
Cruitt takes over leadership of the technology and innovation center from original executive director Paul Leamon, who left the position in April 2022 but has remained a consultant.
“One of the ways I perceive this role is to nurture and to fertilize the soil that's already here,” Cruitt said. “There's a lot of great assets that we have in the region, and what I hope to do is build and to create an environment or an ecosystem in which people can prosper, can thrive, can feel that they're included, no matter if they have an idea on the back of the napkin, or they're already generating revenue and looking for perhaps some capital funding.”
Cruitt previously founded RIVR Strategic Coaching, a strategic consulting firm specializing in entrepreneurship, self-improvement and strategic support. He is a committee member for the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership School and he’s participated in the launch of more than 15 start-ups.
Cruitt said his opportunity with Distillery Labs ties into three of his greatest passions: entrepreneurship, community and leadership.
“One of the things I've really learned is to not be idle, to not just have an idea,” Cruitt said. “I think everybody has an idea at some point in their life, right? Sometimes we don't know; we think to ourselves or we say out loud, ‘I wish there was a way that…’ – fill in the blank. But then we never do anything about it.
“So over the years, one thing I've tried to do is to kind of set that as a trigger or an alarm in my brain," he said. "When I say that or I hear somebody say that, I immediately think: is there an opportunity to actually do that?”
Cruitt said his focus will be “to serve and support entrepreneurs in every capacity imaginable.”
“There are a lot of ways that we do that, whether it's through programming, social events to make those connections, the friction, if you will – the good kinds – where ideas can come together,” Cruitt said.
Launched in 2020, Distillery Labs is funded through a $10 million grant as part of the Illinois Innovation Network. Cruitt comes into the new position as Distillery Labs prepares to start construction later this month on a 50,000 square-foot physical space at the Thomas Building in downtown Peoria.
“Once we get our building up and running, it’s going to be a huge asset to the community,” Cruitt said. “It'll be a location for people to come to have access to the programming, to connections to the various types of capital. But also having that environment, that porous environment, if you will, where people can come and go – people can come to Distillery Labs and maybe get one or two pieces of value, and then they can go to Peoria Next and get additional pieces of value that help them on their entrepreneurial journey. Then there's the big umbrella over all of these different stakeholders that are here to support entrepreneurs as we work together.”
Cruitt said he hopes to realize Distillery Labs’ ultimate vision of becoming a tech and innovation incubator helping to grow economic development across the Peoria region.
“When entrepreneurs start to succeed, the community succeeds, the economy succeeds,” he said. “It's the obvious things of generating new jobs. Those new jobs then attract new people to the area, those new people to the area bring their family – and it's that domino effect, if you will, that it's going to impact everyone.
“They're going to be shopping. They're going to have events. They're going to go out and see the town. They're going to support local businesses," he said. "It's something that, if done right, the economy will expand, I hope, exponentially in the coming decades based upon our investment in technology and its people.”
