-
Inside/Outside Innovation Summit offers $100,000 in opportunities and brings talent to Lincoln
Lincoln-based Econic and the Inside/Outside Innovation Podcast team have formally announced the first Inside/Outside Innovation Summit on June 19-21 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Billed as the first of its kind in the region, the summit will bring together high-growth startups and corporate innovators. “Companies in every industry are looking to innovate faster…
-
Econic’s Brian Ardinger launches Innovation Summit for Lincoln
The pull of opportunities to help corporations understand innovation has led Brian Ardinger to hand off the reins of the NMotion Accelerator and move full-time to Econic, a Lincoln venture he co-founded with Josh Berry. “We launched last year with Josh at 100% while I was transitioning from NMotion,” Ardinger said. “We were getting pulled…
-
NMotion manager Keevin O’Rourke’s journey from Cedar Rapids to Lincoln
A chain of events including an unusual experience at the Iowa Startup Accelerator (ISA) led Keevin O’Rourke from Cedar Rapids to become the new Program Manager at NMotion in Lincoln, Nebraska. “In a nutshell, we were building a feature for somebody else’s product during the ISA,” O’Rourke said. “At any point the owner could roll…
-
Firespring’s PaymentSpring acquired by Nelnet
PaymentSpring, a payment processing gateway developed by Lincoln’s Firespring, was recently acquired by another familiar name in the community, Nelnet. The first step in closing the deal was a cold call. “It started with a sales call,” said Mike Phelan, President of PaymentSpring. “We saw an opportunity from the Nelnet Transaction Solutions (pre-name change) perspective…
-
Liberty’s rural Uber expands operations in Texas, Ohio
Last July, SPN profiled Liberty, a Lincoln-based rideshare company that was going through the NMotion Accelerator. We caught up with President & CEO Valerie Lefler to see what’s happened with the company since then. “We’re actually moving offices today,” she said. “Our company is growing, and we’re expanding from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet.” The…
-
Hudl announces partnership with U.S. Soccer
Lincoln-based sports tech startup Hudl has just announced a partnership with U.S. Soccer to provide the company’s Sportscode and Coda products to both men’s and women’s national teams as well as developmental teams throughout the organization. “It’s our first partnership like this that spans all levels of a sport,” said Matt Mueller, Hudl’s GM of…
-
Lincoln’s Christina Oldfather on the growing LNK startup scene
Christina Oldfather joined the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development (LPED) about three years ago as the Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. SPN recently had a conversation with her about Lincoln’s startup ecosystem. “It’s actually really good timing,” Oldfather said. “Starting this month we’re working more closely with NMotion. Beth (McKeon, NMotion Managing Director) and I…
-
FarmLogs provides unbiased agriculture analytics
Jesse Vollmar grew up on a farm in Michigan. Even in the 1990’s, technology was an important part of the operation. “When I was growing up, we had all sorts of tech tools,” said Vollmar, CEO and Co-Founder of agtech startup FarmLogs. “DTN satellite dishes for weather and prices and auto-guidance systems for equipment.” But…
-
Buildertrend is looking to hire 100 people in twelve months
In December 2015, SPN profiled Omaha-based Buildertrend, a SaaS platform company primarily serving the residential construction industry. A year later, the company continues on a high-growth trajectory. “Our continued ntrevolution as a company is a compelling story,” said Dan Houghton, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President. “We’ve grown dramatically over the past ten years. In fact,…
-
Eat Fit Go opened seven stores in less than a year
Eating healthy can be a challenge given the time and expense required for buying and preparing nutritious meals. Omaha-based startup Eat Fit Go is on a mission to change that. “Our goal is to provide healthy, high-quality food at a reasonable price,” said Sam Vakhidov, CEO and Co-Founder. “I think we’re the fastest-growing healthy food…