Tom McCauley

  • UNeTech levels the playing field for high-risk, high-reward tech startups

    UNeTech levels the playing field for high-risk, high-reward tech startups

    The “valley of death” is a term used in the startup community to refer to the dreaded gap between the discovery of promising new technologies and the bringing to market of commercially viable new products based on those technologies. It is the badlands where risky and possibly disruptive tech goes to die.  Put more formally,…

  • HTI Labs fights human trafficking through research, technology, policy

    HTI Labs fights human trafficking through research, technology, policy

    An Omaha-based company using a data-driven approach to combat human trafficking recently raised funding to expand its crucially needed work to support law enforcement, victims and survivors of the practice.  HTI Labs,  a social enterprise corporation combating human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault through data-driven research and tech, has grown far larger than CEO…

  • This Lincoln developer’s app creates such realistic zombie pics, we had to use these pumpkins as a cover photo instead

    This Lincoln developer’s app creates such realistic zombie pics, we had to use these pumpkins as a cover photo instead

    Content warning: contains zombie images some readers may find disturbing. The wife of Josh Brown Kramer, senior data science consultant for Lincoln-based medical AI developer Ocuvera, is tired of zombies.  For the past year, the computer vision researcher has been working on an app that zombifies user selfies, turning their everyday visages into grotesque monstrosities.…

  • ‘You don’t have to be an engineer to do this:’ Local founders say ‘no code’ apps are changing the game

    ‘You don’t have to be an engineer to do this:’ Local founders say ‘no code’ apps are changing the game

    Let’s say it’s 1985, long before “no code” is a thing. You’re lacing up your Keds to hit the cineplex and watch “The Breakfast Club” again when, suddenly, a person from the year 2020 steps through your Michael Jordan poster wearing, for some reason, a surgical mask. They look tired. After terrifying you with grim…

  • Filling the gap: Nebraska Dev Lab provides comprehensive pipeline program to meet demand for tech talent

    Filling the gap: Nebraska Dev Lab provides comprehensive pipeline program to meet demand for tech talent

    Lincoln-based software development company Don’t Panic Labs and Doane University have teamed up to turn non-tech employees at sponsor organizations into fully fledged software engineers. The comprehensive initiative, called the Nebraska Dev Lab Pipeline Program, aims to strengthen Nebraska’s tech workforce and grow a larger, more diverse talent pool for employers to choose from when…

  • Advent, LLP invents the future of intellectual property law

    Advent, LLP invents the future of intellectual property law

    From his father, Ryan Grace inherited more than a love of fishing. He caught the invention gene as well. In 2007, Grace, the founding partner of Omaha-based Advent, LLP—an intellectual property, innovation and technology law firm with clients around the globe—teamed up with his father, Ted Grace, to come up with an invention that would…

  • Lincoln startup Pawlytics solving a doggone problem for animal shelters 

    Lincoln startup Pawlytics solving a doggone problem for animal shelters 

    Pawlytics founder Lizz Whitacre has four dogs, three cats, one ferret and two horses. The serial entrepreneur joked that the office of her Lincoln-based tech startup could double as a petting zoo. “Everything I’ve ever done has been related to trying to save animals, while trying to figure out how to make a bunch of…

  • Leading with Curiosity, Passion and Integrity: Valmont Industries President & CEO Stephen G. Kaniewski Weathers the Storm

    Leading with Curiosity, Passion and Integrity: Valmont Industries President & CEO Stephen G. Kaniewski Weathers the Storm

    Leadership is defined in times of crisis, and a leader earns their mark when they “gird and inspire people through difficult times,” historian Nancy Koehn wrote.  Valmont Industries President and CEO Stephen G. Kaniewski learned this firsthand through trial-by-fire. The tireless researcher, people person and tech leader at the helm of the Nebraska-born irrigation-systems manufacturer…

  • Volano Gives New Developers a Shot

    Volano Gives New Developers a Shot

    Omaha-based Volano Software not only builds custom business software, they help build the IT workforce. “We’ve hired a number of folks that have not coded professionally before and helped them become technology professionals,” said Rod Smith, co-founder and partner of Volano, which specializes in developing customized workflow design software, databases, portals and more.  Over the…

  • Feeling isolated? Omaha Gives! 2020 has launched. Here’s why you should give

    Feeling isolated? Omaha Gives! 2020 has launched. Here’s why you should give

    Michael Young knows the importance of giving, how it can change a life.  Young grew up in a family that struggled financially. After his father died prematurely, his mother had trouble coping with the loss, and the family dealt with worsening housing and food insecurity. Even in the midst of the economic hardships his family…