John Schnipkoweit

  • NextStep CEO shares why accelerators are about going slow to grow fast

    (Guest post by John Schnipkoweit) So, first off, we did not “win” the accelerator. No one did. We all “won,” but that doesn’t mean it’s over, it means it’s just begun. You don’t “finish” in three months. Accelerators guide you in your business, because they know that after those three months, it’s not them running…

  • NextStep.io CEO says despite Nike’s shift, wearable tech is far from dead

    Just a few months ago, all we heard about was how 2014 was going to be the year wearable tech dominated the space and became even more prevalent. Or at least, so we thought. But last week, news broke after rumors spilled into tech gossip forum Secret that Nike would eliminate the bulk of its…

  • NextStep.io CEO opens up about experience with Nike, TechStars

    After a quiet few months, John Schnipkoweit, CEO of NextStep.io, publicly discussed his experience with the Nike+ Accelerator and the pivot away from RecBob for the first time on Tuesday night. Schnipkoweit’s talk focused on interpersonal relationships. Using Robin Thicke’s summer hit “Blurred Lines,” he emphasized how situations can get blurry when employees become housemates…

  • NextStep returns to Iowa after three-month run with Nike, TechStars

    Fresh off a three-month stay in Portland for the TechStars Nike+ Accelerator and three demo days along the West Coast, John Schnipkoweit and the rest of his team are headed home to Iowa. But the five-person team that left Cedar Rapids as RecBob returns as NextStep.io, a Nike+ Fuel application that Schnipkoweit describes as a…

  • RecBob takes NextStep, begins Nike+ demo day tour with new direction

    When five individuals in April unloaded from a vehicle with Iowa plates in Portland, you would have probably recognized them as Cedar Rapids-based startup RecBob. But now the company, one of 10 in the Nike+ Accelerator powered by TechStars, has shifted gears to become NextStep.io. The startup, which previously provided a management …

  • RecBob scores one of 10 spots in first Nike+ Accelerator in Portland

    Over the next three months, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, startup RecBob hopes to pick up its game. The team behind a recreational sports management app is one of 10 companies chosen to participate in the inaugural Nike+ Accelerator that kicked off today in Portland, RecBob founder John Schnipkoweit said Sunday. “They are giving the 10 companies…

  • Benefits that build passion and knowledge

    (Guest post by John Schnipkoweit.) I’d like to challenge every employee and employer to think about why they are really doing what they are doing. Employee benefits almost always focus on the employee’s quality of life, and in recent years, that’s included perks around the office as well. I think if we really want to…

  • SXSnippets: With Jock Jams and Red Bull in tow, RecBob hits the streets

    The home stretch – time to take what we’ve learned the previous three days and fine tune the machine. | 10 a.m. – Load up the RV and head downtown. This was our first morning to sleep (eight hours of sleep, more than double what most of us had gotten in the prior two weeks).…

  • Q&A: RecBob CEO discusses going full-time with Startup Weekend idea

    John Schnipkoweit (left), the co-founder and now former CTO of Ovation Networks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has gone full-time with an idea he first pitched at Startup Weekend Iowa City in October. And he’s not alone. “I’ve sold all of my shares in Ovation Networks to my co-founder,” Schnipkoweit said in an email interview on…

  • Prairie Moves: Adam Coomes, Karissa Tomsen, Doug Sisk and more

    Published Tuesdays and Thursdays (one day late this week), Prairie Moves keeps our readers informed about career moves, media coverage, product development and more from the companies and individuals we cover on Silicon Prairie News. If you or your company would like to submit one of the items below for our next Prairie Moves post,…