Mark Carson

  • On entrepreneur tour, IdeaMensch finds variety, passion in Omaha

    Four guys in a Honda Element rolled into Omaha on Friday afternoon, 31 days into a four-month, 48-state entrepreneur tour across the country. In some ways, their eastern Nebraska excursion was exactly like any of the 50 stops they’re making throughout the U.S. between early July and late October. In other ways, it had a…

  • Embrace the bootstrap…and start pulling!

    (Guest post by Mark Carson.) We’ve all heard of the bootstrap startup, but is bootstrapping exclusive to the startup? What becomes of the bootstrap startup when it “grows up”? One of the key characteristics of a bootstrap business is it’s inclination to build vs. buy. Out of sheer necessity, this characteristic is engrained into most…

  • Elkhorn-based Fat Brain Toys wins $20K, trip to Facebook HQ

    Fat Brain Toys, you’ve just been chosen from among 11,000 companies as one of five winners of the Big Break for Small Business contest. What are you going to do next? Why, they’re going to Facebook land, of course. Fat Brain, based in Elkhorn, Neb., was announced Monday as one of five winners of a…

  • Fat Brain Toys vying for votes to win Facebook prize package

    An Omaha-area business is one of 10 companies that have been chosen from more than 11,000 entrants to vie for a social media makeover from Facebook and a $20,000 prize. Elkhorn-based Fat Brain Toys will compete against nine other companies for one of five trips to Facebook headquarters for a two-day social media training session…