What is Prairie Moves?
Published Tuesdays and Fridays, 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, please email editor@siliconprairienews.com. And if you have suggestions on how we could improve these posts or any of our coverage, please contact danny@siliconprairienews.com.
Ashton Kutcher’s A-Grade Investments invests in Dwolla, a media roundup
- Dwolla (Des Moines): “Please welcome Ashton, Ron, & Guy to Dwolla“
- SPN: “Ashton Kutcher, Dwolla confirm star’s involvement in Series B round” and “In new investor Kutcher, Dwolla sees an A-plus pitch and product man“
- Des Moines Register: “Ashton Kutcher Dwolla investment announced“, “Ashton Kutcher: Dwolla can only be built in Iowa“, “Tech scene sees potential in Ashton Kutcher’s Dwolla investment” and “Ashton Kutcher on Dwolla: “I want to build a killer (bleeping) company in Iowa” – Exclusive Register interview“
- KCCI Des Moines: “Ashton Kutcher invests in Iowa tech company” and “Updated: Ashton Kutcher invests in Iowa company“
- The Next Web: “Hollywood in Iowa, Ashton Kutcher and Dwolla confirm relationship“
- TechCocktail: “Why Ashton Kutcher invested in Dwolla [Video]“
- Startup City Des Moines: “Dwolla and Ashton Kutcher talk tech investments at StartupCity Des Moines“
- BetaBeat: “Was Ashton Kutcher High Being Really Dumb During This Interview About Dwolla?“
- Associated Press: “Kutcher invests in flat fee tech startup Dwolla“
- Portfolio.com: “Ashton Kutcher Backs Iowa Startup“
- CNBC: “Ashton Kutcher Invests in Iowa-Based Dwolla“
- Bank Technology News: “Dude, Where’s My Alternative Payments Provider?“
- VentureBeat: “Wait, Ashton Kutcher might actually be a smart investor“
Career Moves
- Dwolla (Des Moines) hired two New York employees, Alex Taub and Michael Schonfeld, with plans to open a New York office – Alex Taub blog, Business Insider, The Next Web, Des Moines Register, BetaBeat, PandoDaily and PE Hub
- Sam Duregger, formerly of Dwolla (Des Moines), announced he’ll be moving to Utah to work for welikesmall as an Interactive Producer – Sam Duregger blog
- Meg Schlemmer and Allen Brown joined QA Graphics (Ankeny, Iowa) as a graphic outsourcing specialists, and Blake Pinneke was named the company’s senior account executive for its interactive and multimedia design services – Press Release
New Creative
- Oxide Design (Omaha) redesigned Maha Music Festival’s website – mahamusicfestival.com
Product/Business Development and Milestones
- Front Flip (Overland Park, Kan.) launched nationally – Press Release and Kansas City Business Journal
- FormZapper (Kansas City) rolled out a “significant update” to its user interface – FormZapper blog
- Tikly (Des Moines) is one-year old today – twitter.com/tikly
Mentions
- Startup Weekend Kansas City – SPN, Think Big Kansas City: “My Startup Weekend Kansas City Recap: Pictures, Summaries and an Inside-Look at Every Team“, Tom Jenkins blog: “Kansas City Startup Weekend 5” (Photos), Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce: “04/13/12: Start-Up Weekend Kansas City” and TutHopper Press Release
- Hack Omaha – SPN, Omaha World-Herald: “From idea to app in one weekend” and Andrew Kirpalani: “With OpenIowa Approaching, An Open Set of Observations from HackOmaha…“
- MindMixer (Omaha) – The Atlantic: “Making a Game Out of Town Hall Meetings“
- Zapier (Columbia, Mo.) – Columbia Tribune: “Local tech startup seeing success“
- Torsion Mobile (Des Moines) – Startup America: “Five Startup Questions Answered by today’s featured startup, Torsion Mobile“
- i2iowa (Des Moines) – Des Moines Register: “Startup America CEO lauds Iowa“
- Oohly (Leawood, Kan.) – Forbes: “Oohly Wants To Kill The TV Commercial Forever“
- Friendcaster by OneLouder (Kansas City, Mo.) – Android Authority: “FriendCaster for Facebook: Better and faster than official app“
- Nebraska Entrepreneur: “UNL Law Professor to Present During Crowdfunding Webinar”
Gig Bits
Gig Bits is an occasional feature keeping our readers up to speed on Google Fiber. Read Gig Bits.
Thanks to our sponsor
- Kansas City Star: “Google road crews out in Kansas City“
Blogged
- Jack Perry of Syncbak (Marion, Iowa): “Developed with Studios“
- StartupCity Des Moines: “Is there a day in the life of StartupCity Des Moines“
- Tej Dhawan of StartupCity Des Moines: “Entrepreneurship in the Arts“
Misc.
- Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle: “I’ve proclaimed #4sqDay in #Omaha! Take time to explore all that our city has to offer & don’t forget to check in!” – twitter.com/jimsuttle
- Iowa Lt. Gov. Reynolds backs StartupIowa’s OpenIowa competition – Press Release, Des Moines Register and StartupIowa blog
- Kate Washut of Far Reach Technologies (Cedar Falls, Iowa) was named one of five University of Northern Iowa (UNI) College of Business Administration’s distinguished Alumni in Residence for 2012 – Press Release
- University of Missouri (Columbia, Mo.): “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Network Growing at University of Missouri“
Credits: Photo by Todd Razor of Des Moines
