June 2012

  • Prairie Portrait: Jason Arnold of NeighborWorks America

    Silicon Prairie News: In your short time with NeighborWorks America, what have you witnessed as far as what entrepreneurship can mean to a community in terms of the creation of jobs and wealth? | Jason Arnold: NeighborWorks is a very well regarded organization in the field of Community Development. Historically, the conversation has been about…

  • Congratulations to Slowdown on five amazing years

    It’s hard to believe but Saddle Creek Records’ physical manifestation, Slowdown, in Omaha’s North Downtown district just turned five years old. Slowdown began in 2000 as an idea to start a rock venue, the club’s website explains. Jason Kulbel and Robb Nansel first sought to renovate a space in downtown Omaha to give the city…

  • Watch Social Money’s demo of GoalSaver at Finovate (Video)

    We’ve covered Social Money and its GoalSaver product fairly frequently in recent months, but when Social Money co-founder Michael Ferrari and president Scott McCormack stepped on stage last month at Finovate Spring 2012 in San Francisco, they provided another spin on GoalSaver, a white-label social savings product offered by the West Des Moines-based company. GoalSaver,…

  • Events: TechBrew Des Moines and Lincoln UX Meetup

    Every Monday, look for our events post to keep you in the loop on the happenings of the week. From meetups and conferences to workshops and pitch sessions, if it’s happening in the Silicon Prairie, you’ll find it here. For more, visit our events page for a calendar of upcoming events from us and others…

  • One Week KC aims to promote city’s big entrepreneurial aspirations

    It’s a week so chock-full of entrepreneurial activity that it can’t be contained to just seven days. One Week KC, a series of events designed to inspire, educate and connect Kansas City entrepreneurs, kicks off June 18 and runs through June 26, featuring nine days of events aimed at celebrating and raising the profile of…

  • BIZ Insights: Tej Dhawan discusses product development (Video)

    Business Innovation Zone in Des Moines, led by Mike Colwell, holds an educational luncheon for entrepreneurs in Central Iowa. Titled “Business Insights and Networking Luncheon Series,” each event features a speaker from the Des Moines community with either expertise or thought leadership in an area that’s applicable to people working on building high growth and…

  • Omahans holding San Francisco meetup Monday, first day of WWDC

    Following Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) opening day in Moscone West on Monday, Omahans and other Silicon Prairie people attending the event – or happen to find themselves in San Francisco for whatever reason – are invited to a meetup three blocks northwest at the Press Club of San Francisco (20 Yerba Buena Lane)…

  • Sunday Video: All you need is love

    During graduation season, we turn our Sunday Video Series to the notable commencement speeches happening on college campuses throughout the country — this one is a throwback with a timeless message. “Many people measure their success in the amount of minutes they get to speak with John Doerr,” said Rice University President David Leebron in…

  • What I learned in Boulder

    This week Tej Dhawan, Andy Stoll, Amanda Styron, and I trekked from Iowa to Boulder Colorado for the Startup America Partnership Regional Leaders Summit to represent StartupIowa. Over the two days, the SUAP team and our peer regions (states) were relentless in sharing best practices and programs that they have developed to build their entrepreneurial…

  • Weekly Startup Links: ‘Values vs. Vibe’ and more

    Every day I comb through my Google Reader reading sites like Hacker News and others, and star articles that are especially interesting about startups, entrepreneurship and miscellany.