About the author: Erica Wassinger is principal of erw public relations, a boutique firm based in Omaha. She works with a handful of e-commerce startups and venture capitalists. She also is a mentor for Straight Shot, Omaha’s first tech accelerator program.
Typically, banks try to prevent hackers from entering their systems. But later this month, First National Bank of Omaha and Straight Shot are inviting them in.
The nation’s largest privately owned banking company and Omaha’s first-ever tech accelerator parent company will host the Code One Hackathon to develop a crowdsourcing application that will ultimately put more decision power into First National customers’ hands.
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The bank-sponsored hackathon will begin—Red Bull flowing—on Friday, Sept. 27 and last through Sunday, Sept. 29. The teams will take over the entire First National Tower Wintergarden and onlookers are invited to stop by throughout the 48-hour period.
“This hackathon is a game changer for the Omaha community and for First National Bank,” said Faith Larson, managing director of Straight Shot. “We’re confident that the student and professional teams signed up and yet to sign up will wow the whole region with their development skills and will create something that truly sets First National apart.”
Sweetening the deal for teams is the prize money associated with a Code One win. First-place winners will go home with $10,000—to be split amongst the team—while second-place winners will receive $2,000 and third place will take home $1,000.
First National has a long history of investing in Omaha startups and the tech community, most notably its early investment in TD Ameritrade—a Fortune 500 company that is hardly in startup mode.
“First National Bank is honored to have the opportunity to host this exceptional event,” said James Cole, a senior vice president at First National. “It brings together our history of innovation with our interest in helping to develop new companies and new ideas, resulting in an exciting new way to bring financial services to our customers.”
More than half of the available seats at Code One have already been filled and only five team spots remain. Some of the participating developers are joining the hackathon from as far away as Arizona, California and Washington. Others teams are comprised of students from the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Peter Kiewit Institute.
Larson says organizers are actively recruiting teams from the University of Nebraska’s Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, Creighton and other area schools.
To register for the event, visit the Code One Hackathon website.
Credits: Image from CodeOneOmaha.com.
