Prairie Portraits is a weekly set of questions intended to help the community get to know someone from the Silicon Prairie startup scene a little bit better. Prairie Portraits feature a fixed set of questions ranging from career background and personal preferences to, perhaps, off-the-wall questions on YouTube videos and entrance music.
Name: Scott Siegert
Title/Occupation: Director of Client Services at BuilderTREND Solutions
Age: 33
Hometown: Omaha, Neb.
Current city: Omaha, Neb.
Twitter: None
Personal
Title of my autobiography: That’s a tough one to start with. I am a pretty straightforward person, so let’s call it “The Scott Siegert Experience”.
Thing I can’t live without: Hair dryer. Just kidding, I haven’t needed one of those in probably a decade. Probably my iPhone, it essentially runs my life.
Drink of choice: Odell Brewing Company 90 Schilling
Last book I read: Iacocca: An Autobiography
Ultimate road trip snack: Gatorade and beef jerky
Entrance song if I was a wrestler: “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by War. I borrowed that one from Homer Simpson.
Celebrity doppelgänger: Mark Strong
Guilty pleasure band and/or film: I really like any Tom Cruise movie from the early ‘80’s.
Chosen career in an alternate reality: Astronaut. Going to space would be awesome, and I don’t think I’ll be booking a flight with Richard Branson anytime soon.
Worst OCD tendency: I cannot pack for vacation unless all of my laundry is completely done.
Quote I might have said: “Electricity is really just organized lightning”
Which actor or actress, and why: Bill Murray, the guy cracks me up.
Favorite YouTube video: I would love to put something inspirational, but I am going to take the comedy route on this one. I love this clip because it shows a grown man overwhelmed with passion for his favorite NFL team, and I think it is hilarious (side note: the Buffalo Bills lost that game 52-17).
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Local
Best place in Omaha no one knows about: Most locals will know of it, but if you are visiting, and love music, pay Slowdown a visit. It is an intimate, but state of the art music venue that books awesome local and national talent.
Omaha’ obligatory tourist stop: The Henry Doorly Zoo
One thing Omaha has that other Silicon Prairie cities don’t: That is easy, the College World Series. If you ever get a chance to visit Omaha for that event, take advantage of it. You will not be disappointed.
Best thing going for Omaha’s startup community: Talented software developers. The local colleges/universities seem to be producing a lot of them, and they can do wonders for your company. I can tell you our software development team has been a game changer for us.
Last local restaurant I ate at: J. Coco
Best meal I’ve had in Omaha: Whiskey filet and bacon wrapped shrimp at The Drover.
Omaha would be better if… We had better public transportation, and more direct flights.
The Startup Scene
Social media pet peeve: Vague “woe is me” Facebook posts
App I’m obsessed with: iHeart Radio. I know it sounds boring, but I listen to local talk radio all the time.
Most comfortable startup T-shirt I own: My BuilderTREND shirts are the best. Super soft, and I have one in every color.
Something most people don’t know about me: I have a strong displeasure for Dr. Evil impersonations. I never tell anybody because as soon as I do, they do one. Hopefully nobody reads this interview because I am doomed.
Entrepreneur I most want to grab a drink with: Warren Buffett. He has done pretty well for himself, and I would imagine he could give me some sound advice.
I do what I do because… I love helping people. Most of our customers run small-to-medium size business and they rely on us to help them operate more efficiently. I find that to be extremely rewarding.
Before I was in startups… I spent my time after college in Colorado working as a bulk account sales rep for a soft drink distribution company.
If money wasn’t an object, my next company would be… Controlled nuclear fusion… high revenue ceiling.
The Silicon Prairie startup scene is missing… innovative hardware based startups doing things like home automation.
In five years, I’ll… still be working at BuilderTREND and loving every minute of it.
In five years, the Silicon Prairie… will have more national exposure with several more start-ups becoming household names.
