March 21st – 26th will mark the first-ever Omaha Startup Week. The week will include 60+ events focused on five tracks. SPN sat down with one of the event organizers, Erica Wassinger of the Omaha Startup Collaborative.

SPN: What can people expect to see at Omaha Startup Week?

EW: There will be five tracks for the event: youth track, the founder track, the corporate innovation track, the technology track and the marketing and sales track.

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• The youth track aims to engage high school-aged students and inspire them to consider careers in technology, and to spark an interest in entrepreneurship.
• The founder track is intended to provide resources, connections, tools and tactics to help entrepreneurs succeed.
• The corporate innovation track will focus on how some of our larger companies can effectively innovate and use startup methodologies to further their businesses.
• The technology track will bring together the best of our coding community and spotlight their efforts.
• The marketing and sales track will offer tools, resources and content to help acquire and maintain customers in this digital era.

SPN: Where will Omaha Startup Week take place?

EW: Each track will have six to eight events beneath it. Those events will happen across the city, and will be held by people and organizations from all over Omaha. So at any given day there could be five or six events happening. Ultimately, there are going to be a lot of opportunities for people to join based on their interests, passions and curiosities.

SPN: Why do you think this event will be so significant for Omaha?

EW: Omaha has a very vibrant and interesting/ giving startup ecosystem. However, as a community we’ve never band together and held something that’s across the city. It’s a really great opportunity for all of us to celebrate the hard work and show off the entrepreneurial talent we have here. Meanwhile, inviting others to engage with our startup ecosystem.

SPN: How can readers get involved?

EW: Most of the events will be free. We hope to gather and inspire 1,000 people through this first startup week. We will launch the calendar of events in February. Readers can sign up for more information at Omaha.startupweek.co.

We’re still looking for several co-organizers. Many people have already raised their hands to help lead and oversee certain events and categories, but we need more. Anyone who has interest or expertise in those 5 categories can get in contact with me by email at erica@omahaexchange.co.

SPN: What else should we know about Omaha Startup Week?

EW: There are also a ton of other community events happening that week that people should get excited about such as the Get Started Omaha Cox event and AIM Infotec. There will also be dozens of other smaller events such as lean startup circle meetups and corporate innovation panels and discussions. Now is the time to schedule your startup-related event to make sure it’s included in the first-ever Omaha Startup Week Calendar.

Omaha startup week is sponsored by AIM Institute, Cox Business, Dundee Venture capital, Ervin & Smith, and RSM.