The Ecosystem Project: Part One

Introducing the SPN Ecosystem Project

The SPN Ecosystem Project is a new multimedia series tracing key players, startups and events that have shaped Nebraska’s entrepreneurial landscape since the early 2000s. The series blends SPN’s archival content with new reporting to explore how the ecosystem has evolved, and the individuals who helped build it.

Our first story spotlights Brittany Mascio, whose work with Silicon Prairie News, Big Omaha and the Omaha Comedy Fest has been instrumental in fostering a sense of community and connection within Nebraska’s startup and creative community. From her early days as an intern at Silicon Prairie News, Mascio helped shape some of the most influential startup events, creating spaces where entrepreneurs and creatives could connect, share ideas and collaborate.

Events have played a critical role in growing the ecosystem from the very beginning at Tweetups—when people who knew one another from Twitter (now X) would get together to meet IRL, the first BarCamp (2008) and Big Omaha (2009). Since then, the number and frequency of events has increased exponentially, and spread beyond Omaha and Lincoln to other parts of the state.

This article is a multimedia piece. Throughout, there will be audio clips from interviews, archived photos, new photos, links to past articles and drop down boxes to read more information and to read audio transcripts.

The Start: Silicon Prairie News and Big Omaha

Brittany Mascio’s journey into Nebraska’s startup ecosystem began at Creighton University, where she studied public relations and journalism. In 2011, she started interning at Silicon Prairie News before becoming the event coordinator, which opened her up to the startup world.

Mascio was encouraged to apply to SPN by her advisor at Creighton, Carol Zuegner, Ph.D. This encouragement set her on the path to becoming a key figure in Omaha’s entrepreneurial scene. 

From the Silicon Prairie News archive: Help us welcome our summer intern, Brittany, Help us welcome Brittany to the full-time SPN team! and an introduction to our JT-loving Event Director

Mascio’s early role at Silicon Prairie News involved writing content and assisting with events, particularly the Big Omaha conference. This conference, which started in 2009, quickly became one of the Midwest’s most influential gatherings for entrepreneurs. 

“I was content and events intern, and then I was getting ready to graduate the same week that Big Omaha was happening. It was like the most insane time of my life,” Mascio said.  

“From there, I was like, I want to stay on. This is the coolest thing happening in Omaha.”

Mascio said at that time she was one of a small number of women in the startup community, which led her to form meaningful connections to other women in the scene.

Audio Transcript

So I got into Silicon Prairie News as an intern. And they did kind of a pretty bold call for interns. I remember my advisor at Creighton—Carol Zuegner, who was a huge, huge supporter of startups and getting journalism students involved in startups—she pushed me to apply for the internship.

I remember her feedback on it, she was like, this isn’t cool enough, you can do better. She pushed me to do a second revision. They were looking for an intern who would like hop through fire or some sort of really wild, early internet of the time. Like they’re wanting to find someone interested in the internet and interested in events and creating a unique experience and that was very cool for me.

This idea of very intentional design around events and storytelling was very interesting to me. So I started as an intern and I wrote, and then I also kind of worked on the Big Omaha event as it came about. 

I was a content and events intern. And then when I was getting ready to graduate the same week that Big Omaha was happening, I was graduating that same weekend. It was the most insane time of my life. And from there, I was like, I want to stay on. This is the coolest thing happening in Omaha. 

It brings this mix of innovation and arts and culture and there was some wave of connection. And I thought it was the coolest thing in Omaha, and I said, if I’m going to be here, I want to be a part of this.

I worked very hard and I was like, hi, you should hire me full-time and they’re like, we’re a baby startup and I said, okay, fine. I’ll work in this like rickety little house, because at the time we were in a house off Leavenworth Street and then we moved into the Mastercraft building and we were the first, one of the first people in the Mastercraft building many, many years ago. I love that it’s developing now, but I’m like, come on, we are in the first wave of that. So it feels, it feels special still to me. 

“It brings this mix of innovation and arts and culture, and there was some wave of connection, and I thought it was the coolest thing in Omaha.”Brittany Mascio

The History of Silicon Prairie News

Click here to read more

Silicon Prairie News (SPN) was founded in 2008 to shine a spotlight on the growing startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Midwest, particularly in Nebraska. At a time when much of the national conversation around startups focused on the coasts, SPN sought to tell the untold stories of innovation happening in America’s heartland, helping to put the “Silicon Prairie” on the map.

SPN began as a blog, founded by Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson, who recognized the need for a platform that highlighted the efforts of local entrepreneurs and startups in the region. Initially focused on Omaha and Lincoln, the publication quickly expanded its coverage to include stories from across the Midwest. With its mix of in-depth feature articles, interviews, event coverage and startup news, Silicon Prairie News became a go-to resource for founders, investors and community builders interested in the region’s entrepreneurial landscape.

Prairie Portraits: Jeff Slobotski

When Mascio joined the team, five people were involved: Mascio, Jeff Wood, Danny Schreiber, Dusty Davidson and Jeff Slobotski. Mascio called this team the “Scrappy team from the kitchen.”

One of the most impactful aspects of SPN’s work was its role in launching and promoting events like Big Omaha. Established in 2009, Big Omaha became one of the Midwest’s most influential startup conferences, drawing entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders from nationwide. Through its reporting and community-building efforts, SPN helped create a sense of collaboration and shared purpose among the region’s startups.

The platform also played a key role in raising awareness about the resources and opportunities available to entrepreneurs in the Midwest. It served as a place for information about local accelerators, incubators, venture capital opportunities and mentorship programs, making it easier for startups to navigate the often-challenging early stages of development.

SPN was not just about reporting the news; it was about building a community. Through events, meetups and partnerships, SPN actively engaged with the entrepreneurial ecosystem it covered, helping to connect founders, investors and creative professionals. Its presence contributed to a broader narrative that the Midwest, often considered “flyover country”, was home to a vibrant and growing innovation economy.

Over the years, SPN expanded its influence by hosting events like Big Kansas City and Big Des Moines, mirroring the success of Big Omaha. Though these expansions faced challenges, SPN remained a key voice in the region’s startup community. 

In 2015, AIM Institute acquired SPN and continued reporting on the Midwest startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem—SPN acquired by AIM Institute.

In 2023, the AIM Institute gifted Silicon Prairie News and its archive to the Nebraska Journalism Trust. “The AIM Institute, which has stewarded the outlet for years, has gifted the name and the archive so the Nebraska Journalism Trust can continue to carry the torch for the news source and its audience.” We’re joining the Nebraska Journalism Trust.

Today, Silicon Prairie News continues to be a vital resource, chronicling the growth and evolution of Nebraska’s entrepreneurial ecosystem while maintaining its mission to highlight innovation beyond the traditional startup hubs.

Building community

Big Omaha wasn’t just a startup event—One of the defining aspects of Big Omaha and Mascio’s work at Silicon Prairie News was the intentional focus on community-building. 

From the beginning, Mascio was dedicated to making Big Omaha more than just a startup conference. It was designed to be a space where meaningful connections were formed and where people from diverse industries and backgrounds could come together.

Mascio was committed to ensuring that attendees felt seen, heard and part of something larger. Early in her work with Big Omaha, she developed effective tools, such as Twitter lists and flashcards, to help her remember key details about participants and make personal connections with attendees. 

“I remember writing down flashcards… I was not selling anything other than the goodwill of quality connection, which I think was just very beautiful in a very earnest way,” Mascio said. 

This personalized attention to community-building wasn’t just about logistics—it was about fostering human connections and ensuring that people walked away from the event feeling supported. 

Mascio’s in-depth interest in the entrepreneurs attending Big Omaha reflected her desire to create an environment where risk-taking and creativity were celebrated. She was interested in the entrepreneurs she was talking to because “what they were doing was kind of brave and also foolish, but beautiful.”

In addition to her efforts at Big Omaha, Mascio was involved in several other community-building events that complemented the conference. 

One was BarCamp, an unconference format that allowed attendees to present and engage in informal sessions. Mascio describes BarCamp as a “a great point of feedback for me, just to say, like, Oh, what are people enjoying? How can we buddy up? How can we collaborate?”

Another initiative was 1 Million Cups, which originated from the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City and was brought to Omaha through connections made by Silicon Prairie News and Big Omaha. Mascio recalls how these events helped strengthen ties across the Midwest startup scene.

She was also involved in organizing the Silicon Prairie Job Crawl, an event designed to connect students with startups in a fun, accessible way.

In addition to these events, Mascio played a key role in organizing the Silicon Prairie News Awards, which recognized and celebrated the achievements of entrepreneurs and startups from the previous year. “The awards event was a way to culminate and celebrate all of the different things that had happened throughout the year,” she said, emphasizing the importance of showcasing the stories that had been published by Silicon Prairie News.

Finally, Startup Weekends were another staple in the ecosystem, providing entrepreneurs with a high-intensity environment to develop their ideas. Mascio mentions that her colleague, Michael Stacy, was dedicated to covering these events, which often played a crucial role in bringing together the region’s emerging founders.

What set Mascio’s efforts apart was her ability to create immersive, memorable experiences that fostered genuine interaction. “Bringing people together and having face-to-face conversations, getting together in a bar and having a beer… creating different settings and experiences led to actual conversations off screens,” she says, 

Looking back, Mascio says it wasn’t about the scale of the event but the quality of the connections and the impact those interactions had on attendees. “I don’t know how to code, but I can tell you the user experience of an event, and I can connect you to the other lone founder who needs a buddy… That, to me, felt meaningful and human.”

Audio Transcript

I think the idea that we were always kind of playing host made my role feel very important because I wanted to know who was on the guest list, who they represented.

If they’re a founder, if they were working on a new project, who they needed to be connected to kind of helped me feel like I was a matchmaker. And that felt really important because I came into the startup world, I came into this because of the storytelling element, like the narrative around our entrepreneurs and that’s the closest to entertainment that I felt I could get while I was in Omaha. 

The storytelling aspect of it, the media that we were able to create of that. We worked with Malone and Company to create really thoughtful pieces. And not only just on the photography side, but also on the video side. We were able to have really candid conversations with the founders who would hit the stage. That was cool to me. That felt really cool. 

It felt really innovative, at the time, the people who were working on projects like that were all in the same room. They were all in Kaneko. I was part of the group that brought everyone together in that very creative, innovative space that touched startup and internet and all of this stuff.

That was really interesting for me to find a niche in there and to know that, oh, hey, I don’t know how to code and I don’t really know UX design on a computer. But I can tell you the user experience of an event and I can connect you to the other lone founder who needs a buddy who can use your expertise, and you can bounce off of each other. That to me felt meaningful and human. And I think sometimes in the startup world, it doesn’t always feel like that. So that’s kind of a fun piece that I got to provide.

Now—Omaha Comedy Fest

After years of helping build Nebraska’s startup ecosystem through Silicon Prairie News and Big Omaha, Mascio has moved out of Nebraska and is in California. However, since moving, she has retained her passion for community building in Nebraska. 

She is now channeling her community-building expertise into a new venture: Omaha Comedy Fest. As co-producer of the festival, she says she sees this project as an opportunity to continue contributing to the city she loves while branching out into a new artistic space.

Mascio said the Omaha Comedy Fest feels like a natural extension of her previous work, but with an entrepreneurial twist—a debut.

“In a lot of ways, I feel like what I created back in the day has legs here in a very meaningful way that still feels like I’m doing this to serve my community and to serve Omaha, a city that I love and a place that I believe in,” Mascio said. 

The festival allows Mascio to bring together local and national talent, much like she did with Big Omaha, but now in the realm of comedy and entertainment.

Mascio’s vision for the Omaha Comedy Fest is more than laughs—it’s about creating a space where comics can grow, and the Omaha community can experience something unique and exciting. 

Day in the life photo slideshow at Omaha Comedy Fest with Mascio

“I think it’s just a double whammy,” she explains, “because you can serve people who are comics and who want to learn entertainment, who want to write for television, who want to be represented in different ways because of their internet content or the stories they’re telling… You can go to small venues and see really big people drop in. That’s the fun; that’s what keeps it cute.”

This new chapter is as much about giving back to Omaha as it is about building a new artistic community. “What makes me proud of Omaha is something that makes me feel like I want to keep contributing to the success of my hometown because it feels very much a responsibility,” Mascio said. 

Having been on the ground floor of Omaha’s startup ecosystem, Mascio now feels that same drive to foster the city’s cultural and artistic growth.

Despite the challenges of organizing a festival on a tight budget, Mascio believes that Omaha needs events like the Omaha Comedy Fest. “Omaha loves that, and they need it,” she explains. “It makes sense for me to be a part of that in the comedy scene because it’s fun, and Omaha needs a little laugh.”

Through the Omaha Comedy Fest, Mascio continues her mission of bringing people together, fostering community, and highlighting Omaha’s potential as a hub for innovation and entertainment.

Audio Transcript

I think one thing that’s really cool for me now is that I am working on the Omaha Comedy Fest. And as a co-producer of the Omaha Comedy Fest, I feel like this is my entrepreneurial debut in a lot of ways.

I feel like what I created back in the day has legs here in a very meaningful way that still feels like I’m doing this to serve my community and to serve Omaha and a city that I love and a place that I believe in. I think that right now I am exploring something and providing a lot of those enlightening points and artistic connections and relational connections back to a city that I would love to help grow and be a part of the evolution. Seeing that makes me proud of Omaha, it’s something that makes me feel like I want to keep contributing to the success of my hometown, because it feels very much of a responsibility in some way. 

I feel like I spent my 20s really working to have something meaningful and intentional and I was on the ground floor of something that was swelling for our city. We were very buzzy. It was very innovative. There was a freshness to it and I think discovering that in a different city and bringing what I can find back to my hometown feels very important to me. 

I think it’s something that I wanted when I was the young YP who was like screaming for more Big Omahas to happen and to have more of those Maha experiences and to be a part of this independent arts and culture that happens in pockets all over the country. To be able to contribute to that now in bridging some of those national gaps, I think is cool. 

It feels very much like what I was providing with Big Omaha, connecting founders and startups with people from the coast who were coming in with different perspectives. And I think the collaborative point that happened over the weekend feels like what I am doing for comedy, for local performers, for audiences in Omaha. 

I think it’s a double whammy because you can serve people who are comics and who want to learn entertainment who want to write for television who want to be represented in different ways because of their internet content, or what they’re creating and the stories that they’re telling. And then it’s like Omaha: What’s up? You can go to small venues. You can see really big people drop in, that’s the fun. That’s what keeps it cute.

That’s kind of that whimsical ambition that was around Big Omaha and I think that Omaha loves that and they need it. And it makes sense for me to be a part of that in the comedy scene because it’s fun, and Omaha needs a little laugh.

“I feel like what I created back in the day has legs here in a very meaningful way that still feels like I’m doing this to serve my community and to serve Omaha…”Brittany Mascio

Ahead

As the SPN Ecosystem Project unfolds, we’ll explore the individuals, startups and events that have shaped Nebraska’s entrepreneurial landscape over the past two decades. From the early days of grassroots events like Big Omaha to the new initiatives sprouting up across the state, our goal is to trace the evolution of this vibrant community and the people driving it forward.

Next, we highlight Rick Knudtson, co-founder and CEO of Workshop, whose roots touch all parts of the startup ecosystem in Nebraska. He also started as an intern in the early days of SPN.

Stay tuned as we explore the stories of other local founders, startups and events that have influenced the region’s entrepreneurial landscape.