Meet Jeff Slobotski, Community Builder & Manager of Business and Ecosystem Development @ Paul G Smith Associates 

How would you describe the startup culture in Nebraska?

Re-emerging. I think the startup culture in the late 90s and early 2000s—when we initially started Silicon Prairie News and worked to build and connect the community—was emerging. And then COVID and other circumstances disrupted that. Over the last couple of years, I see a reemergence in the startup and entrepreneurial community here in Nebraska. And that’s exciting. 

To move forward, there needs to be greater connectivity and collaboration between the resources that are in the state at a macro level and boiling that down a little bit more on a micro level. For example, having the universities collaborate with one another, regardless of if they’re in Lincoln or UNMC or UNO. And then bringing into the fold students and entrepreneurs from Metro Community College and Creighton University. There needs to be collaboration amongst the universities here in the city and the state and greater collaboration amongst the investors that are here. And that’s happened. I think Nebraska Angels has done a tremendous job organizing and deploying capital resources toward startups. 

The community at a grassroots level needs to be supporting events regardless of where they’re at. If events are in Lincoln, folks are coming from Omaha or elsewhere to go support those events and vice versa. That doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a continual kind of progress towards those things. If we’re aware of what’s going on within each of the campuses and with each of the hubs, I think that just empowers us collectively as a startup ecosystem. 

How do you balance taking risks and making calculated decisions in pursuit of innovation?

I can’t recall who said it initially, but the answer is always “no” unless you ask. I think that kind of transcends any activity in life. In the early days of Silicon Prairie News and Big Omaha, if we didn’t ask somebody to support what we were doing—whether that was to come out to an event, or support Silicon Prairie News, or sponsor or speak at Big Omaha—well, sure, the answer was “no”. Collectively as a community, we felt empowered to take that risk because we knew that there were others with us going to make that leap.

It’s one of these things that if you feel like as an entrepreneurial ecosystem or as an individual founder, entrepreneur or creative that you have somebody that you can link arms with, it makes the risk far less scary. That’s why I feel that there’s a reemergence happening within the community. It’s this idea that I’m not alone. I don’t need to hop on the first plane out of the Midwest or out of Nebraska.

How do you define success and what metrics do you pay the most attention to?

You can look at the number of companies founded, successful exits and venture capital raised. But there’s this other intangible kind of energy within a community that you can feel being present. We can put out statistics for Nebraska, and for Omaha and Lincoln, that say we’re on an upward trend around again. Maybe it’s VC dollars invested in companies. Maybe it’s a number of companies that have been started. That signals to the outside community and world what we’re doing. But I also think there’s an element of a feeling that something exciting is happening within the community. People are rubbing shoulders and are aware of what each of these different hubs are doing. 

Success for me is to be able to see students today coming out of the university or young people within the community and within the state realizing, “Hey, there are others like me that maybe don’t fit the mold or that don’t fit in the box of what I was traditionally told to do, like go into banking, law or the medical fields.” It’s showing them that the community is here and is here for them today. Even my kiddos have this entrepreneurial mindset or vision to say, “Oh, I could be a graphic artist and put food on the table and pay rent.” You absolutely can.

It’s just so exciting to know that this community has played a role in shaping and changing so many people’s lives. It’s a sense of community pride. It’s this idea of saying, “Hey, just be proud of what we’re doing. Be proud of what we’re accomplishing and pushing out.” We don’t need to be bashful or shy about that. We need to tell others within the region and across the country and beyond about it too. 

What are the top one or two challenges / opportunities Nebraska startups face?

This has been a challenge for quite some time, but there is still a gap with that next level of funding or next stage of funding. I would say, at a high level, there are really good friends and family rounds up until maybe Series A. Once you get beyond that point, I think companies have to expand out, which is fine because I think a good company will be able to stand on their own and raise that capital, regardless if it’s here. 

I think before funding, I would say talent is a challenge. Are the universities focused on churning out the right talent for who these startups are looking for and for what roles they need? There have been some changes on that, but universities are slow to move to change the different kinds of courses and so forth that are more applicable to like a Workshop or the needs of a Hudl. That’s not a fault, it’s just how they’re developed.

There is also this idea of continuing to make sure we’re not getting siloed or in a box with what we’re doing. Let’s be aware of what is coming out of the Raikes School in Lincoln and how there may be overlapping opportunities to work with UNMC and what they’re doing at UNeMed. How can we bring all those resources together?

What is one emerging industry or technology that you believe will have a significant impact on the Nebraska startup ecosystem in the next few years?

I think AI robotics and autonomous vehicles wrapped together in the ag industry is really interesting. Seeing some of the things going on outstate in western Nebraska is intriguing. It’s so funny because, anecdotally, I’ve heard that farmers and ranchers maybe don’t say it, but they’re running tech businesses or have such a strong tech component in their business.

Here, particularly in Omaha with what UNMC is doing, how do we put Omaha on the map for health tech or biotech startups? I think it’s a real opportunity with the resources we have at UNMC.

What’s exciting about Nebraska is we have a couple of these verticals that we can play around with, overlaying technology on them, whether it be ag, finance or insurance. I mean, sports tech, to some extent, has been big in Nebraska and Lincoln with Opendorse and Hudl, which aren’t startups anymore. Seeing the success of Flywheel and now Workshop on the trajectory they’re going, how do we start to dial in what we’re really good at and double down on those industries?