Set Your Sites, a Lincoln-based startup in the camping technology space, recently raised $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round. Co-founder and CEO Stacy Dam said she and her team plan to use the cash infusion to continue product development, grow their staff in sales and marketing and expand their client reach across the United States. 

Dam said Invest Nebraska led the round with significant support contributed by Nelnet, MOVE Venture Capital, Nebraska Angels and other Nebraska-based investors. 

“To get another couple of years to grow and build this business is pretty exciting,” said Dam. “Because we were just an idea on a page.”

Forming the LLC in 2023, Set Your Sites began by offering QR codes to allow campers to claim and pay for walk-up campsites without having to carry cash or physical checks. This solution also enabled campers and park workers alike to have real-time information on walk-up campsite availability that metal drop-off boxes and other traditional payment methods could not track effectively. In response to customer feedback, Dam said they expanded their services to include a comprehensive campsite reservation system and a solution for outdoor WiFi access for campers. 

According to the company’s website, Set Your Sites is currently active at more than 388 campsites with over 235 locations waiting in the onboarding pipeline. Dam said the startup is currently active in Nebraska and North Dakota. So far the company has secured clients through a combination of cold calling prospects, leveraging connections across Nebraska’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and networking at state tourism conferences. 

She added that Set Your Sites has a goal of integrating into 1,000 campsites by the end of this season. 

Education to entrepreneurship

Dam said the “leap” to becoming an entrepreneur — likely experienced by most startup founders — was seeing a problem that impacted her and wanting to find a way to fix it. 

Originally a Spanish teacher with the ambition of pursuing a career in higher education administration, Dam said her family fell in love with camping during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s when she and her husband, and co-founder, discovered the frustrations that came with walk-up campsite availability. After a near-death experience on a bike ride, Dam said she was inspired to change her direction in life and follow her new mission of helping more people experience the outdoors. 

“I was very comfortable in the world of education. I knew that community,” said Dam. “Getting into entrepreneurship [was] a little scary because it was a whole other side of Lincoln that I had no clue about.”

Dam said she started out by meeting with university-affiliated programs, such as the Business Model Canvas course through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Business and NUtech Ventures. These initial connections led to other resources in the state that Dam utilized for moving her startup from an idea to a business. 

Set Your Sites has since become a NMotion Accelerator Fall 2024 cohort member, a 2025 LaunchLNK Grant Program recipient and a winner of the 2024 Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) Business Awards. 

Clients are happy campers

Set Your Sites has made traction with local, established organizations like the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District (NRD) and the Nebraska State Fair. 

Keaton Irwin, sales director for the Nebraska State Fair, said he and fair staff operate campgrounds for about two months each year, serving around 600 campers over a three-week period surrounding the event. Irwin said he was intrigued by the idea of using a more reliable and streamlined system than the Microsoft Excel sheet that they previously used to track campsite reservations internally.  

Irwin said they launched their new reservation system via Set Your Sites earlier in 2025 following several months of discussions. He said the integration process has been smooth and overall beneficial. 

“We have campers that are anywhere from 20 years old all the way up to…I think last year we had a 93-year-old,” said Irwin. “We haven’t had any complaints about the technology side of it.”

“It’s just been honestly one of the best things that’s happening to our campground because it takes all the stress off of us,” he added. 

Eric Gottschalk, general manager with the Lower Platte North NRD, agreed that Dam and her staff have been collaborative throughout the tech and service incorporation process — listening to their needs. 

“They understand camping,” said Gottschalk. “They understand the process.”