Meet Todd Smith, Founder and CEO @ Symphony Workforce

Symphony Workforce seeks to tackle career discovery among young professionals and talent acquisition among employers. Its primary solution is Find the Why! (FTW!), a gamified platform that offers students and young people the opportunity to solve real-world problems posed by businesses and organizations in order to discover career paths, earn scholarships and build professional connections. 

What inspired you to become an entrepreneur or support other entrepreneurs?

My career began in technology and global education, but I quickly realized corporate America wasn’t moving fast enough to meet the changing needs of students and employees. Workforce development had systemic gaps, and I felt called to build a solution. 

With just enough resources, a strong network and an extraordinary team, I founded Symphony Workforce Foundation and our FTW! platform. My advice to new entrepreneurs: Pick a big, urgent problem, start with a slice of it and design your solution so it stays relevant as times change.

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to when you were just starting out?

Surround yourself with people smarter than you — people who challenge your ideas and hold the highest ethical standards. And be selective with your clients in the early growth phase. The right partners accelerate progress; the wrong ones can drain resources and compromise your mission.

How do you stay motivated when things feel overwhelming — or stagnant?

I am process-driven, not outcome-driven. That mindset keeps me steady through both highs and lows. My faith grounds me and gives me the perseverance to focus on long-term transformation rather than short-term setbacks.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome and how did you overcome it?

The boldest decision we made came five years ago. We built FTW! from scratch — not for “that” day’s needs, but for the workforce needs five years in the future. It required conviction and sacrifice, but today our platform is fully aligned with the workforce priorities dominating headlines. I am grateful to my team, my mentors, my family and most importantly, my faith, which carried me through.

How can the Nebraska community support you?

Nebraska has already shown remarkable leadership. We are grateful for partners such as Nebraska Medicine, Clarkson College, Methodist College, Bryan College, Northeast Community College, AGC Nebraska Building Chapter, OPPD, Signature Performance, Hawkins Construction and school districts across the state including Omaha Public Schools, Chadron, Battle Creek, Gross Catholic and Norfolk Catholic.

Looking ahead, our most significant milestone is the Greater Omaha Chamber’s decision to make FTW! a core tool for its 3,000 member companies. Together, we are building a direct bridge for Nebraska’s high school graduates who either leave higher education early or enter the workforce right after graduation. 

With Omaha Public Schools, we are now entering Phase Two of adoption: scaling paid micro-internships and apprenticeships, offering more than 100 micro-credentials across 15 industries, administering five industry-valued workforce assessments and providing verified background and immunization screening. Every step of this journey is documented in an auto-generated, third-party-verified digital resume for each student.

This effort positions Nebraska as a national leader in youth workforce development. What we need now is for the public, private and philanthropic sectors to come together around this effort — so we can recruit, train and retain Nebraska’s young people in Nebraska’s communities and companies.