Doug Durham, co-founder and managing partner at Don’t Panic Labs (DPL), is stepping away from day-to-day operations effective Oct. 31, 2025. Acting as managing partner emeritus, he will take on a more advisory role for leadership.

DPL is a software engineering and innovation consulting company based in Lincoln that provides software development and design thinking solutions for early-stage startups and established companies alike. Durham co-founded DPL as the product development arm of Nebraska Global, the venture capital fund he started circa 2010 with Steve Kiene. 

While the fund has stopped making investments, DPL expanded in the mid-2010s to help businesses outside the Nebraska Global portfolio. Buying out Nebraska Global’s interest in 2022, DPL became a separate entity and celebrated its 15th anniversary this spring.  

Durham said his decision to step away was based more on his life journey rather than anything related to his motivation or “fire” working at DPL. Now 60 years old, he said he and his family have always had this time in mind for when he might make a career change. Specifically, Durham said he will now be able to access the health care benefits he earned for serving in the National Guard as a civil engineering staff officer earlier in his career.

“We prepared a whole leadership team over the last 10 years to be able to run the company when I was no longer present — which we always knew that would be the case as I’m quite a bit older than everybody else at the company,” Durham said. 

As part of Durham’s transition, the DPL leadership team is in the following roles:

• Bill Udell will serve as managing partner while continuing as chief operating officer
• Brian Zimmer will serve as chief strategy officer while continuing as chief product officer
• Lori McCarthy will serve as chief delivery officer
• Chad Michel will serve as chief technology officer
• Andy Unterseher will serve as chief engineer

“We have an amazing team at DPL, thanks to Doug’s leadership and the culture he’s built over the years,” Udell said in a press release. “His legacy of innovation and engineering discipline has laid a foundation that positions us for even greater success.”

Reflecting on his time at DPL, Durham said he was proud of helping foster a startup ecosystem in the state and seeing ideas talked about around lunch tables develop into working companies. Examples he listed include Ocuvera, EliteForm and Beehive — companies in the Nebraska Global portfolio. 

Identifying struggles, such as the recent reduction of staff at DPL, Durham said he was concerned about the potential defunding of Nebraska’s Business Innovation Act and what it can mean for the startups DPL works with. Still, he said he believed the company has a strong foundation for continuing to be a resource in the community: hosting events, collaborating with universities and helping businesses navigate new technologies such as artificial intelligence. 

While he was inspired to launch DPL to help local founders, software developers and creatives see that they didn’t have to leave Nebraska to build innovative companies, Durham said he doesn’t identify himself as an entrepreneur. Rather, he said he looked up to those who were visionaries and who could galvanize people forward on their goals.  

“I was an engineer, so there was a certain amount of risk aversion that I had,” Durham said. “But the one thing that I was willing to take leaps on was interesting experiences. 

“I think I’d like to go out and figure out what that next experience might be.”