Workshop, a Nebraska-based startup that offers internal communications solutions for optimizing employee engagement, announced in October that it has surpassed 100 employees. Still growing, the company plans to expand its headquarters at Millwork Commons in Omaha and officially launch a new office in Dublin, Ireland, in 2026. 

Workshop started in 2020 and has developed its email platform to offer a range of tools to streamline the process of crafting, distributing, analyzing and improving the internal messaging of an organization. Clients include Fortune 500 companies and brands such as Papa John’s, Steve Madden and Northern Tool. 

Workshop Co-founder and COO Derek Homann said the company’s latest milestones come as it approaches its official five-year anniversary on Feb. 1, 2026. The company started with a team of six. Workshop leadership has deep ties to the Nebraska startup ecosystem, with its co-founders having previous experience scaling local startups Median and Flywheel to acquisition. 

Homann noted Workshop’s further dive into its AI-related features and the launch of a new product called Journeys, which gives users the ability to automate sending pre-planned messages. Workshop completed a $12M Series A round in 2023, with an additional $7M raised earlier this year, according to databases Crunchbase and Pitchbook. 

Homann did not provide details about the $7M raise, but he said Workshop is “a very well-capitalized business” and is continuing to determine the best strategies for “growing both efficiently and quickly.”

In a breakdown provided by Workshop, the expansion work on the company’s Millwork Commons headquarters will begin in January. The project will add 14,500 square feet to the existing 10,000-square-foot office in the Ashton building, including nine conference rooms, 10 call rooms and 156 workstations. 

The Dublin office is located in a local coworking hub and opened for the first two hires back in September. Workshop plans to officially launch the office in 2026, with the space having the potential to accommodate four to eight people initially and the ability to expand.

Homann said 15% to 20% of the company’s customer base is in Europe. The Dublin office, he said, will help the company better serve their needs, be more present without worrying about time zone differences and potentially tap into more of the European market. He also said Dublin offers a promising talent pool.

At home, Homann said Workshop leaders don’t have a specific date for when the construction will be completed. He said he appreciates Millwork Commons and its community features for sparking creativity and drawing in individuals with unique ambitions. The company, he said, plans to add to its team even further in the upcoming year. 

“We’re finalizing our 2026 hiring plan right now,” Homann said. “We’re expecting to grow pretty significantly again next year, both in terms of revenue and hiring.”

Growing local interest and careers in startups

Homann said about 85% of the startup’s employee makeup is located in Omaha and Lincoln, with the rest working remotely. He added that about a quarter of the team are recent graduates and early in their careers. 

Shonna Dorsey, executive director of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative and Aksarben Scholarships and Internships through the Aksarben Foundation, said in an email to SPN that young talent in the state demonstrates a noticeable interest in working for startup companies. These roles, she said, “offer incredible learning and real responsibility early on” for individuals entering the workforce. 

Dorsey said, however, that young Nebraska talent often isn’t aware of what is going on in their backyards regarding the development of new technologies or the launch of scalable businesses. 

Homann said Workshop has benefited by being “a little bit of a big fish in a small pond.” By not having a dominant presence of well-known, Silicon Valley-like tech companies in Nebraska, companies such as Hudl, CompanyCam and Workshop are not as common and therefore act as more of a beacon in attracting sought-after talent. 

Dorsey said community events and local university offerings help introduce early career starters to what founders are building in Nebraska and what pathways are available. Such initiatives she mentioned include 1 Million Cups, the Tech Careers Seminar course offered by the University of Nebraska at Omaha in collaboration with Nebraska Tech Collaborative and the recent Nebraska Startup Job Mixer sponsored by Workshop. 

“It reinforces that these opportunities are real and not limited to places like Austin,” Dorsey said. “They exist right here at home.”

While Workshop may benefit from standing out in Nebraska, Homann said the smaller number of established startups in the region also means that fewer people here have experience scaling a company to greater heights. As a result, he said, Workshop puts more effort into investing in its employees and molding their skills to what the company needs as it evolves. 

Homann offered Workshop’s Waypoints initiative as an example. Aimed at entry-level hires, the program introduces employees to the different departments of Workshop — with the larger goal of helping them envision a career path. 

Even though these efforts may cause some “bumps and bruises” for employees as they adapt to additional responsibilities, Homann said the work leads to a feeling of loyalty to the company and trust among the team. Rather than “jumping ship” and forcing leadership to pause and train a new hire, he said, a motivated employee benefiting from a workplace’s culture and workforce development programs will encourage continuity and momentum in a company’s progression. 

From an investor perspective, a founder with previous experience working for a startup and learning from its progress and setbacks can make them more appealing. 

MOVE Venture Capital Managing Partner Charlie Cuddy said even if the previous startup failed, that knowledge — especially when working directly within a small team — gives burgeoning founders a breadth of desirable skills.  

“If I had to blindly make 10 investments and I had to pick 10 out of an entrepreneurship class at some random college or 10 people who had worked at Workshop, I would pick 10 people at Workshop every time,” Cuddy said. 

MOVE VC is an investor in Workshop. Cuddy said the work of the company’s co-founders helped MOVE VC envision what Workshop could be, even at its early stages.

Sparking more startups in Nebraska

Cuddy said that not only does the success of a local startup make the idea of startups and a career in the space seem tangible, it also gives individuals the knowledge and inspiration to start their own business.

“They’re implementing what they learned from their leader, and they’re putting their own kind of twist on it,” Cuddy said. “And that’s exactly what you see from Workshop.”

Homann said Workshop wants to help advance the talent pool and wider startup ecosystem in Nebraska.

“If Workshop continues on the trajectory that we’re at, we’ll have a mix of people that are interested in starting their own companies and potentially have the capital to be able to do it,” Homann said. “Whether they get an exit from Workshop, or they’re able to save up money while they work here, or just the experience that they get here helps them feel like they’ll be more successful.”

Although Workshop someday may open offices in other markets, similar to Dublin, Homann said the startup isn’t moving anytime soon. 

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that Omaha is going to be the headquarters,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, from now until forever.”