Hey, all. It’s Ben.

When I first started as an intern at SPN, my only exposure to equity and investments was through watching “Shark Tank,” and my limited computer knowledge made me fearful of ever showing my developer friends my laptop. An early memory of the Nebraska startup ecosystem, though, was discovering 1 Million Cups, which is where I’m pretty sure I met Josh Bartels. 

Bartels is the executive director of Nebraska Angels, a member-led network of angel investors in the state. A familiar face in the ecosystem, he has recently announced the launch of what he describes as his “first true tech startup” called Gather. 

The platform uses artificial intelligence to address the struggles he and fellow fund managers and investors face when going through the data of portfolio companies: various document types and formats, sporadic business updates and delays in compiling information for reports. Gather seeks to make finding and organizing information easier and more efficient. 

It’s always interesting to see the different journeys people take and the sparks that got them to where they are now. In my case, I’m now in a place where I can tell my friends the difference between pre-seed and seed investment rounds. However, they still have to guide me whenever I need to fix something on my computer. 

Check out the full story on SPN about Bartels’ path and how he’s helping others find theirs. And while we are on the subject of AI, please fill out the following survey on what AI providers people are using. We’re still interested in hearing about the most-used tools and the reasoning behind the choices.