Hello, everybody. It’s Ben again.

I’ve covered my fair share of startup fundraising rounds over my time here at SPN, and it has always been interesting to me to see how ventures I’ve seen start at pitch competitions and accelerators begin to take on new verticals and hire their first full-time employees. The common answer I get for why they pursue venture capital or another method of capital infusion is their intention to scale. 

But scale to what end? What are their goals? What are they building toward? Will they sell and start a new company?

Talking with support organizations and investors in Nebraska, I’ve come to understand that this journey may have shared milestones and challenges but is really distinct for each founder, their respective interests and the unique market environments they may be experiencing.

I got the chance to talk to the founders behind the local exit stories of Quantified Ag, LifeLoop and LiveBy to get some insights on their business trajectories, what influenced their decisions to be acquired and what have they been up to since. Each began in the 2010s and exited circa 2020-2022, showcasing early startup community resources and the influences of the pandemic. 

Read more in the story on SPN. It’s a little historical snapshot and timeline of the Nebraska entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

And as my history professors hammered into my head in college — beyond the need to actually do the homework assignments — there are likely lessons to be learned that can provide some guidance for the present.