Meet Nathan Preheim, Director @ Creighton University’s Greisch Center for Enterprise Value
The Greisch Center for Enterprise Value is the core entrepreneurial hub at Creighton University, helping students and the wider Omaha community with navigating how to build a business. Earlier this year, the center received a $4 million donation to support the development and distribution of its offerings.
Preheim is a prominent leader in the Nebraska startup community, as demonstrated with his previous work with The Startup Collaborative and launching Proven Ventures. He is the co-founder of the recently acquired startup MindMixer.
Bot check: The fun five
1. Thing you can’t live without:
My circle of friends in Omaha. It’s one of the big reasons I love living here. Although my e-bike and board game collection are making a strong case.
2. Favorite book or last book you read:
“Life’s Little Instruction Book.” I received it as a high school graduation gift and have probably read and reread it hundreds of times since. It’s my north star. Simple, practical wisdom about how to live a good life.
3. Something most people don’t know about you:
I was a finalist for MTV’s “The Real World: London” in the 1990s. Seriously.
4. If money wasn’t an object, your next company would be…
Why do I have to pick one?
Marriage and family therapist — that was actually my original career goal. Prairie enthusiast. Board game designer. Custom mobile design. (Yes, kinetic art!) A company that builds greenhouses attached directly to people’s homes. I have ideas everywhere.
Honestly, I want to do all of it. And I probably will!
That’s one of the things I love most about this moment in time. AI has dramatically reduced the distance between “I have an idea” and “I made something.” I can learn faster, prototype faster, test faster and build faster than at any other point in my career.
So maybe my answer is: My next company is whatever I can’t stop thinking about next.
And apparently, I’m not very good at waiting. Socialmentum is my latest vibe-coding project — stay tuned. And keep an eye out for Travel Signal, because seriously, who doesn’t want better travel deals?
5. App/SaaS/AI you’re obsessed with and why:
Things. It runs my life. Mac, iPhone, iPad — everything I need to do, want to do or someday might do goes into Things. I genuinely don’t know how people function without a trusted system for getting things out of their heads.
What inspired you to become an entrepreneur or support other entrepreneurs?
I’ve always been “good weird.” A little contrarian. Always asking, “Why?” And never particularly content with the status quo.
But the real spark came from cutting my teeth in tech during the dot-com boom in California. The energy and pace were intoxicating. More importantly, I got to see exceptional entrepreneurs up close — and realized they weren’t fundamentally different from me.
That was liberating. If they could do it, why couldn’t I?
And perhaps, most importantly, I’m pretty comfortable with risk.
I’ve been building ever since. And now I get just as much satisfaction helping other people realize that they can build, too.
What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to when you were just starting out?
I never should have taken venture capital at MindMixer.
There, I said it.
We had built a very attractive business with the potential to generate an insane amount of revenue, profit and take-home pay. But we chose to go big.
Once we took venture capital, the definition of success changed. A really good business was no longer necessarily good enough. We ultimately migrated away from something that was working toward something much more uncertain in pursuit of venture-scale outcomes.
That experience fundamentally changed how I think about entrepreneurship and capital.
Never forget: Startups are a vehicle to return capital to investors. Full stop.
That’s not a criticism of investors. It’s the deal! Capital has expectations attached to it. Understand those expectations before you take the money — and make sure they align with the company and life you actually want to build.
I’d tell younger me: “Don’t confuse building a great company with building the biggest company possible.”
How can the Nebraska community support you?
Nah. Let’s invert the question.
How can I support you?
Have an idea? Want to start something? Trying to change something inside the organization where you already work? Curious about entrepreneurship but have absolutely no idea where to begin?
Find me.
I’ve spent a good chunk of my career building companies, investing in founders, teaching entrepreneurship and trying to make Nebraska an even better place to build things.
And remember what Prof. P. says: “Today’s a great day to start something!”
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