-
Patent, immigration reform top of mind for tech advocates at D.C. event
(Guest post by Ryan Weber) A few weeks ago, it was my privilege to represent Kansas City’s tech industry at the TechVoice DC Fly-In. TechVoice is a policy advocacy organization powered by CompTIA and TECNA (Tech Councils of North America). KCnext is a member of TECNA, and I serve on the executive committee. Our membership…
-
Omaha Code School student starts blogging his experience for SPN
(Guest post by Andy von Dohren) Omaha Code School is the first course of its kind in Omaha. There are lots of similar courses in larger cities across the nation, such as New York and San Francisco, where our instructor, Sumeet Jain, lived and taught a similar course. After he moved to Omaha, he and…
-
Former SPN intern shares his experiences learning how to code
(Guest post by Frank Merchlewitz) Over winter break, I made a decision: In the coming months, I would learn everything I needed to know about being a web developer. The biggest obstacle? My own ignorance. During high school I took a few programming courses (Perl, Java and Robotics). My crowning achievement was making a LEGO-bot…
-
Four reasons students should join the Job Crawl, discover the startup route
As we prepare to host three of our fall Startup Job Crawls in the coming weeks, we wanted to remind students and startups how important an event like this is to our community. Not only does it provide an environment to discover a world of startups perhaps unknown to students, but it opens the door…
-
Participants shine in MECA Challenge, KCSV’s first youth competition
About the author: Eze Redwood is an ambassador for Kansas City Startup Village, one of the lead organizers for MECA Innovation Challenge and partner at Wings Cafe in Kansas City. Kansas City Startup Village’s inaugural MECA Innovation Challenge tasked 30 high school and college students in the greater Kansas City area with creating innovative tech…
-
The Omaha startup community needs to raise grownups
Gosh, we love startups don’t we? It gives people from any city a warm, fuzzy feeling when they can say they have a good startup community. There is a push all across the Silicon Prairie to create policies and infuse money into fostering more startups. But, is this the correct way to go about it?…
-
Straight Shot startup to be featured in Omaha’s metroMAGAZINE
Omaha-based startup BuyNow recently announced a publisher partnership with ALH Publications, Inc. and metroMAGAZINE, which are also based in Omaha. BuyNow is a mobile commerce application that allows consumers to instantly purchase an item pictured in an advertisement by texting a keyword provided within the ad. Shaz Khan, founder and CEO of BuyNow, will be…
-
Remember to tell Iowa’s student hackers to “hop on the bus”
As our bus screeched in to Ann Arbor, Mich., surrounded by the darkness of late evening and a harassing light drizzle, I nervously guided our group into Michigan Stadium to check them in. We were only eight hours into an amazing weekend but I was already breathing a sigh of relief. We made it …
-
Straight Shot e-commerce startup heads to Advertising Week in NYC
One common trait among the most successful startups that come out of the Midwest is their founding team’s ability to attract attention from New York to San Francisco and everyone in between. And for one Straight Shot startup, Cosmic Cart, that trait is shining through …
-
Why we fly home to mentor at Startup Weekend every year
I’m a big believer that the best place to start your company is your home town. Often times, however, the best place to grow your company is somewhere else. That has been the case for us at Zapier. In October 2011, we debuted at the inaugural Startup Weekend Columbia (Missouri). Eight months later, we earned…