Startups

Upcraft Club wants to change the way you think about sewing

Sewing is no longer just for your grandma or artisanal hipster friend. With Upcraft Club, thousands are enjoying the new technology that is revolutionizing the sewing industry. Upcraft Club, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is an ecommerce marketplace that sells digital sewing patterns. They also sell their patterns through a patent-pending process which allows brick and…

November 25, 2015
After the hype, what’s next for Invisible Girlfriend?

Invisible Girlfriend launched in January to a national media frenzy. Now they’re figuring out what to do next. When Saint Louis-based Invisible Girlfriend launched in January this year they were on Drudge Report for two days, followed by Gizmodo, Gawker, Washington Post, Bloomberg, the Today Show, among others. Even Conan O’Brien even did a bit on them. “I…

November 24, 2015
Zinnia expands delivery into Kansas City

Zinnia’s affordable online flowers are now available in Kansas City starting today. Zinnia, an Omaha-based ecommerce site for high quality affordable bouquets, was in the middle of the Straight Shot accelerator when they received the call from Kansas City. It was from a new florist in town, Kansas City Flower Company, who had plans to open…

November 23, 2015
Powderhook’s “Yik Yak for the outdoors” marks a major pivot [Updated]

After trying out a web-based marketplace for hunting and fishing on private land, Powderhook is trying a whole new approach to their mission–a “Yik Yak for the outdoors.” Until now, Powderhook has been developing a web-based platform that helps people find places to hunt and fish on private lands. What the company discovered is that young people who use…

November 20, 2015
MultiMechanics announces new partnership with Dassault Systèmes

The partnership will connect MultiMechanics to a massive global user base of engineers. MultiMechanics, an Omaha-based advanced materials engineering software company, has announced a new partnership with one of the largest companies in their industry, France-based Dassault Systèmes. The partnership will integrate MultiMech tools with the Dassault Systèmes platform, SIMULIA Abaqus, and provide a new user base for MultiMechanics.…

November 19, 2015
Northstar Campaign Systems brings tech power to the election ground game

The Omaha-based company has been an innovative force behind past campaigns of Chris Christie, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. In 2008 Andrew Northwall was working in the field for the McCain campaign in Iowa, when he noticed something odd about the Obama volunteers. He saw a transplant from California approach a potential voter and start talking about her…

November 17, 2015
Nature Hills brings e-commerce 2.0 to the gardening industry

With over 1,800 products offered on its website, Nature Hills is the largest online nursery in the US. The collapse of Garden.com is one of the legendary downfalls of the Dot.com bust in the early 2000s. After a $42.9 million IPO in 1999, the online nursery retailer quickly fell apart. By September of 2000, they announced a restructuring,…

November 12, 2015
Rentping Media CEO saved his company–because the Bible

With a floundering website and staff layoffs, David Watson turned to his faith–and it changed his whole approach to business. Rentping Media CEO David Watson and his wife moved into their first apartment in Omaha sight unseen. “We both had full-time jobs and didn’t have time to look around at places to live,” Watson said. “I thought…

November 6, 2015
Dusty Davidson on Flywheel: “Culture is about more than trips to Vegas”

Dusty Davidson co-founded Flywheel in 2012 with Tony Noecker and Rick Knudtson to provide WordPress hosting and support for web designers. Since then Flywheel has grown to a team of 28 in downtown Omaha. Flywheel was the winner of two Golden Analogs this year for Best Culture and Best Startup of the Year. SPN caught up with Davidson over…

November 5, 2015
Udder Panic sucks you into playing for charity

Beam up cows in your UFO and make a kid’s wish come true. Udder Panic is the latest free-to-play mobile game from Omaha-based JB Gaming, in which you play an alien in a UFO, attempting to suck up cows while avoiding bombs and secret agents (Men In Black?). The game is very easy to play and hard…

October 28, 2015