Startups

Download Powderhook’s Gobble Map app now

By SPN Team / March 25, 2015

“We knew a couple things would make the Gobble Map a unique challenge,” said Heath Roehr, Powderhook co-founder and VP of Engineering. “We need to be able to accept potentially tens of thousands of reports coming in at the same time. We need to process and aggregate that data and display it on a map in a way that’s meaningful to sportsmen and women. And they need to be looking at this on their phone in a bandwidth limited area. And it needs to be really fast.”

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Is MusicSpoke ready for funding?

By SPN Team / March 17, 2015

When Jennifer Rosenblatt and Kurt Knecht of MusicSpoke completed the NMotion accelerator program last summer, they were adamant about not raising money. “I’ve said it often, ‘I’m not going to raise money for the sake of raising money.'”

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Pear Deck wins Rise of the Rest competition at SXSW [Video]

By SPN Team / March 16, 2015

Last night Riley Eynon-Lynch, co-founder of Pear Deck, won the Rise of the Rest pitch competition at SXSW. His prize? $150,000 in investment from Steve Case, venture capitalist and founder of America Online. Iowa City-based Pear Deck helps teachers keep students engaged in the classroom by connecting their presentations with student digital devices. It also allows students to interact with the presentation, giving teachers immediate feedback from their students.

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Yahoo celebrates 20 years, 6 years in Omaha

By SPN Team / March 3, 2015

On Monday Yahoo celebrated its 20th anniversary with a global party and a record-breaking mass yodel. Over 350 Yahoo employees in the Omaha area participated in the event. The Omaha office includes ad operations, sales, and finance, as well as a data center, serving Yahoo’s one billion users. Altogether these departments make Omaha/La Vista the 5th largest Yahoo office in the nation.

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Nordstrom’s Trunk Club acquisition a success for Men’s Style Lab’s growth

By SPN Team / August 1, 2014

It’s no small news for ecommerce companies that luxury retail giant Nordstrom acquired Chicago-based Trunk Club for a reported $350 million earlier this week.

But for one Des Moines startup, the acquisition validates a business idea that’s less than two years old.

Men’s Style Lab, often billed as “Trunk Club for everyone else,” offers online concierge clothing services for guys in need of a style upgrade, and following Trunk Club’s acquisition founder Derian Baugh says he’s even more confident that his company is filling a growing need.

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