Startups

  • How Powderhook won Outdoor Life’s corporate award after 1 year of business

    How Powderhook won Outdoor Life’s corporate award after 1 year of business

    “At its current trajectory, we will soon associate access with Powerhook the same way we’ve come to associate the 2nd Amendment with the NRA.”

  • Is MusicSpoke ready for funding?

    Is MusicSpoke ready for funding?

    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.'”

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

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

    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…

  • Why e-commerce boutique Hello Holiday opened a brick-and-mortar store

    Why e-commerce boutique Hello Holiday opened a brick-and-mortar store

    Adding a physical store to Hello Holiday was an unexpected move for the e-commerce boutique’s founders. “When we started Hello Holiday, we never saw ourselves offering an in-person shopping experience because we thought e-commerce was the entire vision of the future.”

  • Yahoo celebrates 20 years, 6 years in Omaha

    Yahoo celebrates 20 years, 6 years in Omaha

    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…

  • Clockwork Demon’s indie game Adopted raises $17,000 in first 4 days of Kickstarter

    Clockwork Demon’s indie game Adopted raises $17,000 in first 4 days of Kickstarter

    Lincoln-based game company Clockwork Demon raised over $17,000 in its first 4 days of its Kickstarter campaign for its first game, Adopted, and is poised to reach over $20,000.

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

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

    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…

  • 50-plus Nebraska startups to follow on Twitter

    In anticipation of our Silicon Prairie Awards next month, this week we’re highlighting the software, Internet and mobile startups that call our region home. Today’s focus is on companies based in Nebraska. (Stay tuned for lists of Iowa and Kansas City-area startups.) With these lists, we hope you’ll take time to learn more …

  • eCreamery’s “swimming with orders” since “Shark Tank” appearance

    “Although we didn’t get a deal with the sharks, it really taught us that a win can sometimes be disguised as a loss,” eCreamery co-founder Becky App said Friday on “Shark Tank,” the ABC business pitch show she and her co-founder first appeared on last September. The online custom ice cream and gelato shop was…

  • Traffic and sales soar, investors call on eCreamery post-Shark Tank

    eCreamery founders Becky App and Abby Jordan didn’t walk away from their appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank” (above) with the $250,000 investment they sought from the show’s panel of celebrity investor judges. But even though the Sharks didn’t bite on eCreamery, plenty of others have since the show aired on Friday. In a phone interview…