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New Invest Nebraska CEO sees “opportunity to make a true impact”
East Coast native Mark Crawford is often asked why he moved to Omaha last June. He has some answers down pat. “Besides Dan’s sell job on the beautiful beaches and 70-degree days, I can go up to the mountains and ski,” joked the CEO of Invest Nebraska, referring to the organization’s COO, Dan Hoffman, who…
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With CEO and state funds in place, Invest Nebraska financing startups
Invest Nebraska, a 10-year-old private, nonprofit corporation known for its regular business plan competitions, is now funding early-stage startups thanks to the leadership of its first CEO and a pair of contracts with the State of Nebraska. The May 2011 passage of Gov. Dave Heineman’s Talent and Innovation Initiative put Invest Nebraska in charge of…
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Entrepreneurs honored, business ideas pitched at innovation events
The Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship started last week with Innovation Night on Monday and then Tuesday held a venture competition, the Nebraska Innovation Competition. At this year’s Innovation Night, current entrepreneurs were honored with the Nebraska Distinguished Entrepreneur Award. This year’s recipients were Charlie Hull and Clint Runge of Archrival, Steve Kiene of Nebraska Global…
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Silicon Prairie News testifies on behalf of Nebraska Innovation Act
Last Thursday, Silicon Prairie News had the opportunity to testify in the Nebraska Legislature on behalf of LB 1109 – Adopt the Nebraska Innovation and High Wage Employment Act. The proposed bill, introduced by State Senator Conrad (pictured left), calls for the creation of a task force to investigate the entrepreneurial…
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Invest Nebraska’s East-2-West competition to award $50,000 to entrepreneur
Added mention of Lincoln Journal Star article on 10/28 at 10:50 a.m. From the same organization that sponsors our Creative Capital Pitch Session $1,000 prize, comes a competition much larger in prize money and scope. On December 11th, East-2-West: The Nebraska New Venture Competition will award an entrepreneur or team a $50,000 equity investment from…
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Congrats to Brendan Wamstad-Evans, our Creative Capital Pitch Session III winner!
Last night’s Creative Capital Pitch Session in Lincoln brought about 60 people to Turbine Flats to watch our eight contestants pitch their ideas in five minutes or less. Ideas ranged from a ratings website for senior care facilities to a social network for entrepreneurs, but they all had one thing in common: the presenters had…
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Invest Nebraska announces Operational Assistance Program
After an exciting announcement for start-ups yesterday from Leap Ventures, we received a press release from Invest Nebraska Corporation today announcing the launch of its Operational Assistance program, which will invest up to $25,000 in selected companies. (Will we be seeing another announcement tomorrow? Let’s hope so.) From Lincoln: Invest Nebraska Corporation, a non-profit venture…