On November 19, Steve Kiene took the stage at TEDxLincoln telling the audience Nebraska needs to create it’s own software ecosystem, not replicate the work of others. Photo from TEDxLincoln on Facebook.
Steve Kiene and his team at Nebraska Global have a hefty responsibility to carry out: invest the $37.3 million investors have turned over to them to start software businesses in Nebraska. Some of those dollars have been invested, but there’s still money to hand out.
On top of investing, they’ve also taken on – and not so much by choice – another responsibility: be a leader in the state’s startup community. Nebraska Global is in the spotlight, how it goes about its business and whether or not it ultimately succeeds will have an effect on entrepreneurs and investors in Nebraska.
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In a speech by Kiene at TEDxLincoln in November, it’s evident he’s not only aware of that responsibility, but he’s ready to take it on and he’s thinking bigger than Nebraska Global, he has a plan in mind to see the state succeed.
To do this, Kiene said, the state will need to create a “software ecosystem,” something he calls an “intentional ecosystem.”
“What we need to create is our own ecosystem in Nebraska,” Kiene said. “We don’t need to be the Silicon Prairie, we need to be the Midwest. You know, forget Silicon Valley, we don’t need to follow them. We can be bold, we can lead, be our own system.”
Kiene said it’s important to understand the definition of an ecosystem, why it works and how it can be used to bring about sustainable change in Nebraska that not only strengthens its software industry but preserves the state’s existing industries and resources.
To hear the aspects Kiene believes are important to a software ecosystem and the qualities that Nebraska already posses and needs to posses to build it, check out the 17-minute video below.
In his talk, Kiene listed 10 aspects of a software ecosystem, here’s a recap of those aspects:
- Idea – “You need good ideas to start businesses.”
- Tolerance for Risk – “You need more than tolerance though, you need acceptance of risk.”
- Leadership – “You need folks that are willing to stand up and say, ‘Look, I’m going to take that risk, I’m going to build that company.”
- Support – “It comes in all kinds of tangible and intangible ways.”
- People – “People is by far the most important things.”
- Money – “You need to understand what are the motivations for the money that’s being inserted into [the ecosystem]. Do those motivations align with building an ecosystem?”
- Inspiration – “You need inspiration out there to feel good like, ‘Yes, I am doing this, I know this is right.’ “
- Education – “You need innovative education, creative education.”
- Patience and Vision – “The folks that say, ‘I see beyond what everybody else sees.’ “
