Startup Job Crawl fills Mastercraft with students, entrepreneurial energy

Our first Omaha Startup Job Crawl took place on Wednesday, bringing out more than 200 students and recent graduates and 40 companies for an event filled with networking, demonstrating technology and consuming pizza and Red Bull. Open to college students and recent graduates, the crawl took place in the Mastercraft Building, a refurbished furniture …

Matt Barr and Jimmy Winter of VoterTide (far left and far right) speak with University of Nebraska-Lincoln senior Daniel Sveen at the Startup Job Crawl in the Mastercraft Building in north downtown Omaha.

Our first Omaha Startup Job Crawl took place on Wednesday, bringing out more than 200 students and recent graduates and 40 companies for an event filled with networking, demonstrating technology and consuming pizza and Red Bull. Open to college students and recent graduates, the crawl took place in the Mastercraft Building, a refurbished furniture warehouse in north downtown Omaha that Nebraska Global‘s Tom Chapman has called “the new, old home for entrepreneurship in the region.”

The crawl kicked off around 5 p.m. with a welcome from our own Dusty Davidson and Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Renyolds, who was there on behalf of the event’s main sponsor, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. From 5:30 to 7:30, three groups of attendees spread throughout the building, visiting with internet startups, design firms, development shops and other companies.

“People are so warm and so excited to talk about their companies,” recent master’s graduate Juber Mujawar said. “I have been to other career fairs and people I generally find not interested to telling what they are, and it’s a nice feeling because they want to tell about themselves so much.”

Mujawar added: “I aspire to be an entrepreneur, so it’s definitely something I would really like to talk to them (about).”

This was our second Startup Job Crawl following a positive response to our first event in Des Moines in November. On April 4, we’ll hold our another Startup Job Crawl in Des Moines. Stay tuned for a post on SPN with more details or contact Brittany Mascio at brittany@siliconprairienews.com.

By the numbers

A few facts and figures (in descending order) from our inaugural Omaha Startup Job Crawl: 

  • 214 students and recent graduates registered
  • 124 cans of Red Bull
  • 22 startup companies
  • 22 extra-large pizzas
  • 18 design firms, development shops and other companies
  • 16 liters of root beer
  • 12 offices
  • 11 volunteers
  • 1 bus filled with 20 attendees from Lincoln

Thanks to our sponsors

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, we were able to provide attendees with complimentary drinks and pizza to refuel, a reception that allowed for more networking, a photo booth to capture the memories and a bus from Lincoln to shuttle students from an hour away. Those sponsors: 

For more information or to find job and internship opportunities with our sponsors, check out the links below:

Media roundup

A look at some of the coverage of Wednesday night’s event: 

Photo recap

The Startup Job Crawl took place at the Mastercraft Building in north downtown Omaha.

The venue provided a creative setting for the crawl’s companies and students.

The more than 200 attendees of the crawl gathered in one of the building’s open spaces to kick off the night with a welcome from SPN and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Crawl-goers split into three groups and began visiting companies throughout the building.

Hayneedle, a sponsor of the event, spoke with students.

Grain & Mortar lent its space for use by five companies on the crawl.

An important element of the Grain & Mortar brand: mustaches.

Creighton University student Peter Freeze (middle) speaks with Joshua Goodell of Grain & Mortar.

Hurrdat visits with students in Grain & Mortar’s conference room.

Grain & Mortar’s office proved to be a popular spot on the crawl.

Intertwine Interactive spoke with crawl-goers and showed off its office equipped with a putting green.

Green Bein’ had laptops handy to show attendees its virtual word technology.

Representatives of Bloom.com (far left) and Scott Kroger of RestingSpot (near right) visit with attendees.

University of Nebraska-Omaha student Allison Lercher visits with Andrew Neely of Wristband Radio.

Michael Stacy of Silicon Prairie News (far left) visits with attendees while a WOWT photographer (far right) shoots footage for the 10 o’clock news.

John Wirtz of Hudl (left) shows off his company’s iPad app to recent Creighton graduate Michael Quinlan (right). 

John Stuifbergen of Jelecos, a sponsor of the crawl, visited with a student.

Nebraska Global, a software investment fund, handed out hand-drawn information sheets to provide an overview of its structure and portfolio companies.

Two attendees took time to fill out job applications while the crawl was in progress.

Secret Penguin opened its doors to to the crawl, showing off its office featuring swings, bikes and (not pictured) a skateboard ramp.

MindMixer visits with students in its office space in the Mastercraft Building.

CAMP Coworking conducted a short survey on its blackboard.

CAMP Coworking hosted 10 companies, lending its space and desks to the crawl.

Big Wheel Brigade gave out “Omaha Zombie” T-shirts and jars filled with treats.

Minorwhite opened up its offices speaking with those interested in photography and moving images.

The event concluded with pizza for all.

Photo booth preview

For all the photo booth pictures, visit Facebook.

 

Credits: Photo recap photos by Danny Schreiber. Photo booth photos by Justin Limonges

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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