Feld, Neves, Morrill and more join Thinc Iowa 2012 lineup

With this year’s Thinc Iowa conference expanding by a day to include two full days of speakers, we’re excited to welcome more than a dozen nationally known speakers to the event stage. These individuals will share more than their background and expertise in startups, investing and mentoring. They’ll also share meals, parties and an experience…

We’re revealing six of our Thinc Iowa speakers today with many more to come for the newly extended two-and-a-half day conference event, October 9-11. 

With this year’s Thinc Iowa conference expanding by a day to include two full days of speakers, we’re excited to welcome more than a dozen nationally known speakers to the event stage. These individuals will share more than their background and expertise in startups, investing and mentoring. They’ll also share meals, parties and an experience with you, the Thinc Iowa attendee.

Let’s first give a “shoulder shake” and welcome the man who brought boundless charisma and energy as master of ceremonies at Big Omaha 2012. Antonio Neves knocked our socks off as emcee in May and returns to the Silicon Prairie Series to host Thinc Iowa this fall. His presence, guidance and voice at Thinc Iowa will be genuine inspiration for everyone participating. 

Neves will accompany a group of speakers that includes a VC with ties to Cheezburger, MakerBot and FeedBurner; the first employee of Twillio; an esteemed founder and Iowa resident; one of the driving forces behind Uber; and an entrepreneur who caught Bieber fever. The lineup for Thinc Iowa will be one of our of best yet, and we’re proud to announce the first six individuals who are set to take the stage in Des Moines this October.

Brad FeldFoundry Group

@bfeld

Brad is an early stage investor, entrepreneur and current managing director at Foundry Group. He is also the co-founder of TechStars and sits on the board of many leading tech companies (Gist, Feedburner and MakerBot) as well as Startup Weekend. He is an investor, entrepreneur and one of the best-known thought leaders on the subject of developing entrepreneurial communities. That expertise is evident in his influence on his hometown of Boulder, Colo. and the place the city has earned on the short list of America’s top entrepreneurial communities.

Bart Stein, Stamped

@bartjstein

Bart is the co-founder of the startup Stamped, which touts an impressive roster of celebrity investors including music mogul and teenage heartthrob, Justin Bieber. This social curation platform that allows users to give a “stamp” of approval for movies, music, restaurants and books was also named to the “10 NYC Startups to Watch in 2012” list by TIME Inc. 

Danielle Morrill, Referly

@daniellemorrill

Danielle Morrill has been busy this summer participating in the Y Combinator Summer 2012 with her company, Referly, which lets people recommend products they love to friends and earn rewards for doing so. She previously worked at Twilio, where she was the first non-founding employee. She’s also mentor in residence for 500 Startups and a board member for Startup Weekend. 

Ryan Graves, Uber

@ryangraves

Ryan Graves is the GM and VP Operations of Uber, the on-demand car service that’s disrupting the transportation industry in cities across the U.S. (and recently Canada and Great Britain). He helped raise Uber’s original financing as the company’s first CEO. Earlier this month, Uber won a high profile battle to operate its service in Washington, D.C. and debuted Uber X, a lower cost version of its service utilizing hybrid cars. Ryan’s colleague, Travis Kalanick was a speaker at Big Omaha 2011

Jeremie Miller, Singly

@jeremie

Jeremie is the co-founder of Singly, the San Francisco-based startup building an “API for humans,” and launched Jabber/XMPP (eventually acquired by Cisco). He’s done both while commuting west from his home in Cascade, Iowa. We’re grateful for the opportunity to hear him speak here in the region.

Antonio Neves, THINQACTION

@theantonioneves

Antonio calls himself a professional question asker and opportunity identifier — a title and role that aligns perfectly with Thinc Iowa. Antonio is the founder of THINQACTION, where he works with entrepreneurs and young professionals to produce exceptional results in their careers. Antonio provided a dynamic presence as Big Omaha 2012 host, and we’re ecited to have him on stage again at Thinc Iowa.

More speakers to come!

To learn more about these speakers visit thinciowa.com and stay tuned for more entrepreneurs, mentors and thought leaders to join our lineup as we get closer to the conference.

Tickets on sale Wednesday

Ticket sales begin Wednesday. Circle the date on your calendar and plan to buy your ticket early. We sold many tickets when we put Prairie Passes on sale in March, and the Thinc Iowa experience is limited to 500 attendees. Also, make sure to book your hotel reservation for the newly extended two and a half day conference. We’ll kick off the party festivities on Oct. 9, and we’ll spend the next two full days (Oct. 10-11) listening to twice as many speakers as we did last year.

 


The Silicon Prairie Series 

Thinc Iowa is a conference on innovation and entrepreneurship. Limited to 500 attendees, the two and half day event presents more than a dozen nationally-known speakers in an inspiring and engaging environment. The Thinc Iowa conference is part of the Silicon Prairie Series, the nation’s most ambitious events on innovation and entrepreneurship. Big Omaha and a future Kansas City event are also a part of the series.

 

Credits: Photos of speakers, courtesy of respective speakers. Photo of Big Omaha by Malone and Company. Photo of Thinc Iowa by Anna Jones | Art of Photography / Ikonix Studio. Photo of Kansas City by Jim Nix via Flickr

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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