Prairie Portraits is a weekly set of questions intended to help the community get to know someone from the Silicon Prairie startup scene a little bit better. Prairie Portraits feature a fixed set of questions ranging from career background and personal preferences to, perhaps, off-the-wall questions on YouTube videos and entrance music.
Name: Gregory Clark Pugh
Title/Occupation: Director of technical operations at Tethon 3D (ceramic 3D printers)
Age: 26
Hometown: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Current city: Omaha, Neb.
Twitter: None
Personal
Title of my autobiography: Digital Hands
Thing I can’t live without: Family and friends
Drink of choice: Gin and tonic
Last book I read: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Ultimate road trip snack: Corn Nuts because they remind me of my dad.
Entrance song if I was a wrestler: Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba. Duh.
Celebrity doppelgänger: When I was younger a lot of people thought I looked like Macaulay Culkin. Nothing since then.
Chosen career in an alternate reality: Civil engineer for highway planning and traffic management. It’s a big issue with very few solutions.
Worst OCD tendency: Not being able to get off one thought…
Quote I might have said: Do what feels right and don’t be afraid to take an opportunity if it comes to you.
Which actor or actress, and why: Kevin Spacey, he is brave. I think it shows in his acting. He is confident about the roles he chooses and then he excites the role to the best of his ability. He is a great craftsman.
Favorite YouTube video: Drunken Baby
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Local
Best place in Omaha no one knows about: Jun Kaneko Studio
Omaha’s obligatory tourist stop: Henry Doorly Zoo
One thing Omaha has that other Silicon Prairie cities don’t: As much space as you want for good affordable rent prices. You can live here and not feel like you’re going to starve just to make rent.
Best thing going for Omaha’s startup community: It has opportunities to give individuals the space and time to come up with really great and new ideas.
Last local restaurant I ate at: Shucks
Omaha would be better if… there were more dancing at bars
The Startup Scene
Social media pet peeve: Broadcasting babies’ daily lives to the world before they have a choice in the matter.
App I’m obsessed with: Breeze
Silicon Prairie startup crush: I like Grubhub solely because Omaha for some reason has not caught on to the idea of food delivery. There is a very limited selection here of places that deliver. (Editor’s note: Greg, let us introduce you to DliveryPal).
Most comfortable startup T-shirt I own: I only one a Tethon 3D. I’ts pretty comfy though.
Something most people don’t know about me: I have a bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramics and no other degrees.
Entrepreneur I most want to grab a drink with: Dr. Dre. First rapper billionaire and all.
I do what I do because… Kiln unloading. Every time when you unload a kiln it’s like Christmas. Sometimes I am the first person in the world to see a new piece finished. It is an exciting feeling. It gets me into the studio knowing I have a kiln to unload. After that working is easier.
Before I was in startups… I was an artist in college.
If money wasn’t an object, my next company would be… Mars 3D Printing
The Silicon Prairie startup scene is missing… length of time. It is young and growing. If you build it they will come.
In five years, I’ll… be 3D printing ceramics
In five years, the Silicon Prairie… will be the center of the tech world.
