May 10, 2013 by Joe Stych
Omaha To end the first full-day of Big Omaha on Thursday, four speakers stuck around for an audience Q&A. Megan Casey of Pack, Anil Dash of ThinkUp, Tony Conrad of about.me, and Ben Milne of Dwolla. The group used their personal experiences to respond to questions on their failures in the workplace, personality traits they're forced to fight and the pains of public speaking. Making mistakes … read more
May 8, 2013 by Joe Stych
San Francisco Last October, Gentry Underwood took the stage at Thinc Iowa to discuss why approaching problems like a designer is crucial for entrepreneurs. He touched on tolerating uncertainty, the importance of focus, and identifying the "why" of your product. Plus, he teased his new iOS-based email client, Mailbox. A lot can happen in seven months. Since then, Underwood has launched Mailbox, filled 1 million reservations within the first … read more
May 3, 2013 by Joe Stych
Des Moines For Paloma Velazquez, writing HTML is a pretty big shift from her previous writing experience. Last May she graduated from Grinnell College with degrees in English and political science. At the time, she was working as a communications coordinator for BitMethod with their app, Change. But after winning a two-year scholarship for Treehouse—a web development education tool—and teaching herself to code, Velazquez recently landed a position as a front-end developer at Des Moines' Webspec Design. … read more
April 8, 2013 by Joe Stych
Omaha Shoes do more than protect your toes. Whether they're the latest Jordans, a pair of vintage velcro Reeboks, or a favorite brand of ruby-red pumps, we've been fetishizing footwear since we learned to tie laces. That's why Joshua Jamieson and Steve Gordon co-founded Connoshoer, a social footwear app based around letting users organize their collections and showcase their style. "Footwear collectors are a very particular group of people. They're very opinionated," Gordon said. … read more
March 29, 2013 by Joe Stych
Kansas City Our inaugural Big Kansas City event kicked off Wednesday with talks from eight entrepreneurs and innovators. Staying true to traditions established at sister seminars Big Omaha and Big Des Moines, our first day wrapped up with a speaker Q&A session. Jamie Wong of Vayable, Dhani Jones of BowTie Cause, Micah Baldwin of Graphicly, and Dan Martell of Clarity fielded questions about the … read more
March 22, 2013 by Joe Stych
Cedar Rapids We take internet access for granted, but a reliable connection is crucial to the success of many businesses. Of course, a stable network with breakneck speeds isn't cheap—especially for larger companies. Ben Anderson thinks he can save office-based buyers bags of cash—and a lot of grief—with his new venture, Bandwidth Pool. … read more
March 6, 2013 by Joe Stych
Kansas City Rob Sweeney says we're in the midst of a tech-based disconnect, and it's based on age. This generation of digital natives can master an iPhone by age four. But our grandparents could care less about hashtags, Facebook timelines and texting. That's where the failed connection happens. Kansas City native Sweeney sees a starightforward way to alleviate grandma's tech-based communication woes, and he calls it messageQube. The idea is simple: instead of teaching elderly relatives to use text messaging to communicate, messageQube acts as a receiver for the messages, and automatically prints them on a receipt-style sheet. That way, grandma can consume … read more
February 26, 2013 by Joe Stych
Lincoln Pulling together a hotel reservation, affordable flight and list of activities for a vacation can be daunting. Getting a whole group to agree on travel plans is an entirely different beast. David Chait, a Columbia University graduate student in New York, faced that problem when coordinating a trip for a friend's bachelor party. "We were literally 78 emails … read more
January 31, 2013 by Joe Stych
Ames Two years after landing a branding partnership with New York startup Foursquare, Sam Schill (left) of Sigler Companies is ready to unveil his employer's new endeavor focused on startups: BrandSquid. The new entity, which launched in early December, aims to help up-and-coming tech companies get branded swag, such as stickers and T-shirts, into the hands of their users. But the focus is on narrowing the process to their unique needs. "Startups are kind of scrappy. They're lean, they don't have a ton of money," Schill said. "Even if they do have a bunch of venture capital, they still only have a certain amount for things like marketing." … read more
January 21, 2013 by Joe Stych
Des Moines Thanks to perceptive thinkers in the world of health care, patients often turn to online resources for medical advice. Some visit WebMD for their five minutes of hypochondria – it's natural – but Anuj Bhargava, M.D. (left) wants to streamline assistance for one rapidly growing segment of wellness: diabetes. In 2009, Iowa State University contacted Bhargava, a Des Moines physician specializing in diabetes … read more
Through August 22, help us decide the winners of our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards, which will recognize 12
companies and individuals. You can vote once per day per category.
Winners will be announced live on stage at
our August 30 event.