Silicon Prairie News

Posts by Kate Ellingson
NEWS

Custom decal idea sticks for UNL Quick Pitch winner Jason Kruse

2054_aa2135cef1_small April 8, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Jason Kruse always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He built his first website when he was in eighth grade and then in high school he teamed up with a friend from his math class. "We just kind of made more hobbyist type of websites that we would then sell," Kruse said, "but I wouldn’t call it a full-time business." Fast forward to fall of 2010, when Jason came up with Mr. Decals. "I wanted to make a couple of decals for this table tennis club I was in, as funny as that sounds," Kruse said. "So, yeah, I got online and searched around and tried to find a place to do it, and there were places… read more

NEWS

Entrepreneurs honored, business ideas pitched at innovation events

1949_10358260ca_small March 21, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln The Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship started last week with Innovation Night on Monday and then Tuesday held a venture competition, the Nebraska Innovation Competition. At this year’s Innovation Night, current entrepreneurs were honored with the Nebraska Distinguished Entrepreneur Award. This year's recipients were Charlie Hull and Clint Runge of Archrival, Steve Kiene of Nebraska Global… read more

NEWS

Green Bein’ awarded $50K to help expand business in Lincoln (Video)

1952_3331a3d083_small March 21, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Green Bein' Productions, Inc. won Invest Nebraska's third annual venture competition last week at the Embassy Suites in Lincoln. Last Tuesday, Green Bein' and the four other finalists competed for $50,000. The Lincoln-based entrepreneurs were given 15 minutes and then had an opportunity to answer judges' questions. “All five of them did a really great job, but the winner, Green Bein’ Productions Inc., based on the judge’s discussion … read more

NEWS

Owner Darcie Krueger offers a look at SitStay’s Lincoln warehouse

1906_dce7bedfa4_small March 14, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Previously, we profiled Darcie Krueger, owner of SitStay.com, and shared video from an interview with Krueger. Now, we bring you the third installment of our series on Krueger and SitStay, photos from a tour of the company's Lincoln warehouse. Krueger said that SitStay actually started in her Lincoln home but it grew to be too big. “Eventually we had to move to a warehouse," Krueger said, "and then we outgrew that warehouse in less than a year or two and then moved into this… read more

PROFILES

SitStay owner Darcie Krueger offers advice for entrepreneurs

1907_67f67f6441_small March 11, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln SitStay.com was the first online pet store, and it's still growing after 15 years. Earlier this week, we profiled owner Darcie Krueger. When I met with Krueger, I asked her to give us some advice for entrepreneurs. Along with "don't buy the airplane," another thing Darcie says that’s gotten her company through the down times is her outlook on competition: "I don’t care about the competition, there’s enough money out there for everybody, and there… read more

PROFILES

SitStay stands test of time through 15 years of growth, change

1888_e7c399fe96_small March 9, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln When I arrived at SitStay’s warehouse to interview owner Darcie Krueger, she was finishing up the hiring process with her new customer-service employee. She told me that while I waited for them to wrap up I could play catch with her dog Gibbs. As I was throwing the ball down the office hallway, I could tell that SitStay’s culture was laid back, pet-friendly and really fun. During our interview, Krueger confirmed what I had guessed about SitStay. read more

NEWS

Quick Pitch Competition awards five student entrepreneurs $1k (Video)

1859_9cffc9a079_small February 28, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Nebraska’s second annual 3-2-1 Quick Pitch competition handed out five awards last Wednesday, February 23rd at Memorial Stadium’s West Stadium Club. Fifty-four students from high schools, two-year colleges and four-year universities gave it their best shot in just three minutes, delivering their “elevator pitch” to over 40 judges from the nearby business and academic community. Students' ideas ranged from software privacy online… read more

NEWS

Lincoln Venture Competition - $25k up for grabs, deadline March 7th

1836_7d137074a0_small February 23, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Invest Nebraska, in partnership with the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development and the University… read more

PROFILES

Caneva discusses Green Bein’ culture - ‘coffee shop atmosphere’ (Video)

1782_d29d45d874_small February 17, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln During a recent interview with Green Bein' president & CEO Collin Caneva – see: Kid Command adds 56k users in Jan., Aaron Davis joins Green Bein’ team" – I saw that he is not only motivated by his business, but also by his team at Green Bein’. I wanted to learn more about their culture so I stopped by the Green Bein' office to capture a video… read more

SERIES

A look inside Green Bein’s office

1792_c556fbda18_small February 14, 2011 by Kate Ellingson

Lincoln Collin Caneva's business goal is to "create a creative, fun place for young Nebraskans to come and work and create great jobs and create wealth." In a recent interview with Caneva, president & CEO of Green Bein’ Productions, we spoke about the hardships of starting a business and also some of the recent success his company has seen (see: "Kid Command adds 56k users in Jan., Aaron Davis joins Green Bein’ team"). During the interview I realized that Caneva is not only motivated… read more

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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.

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