Silicon Prairie News

Omaha Before starting a tropical clothing line in a state with no palm trees, Greg Chambers worked as a regional sales manager looking to get in touch with his inner “mad gringo.” Chambers, employed with First National Bank of Omaha at the time, was far from tropical as he adorned himself in a suit and tie everyday, making his inner “mad gringo” go loco. “It was great, but at the same time, it was not exactly what I was hoping to do with the rest of my life… read more

With a clever line of jQuery yesterday, appendTo co-founder and president Jonathan Sharp publicly welcomed the newest member to his company's team. AppendTo, based out of Denver, is a consulting, training and support company for jQuery, the most popular of the JavaScript libraries. The company currently stands tall as the only major player in this arena, and since forming last October, they've expanded quite rapidly. The new employee greeted in the tweet above, Elijah Manor, is the company's… read more

Omaha "It's actually kind of fun looking back," former freelance developer Jonathan Sharp remarked. "When I was first starting [Out West Media], I believe you asked me, 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' I was like, 'Same thing.'" One year later, some things are still the same: Jonathan still lives in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, he still enjoys owning and riding horses… read more

Omaha Foreign language study, which is central to Todd Nichols’ company, TalkAbroad, wasn’t central to his early college career. “I found the memorization of words and the grammar studies to be pretty dry,” said Nichols, an Omaha native. His outlook on learning a second language changed, however, when he studied abroad in Cuba and put what he had learned into practice. “It challenged me to really open up and say… read more

Des Moines Across the globe, startups are utilizing mobile technology to create innovative and disruptive product offerings. Locally, we're seeing the mobile tech community continue to expand, as well. One of those recent additions is a company called Pongr. The startup still maintains a Boston address, but co-founder and native Iowan, Zach Cox, has plans… read more

Urbandale Over the past decade, technology professionals across the country have come to know Dice.com as an important site for industry job-seekers and recruiters. What's not always apparent, however, is that Dice is located in the Des Moines area and has been since the founders moved it to Iowa 15 years ago. The company began as a San Francisco-based startup… read more

Omaha In addition to putting his leadership skills to work inside of TD AMERITRADE, Joe Moglia, the company's current chairman and former CEO, has been sharing them at conferences, fundraisers, and universities over the past decade. Friends of mine that have seen him speak say he's one of the most inspirational speakers they have heard. Although I didn't get to… read more

Omaha Before Carter Cast began building futures with the nation’s leading companies, he was more interested in the building of past civilizations. The Stanford University graduate was a history buff during his college years. Going on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science, Cast, as a child, was more so an archaeologist who collected rocks and had a love for dinosaurs. “I’ve always enjoyed learning… read more