Silicon Prairie News

West Des Moines If it’s Friday and it’s lunchtime and Ben Sinclair isn’t at Performance Marketing’s West Des Moines offices, it’s a pretty safe bet where he is instead. He’s making a beeline to the buffet line. Mind you, he’s not there for the fare — Sinclair gives the food a review that’s lukewarm at best — but to satisfy another appetite. “The food isn’t the best,” Sinclair said. “But it’s mainly an excuse to get together and talk about radio stuff.” Sinclair, 33, is a developer of Web … read more

Lincoln The Turbine Flats Project is an "idea community" in Lincoln that began in 2008 with 22 people and 11,500 square feet. Today, some 75 employees work in the space, which has undergone one addition and is in the midst of a second. In December we covered ISoft Data Systems and the company’s CEO, Matthew Wegener. ISoft Data Systems is part of the Turbine Flats Project, which essentially started when ISoft out-grew its old offices and relocated its four employees into a larger space on 9th Street in … read more

Overland Park Imagine you own a small business and a dissatisfied customer tweets about your company's service. Soon more people latch on to that negative nugget and pass it along via their social networks. For a business that isn't properly prepared, one thought can turn into a tide of negativity. But Rich Neal believes his company has just the tool to sniff out and snuff out those threats. Neal is the chief envisioneer, chief information officer and director of … read more

Since TECHdotMN launched a little more than two years ago, I've followed the tech industry in my home state of Minnesota thanks to the work of two individuals, Jeff Pesek and Mike Bollinger, co-founders of the site. With a mission similar to ours at Silicon Prairie News, Pesek and Bollinger have built an authoritative outlet to showcase original reporting, curated media coverage, a comprehensive calendar of events … read more

Lincoln Lincoln couple Khara and Emir Plicanic’s cross-country bicycle trip started very low-tech, in a way, with four books. The first three were all books Khara read (and Emir read "by proxy" based on their discussions): "My Life on the Run" by Bart Yasso, "A Million Miles and a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller and "The Art of Nonconformity" by Chris Guillebeau. Each included some mention of riding bicycles across the United States. "I had never thought of a bike as a mode of travel transportation," said Khara, a … read more

Omaha Artifact Bag Co. and its founder Chris Hughes are a unique up-and-coming prairie company – a refreshingly old-school startup in a technical community. Hughes makes bags. Great bags. One in particular, the No. 215 Lunch Tote (below), has earned attention from popular tech blogs to established media outlets. "It's a simple, elegant design," the New York Times wrote. Using American-sourced waxed … read more

Kansas City Shaul Jolles loves Kansas City. And it shows. Jolles, a University of Missouri-Kansas City graduate who was born and raised in Israel, landed in the Kansas City area over a decade ago after serving in the Israeli army. Initially intending to only stay for a semester during his undergraduate studies, he's still in Kansas City 12 years later. "I fell in love with Kansas City.” Jolles said. “I didn't think in the beginning that this was my place, but I really fell in love … read more

Ames My Online Camp started in 2006 with a single client and a single goal: helping coaches and camp operators promote and manage camps more successfully. Today, the Ames-based startup has 1,100 clients and counting scattered across the country. But the story of the company's growth starts with a King Kong-sized … read more