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Prairie Portrait: Alex Frazier of RecBob

4087_b21041cf26_small May 4, 2012 by Michael Stacy

Cedar Rapids Silicon Prairie News: When did you realize that RecBob had legs to carry on well past Startup Weekend Iowa City and become a full time gig, and what was that realization like? | Alex Frazier: A couple of things happened actually. First, when we shared the product idea with others, their reactions confirmed that the pain point existed and that we would be addressing a real problem. Then, a couple of weeks after Startup Weekend, we had the opportunity to present at the Technology Association of Iowa's Pitch and Grow, which we won — without even realizing it was a competition. Additionally, the stars seemed to align, and we were all ready and able to take the leap. The realization was exciting … read more

NEWS

Developer-driven Iowa Code Camp coming to Cedar Rapids on May 5

4028_11a82196e9_small April 26, 2012 by Michael Stacy

Cedar Rapids Iowa Code Camp, a free, daylong conference by and for developers, will return for a ninth go-around on May 5. The event … read more

NEWS

BarcampICR taking place Saturday at Vault Coworking in Cedar Rapids

3715_58ad14e2cd_small March 1, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Cedar Rapids Entrepreneurs, creatives, makers and doers from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids (ICR*) region are gathering on Saturday for BarcampICR #2, an unconference where the attendees are the featured speakers. The event will go from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Vault Coworking & Collaboration Space in downtown Cedar Rapids. Barcamp, a grassroots conference produced by local groups in cities … read more

NEWS

Q&A: RecBob CEO discusses going full-time with Startup Weekend idea

3404_d7798490ba_small January 10, 2012 by Danny Schreiber

Cedar Rapids John Schnipkoweit (left), the co-founder and now former CTO of Ovation Networks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has gone full-time with an idea he first pitched at Startup Weekend Iowa City in October. And he's not alone. "I've sold all of my shares in Ovation Networks to my co-founder," Schnipkoweit said in an email interview on Friday. "There are three of us that are going ahead on RecBob full-time and two going part-time." Schnipkoweit, who's taken on the role of CEO, said RecBob is bootstrapping … read more

NEWS

Vault open to Wednesday coworking, set for full-scale launch in November

2772_9f00aa727c_small August 26, 2011 by Guest Contributor

Cedar Rapids Downtown Cedar Rapids is getting an office space like it has never seen before. Vault, a coworking and collaboration space located on the fifth floor of the historic Guranty Bank Building (302 3rd Ave SE), is offering free community workspace every Wednesday in August for area entrepreneurs and creatives with plans for a full business launch this fall. Vault is a partnership of Corridor CoWorks and Seed Here. Corridor CoWorks owner Theresa Bornbach has created … read more

NEWS

Jack Perry gives C-SPAN a Syncbak overview

2629_28391f78f8_small August 1, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Cedar Rapids When the Consumer Electronics Association held its CES On the Hill trade show in Washington, D.C. in May, Syncbak founder and CEO Jack Perry attended in hopes of spreading the word about his Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based startup. He ended up doing so to a national television audience via C-SPAN. Syncbak, which provides a platform for broadcasting live, local television on web-enabled devices … read more

NEWS

Chapman gives keynote on Omaha’s entrepreneurial ecosystem (Video)

2603_d53c92a7ae_small July 27, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Cedar Rapids In case you couldn’t catch it in person or live via the Ustream feed, here, again, is Tom Chapman's keynote address from the Cowtown to Boomtown event held July 13 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Chapman, the director of entrepreneurship and innovation for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, discussed Omaha's transformation from a meatpacking center to a city drawing national and international … read more

NEWS

Watch live: Tom Chapman keynote at Cowtown to Boomtown event

2548_156c30df16_small July 13, 2011 by Geoff Wood

Cedar Rapids As discussed yesterday on PrairieCast, the organizers of the Cowtown to Boomtown event series in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are streaming today's keynote presentation over the lunch hour. The speaker is Tom Chapman, director of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Chapman, who is also a regular guest contributor of Silicon Prairie News … read more

NEWS

Clickstop, founder Guenther garner regional recognition

2366_7c454df0af_small June 9, 2011 by Dan Beenken

Cedar Rapids The Corridor Business Journal held its annual awards last month to recognize business success stories across eastern Iowa. Clickstop received recognition twice, including Tim Guenther, Clickstop’s founder, being named as Entrepreneur of the Year for 2011. Said Guenther about taking home the big prize: “Winning the Entrepreneur of the Year award is a great honor. When you focus on building a business based on your passions … read more

NEWS

Guest Post: The value of attending Iowa Code Camp

2132_9bfca2cc99_small April 19, 2011 by Guest Contributor

Cedar Rapids If you're interested or involved in technology, there's an event that you should look into that is starting on its forth year. Iowa Code Camp is a biannual event that focuses on being a community driven, developer focused, free event for software developers. Whether you're working on creating the next big social networking app, a game changing iPhone app or just continuing on your company's product. There is so much to learn at one of … read more