Silicon Prairie News

Columbia Articles
4083_465df20b4b_small May 4, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Columbia (This is a guest post by Wade Foster.) Few people come out of the womb, kicking and screaming, born ready to be a startup founder. Most of us take the longer more traditional route. Usually that means 12 years of primary education, 4 years of secondary education, a few more years working at a good job before finally catching the startup bug. You can't get this idea out of your head so you make the leap of faith into entrepreneurship. There is nothing wrong with a more traditional route. I took the more traditional route. … read more

4026_c00c0a1e93_small April 24, 2012 by Michael Stacy

Columbia Newsy today announced the availability of its channel on Roku, a streaming player. Newsy, a Columbia, Mo.-based news startup that we originally featured last summer, delivers the news of the day in multisource videos 2-3 minutes long that highlight the key differences in reporting from media outlets around the world. Those videos are now part of Roku's news and weather category. Users can add the Newsy channel to their Roku player for free and get instant access to the latest Newsy videos. Newsy produces 20 videos per day … read more

3533_b004deac58_small January 31, 2012 by Guest Contributor

Columbia I love Columbia, Mo. It's vibrant and artsy. It's highly educated. It's full of opportunity and has the No. 4 ranked basketball team in the country (sorry … couldn't resist). A few months ago, the community inspired me to write an article, "5 Advantages Of Small Town Entrepreneurial Living," about why I choose to live in the Midwest and make Columbia … read more

2856_8141a9d0f4_small September 15, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Columbia Startup Weekend is coming to middle Missouri. The 54-hour event, during which participants build ideas into … read more

2530_be5c7e9513_small July 12, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Columbia Telling the story of his move from northern California to middle Missouri, Jim Spencer peppers in a couple of punch lines that have become well-polished with use. In 2008, Spencer relocated from San Francisco to Columbia, Mo. to start Newsy, a provider of multi-platform, multi-source video news analysis. "I explained to the folks in northern California," said Spencer, “that really the two main … read more

2185_4150491dad_small May 3, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Columbia As he has worked to bring his nonprofit startup to scale recently, David Cohn hasn't encountered any shortage of people willing to help. Cohn is the founder and director of Spot.us, a web-based platform for community-funded journalism that we reported on last week. Spot.us allows the public to commission and participate with journalists to report on important and perhaps overlooked topics. Cohn launched Spot.us in late 2008 and has worked for the last year as a Donald W. Reynolds Fellow at the University of Missouri's … read more

2174_504e7031d2_small April 29, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Columbia David Cohn didn't necessarily set out looking to launch a startup when he entered the working world. But it wasn't long before Cohn's line of work led him down an entrepreneurial path. "I was writing about technology all the time and how technology was influencing culture and different industries, etc.," Cohn said. "Eventually I started scratching my chin and said, 'Well, how does it change journalism – the actual profession that I’ve chosen?' And that was … read more

2158_abf04a86fa_small April 26, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Columbia The team at Silicon Prairie News is often invited to participate in events and entrepreneurial conferences about either our organization or the geographic and … read more