January 21, 2013 by Joe Stych
Des Moines Thanks to perceptive thinkers in the world of health care, patients often turn to online resources for medical advice. Some visit WebMD for their five minutes of hypochondria – it's natural – but Anuj Bhargava, M.D. (left) wants to streamline assistance for one rapidly growing segment of wellness: diabetes. In 2009, Iowa State University contacted Bhargava, a Des Moines physician specializing in diabetes … read more
January 19, 2013 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines In our November announcement naming our full-time Kansas City staff and new event, Big Kansas City, we casually mentioned that Thinc Iowa, our two-year-old event in Des Moines, would now be called Big Des Moines. I've heard lots of good feedback from the community, but I wanted to use our new behind-the-scenes series to share the reasons for the change. The "Big": As we first sought to name the new … read more
January 18, 2013 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines We often get questions about our organization – from "How do you make money?" to "Where are your offices?" – so we're beginning a new series to help provide more insight into the work we do and how we do it. The series, "Inside SPN," debuts tomorrow. Since the very nature of our work is to highlight and support the innovation, milestones and culture of Silicon Prairie startups, it's sometimes overlooked that we're a startup, too. We believe this quality … read more
January 16, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Extending the reach of its goal-based online saving bank, SmartyPig today will introduce OneClick, a feature that lets users start saving for a product on any ecommerce website. Whether it's saving for a television on Amazon or a treadmill on Walmart.com, SmartyPig no longer requires its users to return to its website to start a new goal. … read more
January 8, 2013 by Paige Yowell
Des Moines Des Moines software developer Derek Brooks never thought he would find himself working on a political campaign. A registered independent voter, he was never very interested in politics. But over the past year, Brooks along with fellow Iowan and friend Nick Leeper were employed by President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in Chicago. "I was there for the candidate," Brooks said … read more
January 2, 2013 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines The Dec. 20 issue of The New Republic magazine includes an article — published online as "Silicon Valley’s Profit-Killing Provincialism" and in print as "No Angels" — by Lydia DePillis on the trials of raising capital outside Silicon Valley. The story includes insights from John Schnipkoweit, founder of Cedar Rapids-based RecBob, and John Jackovin, founder of Des Moines-based Bawte … read more
December 17, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines The Technology Association of Iowa, a nonprofit organization created to accelerate the success of Iowa’s technology industry, announced on Thursday that the nomination period for its 2013 Prometheus Awards is open and will run through Jan. 28. Now in their eighth year, the Prometheus Awards celebrate innovation and achievement within Iowa's tech sector. Recipients of 2012 awards included Banno … read more
December 13, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines For two days in October, followers of our Thinc Iowa conference gorged on a smorgasbord of presentations about entrepreneurship and innovation. Then, throughout the month of November, people had a chance to replenish their supply of lessons through the Thinc Iowa 2012 Video Series. Now, nearing the midpoint of December, the cupboard has been bare for some time. But not any more. Today, we bring you a feast, in the form of our … read more
December 13, 2012 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Earlier this week, we shared the story behind the New York Times' Silicon Prairie story. In research for that post, I spoke with Jordan Lampe, director of communications at Dwolla, the Des Moines-based startup prominently featured in the story. In addition to learning about Lampe's role in The Times story, I took the opportunity to ask the early Dwolla hire how he's gone about securing consistent and notable press for the payments network. Dwolla is one of the most buzzed about startups in the Silicon Prairie region and, at some points … read more
December 3, 2012 by Megan Bannister
Des Moines More than 45 hackers showed up at Dwolla's downtown Des Moines office Saturday morning to begin building apps in a programming competition that promised a cow as its top prize. The Old MacDonald Hackathon, an event Silicon Prairie News teamed up with Dwolla to produce, rounded out a weekend of events celebrating the two-year anniversary ... read more
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.