November 12, 2012 by Paige Yowell
Des Moines Change is now available for "anyone who wants to ditch their cash register and live a simpler life," according to the app's website. Created by Des Moines mobile app firm BitMethod, Change is a restaurant and retail management system with an iPad-based point of sale. A few months ago, we wrote about the app's launch into private beta at a local coffee shop, the kind of client it aims … read more
November 12, 2012 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines "If there's one thing that's been consistent in everything that I do," Antonio Neves told the Thinc Iowa audience Oct. 11, "it's that I am a professional question asker and I am a professional opportunity identifier." For the next 25 minutes, Neves, who emceed the event, employed both those qualities in a motivational talk to open the final day of Thinc Iowa 2012. He asked the audience: "Would you bet on you accomplishing what you … read more
November 12, 2012 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Sillicon Prairie News is teaming up with Dwolla to help the Des Moines-based payments startup hold its first hackathon in The Prairie. Titled Old MacDonald Hackathon … read more
November 8, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines When Brad Dwyer created Hatchlings in 2008, he was a college sophomore who viewed the game as little more than an entertaining way to pass a weekend in the dorms. "At the time," Dwyer said, "I just thought it was going to be another fun project that I did." Far from it. Hatchlings, a game in which users hunt for virtual Easter eggs, was profitable … read more
November 7, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines "Being an entrepreneur can be magical," Ron J. Williams says, "but it ain't magic." Williams, the co-founder and CEO of Knodes, opened with that message and proceeded to draw the distinction between magical and magic during his talk Oct. 10 at Thinc Iowa 2012. Williams said people tend to romanticize the entrepreneurial narrative of someone scribbling … read more
November 6, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines With the ascent of Apple, the notion that an emphasis on design can drive business success has become more commonplace in recent years, Gentry Underwood says. But Underwood, the co-founder and CEO of Orchestra, doesn't need to look toward Cupertino to see the impact that a design-centric approach can have on a company. After all, Underwood's own … read more
November 6, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines Ryan Graves can trace his career at Uber back to one tweet. Well, one tweet and a whole lot of hustle. Graves, Uber's Global GM and VP of Operations, spoke Oct. 11 at Thinc Iowa 2012 about helping build Uber, the San Francisco-based startup that provides on-demand car service through a mobile app, and he reflected on the lessons he's learned in … read more
November 2, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines Silicon Valley visitors bureaus and tourism boards in the market for a spokesperson probably won't come calling Brian Spaly any time soon, and that seems fine by Spaly. The Trunk Club CEO is perfectly happy in Chicago, building his business. That much became abundantly clear when Spaly stepped on stage Oct. 10 at Thinc Iowa 2012. "I think sometimes it's good to … read more
November 1, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines When Lesa Mitchell stepped on stage Oct. 12 at Thinc Iowa 2012, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's vice president of innovation and networks sported a shirt — green, and emblazoned with "MIT" in large, white letters — that required a disclaimer. Mitchell, who gave a talk on women in entrepreneurship, explained that MIT is not her alma mater … read more
October 31, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines The more we've perused photos from Thinc Iowa 2012 the past couple of weeks, the more one thing has become abundantly clear: People love to love our resident spokesrodent, Analog the Prairie Dog. Like, people don't just like Analog. They like like him. The little guy now transcends the status of mere homedog; he's become the target of frequent, widespread and overt shows of PDA (that is, prairie dog affection). That was no more evident than earlier … 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.