Des Moines Iowa's capital city will host its second Startup Weekend of 2012 Nov. 16-18. Startup Weekend Des Moines, a weekend-long education in launching a high-growth business, will take place once again at StartupCity Des Moines (317 6th Ave.). During the event, teams devote a weekend to building the foundation of a business. It begins Friday evening with participants coming together and delivering minute-long pitches of ideas for startups. Attendees then spend Saturday and Sunday working in teams to … read more

Des Moines Summer may be over, but on Saturday in Des Moines camp was still very much in session. About 60 participants came together Saturday at StartupCity Des Moines for the inaugural SketchCamp Des Moines. The all-day event featured 12 speakers, many of whom focused on the benefits of sketching as a way to communicate complex strategies or ideas to a group. “It’s kind of cool because it’s something that everyone does,” said … read more

Des Moines If you can write your name with a pen, pencil or marker, you can sketch, or so say the organizers of SketchCamp Des Moines on Saturday. With an aim to empower attendees to discover their sketching ability and to better think through things visually, Design+Tech and AIGA Iowa are teaming up to hold the one-day event at StartupCity Des Moines. "The whole goal is to bring everyone together and be like, 'Hey, this is a common tool that we can all use and it also helps us work together better,' " BitMethod's Amanda Morrow, the organizer of Design+Tech, said in a recent interview with Silicon Prairie News. "When I work with Neil (Roberts), he can sketch … read more

Des Moines As SmartyPig approached its fifth birthday, company brass took a hard look at what the Des Moines-based startup had become. There was, without question, plenty to celebrate for the goal-based, social savings company. "We had this really great, kick-ass brand," said Michael Ferrari, who co-founded the company in 2007. "We had global industry recognition. … read more