Spencer Morningside College junior Blake Anderson thinks of most of his great ideas in the shower. After scribbling his inspiration down on spare slips of paper, he takes the idea to his partner and sounding board Sean Richardson, a recent Morningside graduate. This time, the idea that struck him and went on to impress the Startup Weekend Spencer judges this past weekend was PushLoyalty, a mobile app that allows businesses to reward customer loyalty. "My original idea was a push notification … read more

Spencer The first Startup Weekend Spencer is off and running with three teams working to create viable companies in just one weekend. On Friday evening the 16 people registered for northwest Iowa's first Startup Weekend gathered at StartupCity Spencer, pitched ideas and formed teams to work to create projects throughout the weekend. With a population of less than 12,000, organizer Sara Magnussen believes that the city will be the smallest ever to host a Startup Weekend. … read more

Des Moines We'll be rolling out our "orange carpet" and handing out "Golden Analogs," once again. This August, all are invited to join us for our second annual Silicon Prairie Awards, a community celebration honoring 12 companies and individuals. Whether you're a startup founder or community supporter, we hope you'll join us. The rotating regional event, which will be held 6-10 p.m. August 29 at the Hoyt Sherman Place in downtown Des Moines, features an opening and closing reception, keynote speaker, startup showcase … read more

Des Moines Looking for lunch plans on Thursday? Join the Change team at 2 p.m. for some hotdogs, hijinx and heated competition at Hotshots Craft Hotdoggery, one of Des Moines' newest culinary additions. The Change Challenge... read more

Kansas City The call for makers has closed, but Union Station is gearing up to open its doors to DIYers for the two-day Maker Faire Kansas City from June 29-30. This will be the third local iteration—once again part … read more

Kansas City Round two of the KC Startup Crawl, the sequel to February's inaugural showcase of area startups, is ready to ring in again June 28 from 4-9 p.m. at about a dozen stops along a shuttled route during 1Week KC. Volunteer organizer Carrie Royce wants to double the scope from last time, which highlighted about 50 startups and drew more than 400 attendees. She's still in the process of recruiting startups that want to participate, with opportunities to be part of the program even if the company is located outside the Crawl's route. Startups can be paired with stops … read more

Kansas City With the recent release of the 1Week KC schedule, you may have been left wondering where Think Big Partners and the KC Chamber's iKC conference fits into this year's program. First held last June during 1Week, the event is absent from this year's schedule because it has a new date and direction ... read more

Kansas City During 1Week KC, we're putting wit to the test, again. At our SPN Pub Quiz 2.0, participants in the week-long event series will assemble teams with the best brains around and compete in rounds of trivia that test everything from Internet memes to pop culture, Kansas City facts to startup "basics" and much more. Start preparing your Pub Quiz team roster with your pick of the five smartest cookies, and we do encourage you to pick people you might … read more