Des Moines (This is a guest post by Riane Menardi.) In early November, I had no idea that the Midwest had a startup presence — heck, I think I had to look up what exactly a “startup” was after I saw a tweet about the Startup Job Crawl. I was clueless, but intrigued about this four-hour, tech-industry networking event. As a 2011 Drake grad, I was desperate for a steady paycheck … read more

Kansas City (This is a commentary by Willis Jackson.) When I first started out on my entrepreneurial journey, it was almost impossible to find people to talk to. I spent three to five hours a night combing through Google search results for three consecutive weeks because I was determined to get connected with people that could understand what I was going through. At the end of my search, the only event that seemed like a good fit for me was KC Roundtable, which at the time … read more

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

Omaha (This is a guest post by Joe Hruska.) I am an entrepreneur at heart and have been as long as I can remember. My earliest entrepreneurial memory was a difficult decision on whether to raise the price of the coloring book pages I sold to my classmates from a nickel to a dime. (I decided to keep the price stable.) When I was ten, I took my first side job mopping the floors of my grade school for $2.50 a day. … read more

Des Moines (This is a guest post by Drew Larson and Adam Gregg, attorneys at the BrownWinick Law Firm.) It is an undeniable fact that technology has revolutionized the way we live and do business. In fact, a good number of you reading this right now operate a website, have online business operations, or even own a tech company. Many of these online activities could face new legal risks due to … read more

(This is guest post by Sean Blanda.) At Technically Philly we are in a unique position. Because we have such a specific niche, we are often the first interaction a local company has with the press. Many times we are dealing with first-time entrepreneurs who are responsible for their own marketing and media outreach. Typically, these entrepreneurs are programmers or business majors who don't know anyone in the … read more

Des Moines (The following is a guest post by Chris Draper of Meidh Corporation) The newly minted "Silicon Sixth Avenue" is exactly what our city, county and state have been clamouring for: a high density of young, technology enabled risk takers. With nationally renowned start-ups bookending a Silicon Valley-style incubator, this new technology corridor is … read more

Des Moines At Thinc Iowa in Des Moines last month, Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership and founding CTO of priceline.com, described the mission of the Startup America Partnership. Initiated by the White House but operating as an independent, private-sector entity, the Startup America Partnership is dedicated to growing more resources for entrepreneurs in the areas of expertise, support services, talent, customers and capital. Case talked … read more