March 17, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Lincoln (Guest post by Kyle Murphy.) It's damn hard to recruit and hire great user-centered design talent right now. Demand is palpably high. Supply seems depressingly low. Midwestern organizations are competing against every Silicon Valley startup throwing cash and options at the limited talent pool. To win the recruiting battle against companies in hotspots like San Francisco and New York City, your opportunity can't be … read more
March 16, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Kansas City As I write this, I am sitting on a bus with about 25 entrepreneurs from around the Midwest. We took a busload of tech entrepreneurs to the annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival in Austin, Texas. Long known as a great place to launch ventures and build buzz for your startup, we thought it was important for the emerging tech scene in the Silicon Prairie to be well-represented at "South by." So, we rented a bus (courtesy of the Kauffman … read more
March 13, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Kansas City (Guest post by Nate Olson) This morning was a whirlwind. At 11:00 a.m. CST I joined a Google Hangout with a coffee shop full of smiling entrepreneurs in Reno, Nev., who were launching their very first 1 Million Cups. As I saw the excitement in this room packed with 50 or so entrepreneurs, I was overcome with joy. This joy comes from the realization that we are on the brink of a startup … read more
March 9, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Des Moines If you are like me when you read something or talk to someone you immediately add a phrase or word to a song, title, proper noun or really anything. Things pop into my head that are loosely correlated to what I am reading or hearing. For example when I first met Ben Milne and he said the name of his company was called Dwolla I immediately thought of the city Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia … read more
March 4, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Omaha 2009: "You live in Omaha? When are you going to move away?" 2013: "Oh yeah, Omaha. I hear that's a pretty cool place." When I used to travel for business, my industry peers would always force themselves to feign interest in my answer to the usual first question: "Where are you from?" Oh, I'm from Omaha, I'd say. I love it there. It's a pretty exciting place to live right now and there's an awesome community … read more
March 1, 2013 by Guest Contributor
Kansas City I'm not an expert. Honestly, I've only been to a single startup conference in my entire life: Thinc Iowa 2012 organized by Silicon Prairie News. Even so, that single conference changed the course of my life in several ways, many that I'm still discovering. With Silicon Prairie News' next conference Big Kansas City just a few short weeks away, here's what you should expect from it: 1. You will meet people that … read more
February 22, 2013 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Iowans are everywhere; at least that's how it feels to me. I'm the type of person that loves to catalog and share random knowledge, and when I learn that someone has a connection to this state I make a mental note of it. Those connections – people born, raised, educated or who otherwise lived here for a significant amount of time but have now moved elsewhere – are what we're calling "expats." As I wrote … read more
February 15, 2013 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Growing the Silicon Prairie startup community has been part of our organization's mission since its earliest days. That includes drawing attention to new startups, shining a spotlight on those making strides, sharing news about great events in the region and highlighting the folks working hard behind the scenes. When I presented "Silicon Prairie News, the Startup," at 1 Million Cups - Des Moines a few weeks ago, one of the questions asked of me was: "What are you doing to bring new people … 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.