Columbia Telling the story of his move from northern California to middle Missouri, Jim Spencer peppers in a couple of punch lines that have become well-polished with use. In 2008, Spencer relocated from San Francisco to Columbia, Mo. to start Newsy, a provider of multi-platform, multi-source video news analysis. "I explained to the folks in northern California," said Spencer, “that really the two main … read more

Des Moines VolunteerLocal has a clear message for event organizers seeking a better way to orchestrate volunteer forces: if you want your volunteer process to excel, scrap the old spreadsheet. "We know we’ve fixed the problem, and I think a lot of our big task is educating the market that there’s tools like this available," said Brian Hemesath, VolunteerLocal’s founder. "Our biggest competition is … read more

Lincoln Shane Farritor had no plans of becoming an entrepreneur, but things changed in 2006. “This started with an alumnus from the university who is on the dean’s advisory board," said Farritor, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "He’s been very successful doing startup companies and wanted to help the university with his expertise. He wanted to help engineers … read more

Des Moines By day, Toran Billups works as a software developer with Iowa Student Loan. By night, he's a father and husband. But by early morning, he's an inventor of time. "I looked at the time in the day," Billups, 28, said, "and because there wasn't enough, I had to come up with some, so I invented it." Although he's no Father Time, this husband and father of one "invented" time to juggle his many obligations. After a full workday and time spent with … read more

Kansas City We live in an age of energy drinks. Red Bull, 5-hour Energy or insert your energy drink of the week here have been proven and sometimes disproven to help languid geeks stay awake in the wee hours of night hacking away on the next big thing. What we sometimes misunderstand is that a boost of energy doesn't necessarily make up for a lack of focus. … read more

Lincoln Young entrepreneurs, students and professionals from the Lincoln business community were all ears when the Entrepreneurship Committee from Lincoln’s Young Professionals Group put on its latest event at the Raikes School on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. John Wirtz, COO of Hudl, interviewed Steve Kiene, managing director of Nebraska Global, and Kiene talked about his background, startup experience and tips for new entrepreneurs. … read more

Columbia As he has worked to bring his nonprofit startup to scale recently, David Cohn hasn't encountered any shortage of people willing to help. Cohn is the founder and director of Spot.us, a web-based platform for community-funded journalism that we reported on last week. Spot.us allows the public to commission and participate with journalists to report on important and perhaps overlooked topics. Cohn launched Spot.us in late 2008 and has worked for the last year as a Donald W. Reynolds Fellow at the University of Missouri's … read more

Columbia David Cohn didn't necessarily set out looking to launch a startup when he entered the working world. But it wasn't long before Cohn's line of work led him down an entrepreneurial path. "I was writing about technology all the time and how technology was influencing culture and different industries, etc.," Cohn said. "Eventually I started scratching my chin and said, 'Well, how does it change journalism – the actual profession that I’ve chosen?' And that was … read more