Lincoln Lincoln couple Khara and Emir Plicanic’s cross-country bicycle trip started very low-tech, in a way, with four books. The first three were all books Khara read (and Emir read "by proxy" based on their discussions): "My Life on the Run" by Bart Yasso, "A Million Miles and a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller and "The Art of Nonconformity" by Chris Guillebeau. Each included some mention of riding bicycles across the United States. "I had never thought of a bike as a mode of travel transportation," said Khara, a … read more

Omaha Artifact Bag Co. and its founder Chris Hughes are a unique up-and-coming prairie company – a refreshingly old-school startup in a technical community. Hughes makes bags. Great bags. One in particular, the No. 215 Lunch Tote (below), has earned attention from popular tech blogs to established media outlets. "It's a simple, elegant design," the New York Times wrote. Using American-sourced waxed … read more

Kansas City Shaul Jolles loves Kansas City. And it shows. Jolles, a University of Missouri-Kansas City graduate who was born and raised in Israel, landed in the Kansas City area over a decade ago after serving in the Israeli army. Initially intending to only stay for a semester during his undergraduate studies, he's still in Kansas City 12 years later. "I fell in love with Kansas City.” Jolles said. “I didn't think in the beginning that this was my place, but I really fell in love … read more

Ames My Online Camp started in 2006 with a single client and a single goal: helping coaches and camp operators promote and manage camps more successfully. Today, the Ames-based startup has 1,100 clients and counting scattered across the country. But the story of the company's growth starts with a King Kong-sized … read more

Des Moines Shannon Thomas' pitch last March on the final night of Startup Weekend Des Moines wasn't quite enough to win over the judges — her startup, Fundle, earned best pitch didn't finish among the top three overall* — but it helped her catch the attention of the one person in the room who turned out to matter most of all. "She just totally rocked the pitch," Kenny Younger said of Thomas. "It was amazing. … read more

Lincoln While studying electrical engineering at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Matthew Wegener had a part time job at a salvage yard where he worked on cars and poured concrete. During his time there, Wegener realized the salvage yard needed an inventory management system. He made a proposal to build the system for them on evenings and weekends. "Literally it was just a card table in a salvage yard," … read more