Silicon Prairie News

Tagged Brad Dwyer
NEWS

Check out our photos and video from the SPN Meetup with Hatchlings

3577_f275300ac1_small February 6, 2012 by Brittany Mascio

Des Moines Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Groundhog Day Silicon Prairie News Meetup with Hatchlings was quite the sight. Last Thursday, more than 70 people from the Des Moines startup community joined us to celebrate the big holiday. Or perhaps they joined us simply for a chance to pet our spokesrodent Analog the Prairie Dog and have a brewski. Either way, the crowd seemed to be pleased with the mingling, the attempt to hold a competitive billiards showdown and the opportunity to learn more about Hatchlings, our meetup sponsor. Brad Dwyer, the CEO of Hatchlings, shared more about the “world's largest Easter Egg Hunt” and a bit about … read more

NEWS

Join us for the SPN Meetup with Hatchlings on Thursday

3555_82d89b441b_small February 1, 2012 by Brittany Mascio

Des Moines With a projected high of 54 degrees in Des Moines today, it's hard to think tomorrow marks Groundhog Day, a day where many hope and pray the furry guy doesn't see a wintry shadow. Tomorrow night, Feb. 2 from 5-7 p.m. at Raccoon River, the spokesrodent from a related genus, Analog the Prairie Dog will have more on his mind than a shadow when he joins us for the Silicon Prairie News Meetup with Hatchlings. … read more

NEWS

Reinvigorated Hatchlings founder makes hires, enters ‘re-startup’ phase

3373_57981d457b_small December 29, 2011 by Michael Stacy

Des Moines There’s nothing quite like quality face time with enthusiastic users and a big IPO from a competitor to renew a startup’s zest for pursuing aggressive growth. That’s a lesson learned recently by Brad Dwyer, the Panora, Iowa-based founder of Hatchlings. Dwyer created Hatchlings, a Facebook game that revolves around finding, collecting and hatching virtual Easter eggs, in 2008, when he was a student at Iowa State. A few years into the venture, Dwyer started mulling the idea of selling the company or otherwise reducing his involvement to free up time for other projects. … read more

FEATURES

Prairie Moves: Nadine Anheier, Find & Replace, QuickCal and more

3082_6b94491e73_small October 29, 2011 by Danny Schreiber

Published Tuesdays and Thursdays (two days late this week), Prairie Moves keeps our readers informed about career moves, media coverage, product development and more from the companies and individuals we cover on Silicon Prairie News. If you or your company would like to submit one of the items below for our next Prairie Moves post, please email editor@siliconprairienews.com. … read more

INTERVIEWS

VolunteerLocal streamlines process for organizers and ‘happy volunteers’

2392_570af2ea6b_small June 16, 2011 by Michael Stacy

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

FEATURES

PrairieCast with Brad Dwyer and John T. Meyer (Video)

2331_ffc85140bb_small June 1, 2011 by Geoff Wood

Des Moines On this week's PrairieCast Andy Brudtkuhl and I were joined by guests Brad Dwyer, founder of Hatchlings, and John T. Meyer, co-founder of 9 Clouds and Silicon Prairie News contributor based in Sioux Falls. Also, PrairieCast is now recorded in a green screen studio which lets us place any image behind us – if you have something you'd like to replace … read more

FEATURES

PrairieCast: Live at 2 p.m. with Brad Dwyer and John T. Meyer

2325_06256af65d_small May 31, 2011 by Geoff Wood

Des Moines Tune in today at 2 p.m. CDT for Episode 40 of PrairieCast. We'll be joined by guests Brad Dwyer, founder of Hatchlings and John T. Meyer, co-founder of 9 Clouds and Sioux Falls contributor to Silicon Prairie News. PrairieCast is a live podcast, recorded weekly, that features round table-style discussion of the top issues in startup … read more

OPINION

Brad Dwyer: Risks produce big rewards for Hatchlings

2043_504862e7ea_small April 6, 2011 by Guest Contributor

Des Moines (The following is a guest post by Brad Dwyer of Hatchlings.) I have found that one of the most important things to do as an entrepreneur is to mix things up every once in a while. Most of the time your new ideas are going to flop, but every once in a while you'll hit a gold mine. At Hatchlings, lots of our most popular (and most profitable) features have been ideas I came up with and threw out there not knowing what to expect. Our revenue is now made up of about 25 percent virtual goods sales and 40 percent membership… read more

NEWS

What’s a successful viral app look like? How about a six-hour drive?

1808_5c5996a9ce_small February 16, 2011 by Danny Schreiber

Des Moines On Monday we posted a story about Hatchlings running a charity campaign called "You Play, We Pay." Hatchlings, which can be described as a virtual egg hunt inside of Facebook and other online apps, plans to give a total of $60,000 to three causes. In our story, Hatchlings founder Brad Dwyer told us… read more

NEWS

Hatchlings launches ‘You Play, We Pay’ charity drive

1796_de82f08384_small February 14, 2011 by Geoff Wood

Des Moines Brad Dwyer, founder of the popular social app Hatchlings, isn't content to concentrate solely on improving the gaming elements of his product. Instead, he recently launched a charity fundraising drive, called "You Play, We Pay," with a goal of giving away a total of $60,000 to three causes. In a recent email interview, Dwyer told me that he wanted to extend the Hatchlings platform, which can be described as a virtual egg hunt inside of Facebook and other online apps… read more