February 28, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Ames The fifth annual EntreFest! conference is set to "highlight the thriving world of entrepreneurship in Iowa" March 8-9 in Ames. The event, which will take place at the Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, features speeches, networking events and breakout sessions on subjects including New Technology Tools, Why Search Engine Optimization is Important, How to Keep Customers Rushing Back for More, How to Harvest Profits without Sacrificing … read more
September 8, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Ames If the team at Shoplr has its way, people won't venture anywhere without scanning their radar — not for ominous storm fronts or looming low-pressure systems, but for deals. Shoplr, which derives its name from "shopping" and "Doppler" (as in the weather-tracking radar) is a mobile application for discovering real-time offers from local businesses. … read more
September 8, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Pella Location, location, location. The age-old adage in the real estate industry suggests it's a business all about the "L" word. But Josh Cowman and Jon Kettler know there's plenty more to it than that: timing, too, plays an important part in the buying and selling of homes. "We know," Cowman said in his Dream Big Grow Here pitch video, "that even though we’re ready to buy a home, maybe the right home isn’t on the market at the right time." It's with that in mind that Cowman and Kettler started Skowty … read more
September 7, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
What is Prairie Moves? Published Tuesdays and Thursdays, 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
September 1, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Edging out second place by more than 500 votes, Matthew Smith of Real Estate Fan Pages is the winner of Central Iowa division of MyEntre.Net's statewide Dream Big Grow Here contest. Smith, the owner of S&G Real Estate Investments, will take home $5,000 from the local contest facilitated by the Business Innovation Zone and move on to compete in the statewide competition for a chance at $10,000. … read more
August 30, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Ames For attorneys at the heart of mergers and acquisitions or other financing transactions, paper is plentiful and tends to pile up in a hurry — hundreds of documents over the course of a deal, hundreds more emails per day in the run-up to closing. Finalize It is a cloud-based software service that aims to turn that potential mountain of documents into a more manageable molehill. Finalize It is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas … read more
August 29, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Des Moines 'Location, location, location' is a common mantra in the real estate industry. Now with the idea for Real Estate Fan Pages, realtors can live up to the phrase, find potential home-buyers and end the hunt in house-hunting with one online location: Facebook. Real Estate Fan Pages is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas in central Iowa. The top vote-getter in an … read more
August 29, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Ankeny Already well-acquainted with the App Store? Well, now get to know the TapStore. Seeking to sidestep the hassles of creating native mobile apps for each of the different mobile platforms, SquareTap, also dubbed "the TapStore," provides a custom home page for a smart phone’s web browser, giving users a customized, central source for their favorite mobile apps and a directory of the best mobile destinations from around the web. "I think mobile devices are becoming more diverse," … read more
August 26, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines Networking, if you ask Mike Templeton, is a dirty word. "For me it generally means standing in a room full of crowded people, blindly introducing myself and my line of work to utter strangers," Templeton, the founder of Introvio, said of networking in a recent blog post. "There are no warnings about people you should avoid, nor are there signals to point out the best people to meet." But with Introvio … read more
August 24, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Des Moines There are plenty of ways to discover new music, but for Jake Kerber, who struggles with Top 40 radio and finds joy in the sounds of his community, there wasn’t an option for local music. So Kerber started Locusic to help users find the beats in their own backyard. Locusic is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas in central Iowa. The top vote-getter in an online poll … read more