Tagged Iowa State University
March 12, 2012 by Amy Engle
Every Monday, look for our events post to keep you in the loop on the happenings of the week. From meetups and conferences to workshops and pitch sessions, if it's happening in the Silicon Prairie, you'll find it here. For more, visit our events page for a calendar of upcoming events from us and others in the region. To submit an event for … read more
February 20, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Ames Silicon Prairie News: Involved with as many startups as you are, how do you divide your time between them all? What's your startup schedule like for a typical week? | Grant Awes: Dividing up time between them all can definitely be difficult, but I focus on which have the biggest initiatives coming up the soonest. My startup schedule mainly relies on when I have exams and large projects due. If I have a test or project during the week, I usually work on startup to-do's one day on the weekend. If I don't have any exams or big projects during the week I usually just focus on startup to-do's evenly … read more
August 24, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines I love that our friends in the larger publications in Des Moines are writing more and more about the startup community in the area (did you see Juice just highlighted "The Startup Scene" as part of their "Hot in Des Moines" issue?), and I was especially excited to see that the Business Record ran a story on entrepreneurial education in Iowa's largest universities, "Students see benefits to entrepreneurial studies." Writer Kyle Oppenhuizen interviewed … read more
January 25, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
(Photo by Mark Michaelis via Flickr) Published every Tuesday, 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 info@siliconprairienews.com. And if you have suggestions on how we… read more
July 22, 2010 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines This week on PrairieCast our guest is Aayush Phumbhra, co-founder and senior vice president of Chegg, a Santa Clara, California-based company often described as the "Netflix of textbook rentals." Aayush earned his MBA at Iowa State University in Ames and joined forces with the founders of Cheggpost.com, a local website focused on saving students money. Several iterations and years later, Chegg now boasts more than 120 employees, a headquarters in Santa Clara and a shipping operation across the street from Zappos in Louisville, Kentucky. According to a TechCrunch post last month, Chegg has raised more than 140 million dollars… read more
June 18, 2010 by Geoff Wood
Last week TechCrunch published an in-depth review of Chegg as part of their TC Teardown series. This series, which analyzes a company's business model and estimates their revenues, has previously looked at Zynga and Groupon. In this analysis the researcher estimates that Chegg will generate $130 million in revenue this year from their textbook rental service. Chegg, now based in Santa Clara, California… read more
April 30, 2010 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Our guest on PrairieCast this week was Brad Dwyer, the founder of Hatchlings, an online social game built utilizing the Facebook platform. Brad, a senior at Iowa State University majoring in computer science, is making a lot of waves in Central Iowa's entrepreneur community. Most recently, he took home the award for the Student Innovation of the Year at Technology Association of Iowa's Prometheus Awards. Andy and I talk with Brad about technical aspects of his company and its product… read more
April 19, 2010 by Geoff Wood
Ames One positive of a recessing economy is that it enables some would-be entrepreneurs to take the risk and launch out on their own. That was the case for Dan and Alex McClanahan, who in 2009 were recent graduates of Iowa State University in journalism and graphic design, respectively. The pair, who are married, thought they had secured post-graduation jobs in Denver, Colorado within their fields, but due to the economic… read more
April 7, 2010 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Playing on its reputation as the "Academy Awards of Iowa's high tech industry," the fifth annual Prometheus Awards took place last night with a Hollywood-style theme, complete with a celebrity photo booth, award statues, plenty of tuxedos, and even a red carpet. The awards are a production of the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) meant to highlight innovation throughout the state. "This showcase honors companies and individuals who represent the best and brightest in technology and business and have… read more