January 15, 2013 by Laura Billingsley
Iowa City A crowdfunding and beta-testing platform's creators hope to change the way health care products and apps go to market. Based in Iowa City, Health Tech Hatch combines testing and funding into one website, allowing developers to receive feedback … read more
December 27, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Iowa City Koala Pay, a mobile application launched last month, is out to help merchants cultivate a more loyal and engaged customer base, starting with users of web-based payments network Dwolla. Released in the App Store on Nov. 26 and officially unveiled at a Dwolla meetup Nov. 30 in Des Moines, Koala Pay was designed to provide merchants a channel for marketing directly to customers and to give customers deals and discounts to their favorite merchants. "It’s a mobile app that allows merchants to create more loyal and engaged customers," said Troy Miller … read more
November 29, 2012 by Jeff Slobotski
As the Silicon Prairie startup community develops, one of the ways collaboration and connections occur is through consistent opportunities to engage with one another. A strong community, moreover, is lead by a group of actors who are passionate around building our cities and region into something greater, and they take steps to make that happen. Actions by three individuals in the wake of our Thinc Iowa 2012 event in October … read more
August 24, 2012 by Guest Contributor
Iowa City (Guest post by Josh Cramer.) Before you gouge your eyes out thinking I'm going to launch into a seminar on 401Ks or a rant on how screwed up our health care system is, let's step back and consider another side of employee benefits. Sure, we offer a health care plan and IRA plan to our to our employees, but that's not what I want to talk about today. I've always felt that if this company is successful, the whole team should share in the success and be rewarded. Stock options are one traditional way to reward key employees after they meet certain benchmarks with the company. A stock option plan does a couple things for the company and the members of the team: (1) it creates an incentive for each team member to stick it out at the company; and (2) once exercised … read more
September 20, 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
August 25, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Iowa City After years of nurturing two companies and overseeing both as they grew side by side, Josh Cramer decided it was best for both of his babies to bid adieu to one. Cramer, 35, the founder of Iowa City-based shops Cramer Dev and Cramer IT, recently sold Cramer IT to focus on Cramer Dev, a decision he explained in a recent blog post. Cramer IT closed its sale to Circle Computer Resources, which is based in Cedar Rapids, on July 1. CCR retained Cramer IT's entire team and its office space. Cramer sold his entire stake in the company but is currently assisting in a transitional period, which he said has unfolded without any major hiccups. … read more
July 12, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines On this week's PrairieCast Andy Brudtkuhl and booked guest Amanda Styron, co-founder of SeedHere in Cedar Rapids to talk about her upcoming "Cowtown to Boomtown" series of events. Instead of just Styron, we had surprise guests Josh Cramer … read more
July 12, 2011 by Danny Schreiber & Brittany Mascio
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 editor@siliconprairienews.com. And if you have suggestions … read more
June 16, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Iowa City This week on PrairieCast, Josh Cramer, founder of Iowa City-based Cramer Dev, talked about his company's recent social experiment, "The Sweet Hat Club." According to Cramer, The Sweet Hat Club idea was conceived by Colin Curtin, one of Cramer Dev's software engineers, who mentioned over the company chat, "Hey, I'm starting a hat club … read more
June 15, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines This week on PrairieCast we were joined remotely by first time guest Josh Cramer founder of Cramer Dev of Iowa City and in-studio by returning guest Jordan Lampe, communications director for Dwolla. Articles discussed this week: "Big Omaha Video Series: Marc Eckō of Artists & Instigators," "Clickstop, founder Guenther garner regional recognition," "With … read more
Through August 22, help us decide the winners of our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards, which will recognize 12
companies and individuals. You can vote once per day per category.
Winners will be announced live on stage at
our August 30 event.