Omaha By now, a dozen golden prairie dogs have found new homes in the offices of startups, investors and service providers across the region. With the inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards squarely in the rearview mirror, we've shared winners' reactions, video of the ceremony, coverage of David Cohen's keynote and much more from the Aug. 30 event. But the Awards was … read more

Omaha At the midway point of his keynote speech at the Silicon Prairie Awards on Aug. 30, TechStars founder and CEO David Cohen got the crowd inside the Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Concert Hall involved. "If you love it (in the Midwest) … stand up," Cohen said. "If you don't think you're going to be (in the Midwest) in 20 years … sit down." Cohen then asked those who are not active entrepreneurs to sit down. He followed with another … read more

Omaha On top of announcing the 12 winnners of our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards last week, we also revealed a bit of news about the event. In August 2013, the event will take place in Des Moines, and in August 2014, it will happen in Kansas City. Our goal in creating the Silicon Prairie Awards was to facilitate a night for the region's startup community to come together and celebrate the past year. The ability to recognize 48 individuals and companies … read more

Omaha If you missed our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards event last week, here's your chance to watch the 12 "golden Analogs" handed out to companies and individuals for their business achievements and community contributions over the past year. The two videos below – each showcasing six awards – contain presenters describing award criteria, providing overviews of finalists and announcing winners. The videos also feature the 12 winners' … read more

Omaha We asked for startup suave. And, boy, did you ever deliver. The dress code for Thursday's Silicon Prairie Awards was intentionally vague. You see, entrepreneurs aren't particularly renowned for their ability to take orders or conform to other people's rules, so when it came time to determine a dress code for our inaugural awards, we figured, "Why bother?" The result of that apathy was an eye-catching array of interpretations of startup … read more

Omaha David Cohen, the co-founder and CEO of TechStars, emphasized the importance of startup communities outside of Silicon Valley during his keynote speech Thursday night at the Silicon Prairie Awards. “All around the world," Cohen said to the crowd at Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum, "Silicon Valley is being challenged." Cohen said TechStars, a … read more

Omaha The inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards have all been doled out. Hundreds of nominees were cut to 48 finalists, who were then whittled down to the 12 companies and individuals that walked away with hardware tonight. Below is a quick overview of all the winners. Stay tuned to Silicon Prairie News in the coming days for more … read more

Omaha Not able to join us at The Joslyn tonight for the inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards? Not a problem. You can still indulge in plenty of Awards fun from afar. We're streaming three hours of tonight's event live for your enjoyment. Coverage kicks off at 6 p.m. with our resident Joan Rivers — um, me — interviewing Awards guests from the orange carpet. At 7, the awards show and community celebration gets under way. That portion of the night will feature brief remarks from the Silicon Prairie News team and the … read more

Omaha Almost 450 tickets to the inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards have been snapped up so far, but good seats still remain for tonight's event. Tickets can be bought through tikly until 3 p.m. After that, a limited number of passes will be available for purchase at the door tonight. But we don't recommend waiting. Go ahead and grab your tickets now. Why? Well …  read more

Omaha Fashion enthusiast and MC Kanye West once lamented thusly of wardrobe-related stresses: "I can't even go to the grocery store without some Ones that's clean and a shirt with a team." Some time later, West famously stole Taylor Swift's thunder in one of the worst awards show improvisations of all time. And while we know that correlation does not imply causation, we also know that wardrobe worries … read more