April 13, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Austin From March 11-15, more than 19,000 individuals from around the world gathered in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest Interactive. Recently, SXSW released podcasts of this year's panel presentations, three of which featured panelists from the Prairie. For those of you who missed out on SXSW or those of you who want to relive the… read more
March 25, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Kansas City Even though Zaarly's left behind its Mobile HQ (a rented RV) following South by Southwest Interactive, the team has continued to keep its development wheels spinning since returning from Austin, Texas. Asked via email when users could expect ... read more
March 25, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin Leading up to South by Southwest Interactive, we interviewed Bob Weinschenk, an Austin resident and the CEO of Des Moines-based SmartyPig, about joining the company in 2009 and his current role in the startup. Inevitably, the topic of working for a Silicon Prairie-based startup versus working for a startup in the Valley became a point of discussion because he has experience with both. "Having lived in… read more
March 23, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin (Photo by Janae Weinbrenner of Imijfoto) Leading up to South by Southwest Interactive I wrote a post about five startups from the Silicon Prairie that I thought had a chance to break out at the five-day conference – "Five Silicon Prairie startups that could break out at SXSW." With this post, I wasn't predicting any of the startups to have "the breakout app" of SXSW 2011, but I was suggesting each… read more
March 22, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Austin We're just about recovered from the amazing experience that is South by Southwest Interactive. Once again, one the highlights of our team – and many of the 600 or so other festival goers who participated – was the Silicon Prairie Party presented by Hollrback on Sunday, March 13. This year's party was put thanks to the support of 20 startups and other companies that play a vital role… read more
March 22, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin For the second year in a row, SmartyPig CEO Bob Weinschenk participated in South by Southwest Interactive panel that brought a lively discussion on stage and a packed house in the seats. Last year's topic, "Banking 2.0: Financial Services Driven by People & Emerging Technologies," had the panelists focus on what each of their companies… read more
March 21, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin As I prepared for the trip down to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest Interactive earlier this month, I kept a close eye on the Silicon Prairie attendee Twitter stream to see what folks from the region were up to in Austin. The expected tweets about panels and parties raised my anticipation as usual, but a tweet from Nick Seguin of Kansas City… read more
March 14, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin When preparing for this year's Silicon Prairie Party Presented by Hollrback, we knew three things had to come into play for success: a cool venue with an open bar, ridiculous freebies on the table and a packed house of awesome South by Southwest Interactive attendees. For number one, we went with a proven venue and staff – the same as our party last year – and choose Lanai Rooftop Lounge. For number two… read more
March 14, 2011 by Andrea Ciurej
Omaha Twitter users tweet, but in August 2009, fifth-generation Nebraska corn, popcorn and soybean farmer Zach Hunnicutt and other agriculturalists began “mooing” to support dairy farms and their struggle to survive due to low milk prices. #Moo became a top-10 trending topic on Twitter for about eight hours one afternoon, resulting in more than 500,000 unique users and 3,010 active participants. Hunnicutt, a Giltner, Neb., native who resides in Aurora, said social media tools like Twitter and other read more
March 13, 2011 by Danny Schreiber
Austin If you're in Austin, I hope you'll be joining us for our Silicon Prairie Party Presented by Hollrback in just a few hours. If you can't make it, check back tomorrow for pictures of the event, which will be posted towards the latter part of the day. In the meantime, below are some of the photos I've snapped so far in around South by Southwest Interactive in Austin. read more