May 22, 2012 by Geoff Wood
With Big Omaha 2012 more than a week in the rear view mirror, the team at Silicon Prairie News has already begun working on Thinc Iowa 2012, our next premier event. It's a bit early to release speaker names and party venues for the October event, but one detail that we're excited to share with you is a new name and brand for all of our premier events. … read more
May 17, 2012 by Jeff Slobotski
We're thrilled to see Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business" list released on Monday. This year's list features four faces familiar to the Silicon Prairie community as introduced to us through Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa over the last year. … read more
December 8, 2011 by Jeff Slobotski
Des Moines We are sending out a special Thinc Iowa thank you to the amazing team at Microsoft BizSpark for their support of this year's event, as well as their continued support of our work at Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News. Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, as well as providing them … read more
December 6, 2011 by Jeff Slobotski
Des Moines The team at Silicon Prairie News would like to extend a gracious thank you to Quova, a Mountain View, Cal.-based company that sponsored our two premiere events, Thinc Iowa and Big Omaha. Founded in 2000, Quova helps businesses of all sizes optimize geolocation based data. Quova's services and information is used by some of the leading search engine providers … read more
November 8, 2011 by Jeff Slobotski
Des Moines We want to extend a warm Thinc Iowa and Silicon Prairie News thank you to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for sponsoring the inaugural Thinc Iowa! The Kauffman Foundation has been one of our closest supporters, and we were thrilled to have them involved in this year's event around a topic we feel is important to continue developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem over the next several years and beyond. The Kauffman Foundation was established … read more
November 7, 2011 by Guest Contributor
Des Moines At Thinc Iowa in Des Moines last month, Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership and founding CTO of priceline.com, described the mission of the Startup America Partnership. Initiated by the White House but operating as an independent, private-sector entity, the Startup America Partnership is dedicated to growing more resources for entrepreneurs in the areas of expertise, support services, talent, customers and capital. Case talked … read more
November 3, 2011 by Brittany Mascio
Des Moines As we continue debriefing from the first Thinc Iowa, we are humbled by the support of our attendees and compelled to continue the dialogue started at the conference on Oct. 21. We have collected a list from various media outlets that covered the conference and that will help the conversation about Thinc Iowa remain dynamic moving forward. We find great value in the thoughts, words and actions of our attendees. Here's a collection of some of those … read more
November 2, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines We were very excited to welcome the Principal Financial Group on board as a premier sponsor of our inaugural Thinc Iowa. We had the Principal in mind immediately when we decided on a theme of "the common ground between startups and corporations," as there is no more visible symbol of established corporations in Iowa than the Principal's headquarters at 801 Grand (the state's tallest building) in Des Moines. The fact that The Principal is a Fortune 500 … read more
November 2, 2011 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines When Stefan Hansen and his brother Thomas were asked to create an interactive display for last month's Thinc Iowa conference, the brothers didn't just — ahem — thinc about it; they let their imaginations run wild. Stefan, 26 and Thomas, 28, who together form Fresk Interactive, used the conference as a welcome opportunity to tinker with the Kinect, Microsoft's motion-sensing input device. Thinc Iowa marked the first time the Hansens have used the Kinect … read more
November 2, 2011 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines In Monday's post recognizing Thinc Iowa sponsors, one very important group was held back in anticipation of this post, a big thank you to the nine companies of our inaugural Startup Circle. The Startup Circle idea actually came from another sponsor who suggested it as a means to involve some of the early-stage companies in the area in Thinc Iowa. We thought it was an excellent idea and a fantastic way to get their names in front of our audience. … read more