Adventures in Data: SectorNow’s Evelyn Bartlett Brings California Data Know-How to Nebraska

There was a time when SectorNow‘s Evelyn Bartlett vowed she would never again live in Nebraska. “I grew up in Waverly,” Bartlett said. “I went to UNL and just basically bolted.” After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she briefly touched down in San Diego before settling in Los Angeles. There, the small-town girl with big-city [...]

Intern Program Cuts Costs, Connects Interns, Employers

Check back over the next month as we will be highlighting the different programs created this year by the Nebraska Legislature through the Talent and Innovation Initiative. Entrepreneurs can face many challenges as their businesses gain steam. One of those challenges is actually two-fold: how to find and attract talented employees and how to pay [...]

Franchise Research Institute Dissects What Works, Makes It Work Even Better

Watch for additional articles over the next month on our new series about franchising. It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, then Jeff Johnson and the rest of the Franchise Research Institution help facilitate the metaphorical fan clubs for dozens of successful businesses. If you’re looking to jump into the [...]

Entrepreneur Spotlight: Liz Renner with Only10Pounds.com

Michael Ventrella, a contestant on the popular weight loss show “The Biggest Loser,” dropped 264 pounds in one season. Ventralla, along with numerous other contestants, inspired audiences to shed pound after pound with their remarkable transformations. But Liz Renner, owner of Only10Pounds.com, stresses the importance of losing small amounts of weight as well. “’The Biggest [...]

CDR Announces January Lending Information Meeting

  Entrepreneurs with a business idea or business owners who want to grow — especially those struggling to find funding — should circle Jan. 11, 2012 on their calendars. That’s the day Community Development Resources will host a free lending information meeting at Southeast Community College in Lincoln. Deb Payne, manager of Alice’s Integrity Loan Fund at [...]

Investomers: What are they and how they could help your business

As any seasoned entrepreneur can tell you, investment can either help or hurt a company, depending on how it’s handled. That doesn’t change when investment comes from a customer, but the opportunities and risks tend to be a little different. For starters, customer investors tend to be more engaged, according to Isoft Data Systems CEO [...]

Talent and Innovation Initiative: A Growing Help for Nebraska’s Businesses

Check back over the next month as we will be highlighting the different programs created this year by the Nebraska Legislature through the Talent and Innovation Initiative. Being an entrepreneur – or being involved in any capacity with a start-up — can be quite the challenge, yet successful entrepreneurs provide reward not only for themselves, but state economies [...]

Brand strength and franchisee support contribute to success for Scooter’s Coffeehouse

Watch for additional articles over the next month on our new series about franchising. When Don and Linda Eckles opened the first Scooter’s Coffeehouse in 1998 in Bellevue, Neb., they weren’t just offering specialty coffee and warm service to their drive-thru customers. They were establishing a brand that the company would later build upon to [...]

Franchising Tips: Fast But Controlled Growth Fuels Complete Nutrition

Watch for additional articles over the next month on our new series about franchising. Ryan Zink and Cory Wiedel of Omaha were operating a GNC franchise when a career-altering revelation changed everything. Success in the nutritional supplement business, they realized, would be achieved by offering much more than just products. “We had come up with [...]

Insights Into Understanding and Pursuing Successful Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Are you interested in innovation and entrepreneurship?  The Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at UNL would like to share this talk by Barry Uphoff.   Barry will provide a spectrum of insights into understanding and pursuing successful entrepreneurship and innovation. Barry Uphoff is Managing Principal at Capricorn Investment Group and has more [...]

Entrepreneur Spotlight: Ben Blecha with Sky Prosthetics and ACE Ortho Solutions

Ben Blecha has one leg. He lost the other to bone cancer at age 16 and suffered through pain and blood loss during his college years. The prosthetic device he was fitted with never worked quite right. But the struggles he faced as an amputee now define his career. Blecha established Sky Prosthetics in Benkelman, [...]

Capital Insights – Interview with Archrival

On November 30th the Lincoln Young Professionals Group presented their new entrepreneurship series called Capital Insights. To kick it off they had some of Lincoln’s finest young entrepreneurs take the stage in an informal fireside chat with the founders of Archrival, Clint! Runge and Charles Hull. For more on this great event, you can check [...]

Game Development & Starting a Company

Nebraska Entrepreneur recently attended a talk at the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The speaker was Justin Hall and the topic focused on game development and the process of starting a company. Hall started a product called PMOG, later changed to The Nethernet, which focused on making [...]

Micro Businesses Depend on the Nebraska Enterprise Fund

Nebraska Enterprise Fund (NEF) is a private, non-profit organization that was formed in 1994 to help Nebraska’s micro and small businesses develop. Micro businesses are small, self-employed, start-up or home-based business consisting of 10 or fewer employees. Micro and small businesses’ growth and development fuel Nebraska’s economy and, for several years, NEF has helped these businesses [...]

Startup Tribulations Overcome by Customer Relationships

Given his general apathy toward running, a business geared toward fitness was the last thing on Mike Ewoldt’s mind when he decided to launch Peak Performance with his brother Jim. Founded in February 1994, the business which was conceptualized over a late-night conversation and initially comprised merely an 1,800 square-foot store has now burgeoned into [...]

Recent Developments Show Increased Cash on Hand for Startups

The Lincoln Journal Star today released an article about recent developments in funding for startups. With all of the new government programs, Nebraska is slowing catching up from being near the bottom in funding available. Nebraska has long lagged behind the rest of the nation when it comes to financing for startup businesses. More than one [...]

Partnership Grants Enable Collaboration Between Academics and Industry

The Nebraska EPSCoR/IDeA will soon be accepting proposals for private-sector research and development partnership grants. EPSCoR, or Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, is a National Science Foundation program founded by Congress. The purpose of EPSCoR is to strengthen research capabilities in areas where low federal funding is available. Nebraska became an EPSCoR state in 1991. Since [...]

A Look Inside the Nebraska 2011 East 2 West Venture Competition

This post is from guest contributor Wade Sikkink:  After spending the first part of my professional life inside huge organizations (US Navy, Fortune 500 companies) I became interested in startups and entrepreneurship. I started dabbling in side business ventures while reading more and more about startups and the startup scene.  I’ve been involved in several [...]

Keep Funding in Perspective

Tom Chapman has some advice for newly funded startups: “Now is not the time to rest.” In his current position as vice president of the software investment firm Nebraska Global and in his previous role as director of entrepreneurship and innovation for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Chapman has worked with hundreds of startups, and [...]

NUtech Ventures Presents “Thinkers and Tinkerers” Series

NUtech Thinkers and Tinkerers Series What kicked off Oct. 24, NUtech Ventures will host a series of seminars intended to bridge the gap between innovation and the consumer marketplace. The seminar series, “Thinkers and Tinkers” will have 11 segments, with each topic covered by a different expert in the field. The goal at NUtech Ventures is [...]

Next Page »