Big Omaha 2010 Keeps Entrepreneurial Momentum Strong

Even though last year’s Big Omaha proved successful enough to convince even the staunchest skeptics that entrepreneurship could flourish hundreds of miles inland from America’s coasts, that proof of concept didn’t quite cut it for Silicon Prairie News co-founder Dusty Davidson. To him, entrepreneurship is a science: initial results are all fine and good, but they don’t mean a thing unless they can be replicated. Fortunately, the crowd that flocked to Big Omaha 2010 put his doubts to rest.

“Year two is important to prove that (Big Omaha’s) initial success wasn’t just a fluke,” Davidson said following the event. “Big Omaha is our ‘baby;’ we are constantly looking at it from the angle of how to improve, and are already jotting down notes for how to improve 2011. If we can spark one new idea, or inspire one person to build something new, we will have done our job.”

Jeff Slobotski (right) and Dusty Davidson (left) kick-off Big Omaha 2010 - Photo credit Geoff Johnson, Malone and Co

Including attendees, SPN staff, Big Omaha volunteers, members of the press and the speakers themselves, some 550 individuals trekked to the two-day entrepreneurial mecca, soaking up the genius of the event’s guests of honor and doing a little schmoozing as well. This year’s conference showered its audience with tips and insight on everything from buffing up employee morale to guerrilla marketing. On the latter topic, David Hauser of Grasshopper shared the tale of one of his company’s most successful PR blitzes: mailing chocolate-covered, deep-fried grasshoppers to members of the media in envelopes bearing no identifying information or return address. The result? The sort of exposure “you couldn’t pay for.”

“We were sitting in a room just talking, and someone asked ‘What can we send in the mail?’” Hauser told Nebraska Entrepreneur after his speech. “It progressed into what could we actually do with grasshoppers. Well, we thought, we could release grasshoppers in New York, but we might get arrested. Plus, you can’t send live ones in the mail, but if they’re dead, people might not look at them. Then we wondered, ‘What if we dip them in chocolate?’”

Other business gurus also turned out to instruct and inspire. Two favorites from Big Omaha 2009, Jason Fried from 37signals and Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV, returned for a second bout of educating attendees. In the passionate, almost frantic style that’s become his trademark, Vaynerchuk encouraged entrepreneurs to build businesses around the skills they actually

David Hauser, Grasshopper.com - Photo credit Geoff Johnson, Malone and Co

possessed, rather than those they wish they had. (Warning: Gary has a rather… explicit manner of getting his points across.) Scott Harrison from charity: water also made an appearance, captivating the masses with his story of transformation from a selfish night club promoter to the impetus behind an organization providing clean drinking water to thousands of suffering people throughout the third world. A collective effort by everyone involved with Big Omaha 2010 to raise $5,000 for a charity: water sponsored well yielded astounding results; donations reached that 5K benchmark by 9:30 a.m. on the event’s opening day.

All in all, the event galvanized entrepreneurs to not only snatch those goals within their reach, but to learn to stretch themselves and obtain the sort of success that seems impossible at first glance. Roger Fransecky, founder & CEO of the Apogee Group said it best during his Saturday morning speech:

“Living in a city most of my life, you forget about horizons. Horizons are not just a metaphor here. You can go outside and see forever. It’s so easy, when you live here, to take that view for granted. What’s happening in this state is all about horizons, about what’s next. I’ve found in this setting, and subsequently in this state, a place where great people can do great things.”

Be sure to check out From the Founders: The Big Omaha energy carries on