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 CDR, said the meeting will provide vital information that business owners need to get started right and head toward profitability, including information on how to qualify for loans. The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the SCC Continuing Education Center Auditorium. Representatives from the following organizations will be on hand to answer questions:

• Community Development Resources
• Alice’s Integrity Loan Fund
• SCORE
• Nebraska Business Development Center
• Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• Southeast Community College Entrepreneurship Center

“We are particularly encouraging women and minority business owners to attend,” Payne said. “We are wanting to reach those business owners often turned away by banks.”

Payne said the meeting is a great way to start the new year and will provide valuable information about many funding options business owners might not be aware of. CDR specializes in serving small start-up or emerging businesses in Nebraska with several types of loan programs and technical assistance.

Alice’s Integrity Loan Fund serves women and minorities in Lancaster County who have not been able to obtain traditional financing. The loans do not require collateral, but do require borrowers to participate in a business mentoring program.

To RSVP for the free meeting, please email Deb Payne or Dorris Miller. Questions about the meeting or lending program should be directed to Payne at 402-436-2435.

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 business ventures, some modestly successful, some not so much and one that imploded leaving a huge crater. I’ve learned a lot along the way and want to share some of what I’ve learned.

It’s that time of year again. No, we’re not talking about holiday cheer and presents. Entrepreneurs in Nebraska always look forward to the annual Nebraska East 2 West Venture Competition hosted by Invest Nebraska. E2W is a one-of-a-kind statewide competition that features some of the most promising startups in the state. This year’s competition was held Nov. 18 at Talent Plus in Lincoln.

Although the competition doesn’t get much popular press, a good crop of six finalist companies were featured. This year’s finalists were chosen by a panel of six judges and featured a wide range of industries and stages. Companies submitted a business plan for the judges to review. The top six were invited to make a 15-minute pitch to the judges and answer questions for an additional 10 minutes.

This is a venture investment competition, so a little review on pitching is in order. Entrepreneurs usually are enamored with their product or service; however, potential investors are more interested in the business opportunity. In short, the focus needs to be on how the business will make money. Some of the companies had a handle on this. Some did not.

This might bring to mind the famous story of when legendary angel investor Ron Conway met with Larry Page and Sergey Brin to talk about their new search engine. They had no business and no clue how it would make money. But Conway was so impressed with the product that he invested and the rest, as they say, is history.

But most entrepreneurs are not Larry Page. They should stay focused on the business opportunity.

So, who were the finalists?

Pro-fit Performance Club Fitting, which has developed an innovative, patented software program for properly fitting golf clubs.

The Coloring Book Artist, which produces customized coloring books using the talents of Nebraska artists to celebrate life.

RestingSpot, which provides a unique combination of mobile and web technologies to connect the memories of loved ones who have died with the precise location of grave sites.

Ace Ortho Solutions, a custom manufacturer of orthopedic braces for dogs.

Agricultural Flaming Innovations, which develops flaming equipment for full-season organic weed control.

Mobile Truckr, which produces a mobile technology platform to handle document acquisition and transmission within the trucking industry.

Clearly, a wide range of industries were represented. The finalists ranged from ideas barely a month old to established companies with hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. They all also had different issues to solve in getting their businesses to grow. Some likely will face challenges scaling up to anything bigger than a hobby. Others don’t have a finalized plan for distribution. Another had a huge market opportunity, but no solid way to monetize it.

In the end, the judges seemed to go with the company that had a big market, a good way to monetize its product, established technology and a plan to scale. Pro-fit Performance Club Fitting was chosen as the winner for 2011. The company wins a $10,000 cash prize and the opportunity to negotiate with Invest Nebraska for a further $50,000 investment. This Lincoln-based business has an established technology that has been proven in the market. It is in the process of converting its Windows-based software to a web-based platform, which will allow the company to scale to golf pros nationwide relatively easy.

Attending the presentations is fun and gives you an up-close look at some of the up-and-coming companies in Nebraska.  As a bonus, there are opportunities to network and hob nob with the entrepreneurs when the competition is over. In the future, hopefully more people will learn about the event so a bigger audience can hear from another group of exciting new companies in Nebraska.

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 to create a link between researchers who create innovative ideas and the private sector, which has the resources to get that innovation to the private marketplace.

Cheryl Barts is a technology agent at NUtech, with a strong background in microbiology. “There is a lot of innovation happening that doesn’t get translated into the real world,” Barts said. NUtech can offer graduate students and other innovators an opportunity to find a market for the products of their research. NUtech also offers assistance in finding applications for proven research.

David Conrad leads the first event in the series

Barts said the overall aim of the series is to get Nebraskans thinking about entrepreneurship, and to inform entrepreneurs about what NUtech Ventures can do for them. She pointed out that a lot of research never leaves the laboratory setting. Often this happens because promising graduate students get stuck in a lab environment due to a lack of resources and connections to the marketplace. NUtech would like to see more products from this academic/ lab setting find their way into the marketplace, where they can begin to meet needs currently unanswered.

All 11 sessions of the seminars are free and open to the public. A lunch will be served to the first 40 people. All presentations begin at noon. The presentations will be held at the Nebraska Union and the East Campus Union. The first session that was held Oct. 24, was led by David Conrad, executive director of NUtech Ventures. Conrad will discuss “How to Form an Innovative Partnership with Industry.”

Cheryl Barts, Technology Agent

The remainder of the series will be held monthly, with a hiatus in December. Dates scheduled for the Nebraska Union are:

Nov. 21: “The Startup Visa: Helping the World’s Entrepreneurs Create Jobs,” with Jane Garrity, technology agent.

Feb. 27: “Basics of IP and Implications for Researchers,” with Stuart Martens, patent attorney.

April 23: “Contracts 101,” with Rose Robotham, contract compliance officer.

June 25: “Pitch Perfect: Tips for Talking with Potential Investors,” with Jill Thayer, marketing and operations manager.

July 23: “How to Conduct a Patent Search,” with Leon Castro, technology agent.

UNL East Campus Union

The series kicked off Oct 18, 2011 with “We Need Your Gift,” focused on helping individuals rediscover their natural talents and offering methods to help entrepreneurs constantly expand and refine their gifts.

“Since the start of the Nebraska EAS program, we’ve added three full-time jobs, two part-time jobs and expect to double our team size in the next 18 months,” said Ben Vu, founder and CEO of SkyVu Entertainment. SkyVu makes mobile social games for iPhone, iPad and Android. The company started in 2009 with four employees and expects to have 75 employees by 2013. SkyVu was one of 10 EAS program participants that shared their business growth stories at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Reverse Trade Mission in September.

The Nebraska program is a joint effort of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the Gallup Organization, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the University of Nebraska. Last spring, 27 small business and economic development leaders from across Nebraska were trained using Gallup’s system. For the past six months, each of those leaders has been mentoring five to 10 entrepreneurs.

“It’s been very exciting for me to get to work with businesses on their behind-the-scenes processes,” said Jason Ball, director of business development for the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development. Ball is mentoring eight companies including MileStone Local Surfaces. EAS has helped Milestone navigate the transition from a husband-and-wife artisan shop to a growing business with several employees.

“This came at a really good time for them and has really helped them formalize their process and their communication,” Ball said. ”They are really working hard with the program and they are seeing results. They are getting lots of positive feedback from their employees.”

MileStone founder Josh Shear said that employees now understand why they are asked to do something and that error rates have decreased 75 percent. Shear said Ball has pushed him to grow from the “guy who is doing all the work to the guy who is running the company.”

For 25 years, LiteForm Technologies has been manufacturing concrete forms in South Sioux City. This spring, just as EAS was getting started, the community called on the company to help hold back flood waters. Even as they helped engineer solutions for the flooding, LiteForm dove into the EAS program.

“The program really made us take a good look at ourselves and focused us on who we are as a company and who we want to be at this critical time in history,” LiteForm Sales Manager Casey Koch said. “Based on what we learned from EAS, we decided to increase our focus on engaging our customers, and, as a result, one customer made their biggest order ever totaling $220,000. We now expect to hire three more people in the next 18 months.”

The EAS system uses Gallup assessment tools that are backed by decades of business research. One conclusion of this research is that entrepreneurs are key to building strong economies.

“Entrepreneurship is a driving force behind sustainable economic development. Gallup has been researching this economic reality for decades,” Todd Johnson, team leader for global job initiatives at Gallup, told the Reverse Trade Mission. “In fact, in this country we realized through our research that about 1,000 entrepreneurs were responsible for the economic miracle that occurred between the 1970s and the 1990s.”

Nebraska is the first state to use the EAS program to provide business development assistance to early-stage entrepreneurs and to established firms with high-growth potential. The program focuses on building the individual strength of the entrepreneurs and helping them measure and grow in key areas of employee and customer engagement.

Megan Hunt, owner of Princess Lasertron, is taking her bridal designs to new markets.

For Megan Hunt, founder of Princess Lasertron bridal designs, EAS has empowered her to take a more proactive approach to growth. The company, started in Omaha in 2005, is now taking a bigger view of its potential market.

“I think the most valuable thing we gained from the program is the confidence that we are the experts at what we do,” Hunt said. “Moreover, with the increase of motivation and focus we received from EAS, we have also begun negotiating an international licensing deal that would place our product and brand on store shelves all over North America.”

EAS helped Intellicom, an IT services company based in Kearney, tweak its practices and accelerate its growth.

“We turned our five-year plan into a two-year plan,” said Dan Shundoff, Intellicom president and CEO. “Driven by the new focus on employee strengths, we are bringing incredible value to our client relationships – the ultimate competitive advantage. Key performance indicators show a 75 percent increase in profit and 24 percent increase in employee productivity during the fall of 2011.”

The mentoring program helps to instill best practices that will equip Nebraska businesses not only to grow, but to sustain and thrive through the growth process. Hudl, a Lincoln-based firm that creates software and video editing systems for sports coaches, acquired a competitor this year and more than doubled not only its customer base but also its workforce. With that growth came challenges, CEO David Graff said.

“The EAS gave us a better understanding of issues brewing at the lowest levels through the employee engagement assessment and a better view of the strengths of the leadership team,” Graff said. Graff added that EAS helped Hudl identify the need to add a management tier to what had been very flat organization.

For the Phoenix Web Group, EAS has resulted in increased projects and profits. “As a direct result of employing some of the engagement techniques and concepts with our clients, we have booked nine new projects in just the last month,” company president Neil Johnson said. The custom software developer from Waverly reported that new projects combined with increased productivity lead to a seven-fold increase in profits compared to 2010.

“The future looks very bright at Phoenix Web group,” Johnson said. “As far as the EAS system goes, am I a believer? Yes, I am.”

Ball said that the EAS program is intensive and takes a significant amount of time from entrepreneurs, not just to meet with mentors and attend meetings, but to implement the changes and processes.

“It comes down to time allocation, which is the big question that faces small business owners every day,” Ball said.

Nebraska Entrepreneur will continue to follow the businesses that are part of EAS and publish periodic reports throughout the two-year program.

Limited amount of tickets still remain for Silicon Prairie News’ inaugural conference exploring the common ground between corporations and startups

Des Moines, Iowa – Building on the momentum of the region’s escalating entrepreneurial activity and strengthened by the growing involvement of corporations in the global startup community, Silicon Prairie News has announced the speaker lineup for its inaugural Thinc Iowa conference, an event to serve as the common ground between corporations and startups.

Taking place at the historic Temple for Performing Arts in downtown Des Moines on Oct. 21, Thinc Iowa will present nine dynamic speakers representing both ends of the spectrum — startups and established corporations.

“We’ve laid the groundwork at our annual Big Omaha conference, which inspires entrepreneurs and innovators to follow their passion,” Geoff Wood, COO of Silicon Prairie News, said. “Now, we’re putting our energy into an important conversation, one that we see as being a critical component to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Des Moines and across the region.”

Expected to bring together more than 400 individuals, including startup founders, corporate executives and the people who drive those organizations, Thinc Iowa will kick off with an opening party (free and open to the public) at the Des Moines Social Club on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.

On Oct. 21, attendees will gather to hear nine industry experts:

• Andy Murray, Saatchi & Saatchi X
• Ben Milne, Dwolla
• Ben Silbermann, Pinterest
• Doug Olson, Microsoft
• Jerri Chou, Lovely Day
• Luke Vandermillen, The Principal Financial Group
• Paige Craig, BetterWorks
• Robbie Vitrano, Trumpet Group
• Scott Case, Startup America Partnership

For more information on each speaker, visit thinciowa.com.

Immediately following the presentations, attendees will gather for an exclusive happy hour with the speakers and then re-group at 8 p.m. for a closing party at Americana (free and open to the public).

A limited amount of tickets are available for purchase for $199 each at thinciowa2011.eventbrite.com. Hotels offering event group rates can be found at thinciowa.com.

The following regional and national organizations are sponsoring Thinc Iowa: The Principal Financial Group, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft BizSpark, Quova, Pioneer, Performance Marketing, Greater Des Moines Partnership, Business Innovation Zone, T8 Webware, Twilio, Catchwind, Iowa Capital Investment Corporation, Miller, Fidler & Hinke and Start-Up Launchpad. In addition, nearly a dozen Iowa-based startups have backed the conference: bHeroic, Canvis, Craftly, Knowledge Bridge

Partners, MileMarker, NotifyWorks, Recoengine, Table Nabbr, Torsion Mobile and VolunteerLocal.

About Thinc Iowa

Thinc Iowa is a Silicon Prairie News premier event in its inaugural year, taking place Oct. 20-21 in downtown Des Moines. With a mission to provide a common ground for establish corporations and startups, Thinc Iowa will bring together more than 400 individuals, including startup founders, corporate executives and the people that drive those organizations to hear from a speaker slate of nine industry experts.

Learn more about Thinc Iowa and purchase tickets ($199 each) at thinciowa.com.

About Silicon Prairie News

With a primary focus on tech startups, Silicon Prairie News (SPN) publishes a daily blog reporting on and profiling the individuals, companies and culture that make up the Silicon Prairie. With the goal of connecting, educating and inspiring individuals, SPN produces regular events, such as Big Omaha, Thinc Iowa and Silicon Prairie News Meetups.
Silicon Prairie News was founded in July 2008 in Omaha, Neb. by Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson. Today, SPN has on-the-ground contributors or full-time staff in Omaha, Des Moines, Kansas City and surrounding cities.

To learn more, visit ThincIowa.com and SiliconPrairieNews.com. On Twitter, follow @ThincIowa and the official conference hashtag, #ThincIowa.

For more information or to schedule interviews with speakers, sponsors or organizers, contact Jeff Slobotski, co-founder of Silicon Prairie News, at jeff@siliconprairienews.com or 402-500-0776.

Inc and Fast Company magazines have recently touted the program as a top entrepreneurship program in the nation. PIPELINE has also been recognized by State Science Technology Institute CEO Dan Berglund as “the next evolution of entrepreneurial capacity building in the United States.” “An immersion experience,” this program offers mentorships and expansive resources to identified, high-potential entrepreneurs to enable their growth. PIPELINE alum Rhythm Engineering recently made the list of Inc Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies. Reggie Chandra, CEO of Rhythm Engineering, explains his visions for the future and how PIPELINE has been a key to his company’s rapid growth. (http://vimeo.com/28072982)

Nebraska entrepreneurs now have the chance to apply for the regional class that will be selected for 2012. The deadline is Oct. 24. “We are eager to work with PIPELINE over the coming weeks to identify Nebraska entrepreneurs, mentors and partners who share this drive to foster innovative companies in our region,” said Dr. James Linder, president of the University of Nebraska Technology Development Corporation.

Ideal candidates should already be running their venture and entering a phase where a year of intense resources, skill building and netwotk-building will accelerate their growth and scale their venture. Applicants must be willing to spend the time and effort necessary for the fellowship experience. An informational meeting on PIPELINE will be held on Oct. 14 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Urban Wine Company in Omaha.

Also, more information on the PIPELINE  program is available at www.pipelineentrepreneurs.com.

Innovation has been at the forefront in Nebraska with the new Talent and Innovation Initiative and many other objectives, both public and private. The need to foster innovation in key industries has taken hold as a clear way for Nebraska to grow its economy and provide opportunities for those living here.

One of those key areas is information sciences which is a wide ranging industry that touches everything from agriculture to energy. Most all industries are successful when a strong emphasis on information sciences is implemented. It is this need that has brought together the Nebraska Research and Innovation Conference (NRIC) to focus on information sciences for 2011.

“This year’s topic, information sciences, is both exciting and relevant,” said James Linder, M.D., senior associate to the president for innovation and economic competitiveness for the University of Nebraska. “Information technologies are perhaps the most powerful force transforming the world in the 21st century. We see examples of political changes being driven by the ability to communicate; businesses have access to human talent and markets throughout the world; and education can be delivered without the barrier of the classroom.”

The conference is put on by the University of Nebraska and Nebraska’s EPSCoR office and fueled by the need to get a wide variety of people together to exchange ideas, hear distinguished speakers and learn about the newest technologies out there. Linder said, “The five tracts of the conference – bioinformatics, cybersecurity, modeling and simulation, software engineering and sustainable environments offer relevant information to business professionals, academic scientists, IT professionals and engineers.”

One of the main portions of the morning session will highlight three Nebraska entrepreneurs in a panel discussion titled Business Model Innovations in Information Technology. The panel includes Paul Eurek, CEO and Chairman of Xpanxion, Joe Petsick, Co-founder and CFO of Proxibid, and Matthew Wegener, Founder, President and CEO of Isoft Data Systems and President of the Turbine Flats Project.

Keynote speakers include Dr. Jacqueline Henningsen, US Air Force and Lynden Tennison of Union Pacific discussing the capabilities, challenges and opportunities afforded by information sciences. Joining them as the lunch speaker is US Congressman Lee Terry.

One unique portion of the conference is the poster session, in which Nebraska businesses are invited and encouraged to bring a display.

“We anticipate that the conference attendees will learn about new technologies, and develop professional connections that can help them better implement information sciences in their university or business,” Linder said.

Registration for the NRIC is free but required by the Sept. 19th, 20011 deadline. To register and learn more about all of the sessions and speakers, visit the conference web site at http://nric.nebraska.edu.

Wirtz was our interviewer for the night and brought questions for one of Lincoln’s most successful software developers, Steve Kiene. Kiene started his first software company at age 17 and now is part of a new venture, Nebraska Global.

For a writeup about the Young Professionals Group event and more on Wirtz and Kiene, check out the article on Silicon Prairie News labeled Nebraska Global, Hudl leaders talk business-building at YPG event.

An internationally renowned group of speakers including Steve Burrill, Rich Bendis, Lesa Mitchell, and Rohit Shukla will lead an inclusive two-day meeting that will bring together Army funded principle investigators in the Midwest region, technology transfer experts, company representatives, venture capitals, economic developers, military and civilian experts to collaborate on advanced methods to achieve tangible commercial success and develop an infrastructure to help advance technology development and commercialization of research projects in the Midwest.

Come and be a part of the first annual Midwest Technology Exchange (mTechx) in Omaha, NE on May 8-10. Registration is only $100 through April 15; however the first 50 TATRC-supported PIs to register will have their registration fee waived. TATRC-supported PIs who wish to take advantage of the free registration, please contact Brenda Ram at bram@unmc.edu or Lisa Bally at lbally@unmc.edu. All other registrations can be submitted via the website at www.mtechx.org. If you have questions, please call our Toll-Free number at (877) 832-6924.