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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Invest Nebrasksa Wants to Live Up to its Name with East 2 West Venture Competition

On Nov. 18, Invest Nebraska is holding its third annual East 2 West Venture Competition, designed to celebrate, encourage and spotlight the unique conditions in Nebraska’s culture that result in such a rich entrepreneurial spirit. If you plan to enter, be sure and come with your sleeves rolled up. A tagline on Invest Nebraska’s website proclaims, [...]

Nebraska Global: Not Your Average Startup Fund

Good things grow in Nebraska. That’s the belief behind Nebraska Global – and they’re ready to back that up with $37.3 million. Steve Kiene, Patrick Smith and Doug Durham, who founded the software development fund in 2010, describe themselves as nerds with money. All three have extensive experience in business and technology and share a [...]

How to catch the eye of a Nebraska Angel

Scaring up money for a business is never easy. Family members and trusted friends might be able to help out early on, but entrepreneurs with big dreams often need big money to turn those dreams into reality. That’s where the Nebraska Angels come into play. “Bootstraps can only get you so far, and then there [...]

Long road to production for fashion designer Yolanda Diaz

Most entrepreneurs have amazing stories about how far they’ve come to fulfill their dreams, but how many had to move to a different country, learn another language and be knowledgeable about multi-government regulations on imports and exports? And that’s just some of what Yolanda Diaz has endured to fulfill her 25-year dream of having her own full clothing [...]

Taking Entrepreneurs at Their Word: Alice Dittman Loans Money on Her Terms

Funding will be the topic of our next series on Nebraska Entrepreneur. Big to small, the topic comes up in some form for most startups.   When Alice Dittman was a banker, she wasn’t able to give all the loans she wished she could. Now that she has retired as the president and CEO of Cornhusker Bank, [...]

Nebraska Global Investment Fund Raises $37.3 million

[UPDATED] LINCOLN, Neb. — October 4, 2011 — Nebraska Global today announced that it has completed the capital raise portion of its Nebraska Global Investment Fund at $37.3 million. The fund is one of the largest software investment funds in the Midwest, and has attracted investors drawn to the idea of building sustainable, impactful and [...]

Nebraska Global and the State of Venture Capital in Nebraska

Patrick Smith, Principle and COO of Nebraska Global brings the good, the bad and the ugly of venture capital in Nebraska.  The amount of venture capital being moved in the state ranks Nebraska as 52nd, even behind DC and Puerto Rico. This presentation was given on September 14th, 2011 at the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce [...]

Farritor’s Lessons on Angel and Venture Capital Funding

Funding will be the topic of our next series on Nebraska Entrepreneur. Big to small, the topic comes up in some form for most startups.   We asked former NASA robotics scientist and current Nebraska entrepreneur Shane Farritor for tips on how to get funding for startups.  Here’s what he had to say. University of [...]

Finding Opportunity in Upheaval

In 2007, the global financial crisis challenged finance companies like Nebraska-based Nelnet,  Inc. Nelnet found opportunities in the economic turmoil, starting new subsidiary businesses in the process. This is the story of how a company embraced creativity and encouraged entrepreneurship among its employees. In 2007, Hannah Smitterberg was losing a lot of sleep. She and [...]

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