Innovation Series Aims to Access Hidden Potential

Creativity and innovation are buzzwords that get a lot of mileage among business owners. But what exactly is innovation, where does it come from, and how do you create it? Shane Farritor, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor and entrepreneur, aims to answer these questions and more in his upcoming series of Innovation Seminars. With thought-provoking [...]

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 [...]

Business Model Innovations – Matthew Wegener, ISoft Data Systems and the Turbine Flats Project

Matthew Wegener, founder, president and chief executive officer of ISoft Data Systems and co-founder and president of the Turbine Flats Project, was one of three companies that presented on a panel about business model innovations in information technology at the 2011 Nebraska Research and Innovation Conference. In college Wegener took a part-time job to pay the [...]

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 [...]

Junior Achievement of Lincoln launches new high school focused program

Junior Achievement of Lincoln is always looking for ways to inspire and ignite entrepreneurship within children. JA has been doing this for many years, but this fall the organization will be undertaking a new and exciting venture called Driven Youth Invitational. This seven-week program is designed to take motivated high schoolers and prepare them to create and [...]

Community CROPS supports local entrepreneurship, offers fresh food

[This is part of a series of articles over the next month focusing on one of Nebraska's key entrepreneurial areas: the food industry. Check back frequently as we explore local food producers, restaurants and the growers .]   William Shakespeare once famously asked: What’s in a name? For local non-profit organization Community CROPS, there’s a [...]

Raikes School students paired with corporations for real-world education

Every year the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln takes on a new set of projects for its Design Studio program. The curriculum enables juniors and seniors at the Raikes School to work as technologists and business managers on real-world software development projects. The Design Studio [...]

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 [...]

Nebraska Global wins Walter Scott award for entrepreneurship

University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken has announced the 2011 winner of one of the university’s most prestigious awards for entrepreneurship: the Walter Scott Entrepreneurial Business Award. This year’s Scott award winner is Nebraska Global, a Lincoln-based venture capital fund that invests in startup software companies in order to build a vibrant, competitive technology [...]

Retirement is not the plan for one Nebraska entrepreneur

For 50 years, John Brasch has been building a legacy in the elderly care industry with his company, the J. Brasch Co. He’s started four companies and launched six products and now, at 70, Brasch has decided to give it another go. He will begin his fifth company and will begin selling his seventh product, the SafePresence Caregiver Communicator [...]

Opportunity assesment and evaluating a deal with John Moorhead

John Moorhead of Free Air Collective and Fiserv talks about the lessons he has learned in opportunity assessment through the 3 startups he’s been a part of.  The Startup Lessons event was put on by the Lincoln Young Professional Group on March 8th, 2011.  “Equity vs Cash”, what is your contribution, does it interest you…these [...]

Agile Sports and Stephanie Healy talk about growth

2011 Nebraska Summit on Entrepreneurship How to rapidly grow a Nebraska startup – unlimited vacation and Jets tickets Brian Kaiser, CTO, Agile Sports Technologies In four years, Agile Sports has grown from its three founders to 30 employees and from one devoted customer (the University of Nebraska Husker football team) to 2500 teams in 48 [...]

Collaborative Work Spaces and the Accelerating Effects on Business

Collaborative Work Spaces and the Accelerating Effects on Business Matthew Wegener, President & CEO, ISoft Data Systems and Turbine Flats Turbine Flats is an idea community and home to 10 early stage and start-up businesses. In this session, Matthew Wegener will discuss the businesses that are taking root at Turbine Flats today. He will explain [...]

Keynote: Pamela Dingman – It’s not over!

Many people will tell you in times of adversity and challenge that, ‘It is OVER,’ you tried, you did not make it, it is time to move on. The reality is that you learn more from failing, struggling and facing challenge than you do from succeeding. This is Pam Dingmans’ personal story of her journey [...]

$5,000 Awarded to Students with Big Ideas

Students representing Nebraska high schools, area colleges and universities had three minutes to pitch their idea for a new business. The second annual 3-2-1 Quick Pitch Competition was held on Wednesday at Memorial Stadium in the Club Level Concourse. “This year we had over 50 competitors from all over Nebraska.  We’ve had a good diversity of [...]

Steve Forbes speaks to UNL students and the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce

Steve Forbes made a stop in Lincoln on Tuesday to speak to University of Nebraska – Lincoln students and the local business community at the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Annual Lunch.  Forbes, Chairman of Forbes Media and Editor In Chief of Forbes Magazine spoke at length about todays economy and what needs to be done [...]

Nelnet keys to success

Nelnet leaders Jeff Noordhoek and Michael Dunlap talk about how Nelnet got started and why they’ve grown and been successful over the last 15 years. Reasons for Success: Focusing on customers and their needs Make a great place to work Diversifying revenue stream by offering different products Giving back to the community Others points of [...]

Lessons Learned: Jim Terrano Shares Wisdom Gained Along the Way

Entrepreneurs today have something Jim Terrano wishes he would have had in 1974; role models. “I didn’t have a good set of mentors or examples in front of me and so I had to go learn all of this on my own through trial and error,” the president and CEO of TELCOR said. “I think that [...]

Junior Achievement educates Nebraska youth on financial literacy

Learning about starting a business isn’t just for adults. Junior Achievement, a national organization, provides hands-on education to youth about financial literacy and smart economic decisions. Junior Achievement works by bringing professionals into classrooms (Kindergarten to 12th grade) to teach students about entrepreneurship using their own perspectives and experiences as entrepreneurs and businesspeople. The volunteers also follow a curriculum [...]

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