The Silicon Prairie Series brings together two established events, Big Omaha (left) and Thinc Iowa (middle), and one future, unnamed event in Kansas City.

With Big Omaha 2012 now more than a week in the rear-view mirror, the team at Silicon Prairie News has already begun working on Thinc Iowa 2012 and planning for the future of our premier events beyond that. We're excited to announce that future will include a brand new Kansas City event, set to debut in 2013. That will round out what we're now calling the Silicon Prairie Series, a trio of events on innovation and entrepreneurship held in the heart of the Midwest.

The Silicon Prairie Series aims to better connect the daily work of our organization with the region and community that fuels it. Those of you who purchased the discounted 2012 Prairie Pass tickets to both Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa were the first to take advantage of one benefit of the new series.

Over time, we want the the Silicon Prairie Series name to become synonymous with the style, quality and feel of events that you've come to expect from our team and partners. That means a single-track of speakers, great parties, ambitious design elements, unparalleled networking, an intimate feel, a shared experience and some of the best presentations on entrepreneurship and innovation anywhere in the world. Big Omaha, Thinc Iowa and the future Kansas City event will each have their own distinctions and local flavor, but overall what you've come to love about one Silicon Prairie Series event, you’ll find in the others.

So make plans now to to join us at the next event in the Silicon Prairie Series, Thinc Iowa 2012, which takes place October 10-11. And if you want to get more involved with the Silicon Prairie Series, contact Geoff Wood at geoff@siliconprairienews.com

Credits: Photo of Big Omaha by Malone and Company, Photos of Thinc Iowa by Anna Jones | Art of Photography / Ikonix Studio, Photo of Kansas City by Jim Nix via Flickr

We're excited to announce today that TSYS Merchant Solutions has joined us at the latest sponsor of our online efforts here at Silicon Prairie News. TSYS Merchant Solutions first came on board as the sponsor of the recharge station at last week's Big Omaha conference and is now sponsoring our daily email newsletter as well as our popular "Tools of the Trade" series set to return in June.

Here's a short description of their work, as provided by TSYS Merchant Solutions: 

Three million times each day, the people of TSYS Merchant Solutions® touch a transaction that impacts someone’s life and business. Your business demands your full attention; rely on us to provide your business with the payment acceptance options your customers need. 

TSYS Merchant Solutions is based in Omaha and has more than 55 years in the payment processing industry. The company's products cover everything from credit cards to gift cards to e-checks. If you need a payment processing partner for your startup, reach out to this company right here in the Silicon Prairie.

Thank you, TSYS Merchant Solutions, for your support of Silicon Prairie News!

Sponsor Silicon Prairie News

Are you interested in reaching entrepreneurs, investors, creatives and other Silicon Prairie News readers in the startup community like TSYS? Silicon Prairie News has several options available. For more information, contact Geoff Wood at geoff@siliconprairienews.com.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has been Big Omaha's premier sponsor for three years running. 

If you've had even the slightest experience with the Big Omaha community — either in person, through video, or on social media — then you've likely heard of The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The "Foundation of Entrepreneurship" has been Big Omaha's premier sponsor for the past three years and served as a tremendous partner to the Silicon Prairie News team as we've prepared for the event.

The Kauffman Foundation is often billed as "the world's largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship." The organization embodies that by doing good works for the startup community on a global scale, as the financial partner powering the Startup Weekend organization, as one of the co-founders and sponsors of Global Entrepreneurship Week and as the creators of the Startup Act legislation here in the United States, to name a few examples. But, here in the Silicon Prairie, they're something more tangible: they are a part of our growing entrepreneurial community and a physical asset to the region with their base in Kansas City, Mo.

Before Big Omaha, I caught up with Nick Seguin, Kauffman's Manager of Entrepreneurship, via email to get his thoughts on this year's event.

Silicon Prairie News: The Kauffman Foundation has been the premier sponsor of Big Omaha for the past three years — what is about the event that keeps Kauffman involved?

Nick Seguin: While Kauffman's focuses are education and entrepreneurship on a national level, the fact that Big Omaha is a regional event is fantastic. Proximity aside, Kauffman's involvement and support continue because Big Omaha brings together a tight group of people from around the country to have meaningful progressive conversations about entrepreneurship. The Silicon Prairie News team has succeeded in cutting the fat and putting people together who want to act. 

SPN: You travel to entrepreneurial events across the globe. What, in your experience, makes Big Omaha unique?

NS: Big Omaha has done a tremendous job of highlighting people and companies who are on their way to the top. It's a stage for incredible entrepreneurs who haven't necessarily worn out the conference circuit, but are building important companies. Big Omaha feels intimate – the fact that SPN restricts the size allows attendees to wrap themselves around the conference and really participate in everything from breakfast to hallway conversations to the parties at night. Most importantly, though, the culture that's been created at Big Omaha is unique. I'm not the biggest fan of conferences, but somehow Big Omaha has a consistent theme of action and forward progress. It's not a bunch of blowhards, but rather a group of makers and doers vetting ideas and helping each other take the next step.

SPN: The Kauffman Foundation is bringing a good-sized crew to the event this year, after three days at the event, what do you hope that they walk away with?

NS: This year Kauffman will send associates from our research and policy, entrepreneurship and innovation groups. It's important to continuously interact with practicing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial communities. The opportunity to participate in and learn from an event like Big Omaha allows Kauffman associates to ground ideas and initiatives in real needs.

Credits: Top photo by Malone & Company/Big Omaha. Photo of Seguin from kauffman.org.

Videos featuring Charles Best of DonorsChoose.org (above) and the 13 other speakers of Big Omaha 2012 will soon be released on Silicon Prairie News, thanks to the support of Microsoft BizSpark.

With another event freshly entered in the annals of SPN history now is the time to remind you that you don't need to wait 12 months to experience more of Big Omaha. Thanks to the support of Microsoft BizSpark, a major sponsor of Big Omaha 2012, we'll be releasing video of the 14 presentations delivered on Thursday and Friday.

BizSpark has been a strong supporter of our events and blog these past few years, and we owe them a tremendous debt of thanks. If you're unfamiliar with BizSpark, it's one of the most notable and successful programs run by a large corporation with the specific goal of helping startups succeed. We use it at Silicon Prairie News and we encourage you to check it out, as well.

Behind the production of the video series made possible BizSpark is our live-streaming partner Evolve of Des Moines and our video partner Three Pillars Media of Lincoln, Neb. We teamed up with the two companies to produce a live stream of the event, as well, which was presented by Hayneedle.

While you're waiting for the videos to be released, check out the 14 speech recaps:

• Ted Rheingold: 'You have great days and then crushing days.'
• Ben Lerer: 'It isn't about the light at the end … it's about the tunnel'
• Sahil Lavingia: 'Build products to scale yourself.'
• Jim McKelvey: 'Just go ahead and build it'
• Seth Goldstein: 10 tweets for startups
• Yael Cohen: 'We are the generation that can change the world'
• Philip Rosedale: 'Work together and help each other.'
• Brian Wong: 'Kiip Getting Lucky'
• Charles Best: 'Push intelligence out to the edge'
• Sarah Prevette: 'Fall in love with the problem'
• Eddie Huang: "I'm about getting papers, but I need a 'why' "
• Kevin Hale: 'Build software people want to have a relationship with'
• Michael Karnjanaprakorn: 'You should be a lifelong learner.'
• Mena Trott: 'Every lesson we have will tell us who we are'

More abour out sponsor, Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, and providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business. BizSpark will fast-track the success of your startup with software, support an visibility.

A Big Omaha "high five" to the supporters who help make this event a truly memorable experience.

As we posted on Monday, the sponsor support of Big Omaha 2012 has been tremendous and we obviously couldn't put on such an event without the backing of so many great organizations. These sponsors are involved for several reasons, namely because they believe in the vision and experience that has been associated with Big Omaha over the last four years and because they want to get to know and be a part of that community.

We encourage you to meet with them when you see them later this week, reach out to them online and best of all patronize their services and products.

On behalf of the Big Omaha community, help us give a big shout out on Twitter – roll over their handles below to follow them – to the 20 supporters of Big Omaha 2012.

• Borsheims - @borsheimsbrk
• Baird Holm LLP 
• Lutz & Company, PC
• UNeMed - @UNeMed 
• Startup Weekend - @startupweekend 
• Heartland Technology Alliance - @HeartlandTech5 
• Volano Solutions - @VolanoSolutions 
• State Farm - @StateFarm
• Green Bein' Productions - @GreenBein
• Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce - @OmahaChamber
• TD Ameritrade - @TDAmeritrade 
• Client Resources, Inc - @CRi_Omaha
• AIM Institute - @AIM_Institute 
• Gallup, Inc - @GallupNews
• Verizon Wireless - @VerizonWireless 
• Heroku - @heroku 
• FusionFarm 
• Seed Here - @seedhere
• Proxibid - @proxibid
• Firebone - @_firebone

Note: Amy Engle contributed to this post.

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha

From the opening to the closing parties, sponsors play a huge role in making Big Omaha a memorable event for everyone involved. 

It seems cliche to say it but we can't think of a more appropriate word to describe the sponsor support of Big Omaha than humbling. Companies from around the world have not only seen the value in being associated with you – the Big Omaha community – but also value in being a part of it, and never moreso than they have this year.

We're thanking our sponsors in a series of posts now, ahead of the two day event, so that you can say hello to them in KANEKO, at the parties or on Twitter or Facebook. Each of the sponsors highlighted below has their name associated with a part of Big Omaha, so whether you're having drinks at the "Closing Party presented by Under Armour and Hudl" or playing with blocks at the "First National Bank Building Station," please thank the many organizations who dedicate their time and resources to making Big Omaha possible.

Also, in addition to the list below, we owe a big thanks to our premier sponsor, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and our two major sponsors, CoSentry and Microsoft BizSpark. Stay tuned for post recognizing their support along with that of our supporters and in-kind sponsors.

Please help us thank our sponsors by finding them on Twitter – just roll over their handle to easily follow them.

Gist - @gist

On Thursday evening, Gist will be treating Big Omaha attendees to a night out at Urban Wine Company, home to the Old Market's best patio.

About our sponsor: Gist keeps you better informed with less effort by giving you a full view of your professional network in one place bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts giving you the right information at the right moment to get a meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection.

University of Nebraska - @U_Nebraska

The University of Nebraska will be providing lunch for attendees on both Thursday and Friday, giving entrepreneurs and innovators a chance to talk over a delicious meal in a unique atmosphere.

About our sponsor: The University of Nebraska is committed to nurturing and retaining talent in Nebraska through education, research and outreach on our four campuses in Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney. Programs like the Peter Kiewit Institute (engineering, information science and technology programs), the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management and the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program allow students to learn alongside mentors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. Dynamic entrepreneurship programs let students test their ideas and discover potential markets, while technology development offices translate faculty and student research in medicine, technology, biosciences and many other fields into new products and new companies.

Hayneedle - @hayneedle

Tune in to Big Omaha as we live stream portions of the event for free at bigomaha.com/live, thanks to the support of Hayneedle.

About our sponsor: Hayneedle: Discover What You Love for Where You Live

Omaha is our home, but we're all about yours. Shop hayneedle.com and explore over 200 categories of products for inside and outside your home. Built from scratch in the big O, hayneedle.com uses a unique site structure and universal shopping cart to change the way people create ideal spaces where they live. Visit us today and see everything you never knew you always wanted - for your home, your life, your style.

Leo Burnett - @LeoBurnett

The support of Leo Burnett makes Expression, an interactive exhibition, possible. Expression is an opportunity for attendees to share their Big Omaha 2012 experience through written or spoken word with the greater Big Omaha community.

About our sponsor: Leo Burnett shares much in common with the mission and spirit of Big Omaha. We’re each champions of the talent and culture of the Midwest. We're each driven by innovation and ideas. Most importantly, just like the most imaginative entrepreneurs you'll find here, we're also students of people – and we strongly believe that creativity has the power to transform human behavior.

Founded 76 years ago in Chicago, Leo Burnett now has offices in more than 84 countries around the world.  Our nine thousand employees help build brands for multinational clients including McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Samsung.

Under Armour - @UnderArmour

Friendly volunteers sporting black Big Omaha Omaha T-shirts will be on hand to help attendees and party goers with just about anything. This awesome crew and their sweet shirts are all thanks to our volunteer sponsor, Under Armour.

About our sponsor: Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel - gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour's diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it's hot, ColdGear® when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

Under Armour's mission is to make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation. Every Under Armour product is doing something for you; it's making you better.

Bloom.com - @bloomdotcom

Immediately following Friday's presentations, there is an open bar and appetizer happy hour for attendees presented by Bloom.com.

About our sponsor: Bloom.com – a social beauty network that's revolutionizing the way women find and buy the right products. Discover the latest trends that match your interests from trend-leaders, experts, brands and real women across the world. Receive a personalized shopping experience with relevant, unbiased feedback from thousands of women who are your beauty matches. We are on a mission to use the power of social shopping – saving you time and money by discovering what really works for your personal needs. Discover social beauty at Bloom.com and Never Buy the WRONG Beauty products again!

Jim & Karen Linder Family Foundation

For attendees to stay in the middle of the action but give their feet a rest, the relax lounge is perfect for comfortable furniture and unique experiences. Thanks to Jim & Karen Linder for putting their name behind arguably the best spot in the venue.

About our sponsor: Creative, hard-working, ambitious, thoughtful, exciting, aspirational, curious, humorous, humble, passionate, inspiring, interesting, pioneering, innovative, purposeful, and reflective. These adjectives describe the people in the arts, education and business that we enjoy.  Some we’ve met through our philanthropic activities; others have become our partners after we’ve invested in their entrepreneurial vision.  Everyone attending Big Omaha should understand why we support this conference- nowhere else can you find so many people who are described by these adjectives. Thank you for being here.

Neustar - @neustar 

When Big Omaha attendees need some quiet in the midst of a crazy day the blogger lounge is the go-to place, and we have our sponsor Neustar to thank for providing the spot to hunker down and get some work done.

About our sponsor: Neustar is a technology and information services company serving the telecommunications, Internet, marketing and media industries. Our technology enables 4 billion phone calls to reach the right person every day, 7 billion text messages to be completed every day, and 16 billion internet queries to get to the right destination every day. We also manage unique, secure databases that allow us to provide companies with information that saves them time and money, helps them to build their businesses, and protects them and their customers against fraud.

Hudl - @Hudl

Friday evening, join us at House of Loom for drinks, great beats and top-notch networking. Thanks to Hudl for being a presenting sponsor to help us end Big Omaha with a bang.

About our sponsor: Hudl provides video analysis and coaching tools to more than 7,000 high schools and small colleges, in addition to over 80 Division I and 12 professional teams across the NFL, NHL, and NBA. Hudl was founded in 2006 and is based in Lincoln, Neb.

Novak, Druce + Quigg - @NovakDruce 

To help us gather all the tweets and super sweet Instagram pics, please tag them #BigOmaha. And for the curious folks, attendees can check out the Twitter feed in the lounge, brought to you by Novak Druce + Quigg LLP.

About our sponsor: Novak Druce + Quigg LLP is a national law firm focused on complex intellectual property matters. With more than 115 attorneys and professionals in offices in Houston, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Washington, DC and West Palm Beach, Novak Druce attorneys help our clients navigate the complexities of U.S. intellectual property law by securing, enforcing and defending their intellectual property rights.

 Novak Druce understands the importance of consistently providing quality services.  We believe intellectual property is a dynamic part of our client’s overall business portfolio and offer a unique approach by practicing intellectual property law with both a prosecution and litigation perspective.

Bellevue University - @BellevueU

Attendees can take a break from the main speaking hall and take in the speakers words of wisdom from the comforts of the simulcast lounge. Thanks to Bellevue University for sponsoring this comfortable retreat.

About our sponsor: Whether you are starting your higher education, completing your degree or earning a graduate degree, Bellevue University will work with you. Explore the reasons to earn your accredited degree through our award-winning learning programs and reach your goals.

Nanonation - @nanonation

Along with a light breakfast in the morning, attendees will enjoy complimentary beverages, fruit and small snacks throughout the day. Thanks to LinkedIn for sponsoring the breakfast and Nanonation for the beverage and snack bar.

About our sponsor: Whether it's interactive screens that beg to be touched, multimedia signage that demands attention, or mobile applications that fulfill a customer’s every demand, Nanonation offers a powerful software platform to deliver engaging customer experiences – all while monitoring, measuring, and managing each customer interaction. The result is software that makes it easier to connect with customers to stand out and deliver more.

LinkedIn - @LinkedIn

Attendees will enjoy a light breakfast each morning thanks to the support of our sponsor, LinkedIn.

About our sponsor: Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. With 161 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the Internet. The company has a diversified business model with revenue coming from member subscriptions, marketing solutions and hiring solutions.

Schnackel Engineers - @schnackeleng 

Our morning breaks, presented by Schnackel Engineers, give attendees a chance to take a breather and talk with others around them about the speakers they've heard.

About our sponsor: Constantly striving to go above and beyond, we integrate our team seamlessly into those of our clients, creating an invaluable collaboration at a highly competitive price. Schnackel Engineers consistently delivers the most reliable, responsive and competitively priced Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Control engineering services to the Architectural and Construction industry on a local and national scale. We invite you to make Schnackel Engineers a part of your team.

TSYS Merchant Solutions  - @tsysmerchant

Attendees will have a chance to power up their mobile devices throughout the day at the charging station, thanks to TSYS Merchant Solutions.

About our sponsor: 38 million times each day, the people of TSYS® improve lives and businesses across the world with every payment transaction. We make it possible for millions of people to move money between the world's buyers and sellers. Offering merchant payment-acceptance solutions as well as services in credit, debit, prepaid, mobile, chip, healthcare and more, we make it possible for those in the global marketplace to conduct safe and secure electronic transactions with trust and convenience.

SendGrid - @sendgrid

Thanks to our afternoon break sponsor, SendGrid, attendees can take a moment in the afternoon to compose their thoughts and stretch their legs before the last speakers take the stage.

About our sponsor: SendGrid is the email engine behind tens of thousands of web and mobile applications across the globe. By providing a reliable and highly scalable cloud-based infrastructure, we help businesses - from startup to enterprise - communicate more effectively with their customers via transactional and promotional email messages. SMTP & API integration options empower developers to build more faster and focus on creating awesome products for the world to enjoy. We're the experts in scalable email deliverability and analytics…so you don't have to be.

MapQuest Vibe - @mapquest

Going to Big Omaha or the opening parties? Make it easy on yourself and find all the Big Omaha venues, recommended local restaurants, watering holes and coffee houses on a custom map from the folks at MapQuest. Visit bigomaha.com/map.

About our sponsor: MapQuest Vibe, is your shortcut to becoming a local, anywhere.  MapQuest Vibe cuts through the clutter of ratings, lists and pins on a map, by giving you actual rankings of places based on key criteria within a local neighborhood context. The “local knowledge” is generated with a new patented algorithm called VibeRank.  This blended social-algorithmic formula takes several implicit signals (like searches on MapQuest and cartographic data), creates a baseline ranking and then layers on explicit social signals from the new Vibe pages.

First National Bank

Our attendees will take a break from building a company and build a LEGO structure for a bit. First National Bank, a company whose building tops the Omaha skyline, has provided a bucket full of LEGOs for our attendees to get creative. Tallest tower wins a tweet from @BigOmaha.

About our sponsor: First National Bank is a division of First National of Nebraska. First National of Nebraska has grown into the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. First National and its affiliates have $17 billion in managed assets and nearly 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

Note: Amy Engle contributed to this post.

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha

A belated thank you to the tremendous group of companies throughout the region and across the country who supported Silicon Prairie News as sponsors of this news blog in April. As always, please let them know that you, too, appreciate their support of Silicon Prairie News and our mission to further the Silicon Prairie-region as a center of innovation.

The AIM Institute Speaker Series focuses on "the impact that innovation, marketing, cloud and management – have on businesses". Join them for the May 24th event featuring Mike Chernovetz, TelePresence Specialist at Cisco Systems being held at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha. 

The Heartland Technology Alliance (HTA) is a grassroots coalition working as an advocate for innovation and competition in technology and communications across Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. HTA's executive director, John Stineman, is based in Des Moines, and we're thankful for the continued support of the organization. HTA is sponsoring the new Founder Friday series.

Hudl is one of Lincoln's best-known startups, providing coaching software to everyone from the NFL to youth leagues. The Hudl team is actively recruiting more talent and if you think you can make the team, check out hudl.com/jobs. Hudl is sponsoring our Prairie Portraits series.

Novak Druce + Quigg LLP is a national IP law firm that has offices on the coasts and in Texas as well as clients around the globe. We're very excited to have them sponsoring our news blog and showing their support for the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in the Silicon Prairie. They are a display/banner sponsor on SiliconPrairieNews.com

Oxide Design is one of Omaha's most innovative design firms. You've seen their amazing work at BigOmaha.com, as they've been our branding and identity partner for Big Omaha since the event's inception in 2009. We're excited to now be able to showcase them as a display/banner sponsor here on the website. 

The Start-Up Launchpad is an online service of Des Moines' Davis Brown Law Firm that provides an innovative way for startups and entrepreneurs to access educational materials, checklists and legal documents from a trusted local source. Of course, attorneys like Emily Harris and Jason Stone are available in person as well. The Start-Up Launchpad is a banner/display sponsor on SiliconPrairieNews.com

BrownWinick is a Des Moines-based law firm serving the whole region. Attorney Drew Larson leads their Startups Start Here program aimed at helping startup businesses with their legal needs. BrownWinick sponsors our RSS feed and daily email newsletter.

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce has been a tremendous supporter of our efforts for some time and recently joined us as the sponsor of the Silicon Prairie Map, a visual representation of the startup community around the entire region. The Greater Omaha Chamber continues to be a catalyst for making Greater Omaha a "vibrant place to do business, work and live" and is one of the most active Chambers we know of in terms of its dedication of time and resources towards the startup community.

Internet Solver has long been known for providing IT support solution, IT consulting, internet and telephone service, telephone systems and cellular telephone service in Des Moines. But with Internet Solver's January aquisition of Advanced Technology Solutions, the company now offers similar services in Omaha as well! Internet Solver sponsors our RSS feed and daily email newsletter.

Microsoft BizSpark has sponsored many of our premier events in the past but joined us this month as a content sponsor! BizSpark is Microsoft's program aimed at getting its software and server products into the hands of startups and budding technology companies. It also includes access to technical and business support. Microsoft BizSpark is a banner/display sponsor on Silicon Prairie News and also provides our new series "Sparking Innovation."

Power Protection Products, Inc (P3) is a provider of energy related products and data center solutions. Check out P3's Low Cost Data Center Colocation (LoCoCoLo) program based in Omaha. P3 also sponsors our RSS feed and daily email newslwetter.

Sticker Mule is the company that has produced all of the awesome Silicon Prairie News, Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa stickers for the past few years. If you're looking for stickers, skins and sticker packs for your startup, check out StickerMule.com for a $10 credit towards your first order. StickerMule sponsors our RSS feed and daily email newsletter.

We couldn't do what we do without the support of our sponsors, from our website to events like Thinc Iowa (above).

Sponsor Silicon Prairie News

Are you interested in reaching entrepreneurs, investors, creatives and others in the startup community like these sponsors? Silicon Prairie News has several options available, including new opportunities throughout 2012. For more information, contact me at geoff@siliconprairienews.com.

Credits: Photo by Anna Jones | Art of Photography and Ikonix Studio

Silicon Prairie News' current Facebook cover photo will eventually be replaced with pictures of Silicon Prairie-based startups.

It's time to switch up the cover photo on the Silicon Prairie News Facebook page, and we want to feature you, the members of the Silicon Prairie startup community.

The plan is to change our cover photo each week with photos of Silicon Prairie-based startups. This is where you come in: we're asking that you send us your best photos, particularly those featuring people (we love smiling faces!), that show off your startup in a unique and fun way. Maybe it's a photo from a recent event or one from your company about page. We're hoping to see creativity, but most importantly, we want to showcase the individuals behind the startups.

A few things to keep in mind:

• We're planning to feature photos related to what we primarily cover on our blog (scalable internet startups based in and around Omaha, Des Moines and Kansas City).
• Make sure that you have rights to use the image and by submitting it, you're giving us rights to use it as described above.
• The image should conform to Facebook cover photo specifications (851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes).
• We get to choose. Not every photo that's submitted will get used, and and the ones we choose to feature are done so solely at our discretion. If it's a great photo and it fits, your chances are pretty good.

We'll be collecting photos for two weeks and will showcase the first Silicon Prairie startup on May 14.

Submit your photo using the form below (Facebook Cover Photo Feature Submissions).

Hat tip to Arctic Startup for the idea

Levon Helm (far right) and The Band, photo from Rolling Stone

News broke last week that Levon Helm, lead singer and drummer of The Band, was in his “final stages” of fighting cancer and then it was announced early after on Friday that he had passed away.

Back story

Episode 80: The last one

It's not every week that you get the chance to have Ashton Kutcher on your podcast. Not to be overshadowed by the big interview, after its conclusion we recorded the final episode of PrairieCast (queued up in the video above) where Danny Schreiber, Andy Brudtkuhl and I look back on everything that was PrairieCast.

A huge thanks to the more than 70 entrepreneurs, investors, reporters and startup enthusiasts who joined us as guests over the past two years. It was a tremendous amount of fun and we're glad to have been able to share it with all of you.

A special thanks to Jon Thompson of Evolve for producing the show each week and to Dental Dental of Iowa for sponsoring it.

PrairieCast was a live podcast, recorded weekly, for which a group of entrepreneurs gather to discuss current issues in technology and business that relate to the startup community on the Silicon Prairie. PrairieCast was hosted by Andy Brudtkuhl of 48Web and Geoff Wood of Silicon Prairie News.

PrairieCast is brought to you by Delta Dental of Iowa

When it comes to taking care of your smile, rely on a company you can trust. Fact is … more Iowans trust their smiles to Delta Dental. Whether you are looking for a dental policy for you, your family, or the team at your Startup, visit DeltaDentalIA.com to learn more about your many plan options.

Wrapping up the final PrairieCast

Two big milestones to report last week in podcasting related to my life.

PrairieCast

First of all, we ended PrairieCast, the SPN-themed podcast that I co-hosted with my friend Andy Brudtkuhl for more than two years. We put together 80 episodes in that time on four different platforms. I've been a podcast consumer for many years and I was really excited to create one when we started back in February of 2010.

Update: The following interview was recorded at 1:15 p.m.

Join us at 1 p.m. (special time!) for Episode 80 of PrairieCast, the final episode of our weekly webcast that we launched in February 2010.

Our guests will be Ben Milne (far left) of Dwolla – he was our first PrairieCast guest – and Danny Schreiber (near left) who leads our newsroom team. In addition to our usual roundup of activity in the Silicon Prairie, we'll look back over the last 80 episodes and share some of our favorite memories. Join us live at 1 p.m. to see what made the list.

PrairieCast is a live podcast, recorded weekly, for which a group of entrepreneurs gather to discuss current issues in technology and business that relate to the startup community in the Silicon Prairie. PrairieCast is hosted by Andy Brudtkuhl of 48Web and Geoff Wood of Silicon Prairie News.

Credits: Photo of Ben Milne by Anna Jones | Art of Photography. Photo of Danny Schreiber by Malone & Company.

PrairieCast is brought to you by Delta Dental of Iowa

When it comes to taking care of your smile, rely on a company you can trust. Fact is … more Iowans trust their smiles to Delta Dental. Whether you are looking for a dental policy for you, your family, or the team at your Startup, visit DeltaDentalIA.com to learn more about your many plan options.

jensenrf:

The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On

Get it? via @murphykeith

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome back to our annual holiday letter, The Year of Our Wood 2011!

Sure most people do their holiday letters for Christmas but we’ve never been conventional, typically opting for New Years. However, this year time got away from us and next thing you know it’s February. So, in that spirit - Happy Valentines Day!

Last year our holiday letter was filled with catching you up on two of the busiest years in our lives. A new baby, new jobs, law school, and a new house and more made that letter cover a lot of ground. 2011, by comparison, was a pretty slow year (and we like it that way).

heyoutasight:

“Anything is possible with a couple of drinks.” - Lush Life.

I’m still a fan of the original.

Eggcrates featured in Juice Magazine!

31 Tips For DSM In 2012: #2: Pretend You're A Tourist: My contribution to the 31 Tips for Des Moines...

Mondamin, Iowa, USA — Michele Bachmann staff member Whitney Clark holds cue cards for Bachmann at King’s Crossing Cafe in Mondamin, Iowa, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. Bachmann’s campaign is producing short videos from all of the stops during her bus tour. (MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson)

—

Just like Aerosmith on the Simpsons:

Steven Tyler: HELLLOOOOOOO, ST LOUIIIIIS!

Joe Perry: Um, that’s Springfield, Steven.

usesthis-sp:

photo credit: Anna Jones

Brian Hemesath

CEO, Catchwind

Co-Founder, VolunteerLocal

CTO, Tikly

Minority shareholder, NotifyWorks

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Brian Hemesath, a self-taught developer who enjoys sales and business development. Can’t really say if I like any one thing more than the other. I love being busy and having more on my plate than I should. I’ve been called a serial entrepreneur, but I’d call myself more of an accidental entrepreneur. I see opportunities and leverage them to build cool stuff and bring people together.

What hardware are you using?

I’m overdue for new hardware. I have a 5 year old Dell XPS at home with 2x 23” monitors. My buddy was the CEO of BFG, so I got a kick-ass deal on 2 8800 GTS graphics cards, which I can run in SLI mode to play games when I procrastinate. At the office I’m on a 4 year old Dell Vostro laptop, running Windows Vista. I believe I am the only person who actually liked Vista. I have a Lenovo U400 all picked out as soon as I can convince myself I need the upgrade. I bought a Galaxy Tab 10.1 the day they came out and absolutely love it. I have a rooted Samsung Conquer on Sprint.

And what software?

I’m pretty old school about my software. I hand code in a program called EditPad Pro, which is Notepad on steriods. I use 3D-FTP for file transfers, but recently tried FileZilla. I do a lot of command line stuff for both the OS and database, so AbsoluteTelnet is an important part of my day. I don’t do much with graphics, but I use a 13-year old version of Paint Shop Pro for basic slicing and editing. It works great, but I do break out Photoshop for more serious stuff. This isn’t software, but Stack Overflow is my go-to for JQuery questions. I develop on the LAMP stack.

What would be your dream setup?

It is hard to call this a “dream” setup, but I suppose that Lenovo U400 with a device to support dual monitors. We’re talking less than $1K, here, so I realize I’m dreaming pretty small. If I had money to burn, I’d like to have a tablet that ran on 3G/4G vs. just WiFi. I like to keep things simple.

Check out this complete timeline of Doctor Who from 1963 to present, including episodes, seasons, companions, villains, and more. Scroll down to follow all the Doctor’s adventures through time. A Fantastic resource for any Doctor Who fan.

This great and not just because the original ad was so offensive.

Bad Lip Reading: Rick Perry’s “Strong” ad - watch more funny videos

Yep that pretty much covers the whole movie. I’m a big fan.

jonahray:

Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters.

moviesinframes:

That Thing You Do!, 1996 (dir. Tom Hanks)

By billhader

“I am SO PROUD…to be on your billboard” via @istatefb

Oh, How Pinteresting!: Interview with Chrissy Jensen: Owner of Domestica: pinterest: Photo by...

Not one, not two, but three guests on this week's PrairieCast. When he heard that the "stop online piracy act" (SOPA) was on our discussion list for the week, BrownWinick's Drew Larson couldn't wait to drop his knowledge of the subject on our audience. Actually, that's not true. After learning that Larson was planning a seminar to address the topic later this week, I asked him – on way late notice – to sit in with previously scheduled guests Sam DuRegger of Charming Beard Productions and Tej Dhawan of Startup City Des Moines. The five us had a good conversation not only about SOPA but also lessons to be learned from the whiners in Silicon Valley, what to expect at this weekend's Barcamp Des Moines, updates on the Startup America Challenge (have you registered your startup, yet? Why not? It's easy) and what's next for "Silicon Sixth" in Des Moines.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/BBs

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dpstyles:

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at *anything* on the internets.

(by dpstyles™)

Not terribly practical but still awesome.

Lava Row's Nathan T. Wright and Startup City's Tej Dhawan are back for this week's PrairieCast where we talk about Des Moines' Startup Job Crawl, Zaarly's Bo Fishback on the Cover of Entrepreneur magazine, tech blogger turnover, Ben Milne's national TV debut and the unfortunate state of health insurance for startup companies.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/B9p

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Our guests for this episode where Emma Peterson, founder of Tikly and Adam Belz, business reporter for the Des Moines Register. Our discussion centered on the many recent events across the Silicon Praiire, such as Startup Weekend Kansas City and the winner Horsebot3k, the upcoming Barcamp Des Moines and tonight's Startup Job Crawl. We talked about Dwolla's recent national attention and made some guesses as to their announcements coming next month.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/B7d

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landscapelifescape:

St. John The Baptist’s Church, Burringham, Lincolnshire, UK

John Mackail

whitneymcn:

I’m having trouble handling how heartwarming I find these pictures.

coopsmith:

Just a few of the amazing photos from the CClone 365-2011 Project.

H/T Ian Spalter

Flyover at the Iowa State v. Texas A&M football game shared by Iowa State Athletics in honor of Veterans Day via facebook.

SPIN | Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon Are 53 Songs Into the 'History of Rap':...

Three firsts in this week's episode: Sam DuRegger of Charming Beard Productions joined us as a guest, we celebrated a guest's birthday on the show and the same guest made a quick exit moments later (due to what turned out to be some first-time pregnancy jitters — it happens to the best of us). It was a fun show, and we discussed Scott Case's Startup America Challenge to the Silicon Prairie (and Andy Stoll's subsequent challenge to Louisiana), the newly minted Iowa Startup Alliance and the good folks in Kansas City participating in Global Entrepreneurship Week with another Kansas City Startup Weekend.

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After two weeks off for Thinc Iowa (Geoff) and a new baby (Andy), we're back with episode 60 of your favorite weekly podcast: PrairieCast! During those two weeks of "down time," we came up with some new ideas for the show and we'll be rolling them out over the next several episodes. First and foremost, we're going with a more consistent cast of guests, and the first two people to jump to that challenge were Nathan T. Wright of Lava Row and Jordan Lampe of Dwolla.

Over the course of about 50 minutes, the four of us talked through our reflections on Thinc Iowa, Hudl's 5,000 client milestone (and more on the famous Hudl T-shirts) and Silicon Sixth Avenue.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/B23

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It's Thinc Iowa week! We (at Silicon Prairie News) have been working on producing what is known Thinc Iowa for over a year and it's finally here. Check out the website (put together awesomely by Performance Marketing) at thinciowa.com.

The professional sports world lost a good one today in IZOD IndyCar Driver Dan Wheldon. Dan died from unrecoverable injuries sustained in the worst crash I’ve seen since we started following IndyCar about seven years ago. In a race that was supposed to feature a dual for the championship between rivals Dario Franchitti and Will Power along with a second storyline of Wheldon with a unique chance to compete for a prize of $5M.

We recently reached out to the photographer who shot our wedding six plus years ago to see if he still had our images on file. Luckily for us he did and he offered to send them to us for a pretty decent price. We took him up on it and we're glad we did because now we get to check out all the proofs that we'd forgotten he'd shot.

Well, since I haven't blogged since July, I figured it was time

This week on PrairieCast, Erin Ginkens (left, photo from linkedin.com) from Entrepreneurial Technologies joined us in studio and Nick Seguin (photo from kauffman.org) of the Kauffman Foundation skyped in admist the fun that is Chicago Ideas Week. We talk about several serious entrepreneurial topics and I get to drop at least one of my signature "Geoff Wood's Iowa Fun Facts".

For more on this episode, see: http://spne.ws/Arm

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Fresh off his experience launching T8 Webware's new Grip product at at Finovate, the startup's CEO Wade Arnold joined us for this week's PrairieCast to talk about the growth of his company, their produt strategy, recruiting strategy (see that devs and data scientists - T8 is hiring now!) and, as always, the top current events around the Silicon Prairie.

Topics discussed: Thinc Iowa, T8 Webware, Grip, Locusic, Jeremie Miller, Singly, Startup Weekend Iowa City, Startup Weekend Columbia, Sojern, Sporting KC

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/Ao8

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This week on PrairieCast we turn the model on it's side! Andy and our guest Tej Dwahan of Startup City Des Moines are live in our studio in the Midland Building and I join via skype from the Kauffman Foundation's headquarters in Kansas City. Dwahan's incubator project is close to launching and he shared lots of details on what they have in store.

Additionally, we're giving away two tickets to Startup Weekend Iowa City this weekend! The person who won the live show giveaway can't make so two are still up for grabs. The first two people to leave a comment on this post will get the tickets.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/An7

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This week our guest on PrairieCast was Brian Hemesath the Des Moines-based serial entrepreneur who has founded five companies, including Catchwind, VolunteerLocal and Notifyworks. Hemesath previewed his BIZ Luncheon Series presentation on lessons learned while bootstrapping his startups.

For more on this week's epsiode see: http://spne.ws/Ahx

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This week on PrairieCast our guest is David Graff, CEO and co-founder of Hudl, the Lincoln-based sports technology venture that now provides video software to more than one third of all high school sports teams in the US. Graff is one of our most anticipated guests for the show and we took advantage of his time with us to discuss everything from financing to scalability to standing on the sidelines in the 2011 NCAA National Championship football game.

We had some fun, too, discussing the size of Graff's Hudl t-shirt collection and doing our first "PrairieCast look-alike" with Graff and a certain movie star from 15 years ago. Check it all this week on PrairieCast.

For more on this week's episode see: http://spne.ws/AdE

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This week on PrairieCast our guest was Ben Milne, CEO and co-founder of Dwolla, who made his way down the stairs of the Midland Building to join us for the third time on the show. We talked about Dwolla's latest technology releases and Milne's upcoming travels to conference in Europe before launching into the news of the week. We also debuted a new segment "Looking Forward" at the best events in the region over the week ahead.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/AaT

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We're looking for feedback on PrairieCast! What do you like about the show? What would you like to see changed? Send an email to geoff@siliconprairienews.com or leave a comment on the post. Just hours after the announcement that Brittany Mascio was joining the Silicon Prairie News team full time, she joined me, Andy and Justin Schoen of eComegy for this week's PrairieCast.

For more on this episode see http://spne.ws/AYb

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Always planning ahead, Andy prepared our 52nd episode since I was scheduled to spend the week across the street as a dutiful juror at the Polk County Courthouse. However, the trial wrapped a good 20 minutes before showtime, so I jumped in the second chair to join guests Norah Carroll of Lava Row and Mike Colwell of the BIZCI and StartupModels.com.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/AWI

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This week West Des Moines attorney Rush Nigut, founder of NotifyWorks joined us in studio and Michael Stacy, Silicon Prairie News editor, skyped in from Omaha. We also put out an offer to startups far and wide to drop off their swag for the PrairieCast set. If you have something fun or funky (nothing with real value, please) that represents your startup and you're willing to donate the show let us know or drop it by the Midland Building.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/ATM

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For our 50th birthday episode we decided to push the envelope and try two guests in studio for the first time. Jake Kerber, CEO of Locusic, and Chris Conetzkey, editor of the Des Moines Business Record, both joined us as PrairieCast newbies for a great discussion.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/APg

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We had a few technical issues getting the podcast running this week, and the first few minutes are missing from the archive above. We pressed on undeterred and had a great conversation with Josh Fleming of Lessing-Flynn and VineMe as well as old favorite Danny Schreiber, managing editor of Silicon Prairie News.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/AND

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Our guest this week on PrairieCast was Willis Jackson, the other part of SPN's contributer team in Kansas City. We talk with Willis about his new startup, ShownHome, his role as contributor Silicon Prairie Startup Digest, and the other current news out of the Kansas City community.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/AKC

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This week on PrairieCast, we had Nate Becker from SHift and Uppward – in town for the week from Brooklyn, New York – as our first in-studio guest in the new configuration for the show. Additionally, Danny Schreiber, Silicon Prairie News's managing editor Skyped in from Omaha.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/AHz

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This week on PrairieCast we were joined remotely by first time guest Josh Cramer founder of Cramer Dev of Iowa City and in-studio by returning guest Jordan Lampe, communications director for Dwolla.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/A4Y

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This week on PrairieCast we were joined remotely by first time guest Josh Cramer founder of Cramer Dev of Iowa City and in-studio by returning guest Jordan Lampe, communications director for Dwolla.

For more on this episode see: http://spne.ws/A4Y

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ScottyHendo gets it. He was once a Hoosier, too.

Yes, the holiday is Independence Day not "the 4th of July"; that's simply the date. Just a guess but it may be an unexpected consequence of the popularization of Cinco de Mayo in this country.

An odd mention showed up in my Twitter stream this afternoon (above). What's even more odd is that the aforementioned boyfriend lives two hours from me in Iowa City.

Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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...they gave me a Coke that was canned in Algeria.

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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We've spent some money with Timbuk2 over the years. In the passenger seat of the car this morning is my wife's purse, her law school books, & my laptop; each in their own Timbuk2 bag. Ps. We own others.

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Adorable (and way more expensive then I would have thought).

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Sent from my iPhone

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Sent from my iPhone

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Hanging out, sitting on the dinosaur mat, reading his favorite book with Brown Bear within reach.

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Not my best work but new head coach Fred Hoiberg is on stage.

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Sent from my iPhone

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