Pretty in Pink: Elkhorn Mom Blends Her Startup with Raising Family

Beka Doolittle long knew she wanted to start her own business. The actual concept came in 2007 when she was working as a personal banker. “Between my husband and sons, I had all of these boys in the house, and I was the only girl,” she said. “I realized I needed girly stuff. So I [...]

Free Seminar to Take the Mystery out of U.S. Small Business Administration Loan Programs

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Nebraska District Office will sponsor a free, one-hour seminar designed to take the mystery out of the process of applying for federally guaranteed small business loans. “Take the Mystery out of SBA Loans” is scheduled for noon on May 21 in the District Office, 10675 Bedford Ave., Suite 100, in [...]

Trak Surgical lauches in Omaha, example of collaboration between public and private enterprises

About 15 years ago, Hani Haider had an idea. Haider, a biomedical engineer and professor of orthopedic surgery research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, thought hip and knee replacement surgeries could be better. The problem: A successful joint replacement requires a talented surgeon with a mastery of skills gained through countless hours of [...]

Invest Nebraska completes financing in Virtual Incision

Invest Nebraska Corp. announced today the closing of financing in Virtual Incision, a Nebraska medical device company. The investment was completed in conjunction with Prairie Gold Venture Partners and Bluestem Capital, both of Sioux Falls, S.D. Terms of the investment have not been disclosed. The capital will be used to accelerate the development of Virtual [...]

WriteLife Rides Self-Publishing Wave to Quick Success

In recent years, the world of book publishing has been turned on its ear. Internet, software and rapidly changing printing technologies have fueled the rise of book self-publishing, opening the floodgates to writers who can publish their works without the need to have their manuscripts accepted or rejected at the whims of book publishers. Still, [...]

Dusty Davidson on building great teams and processes

Many people dream of working at a job they love. Dusty Davidson made this dream come true by leaving a standard software development job to start his own company. “I wanted to create a place that employees would love to work at every day,” he said. “I also wanted to surround myself with smart and [...]

New Co-working Program Brings Expert Advice to Mastercraft Tenants

Startup entrepreneurs inevitably must wrestle with business operation issues far removed from their expertise. They face legal and financial questions that can gobble up time and money they can ill-afford to spend. If you are entrepreneur, think how valuable it would be to have a team of experts eager to help you troubleshoot problems. And [...]

New Business Loan Officer for Nebraska Enterprise Fund

The Nebraska Enterprise Fund (NEF) has announced the addition of Terrence Coleman to the staff. Coleman is working as a business loan officer primarily in the Omaha area, but is available to assist with lending across the state. Prior to joining NEF, he was the Chief Operations Officer for NeighborWorks Omaha, an affiliate of NeighborWorks [...]

Hiring a Broker: Longtime Omaha Businessman Provides Insight

This article appears in a multi-part series about business acquisitions. Nebraska business owners, investors and support professionals tell Nebraska Entrepreneur about the merger and acquisition (M&A) process and their best advice to business owners. Finding the right buyer is sometimes easier said than done. But to a broker, that’s all part of the challenge. Enter [...]

DailyMav.com – A Student Startup Focused on Training and Launching

Recently, daily deal websites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and Yipit have paved new paths in coupon-cutting. These websites offer deals and promotions for users’ local restaurants, events and services. One University of Nebraska at Omaha student took this idea further by making it exclusive. Senior management major Keith Fix developed DailyMav.com, a daily deal website [...]

Hyp-Yoga co-founder shares lessons learned, looks toward franchising

Carly Cummings spoke at the Midwest Entrepreneurship Conference (MWEC), held March 30-31 in Omaha. For Carly Cummings, like many business owners, her journey has been a rollercoaster ride. However, through the years, the current director of the Omaha Yoga School and co-founder, president and CEO of Hyp-Yoga has learned many lessons that helped shape and strengthen [...]

Vyral Marketing helps business owners to “market inwardly”

Vyral Marketing recently gave a presentation at the Midwest Entrepreneurship Conference (MWEC), held March 30-31 in Omaha. In today’s world, social media can shrink the distance between two people down to the space between one’s fingertips and a keyboard. Frank Klesitz of Vyral Marketing in Omaha has taken the capabilities of social media and put [...]

SharePlow Founder: ‘Mountain’ of Opportunities for B2B Products

Working in the startup industry since the height of the dot-com era in the early 2000s, Ron Osborne describes his passion for building companies as simply “euphoric.” The founder and president of one of Omaha’s latest tech startups, SharePlow, Osborne has worked with a variety of startups since his first job as a stockbroker and [...]

MindMixer CEO Talks Startup Success

Three years ago, Nick Bowden co-founded a community planning and landscape architecture firm based on citizen involvement in the design and planning process. But he met a roadblock with the “citizen-source” approach. Public community planning meetings were poorly attended and inefficient, often costing several thousand dollars in taxpayer money. Then came the idea for MindMixer. [...]

Video: Three successful growth stories

The first growth track at the 2012 Nebraska Summit on Entrepreneurship had growth stories from three successful small businesses. George Johnson, George Paul Vinegar Charlotte Ralston, RU Nuts Company, Inc. Brian Turner, Distefano Tool and Manufacturing Co.

Infotec 2012 to explore, educate on information technology trends

For business owners, project management staff, nonprofit groups and others with an interest in information technology (IT), Infotec is the place to be. Infotec, a two-day conference April 17-18, will take place at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. Infotec is hosted by the AIM Institute, a Nebraska nonprofit organization that works with communities, business leaders, [...]

Chris Miller Wants to Bring New Energy and Resources to Young Entrepreneurs

In 2010, the non-profit group Service Corps of Retired Entrepreneurs, or SCORE, awarded Chris Miller and his business partner Cole Strunkard with an Omaha Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award was given in response to the pair’s innovative property management company, DeltaREP. Now 27, Miller has not only founded a successful property management company, but also expanded operations [...]

SkyVu Entertainment co-founder Ben Vu found inspiration in iPhone

How did an animation studio specializing in mobile games land in the Omaha area? One might say it started with an iPhone. “I saw the possibility of telling stories through the device,” Ben Vu said. In 2008, Vu bought an iPhone and soon found that he spent more time using it than he did watching [...]

O’Brien discusses the “magic” and “messiness” of entrepreneurship

In Mary Ann O’Brien’s office at OBI Creative, there’s a plank on the wall, and an “X” marks the spot in the carpet. “We really pride ourselves on being brave, and if you’re not brave, you walk the plank here,” O’Brien said of her Omaha-based advertising agency and marketing strategy firm. “You don’t come to [...]

Entrepreneur Demos to highlight diversity of scalable businesses

Raising the profile of entrepreneurs in Nebraska will be the main focus of the Entrepreneur Demos at the upcoming Summit on Entrepreneurship, to be held Feb. 23-24 at the Embassy Suites in La Vista. Six companies will be showcased starting at 1:45 p.m. Friday as part of the afternoon line-up of the summit, which is now in [...]

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