

Inside the Midwest's Secretive and Scrappy Start-up Scene - wayoutmind
http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/silicon-prairie-and-the-state-of-midwestern-start-ups.html

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timjahn
When I was in Omaha for Big Omaha this past May, I had the opportunity to
participate in a little press day they had set up to showcase the Omaha
entrepreneur and technology community.

My guide, a member of the Nebraska Angels, drove me around to meet a few local
entrepreneurs. We left downtown Omaha, cruised past Warren Buffet's modest
house (that he still lives in), past a large university surrounded by a
gigantic public park, down a little hill, to an area that used to be a
racetrack, but now is being redeveloped into retail and condos.

We pulled up to a new looking building and opened a door on the first floor to
walk into the office of SkyVu Entertainment. The place was bustling with 20-30
young people working on SkyVu's latest mobile game apps. They created the
popular Battle Bears games (which I had coincidentally never heard of before
visiting SkyVu).

I took an amazing tour of their office, learned a lot more about their games,
their team, and their culture, and about their founder Ben Vu.

Why am I even sharing this?

Because I was blown away that this profitable, growing, exciting mobile game
studio, who has a series of hit iPhone games, is located a few miles outside
of downtown Omaha, NE.

The students attending that university who want to be a mobile game developer
don't have to leave Omaha and head for the big city. They can get their career
started right there.

~~~
duncanbojangles
"... I was blown away that this profitable, growing, exciting mobile game
studio, who has a series of hit iPhone games, is located a few miles outside
of downtown Omaha, NE."

I'm actually surprised at your reaction. They're making iPhone games. iPhone
games can be made anywhere there is internet access and developers. Is it so
shocking that in Omaha, near a university, there are enough programmers,
artists, business-minded folks, and other creative types that want to make
mobile games that a company like SkyVu can succeed? Why would I want to move
to a big city when my goods are completely virtual?

~~~
timjahn
When I think of game development studios, I don't think of Omaha, NE (for
better or worse). I may be alone.

Ben Vu, the founder of SkyVu, actually used to be an animator in Hollywood. He
moved back to Omaha to start SkyVu when Battle Bears (which was originally
intended to be a movie) took off as an iPhone game.

I just think that's cool.

~~~
HalibetLector
You're not alone. My brother lives in Omaha and I've visited once. I had no
idea it was hiding a tech community (my brother isn't a techie).

------
freehunter
If anyone is looking for more Midwest startup opportunities, Detroit is worth
a glance. I'll copy a comment I made around a month ago [3]:

 _My opinion would point more towards something like Detroit. A city not well
known for tech (and well known for not being an economic powerhouse). But with
Dan Gilbert's "Webward Avenue" and Dan Izzo's "Bizdom U" startup accelerator
(founded when YCombinator was still a baby), new tech is starting to trickle
into Detroit. See also: Detroit Venture Partners, M@dison.

There's a backing of billionaires willing to put as much as they can into
Detroit to make it a tech haven, and so far it's showing some progress. I
don't live in or even near Detroit, but it's a pretty promising sign for a
city (and state) suffering the full brunt of technology's impact on unskilled
labor.

[1][http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/06/transfor...](http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/06/transform_detroit_dan_gilberts.html)

[2][http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-izzo/go-midwest-young-
entr...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-izzo/go-midwest-young-
entrepre_b_1137509.html?type=10*)

[3] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3923825>

~~~
geogra4
I'm moving to Detroit next spring. I'm excited to see what kind of
opportunities are around the city. Lots of neat stuff going on and Dan Gilbert
is doing a great job.

~~~
freehunter
I work in West Michigan which unfortunately doesn't have the same new-tech
support Detroit is getting, but honestly I'd rather see it in Detroit. That
city needs the attention and help its starting to get, and it will help the
state as a whole (as well as northern Ohio/Toledo).

The business community there is pushing so hard to get the city up and running
again. They're even donating money to the government to build a light
rail/commuter rail system (enough money to run it for 10 years at no taxpayer
expense)[1]. It's a really positive attitude, and absolutely inspiring. Maybe
someday I'll find myself down on Woodward Ave as well.

[1][http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2012/05/30/private-f...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2012/05/30/private-
funding-of-detroit-rail-project-is-a-gift-horse-the-feds-cant-ignore/)

------
jonpaul
Living in the area (Lincoln, NE), you can see that the tech startup scene is
blooming. With the cost of living so low, plentiful access to engineering
students (UNL), and the rise of investment capital, the opportunity to build a
successful startup in this area is growing quite quickly. I was once convinced
that I had to move to the valley to be successful, but now I couldn't be more
proud of this area, and am determined to build success here.

~~~
aantix
I use to live in Lincoln before moving to San Francisco..

What sorts of startup resources are you seeing that you feel will propel
Lincoln forward?

I can think of a handful of "startups" or technology based companies in
Lincoln; Hudl, Penlink, Nanonation, i2rd, ...

While it's great to have these companies, I would contend that the number of
startups Lincoln has is probably in line with the rest of the country and
nothing special. The world is changing; if the city is inviting to new
businesses you _should_ see more software type businesses crop up.

I just don't see Lincoln as anything special.

~~~
jonpaul
While you may be right about comparisons with other similar sized cities, I
feel that I've seen quite the blooming of tech startups. Admittedly, I'm very
biased as I live here. But with the arena project and all of the entertainment
venues planned, Lincoln will look very different in 10 years.

Here is a list of some tech/data startups in the area (Lincoln, not Omaha):

<http://www.macpractice.com/mp/>

<http://gitpilot.com>

<http://www.socialassurance.com/>

<http://archcrowd.com/>

<http://www.firespring.com/>

<http://www.getlockr.com/>

<http://www.cmsdm.com/>

<http://www.dontpaniclabs.com/>

<http://www.icora.com/>

<http://www.ec3h.com/>

<http://www.beehiveindustries.com/>

<http://eliteform.com/>

<http://the42.com/>

<http://www.archrival.com/>

How long have you been gone?

~~~
latortuga
A few more to add to the list:

<http://www.roundus.com>

<http://www.turbineflats.org> (a building full of tech companies)

<http://www.alliedstrategy.com>

~~~
timjahn
"<http://www.turbineflats.org> (a building full of tech companies)"

I feel like there are more "startup buildings" popping up all over the US.

Turbine Flats in Lincoln. Mastercraft in Omaha. General Assembly in New York.
1871 in Chicago. American Underground in Durham.

That's great. Gathering like minds is such a big step.

------
latortuga
Big props for silicon prairie! Living and working out of the midwest (Lincoln,
NE for me, Omaha for my co-founder) is great at times (biggest win is that
it's a lot more affordable) and not so great at other times - the tech scene
is quite a bit smaller than the other major tech areas of the country and
obviously access to funding and such is lacking compared to other areas. Not a
big problem for us because we're bootstrapped but potentially a problem for
startups looking for that kind of support.

~~~
TimGebhardt
Anecdote: My recruiter told me that the Chicago tech startup scene is the
second largest in the country, behind SV. Not sure how true it is, but Groupon
was pretty good for the scene.

~~~
timjahn
I live in Chicago and am heavily involved on the tech startup scene here. Our
scene is growing rapidly and changing by the month.

Is it the second largest in the country? I dunno. Probably not, I would think
that'd be New York.

I don't really care though. I'm too busy contributing to the scene and working
to keep that tide rising. :)

~~~
rubberband
Do you have any suggestions on how to "get involved" in the Chicago startup
scene? I'm in the burbs, and I'd love to drive in for meetups or any garden
variety "Chicago startup" thing, but I haven't had much success finding
anything worthwhile.

~~~
timjahn
I live in the burbs too, so I know the feeling. (Actually moving closer to the
city in a week).

There are loads of startup related happenings regularly now. I produce some
myself. :)

Shoot me an email (tim ATatAT entrepreneursunpluggd DOTdotDOT com) and I'd be
happy to give you some suggestions.

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FlyingSnake
Silicon Prairie is probably one of the emerging startup centers of US. Apart
from Dwolla, there are many promising startups in the region which might make
it big. I feel, the Midwest work ethics and dignity of labor set them apart.
Most of these startups are also well connected to each other and form a tight
network.

Though it's smaller compared to SanFran, East Coast or Austin, I would still
bet on Silicon Prairie.

~~~
untog
Smaller networks promoting tight networks I can agree with, but I'm always
skeptical of throwing out judgements on "work ethic" based on what part of the
country a person is from.

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pash
Silicon Prairie News [0] does a pretty good job covering the tech start-up
scene in the region around Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines. Check it out if
you want a closer look at what's going on in that part of the Midwest.

0\. <http://www.siliconprairienews.com/>

~~~
WadeF
SPN does the best coverage of midwest startups hands down. On top of that they
put on the amazing Big Omaha conference.

------
ericmarko
Hey all, this is Eric Markowitz, author of this article. It's really
interesting to hear everyone's impressions, and thanks for taking the time to
comment here.

A heads up--we're publishing Part 2 of this story Monday morning on Inc.com. I
think you'll all find it interesting...

Check back then!

~~~
timjahn
Thanks for shining a light on the amazing work and communities sprouting up
all over the Midwest!

------
nrao123
For anyone trying to understand midwest & technology should read Tom Wolfe's
master piece on Bob Noyce:
<http://www.stanford.edu/class/e140/e140a/content/noyce.html>

~~~
pnathan
That's a really great work. I very much enjoyed it. Thanks for linking!

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ChrisGammell
Love the article, love that tech is coming to the midwest (Clevelander,
there's a bit around here too). Can't stand that every tech scene has to have
silicon in the name.

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ConstantineXVI
Keep getting surprised how much we have going on here in Louisville, KY[0].
Though mentioning I'm from KY elsewhere has led to comments such as "You have
computers? And shoes?"

[0] shameless plug, if you're in the area next Wed:
<http://plancast.com/p/btcm>

~~~
taylort
I'm from Louisville and didn't know about this! I agree that the scene is
bustling here, especially with Forge (<http://www.forgehq.com/>)

~~~
ConstantineXVI
Adam actually shares an office with us.

------
patrickxb
I never knew Nebraska was considered the midwest...

~~~
dhomann
Now you know :) BTW, is it just me or are most "midwest" states actually more
east than west?

~~~
count
Everything between the mountain ranges is 'midwest' to many folks.

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earl
It's not the midwest, but Tony Hsieh, founder and ceo of Zappos, is running a
$300mm investment to turn Las Vegas into a tech hub. Apparently a big piece of
the investment is his money too. $50mm is allocated for startup funding.

[http://www.inc.com/magazine/201202/tony-hsieh-zappos-
excelle...](http://www.inc.com/magazine/201202/tony-hsieh-zappos-excellent-
las-vegas-adventure.html)

~~~
planetguy
Now there's an interesting idea. Las Vegas has many things going for it as a
potential tech hub, including a large metro area, dirt-cheap real estate, a
lax attitude towards regulation, easy access to the big west-coast hubs, and
no shortage of ways for the young and single to keep themselves entertained.
What it doesn't have is an intellectual atmosphere (now there's an
understatement) or a critical mass of smart people (if I move there, are my
friends gonna be croupiers and strippers?).

Of all the cities mentioned in this thread, I like Las Vegas best as the next
Austin (if not the next San Francisco).

