If you or your company has one to add, please contact Danny at jobs@siliconprairienews.com. We’re looking for all types of opportunities, from a week-long project to a full-time position. We hope we can help you make a connection. If you apply to one below, please make sure to mention that you found it on SPN.

Allied Strategy (Lincoln) — Account Executive (Full-time Job)

Allied Strategy is a technology company improving insurance.

Why it’s good to work here:

• You will be working at a venture backed tech company, founded by UNL students, growing massively in the last 8 months (after several years of development)
• You will work with smart, ethical people, who care about what they’re doing, selling business professionals staggeringly helpful software.
• If you’re as good as our current staff, more than half of the people you call will want a demo of our software, and nearly half of them will buy.
• You will not sell junk to people they don’t need. You will be fixing a broken system (insurance needs our help!), and you will profit from it.
• You will experience action and adventure, from the safety of your PC workstation. (with travel only every now and then)

Things to know:

• Awesome natural skill can be a substitute for sales experience, but we’d really like to see strong B2B sales experience.
• We can’t afford to fail — we will only hire the right person. Period. No hard feelings.
• If you’re a good fit, we will make an effort to hire your friends

Full Job Posting

Yahoo! (Omaha) — Customer Service Web Support Specialist (Full-time Job)

The representative is responsible for providing world class service to Small Business Customers by resolving customer inquiries through multiple contact channels, including phone and e-mail. The successful representative will address and resolve customer technical and other inquiries to ensure first contact resolution. Additionally, the representative is responsible for making every customer interaction count through a relationship-building consultative-servicing approach by identifying opportunities to make every customer successful. This involves providing sales through service and recommending products and services that are best suited for the customer.

Full Job Posting

Tagged as: Allied Strategy, Opportunities on The Prairie, Yahoo

Typo fixed on 11/10 at 1:35

The 2009 edition of Highlight Midwest ended with a set of keynote presentations from leaders of innovative companies in each of the event’s three core cities: Kansas City, Des Moines and Omaha. These keynotes were my “highlight” of the day and I found them to be informational, identifiable, and even inspiring. I’ve pulled anecdotes from each of them and will be presenting them here throughout the week.

The first was by Simon Kuo, the CEO of Kansas City-based LightThread, LLC. LightThread describes themselves as a “strategy, social media and web development company.”

Simon’s talk hinged on the lessons he’s learned as both a scientist and an entrepreneur in the Midwest. The result was five ideas that he’s gleaned through his experience in leading LightThread from launch to profitability in less than one year:

1. Big companies vs. small companies
2. Keep costs low
3. Being right vs making the right decision
4. Prioritize don’t bureaucratize
5. You don’t have to be risk averse

Check out the video below to view Simon’s keynote anecdote from Highlight Midwest Des Moines.

Tagged as: Des Moines, Highlight Midwest, Kansas City, LightThread, Simon Kuo

If you’re not familiar with Startup Drinks, then allow me to drop some knowledge on you. SD is a series of events for people involved in startup culture to gather and talk about what they do, what they’re working on, and how they can help one another. Omaha’s chapter will also sport a “featured company” every month, which means that you’ll get to learn about an Omaha-area startup that you may not be familiar with, or you’ll hear what one of your favorites is working on right now.

If you’re interested in startup culture in any way, feel free to stop by Nomad this Thursday! We look forward to seeing you there.

Tagged as: Event, networking, Nomad Lounge, Omaha, Startup Drinks, wikicity

Each year, the Midlands Business Journal recognizes 40 outstanding young entrepreneurs, business owners, managers and professionals, each of which are under the the age of 40. The winners are chosen based on their contributions to their business and community.

Congrats to Jeff and to all of this year’s recipients!

2009 Midlands Business Journal “40 Under 40″ Recipients

• Arun Agarwal — White Lotus Development
• Andy Alloway — Deeb Realty
• Andy Arkfeld — Edward Jones
• T. Ryan Belford — Belford Hospitality LLC
• Kirsten Case-Penrod (Twitter) — Greater Omaha Chamber
• Martie Cordaro — Omaha Royals
• Greg Daake — Daake Design
• Dana Foote — KPMG LLP
• Annemarie Bailey Fowler — Voices for Children in Nebraska
• Rhonda Gerrard — NRG Media-Omaha
• Kristen Konoske Gohr — Cox Communications
• Kellie Hall (Twitter) — Institute for Career Advancement Needs
• Greg Harris (Twitter) – Quantum Workplace
• Andy Hawkins — Concentric Corp.
• Jeff Herdzina — US Data Corp.
• Jake Hillwick — HotShot Deliveries
• Jeffrey Himmelberg, M.D. — Advanced Radiology
• Jared Hollinger — Homebuyers Inc.
• Scott Kennedy — Calamar Construction
• Brooke McAlpin — Cornerstone Staffing
• Scott Moller — Material Girl Inc.
• Nicole Nash — Midwest Trailblazers Youth Program
• Nathan Newhouse — Attitude on Food
• Belinda (Twitter) & Jacob North (Twitter) — Sophia’s Style Boutique
• Sean Olson (Twitter) – Qwest Center Omaha-MECA
• Kyle Peterson — Grubb & Ellis|Pacific Realty
• Athena Ramos — University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Brent Rasmussen — Mortgage Specialists
• Kirsten Ricketts — Vintage Financial Group LLC
• Amy Ryan — Pizza Shoppe Collective
• Tammy Sealer — Immanuel Senior Living
• Teresa Sloboth (Twitter) – First National Bank of Omaha
• Jeff Slobotski (Twitter) — AIM Institute / Silicon Prairie News
• Sarah Stoakes — Ridgewood Senior Living Community
• Darin Taylor — TG Healthcare
• Dan Thrasher — Thrasher Basement Systems
• Buey Ray Tut — Boy Scouts of America, Mid-America Council
• Tony Urban — RSM McGladrey
• Cory Wiedel — Complete Nutrition
• Michael Young (Twitter) – Q3 Systems

Tagged as: 40 under 40, AIM Institute, Amy Ryan, Daake Design, Greater Omaha Chamber, Greg Daake, Greg Harris, Jeff Slobotski, Kirsten Case-Penrod, Midlands Business Journal, Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40, Pizza Shoppe Collective, Quantum Workplace, Silicon Prairie News

I originally met Michael at the BrightMix Ice Cream Social & SPN One Year Birthday Party this past summer. After learning his interest and background in video, we caught up a few weeks later to see where he might be able to help out at SPN. Immediately, he was a big help in getting our Weekly Wrap Up Show off the ground — from filming and editing the first few to coaching us on composition and lighting for future episodes. He’s been a valuable resource for all of our video work.

Originally from the California, Michael moved to Omaha in 2005 after spending six years in the Navy as well as a short time in the New York Film Academy. While enlisted in the Navy in early 2003, he served his country in Operation: Iraqi Freedom. Discharged later that year, he moved to New York to study digital editing. Currently, he’s continuing his education at ITT Tech, learning graphic design and similar disciplines to further his knowledge base to help reignite his pursuit of video work and digital film editing. At right is Michael running the camera at BarCamp Omaha 2009 (photo by Ninth Division on Flickr).

Without further ado, the BarCamp Omaha 2009 Montage:

For the music, credit goes to Musician Toy. The songs you heard, “I’m sure,” “Inside the light,” and “The Creature,” are from their album “Electronic.” They can be found at jamendo.com.

Tagged as: BarCamp Omaha, BarCamp Omaha 2009, Michael Rameriz

Photo by Andy Beaumont (http://andybeaumont.com/)

Fans, friends, family and prairie dogs alike! Here we go…we’re unbelievably thrilled to announce that SPN has been accepted to speak on a panel at South by Southwest Interactive 2010!

It all started earlier this year when we came up with the idea of assembling a panel with a few other cities doing similar work to build and connect their community of entrepreneurs, innovators and creatives. After completing the submission form, we pushed the send button on the panel titled “Don’t Move! Build a Startup Community Where You Live.”

Months later, and after numerous votes, tweets and comments, we received notice that we had been selected for inclusion from a group of 2,300 entries.

In summary, we’re amazingly thrilled to have the opportunity to present at SXSW Interactive, a tremendous event with national exposure, and to have representatives from a few of the other emerging cities with us on the panel.

Complete details on the panel to come in the next few weeks, but we strongly encourage you to make plans to attend this year’s event March 12th – 16th in Austin! This will be a very worthwhile opportunity to network, learn and connect with the nation’s innovators and creatives.

Finally, I want to express my, and the entire Silicon Prairie News team’s, appreciation and thanks for helping us earn this opportunity. Without you reading, tweeting, commenting, showing up at our events, etc…we wouldn’t have the ability and opportunity to share our story on the level that SXSW will provide us. From the bottom of my heart, I’m humbled and thankful to have the community we do and realize this is because of your support for what we’re doing. Thank you!

Tagged as: austin, Omaha, Silicon Prairie News, SPN, SXSW, SXSW 2010, SXSW Interactive, SXSWi, SXSWi 2010

This interview with Alan Tipp is not only an example of  building the community, but finding and bringing new, talented individuals and innovative leaders into the fold.

Having heard Tipp’s name a few times over the last few months, I wanted to reach out and learn more about the work he does and the passionate creativity he possesses. Since then, I’ve enjoyed getting to know Alan more, and I encourage you to watch my interview with him. Make sure to keep an eye on what’s coming down the pipe for him…

More about Alan Tipp, from his bio:

Alan, a native to Omaha, Nebraska, earned his Bachelor’s from the University of Kansas where he studied Industrial Design. In early 2000 he began working for a start-up firm in Baltimore, MD known as Big Bang Products. He designed and developed items for The Home Shopping Network, QVC, Herrington, Macy’s, Dicks, The Sports Authority, Lands End, The Sharper image, Hammacher Schlemmer, and several other retailers. In 2002, the company restructured and focused its efforts on cold weather apparel accessories and outdoor recreational hard goods. The business, known thereafter as 180’s and Kelsyus, adopted Tipp’s inventions and sold them under its $50mm brand portfolio. During his tenure, Tipp’s ideas contributed to over 35 US and Foreign patents.

After seven years, he left 180’s, moved back to Nebraska and went on to pursue a career in eyewear. He currently serves as the Director of Design for Eyeking, LLC. In his studio, Tipp designs for the company’s most successful and notable eyewear licensees; Under Armour and Hobie Polarized.

You can reach Alan via email at Alan.Tipp@gmail.com and view his work at underarmour.com.

Tagged as: Alan Tipp, Eyeking, UnderArmor

Titled “How Cleveland, Ohio is becoming…A City For Entrepreneurs,” the article by Susan Fine focuses on JumpStart, the city’s nonprofit corporation which was created to make sure entrepreneurs would remain in Cleavland. After providing a short background of the city, the article highlights a few of the startups funded by the nonprofit and discusses the next stage for the startups, city, and nation. It’s a quick read and I encourage you to check it out and add a comment below with your thoughts.

Its learning about success of cities like Cleveland that especially get me excited about what’s going on in Omaha.

REINVENTING AMERICA
A City For Entrepeneurs
by Susan Fine
published: 11/08/2009

Cleveland has always had a “Once upon a time” feel to it. Once, America put a huge canal there to connect the transport hub of the Great Lakes to the export cities of the East. The General Electric Company built one of the nation’s first industrial parks [...]

Read Full Article

Tagged as: Cleveland, Entrepreneur, JumpStart, Parade

Young professionals who attend will be able to share their vision and ideas for what Omaha should look like by 2020. The event will also give attendees the ability to turn their ideas into vision statements with specific goals and action steps. The Young Professionals are partnering with several local young professional organizations to attract many participants representing a wide variety of professional fields.

Head over to the website to register for the free event.

The visions developed at Your Omaha 2020 will be incorporated into the 2010 Young Professionals Summit. As we mentioned in the Weekly Wrap Up, this year’s Summit will feature some amazing speakers including Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes, William Taylor, cofounder and founding editor of Fast Company, and more! You can read more on the summit at OmahaYoungProfessionals.org/YPSummit.

Tagged as: Blake Mycoskie, Craig Moody, Greater Omaha YP, William Taylor, Young Professionals Summit, Your Omaha 2010

It’s a tome of knowledge, honed to perfection by decade after decade of stunning victories and crushing defeats. And when it comes time to pen another opus of X’s, O’s and dotted lines, it’s not unusual to draw inspiration from games long since played.

In many ways, John Wirtz is every coaches’ new best friend. Along with accomplices David Graff and Brian Kaiser, Wirtz founded Agile Sports in February 2006. The company develops software capable of archiving countless hours of game footage and several playbooks’ worth of diagrams with ease.

This Tuesday, Lincolnites will have a chance to hear Wirtz speak about his experience with Agile Sports, and how a trio of University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates crafted a tool worthy of use by the NBA and the NFL.

“It seemed obvious to launch in Lincoln,” said Wirtz in a recent CNNMoney article. “We had a great network here, with investors and advisors nearby, and we found an awesome team of employees from Lincoln and UNL.”

What: Lincoln YPG Entrepreneurship Speaker Series featuring John Wirtz of Agile Sports.
When: Tuesday, November 10, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Brewsky’s, 201 North 8th Street, Lincoln

Tagged as: Agile Sports, John Wirtz, Lincoln, Lincoln Young Professionals Group