EntreFEST is next week. We’re pretty pumped.

Here’s a quick behind-the-scenes look at why we’re working to grow EntreFEST into Iowa’s entrepreneur conference and how it’s shaping up this year.

A guest post by Amanda Styron West

Kelsey Lampe 5/7/14 Kelsey Lampe 5/7/14

Iowa Tech Jobs - May 7

The round up of tech jobs in this state on our radar this week. Go get hired!

Kelsey Lampe 5/6/14 Kelsey Lampe 5/6/14

What about a financial tech cluster in Des Moines?

Question: What does it take for startups to begin building around Des Moines' strongest industries of insurance, finance, bio-ag in Ames etc.?

Kelsey Lampe 5/5/14 Kelsey Lampe 5/5/14

New hackathon for charity coming to Des Moines

Last week, a group of technology professionals from the Des Moines community announced they're organizing a new event to kick off June 12: dsmHack a 48 hour hackathon to build technology solutions for up to six charities in the metro.

Kelsey Lampe 5/2/14 Kelsey Lampe 5/2/14

This week's show: The worst you can get is tied for third

Kelsey Lampe 5/1/14 Kelsey Lampe 5/1/14

Is this Silicon Valley? No, it's Iowa

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a year and a half since I had my first brush with the startup community in Des Moines. I was a journalism student in my last year of undergrad who was wholly unsure of what I wanted to do when I graduated.

I had just started freelancing for this startup-y tech blog—Silicon Prairie News—and found myself covering the final pitches of Startup Weekend Des Moines. I had no idea how to spell “start-up” (sorry, Geoff) much less what a Startup Weekend was. But looking back to those first few events (Dwolla’s Old MacDonald Hackathon being another), I can say with a fair amount of certainty they’re what sold me on this community of ours.