Silicon Prairie Startup Week

About the Project

Silicon Prairie Startup Week (SPSW) is a week-long series of events covering topics like startup capital, legal considerations for founders, storytelling, product development, building company culture, and other themes that align closely with the stories and resources published on our website and social media channels.

Silicon Prairie News (SPN) is a nonprofit digital media outlet serving entrepreneurs in Nebraska, and is the founder and producer of Silicon Prairie Startup Week. SPN relaunched as a publication under the umbrella of the Nebraska Journalism Trust in early 2023. SPN started Silicon Prairie Startup Week in 2024 after negotiating a partnership with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development to support SPN as the steward of a new, combined celebration of innovators and entrepreneurs between the two cities.

Silicon Prairie Startup Week also includes a hackathon, pitch competition with more than $12,000 in cash prizes, multiple startup showcases and intentional networking opportunities. Event themes are based on direct feedback from our audience on areas or opportunities they want to learn more about. All events are free to the public to attend, which aligns with SPN’s core value of creating points of access to the startup community in order to help foster a sense of belonging for all aspiring founders in Nebraska.

Prior to 2024, the Omaha and Lincoln Chambers of Commerce each hosted a multi-day event series for the startup and entrepreneurial community in their respective cities. While SPN covers the entire state of Nebraska, a majority of the entrepreneurial activity is based in Omaha, where we’re headquartered, and Lincoln. In spite of a mere 50 mile distance between the two largest cities in the state with the largest concentration of startup activity, people in our audience repeatedly expressed a desire for more interconnectedness between the metro areas.

The creation of SPSW addressed the following needs that were identified by our audience and community:

• Fostered connections and collaboration between the entrepreneurial community in Nebraska that transcend geographical boundaries
• Increased the flow of resources and knowledge between Omaha and Lincoln
• Provided access to in-person community, mentors and peers across a range of times, locations and specialized areas of expertise
• Connected current and aspiring entrepreneurs directly with resource providers, capital and visibility in the wider community

The creation of SPSW addressed the following needs from a revenue and operational sustainability perspective:

• Established an entirely new sponsorship channel that generated more than $70,000 in revenue, which equates to salary and benefits for one full time reporter
• Added value to the existing sponsorship program by adding additional inventory available specifically to corporate sponsors

Due to the success of the inaugural event, SPSW is becoming an annual event and will return October 6-11, 2025 with additional themes to include the role of storytelling in building entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurship and economic mobility, and tech workforce development.