Innovations Team Joins Straight Shot’s Inaugural “Founders Class” In June
This summer, members of our Innovations Team will be shaking things up a bit. Shari Little, Director of Innovations, and Rob Wiebusch, Director of Emerging Technologies, will be participating in a local corporate innovation accelerator. Starting in June, Straight Shot will be working with our team along with six traditional startup ventures to develop new technology innovations to bring to market.
Our “intrapreneurs” will be focused on solving inefficiencies in the election administration process. Shari and Rob will then pitch to our senior leadership at the end of the program in September.
You can read more about our participation and the other selected ventures in the below excerpt from Silicon Prairie News.
Straight Shot’s 2015 class brings together regional startup veterans
14 May 2015/Ryan Pendell
BCD – Omaha – Developing software for more secure mobile payments; founders have worked for First National and ACI WorldwideDelta Insights – Omaha – Increasing conversions, ROI for online retailers; Hayneedle expats Marcus Goedeker, Jacob Messerly and Jeremy Vlcan, who have collectively founded 7 companies
Noivox – Chicago – Helping businesses connect with customers via text messages; Abraham Chavez, Lincoln-native, former Hudl employee
Workhound – Des Moines – Improving driver retention in the trucking industry; former Dwolla employee Max Farrell
Yield – Omaha – Helping professional services firms project their team’s capacity for a given scope of work; led by Grant Stanley, founder of CAN, and Josh Hoberman formerly at Proxibid
Zinnia – Omaha – Enabling florists to connect with millennial buyers through a mobile-first platform; founded by Andy Holz, Nathan Bliss and Ben Lueders
ES&S – Omaha – Innovation team out of Election Systems & Software, an industry leader that operates in 60% of US elections
Straight Shot’s play as a corporate innovation accelerator
In the last 3 years Straight Shot has grown 14 companies and has helped raise almost $4.4 million in venture funding for early stage, high growth startups.
Straight Shot has helped bring four companies to Omaha from as far as Chicago, Portland, San Francisco and Kentucky. It has also been the launch pad for companies to San Francisco and New York City.
Straight Shot has been actively pursuing partnerships with area corporations as well.
This year the class includes an innovation team from ES&S, a global leader in election machines and software.
Due to the necessarily conservative nature of the election industry, ES&S is looking to Straight Shot to help them stay innovative and creative. At the end of the program, the innovation team will pitch to C-level executives within ES&S.
Full article available here: https://siliconprairienews.com/2015/05/straight-shots-2015-class-brings-together-regional-startup-veterans/