The Big Omaha wall gave attendees the opportunity to make their mark on the fourth annual event.

From Big Omaha 2012 opening to closing party, morning to afternoon speaker and serious to silly photo booth pose, here’s the round-up of the thousands of photos snapped by our stills and motion content partner, Malone & Company of Omaha.

You’ve already been seeing Malone’s work featured in our Big Omaha coverage, and in the next couple of months, you’ll see their one-on-one video interviews with our speakers in the Big Omaha Backstage Pass. And looking ahead to 2013, Malone & Company will once again be the creative team behind our Big Omaha promotional video that tends to get everyone – including us – very excited for another year.

To view the photos, click on the links below or visit the Big Omaha 2012 Flickr collection. If you find a picture you especially like, we encourage you to give a shout out to the folks at Malone & Company on Twitter, @maloneco.

Also, for a feed of all Instagram photos taken by attendees, check out instagram.me.

Note: If you’d like to use a Big Omaha photo on your own site, please credit: Malone & Company / Big Omaha.

Big Omaha 2012 Opening Bash with Kauffman Foundation (The Slowdown)

10 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Opening Bash with Kauffman Foundation Photo Booth (The Slowdown)

689 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Thursday (KANEKO)

183 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Gist Get-Together (Urban Wine Company)

18 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Gist Get-Together Caricatures (Urban Wine Company)

26 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Friday (KANEKO)

117 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Photo Booth (KANEKO)

632 photos on Flickr

Big Omaha 2012 Closing Party with Under Armour & Hudl Photo Booth (House of Loom)

1,245 photos on Flickr

Back by a combination of popular demand and this editor being a glutton for awkwardly asking, “Can I, um, take a picture of your T-shirt?” (OK, mostly the latter), it’s another edition of the Silicon Prairie Startup Swag Roundup®.

Last May at Big Omaha, the first installment of The Roundup left you wanting more. In October, we delivered with the sequel from Thinc Iowa. Today, we make it a startup tee trilogy. And, like the protagonist of another epic three-part series, we don’t need roads where we’re going. In fact, all you need is 3-7 minutes and a high tolerance for cheesy captions.

As we’ve done at conferences past, Silicon Prairie News loosed its editors on the crowd of conference-goers at the Big Omaha last Thursday and Friday to get an idea of the latest and greatest in Silicon Prairie startup fashion. Here’s what we found: 

Jordan Hoff (left) and Derek Homann team up to show off CompeteAgainstMe’s tees. 

Fresh off a trip to Finnovate, Scott McCormack looks like a million bucks in his Social Money swag.

Ninth Division’s Andy Peters shows he knows Big Omaha 2012′s branding with this special edition shirt.

Dave Homan takes the title for most apropos posture by a startup shirt model, reclining on sofa while wearing Slouch Couch shirt.  

Brian Langenfeld of Ninth Division sports a GolfStatus tee. 

An unidentified subject — OK, the Kauffman Foundation’s camera-averse Nick Seguin — models the latest from SendGrid. 

Andy Stoll of SeedHere in Cedar Rapids wears the shirt of an Iowa startup emblazoned with the image of an Iowa star — Dwolla and John Wayne, respectively. 

Like the VolunteerLocal logo on his sleeve, Brian Hemesath is all smiles. 

Hatchlings founder Brad Dwyer (left) and Tikly founder Emma Peterson show off their Tikly tees. 

Heath Roehr (left) and Steve Tippery represent Lincoln-based Intellifarm. 

Christian Renaud of StartupCity Des Moines dons one of several StartupCity swag options.

Andrew Kirpalani (left) and John Jackovin model the front and back of another StartupCity shirt.

Credits: Photos by Michael Stacy and Danny Schreiber. 

About the author: Bo Fishback is the co-founder of Zaarly. 

Leaving your job to pursue a startup.

I get questions about this a lot. It seems that just about everyone wants to “do a startup,” and that just about that same number of people (read: everyone) “has an idea.” But if that’s the case, why isn’t everyone working for themselves?

Setting aside for the moment that the dream and the reality of running a startup are very different things and that many of those “ideas” are likely terrible, there is clearly a significant barrier that prevents millions of people from just walking out on their day job and launching a new company. And while there are veritable armies of entrepreneurial cheerleaders banging a drum and chanting “take-the-leap!” to any aspiring entrepreneurs who will listen, I believe that there are only a handful of situations in which it actually makes sense to walk away from a decent job to launch a startup. Having zero data to back this up and having made no attempt to find any, the following sources are what I believe to be the richest sources of legitimate startups. If you don’t find yourself in one (or more) of these categories then my money would be on you keeping your day job. Startups are hard… don’t jump into one unless you really mean it.

Complete obsession with an idea.

This is the sexy reason to do a startup but most people underestimate just how rare this is. It’s a nice story to tell in hindsight after a company has succeeded (“I just knew there was a better way, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”) but most people aren’t inclined to be truly “obsessed” with much of anything. Obsession means tunnel vision. It means a narrowing of what you care about in life in order to achieve one clear goal. I don’t have a guess as to whether or not obsession-driven entrepreneurs have an increased chance of success, but these are the folks who almost don’t have a choice… they must start a company, day-job be damned.

I think Bill Gates was obsessed, Steve Jobs probably was too, but those two guys were outliers along a handful of dimensions so let’s not be too quick to compare ourselves to them.

Closer to home, I think Ben Milne might just be obsessed with fixing what’s broken in our financial system – he literally gets angry when he talks about how it works today, it’s hard to get him to talk about anything that isn’t money transfer, and I’m not sure if that ever turns off. Some of that likely derives from the success Dwolla has had up to this point, but for those of us who know Ben, he is a man on a mission… maybe, just maybe, to the point of obsession. And that’s not to say he isn’t one of the nicest and best guys on the planet… he is.

Little or no risk because of a skillset or personal situation.

This might suck to read for people who aren’t in this situation, but it’s a simple fact. If you have a trust fund, if your spouse has a great job, or if you lucked into working at Google or Facebook at the right time then you absolutely have more freedom to take the leap. Increasingly I’d put really young entrepreneurs into this bucket as well, when there is no day job to walk away from, a startup is a much less scary proposition… doubly so if you’re a developer or a designer and working in software – finding a job in today’s market for those skills is as easy as it’s ever been and because of that, the risk of giving your own startup a go is just not that great.

There’s nothing wrong with this class of entrepreneurs and some of the best companies of the last 50 years have come from it, but the barrier to actually taking the leap is certainly lower. This isn’t nearly as sexy as being obsessed and I actually think a lot of founders in this position are a little shy to admit it because it sounds hollow to say “I started a company because I could,” but I think it’s great that people who could have done something much easier chose the entrepreneurial path. It doesn’t mean this group wants to succeed any less, or that it’s any easier to actually build a successful company, it just means that it might be a little easier to get started on the path.

A nearly risk-less opportunity driven by a unique market situation and great timing.

I know I know… no startups are risk-less, but there are absolutely opportunities that emerge and propel certain people into taking the leap in a very risk-mitigated fashion. People who understand regulated industries extremely well sometimes find themselves in this position when there are big changes to their industry. Sometimes entrepreneurs from this group are also born when new platforms launch entirely new ecosystems of opportunity – and they happen to be sitting on the front lines. I’d also put founders of spin-offs that are born with funding in this bucket. These entrepreneurs are found in all kinds of industries, from energy, to airlines to the web… but it’s hard to intentionally find your way into this situation unless you have a much better crystal ball than I do. These are the founders who find themselves in the right place at the right time and are smart enough to do something about it.

Side projects turn into companies.

I don’t have any great examples of massive companies that were built in this mold (but again, I didn’t really look very hard), but lots of small and medium sized companies get launched this way. It’s one of the best ways to mitigate risk if there is something you love to do, but aren’t sure you could make a living doing it. What better way than to start getting paid for it to prove the market? And why not do this while keeping your day job? Not every field lends itself well to this strategy, but when it does it makes taking the leap that much easier.

You are literally unemployable.

This is not a good category to be in, but it happens, and sometimes (but I can only imagine rarely) it works out. A lot of entrepreneurs joke that they were unemployable at the time of launching their company but the best ones that I know, and the ones I respect the most, could have had their choice of careers. They are smart, motivated, capable leaders, and have chosen to use those skills to build something unique to them. However, there is a subset of entrepreneurs who just honestly could not handle working for someone else. They can’t execute someone else’s plan (and they don’t want to), or they are legitimately convinced that they are the only one who has any idea what’s going on. These are usually my least favorite entrepreneurs to hang out with, but sometimes they build very successful companies.

My least favorite excuse for not taking the leap.

“If I just had $500,000 then I’d start a company.” Uhhh, no shit. You and everyone else.

It’s hard to walk away from the security, the paycheck, the health benefits, and the certainty of a real day job in return for something that might possibly, maybe, someday, if things go really great, be worth something and give you a newfound control over your own destiny. In fact, I’d say it’s stupid unless you just can’t imagine doing anything else or you’re in a position to take a risk. So either find something that you can’t stop thinking about or figure out how to eliminate some of the scariest risks of failure – in a perfect world you’d have both.

I’ve always believed that the best entrepreneurs were either the best risk mitigators or had the least to lose. If you’re not in one of those camps, get back to work.

Credits: Photo courtesy of Bo Fishback

About the author: Bo Fishback, a resident of Kansas City, Mo., is the founder and CEO of Zaarly, a San Francisco-based startup. Fishback was previously the vice president of entrepreneurship for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the president of Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation, both in Kansas City, Mo.

Fishback is a founder of Orbis Biosciences, a drug delivery and particle fabrication company, and a co-founder of Lightspeed Genomics, a next-generation genome sequencing company that was acquired by Macrogen. Beyond these ventures, he has worked with a variety of life sciences and high-tech startup companies as an advisor, board member, and angel investor. Currently, he is on the board of directors for Orbis Biosciences and is an advisor for Plotwatt, Inc.

Full bio at bofishback.com

Fishback can be found on Twitter, @bowman.

 Founder Friday is brought to you by the Heartland Technology Alliance

Thanks to our Founder Friday series sponsor, Heartland Technology Alliance, a nonprofit working as an advocate for innovation and competition in technology and communications across much of the Silicon Prairie and throughout the Upper Midwest.

Mars Cafe, that is.

BitMethod, a Des Moines-based web and mobile app development shop, will celebrate the release of its new product, Change, with a shindig from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at Mars Cafe. The event will also serve as a celebration of BitMethod’s third birthday. 

BitMethod has worked with Mars, a Dogtown district cafe, during the development of Change, a restaurant and retail management system with an iPad-based point-of-sale. BitMethod first made public its work on Change last October, and in March the company announced it would focus all its development efforts on the product. 

Dan Shipton, BitMethod’s CEO, shared more about the launch of Change in a blog post published last week: 

It’s here! After incubating Change the past few months in our nest atop the Liberty Building, we are finally ready to deliver a bouncing new baby point of sale system to Mars Cafe. Not only are we celebrating the birth of a new product, but BitMethod is also turning three. This means there will be lots of cake!

Shipton said in an email this afternoon that BitMethod plans to launch Change publicly sometime this summer and will continue its pilot arrangement with Mars in the meantime.

“We’ve met and spoken with many businesses who are interested in using Change,” he said. “The feedback has been incredibly helpful as we are building out the different elements of Change.”

“It’s amazing to actually see others using our own product that we’ve poured a lot of hear and soul into,” Shipton added. “We are really anxious to show people what we’ve built so far!”*

For more on BitMethod and its work on Change, see our previous coverage of the product:

• Q&A: BitMethod’s CEO on ‘Change’ of focus to developing a product
• BitMethod announces Change app, a new take on the point-of-sale system

*Update May 16, 1:05 p.m. – The end of the story was updated to reflect information on Chage’s public launch shared by Dan Shipton in an email interview received after the story was first published. 

Video by Three Pillars Media of Lincoln. Post-production by Evolve of Des Moines.

Ben Lerer once had his sights set on the grand finale, the part in which he thought his company would receive enough money to “crash planes into boats, or other awesome stuff like that.”

But over time, he learned that what’s more important than the destination is the daily work, the entrepreneurial journey on the way to the destination. With that in mind, at Big Omaha 2012 Lerer shared his story of personal growth that coincided with the growth of Thrillist Media Group, a digital media company consisting of Thrillist.com, JackThreads.com and Thrillist Rewards.

“Everyone thinks about this light at the end of this tunnel,” Lerer said, “and really it’s only about the tunnel. If you don’t love what you do, and if you don’t love going to work, you’re not proud of the work you’re doing every day, get the hell out of there, do something different.”

Check out the 25-minute video above, the second in the Big Omaha 2012 Video Series presented by Microsoft BizSpark, for Lerer’s presentation.

About Ben Lerer

Ben Lerer is the co-founder and CEO of Thrillist Media Group, a digital media company converging leading men’s lifestyle brand Thrillist.com; members-only shopping club JackThreads.com; and local experiences platform Thrillist Rewards. The three brands collectively reach over 4 million daily subscriptions, targeting a young, urban male demographic locally and nationally, online and offline, through content and commerce.

Find Lerer on Twitter: @benjlerer

About Big Omaha & Thinc Iowa, SPN Premier Events

Silicon Prairie News hosts two premier annual events, Big Omaha in May and Thinc Iowa in October. Both events bring together entrepreneurs, innovators, creative individuals, investors and others for a lineup of inspiring speakers, a schedule of unique networking opportunities and a community of support.

To sign-up for alerts regarding Thinc Iowa, which will take place Oct. 10-11 in Des Moines, visit thinciowa.com.

About our sponsor, Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, and providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business. BizSpark will fast-track the success of your startup with software, support an visibility.

Startup Weekend will make its fourth appearance in Omaha from Sept. 21-23, the event’s organizers announced earlier this month. 

Startup Weekend Omaha will take place at The Mastercraft Building (1111 N. 13th St.), where Omaha’s first two Startup Weekend events were held.

During Startup Weekend, teams devote 54 hours to building a web or mobile application that could form the basis of a business. The event starts Friday evening, when participants gather and introduce ideas for startups. They then spend Saturday and Sunday working in teams to bring a handful of those initial ideas to fruition. Things conclude on Sunday night, when teams pitch to a panel of judges.

Details about tickets and speakers aren’t available yet, but stay tuned to Silicon Prairie News and the Startup Weekend Omaha blog for more details as the event draws closer.

Antonio Neves welcomes attendees and live stream viewers to the second day of Big Omaha 2012.

Let’s get this out of the way. Big Omaha isn’t just a conference. It’s much more. Big Omaha is a family. This is not hyperbole.

“Who makes you better?” This is the question I posed to attendees as we kicked off an amazing two days of speakers, best practices, laughs, tears, hugs, high-fives, shoulder shakes, relationship building and more.
To answer this question all we had to do was look around the lovely KANEKO. Lucky for us, we were surrounded by those who regularly empower, support, challenge, push and hold us accountable to be the best versions of ourselves that we could ever hope to be.

As a family we made a commitment to make each other better, not just during the conference, but moving forward. My inbox practically needed new supports as it was flooded by emails from people I met at Big Omaha asking, “How can I help you, Antonio?” I’m equally showering mailboxes asking the same question.

And it feels good.

Here’s the deal: all conferences aren’t made equal. Whether as an emcee, speaker, panelist or attendee, conferences are a major part of my life. Some I look forward to, others I dread. Most, I’m indifferent about.

But, here are 10 reasons I’m already looking forward to Big Omaha 2013:

1. Conversations tend to start with high-fives instead of, “So what do you do?”
2. Speakers got real. Talks extended far beyond, “Why my company is great.”
3. There’s no hierarchy, secret rooms for speakers or egos (Believe me, my journalistic self scoured for them!) We all kicked it together.
4. It was great to see Marc Eckō in attendance just because. (He wasn’t actually speaking)
5. Road trip! I met some of the most amazing people from across the country whose couches I’m sure to sleep on in the near future.
6. Omaha is pretty frickin’ fantastic. If you haven’t been to Omaha yet, you haven’t lived.
7. It’s the first conference that I ever became a meme.
8. The live stream welcomed people from all across the world.
9. Cotton candy was served.
10. The Silicon Prairie News team is on another level above top notch. Not sure what that is but it’s high up there.

Big Omaha reminded me of why I started my company THINQACTION: To help make young professionals better in their careers. Long story short, Big Omaha has made me better. Thank you.

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha

About the author: Antonio Neves is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young professionals to produce exceptional results in their careers. In his free time he’s an award-winning business journalist, speaker and professional high-fiver. He’s contemplating a move to Omaha from Los Angeles. Find Antonio on Twitter, @theantonioneves.

Here’s a short description of their work, as provided by TSYS Merchant Solutions: 

Three million times each day, the people of TSYS Merchant Solutions® touch a transaction that impacts someone’s life and business. Your business demands your full attention; rely on us to provide your business with the payment acceptance options your customers need. 

TSYS Merchant Solutions is based in Omaha and has more than 55 years in the payment processing industry. The company’s products cover everything from credit cards to gift cards to e-checks. If you need a payment processing partner for your startup, reach out to this company right here in the Silicon Prairie.

Thank you, TSYS Merchant Solutions, for your support of Silicon Prairie News!

Sponsor Silicon Prairie News

Are you interested in reaching entrepreneurs, investors, creatives and other Silicon Prairie News readers in the startup community like TSYS? Silicon Prairie News has several options available. For more information, contact Geoff Wood at geoff@siliconprairienews.com.

Nick Seguin spoke on behalf of the Kauffman Foundation on Friday at Big Omaha. 

Nick Seguin is leaving his role as manager of entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation later this month. He made that decision public today in a blog post. 

Seguin has served in his current position at the Kansas City, Mo.-based foundation since November of 2010 but is returning to Dynamit on a full-time basis. Seguin helped found Dynamit, a Columbus, Ohio-based digital agency, with two co-founders in 2004 and has remained involved with the company on a part-time basis during his time at the Kauffman Foundation.

In his blog post, Seguin shared some thoughts on his time at the organization: 

‘I’ve learned a lot’ is the understatement of the year. We, collectively, have accomplished much in recent years, but there’s still a long way to go. I hope that I’ve added some value and helped communities and entrepreneurs. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with amazing colleagues and partners.

But, Seguin said, he’s an entrepreneur at heart, and it’s time for him to return to the trenches of his own entrepreneurial battle on a full-time basis. 

“I’m really excited that I’m going to go back and work with my team,” he said by phone this afternoon. “I’m ready to go back and do this, and it’s the right time for so many reasons.”

Seguin has worked closely with Silicon Prairie News in his role at the Kauffman Foundation, which has served as the premier sponsor of both Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa. He said no definitive timeline or process has been established for filling his vacancy at the foundation.

“We’ve got a really good team put together from an entrepreneurship side here,” Seguin said. “Thom Ruhe is leading it as the vice president, and I know that he’ll continue to build it out.”

“I’m really excited that I’m going to go back and work with my team. I’m ready to go back and do this, and it’s the right time for so many reasons.” – Nick Seguin

During our visit today, I asked Seguin to share some of his main takeaways from the 18 months he’s spent at the Kauffman Foundation. His thoughts: 

“I think, in short … the national and global entrepreneurship ecosystems have matured a lot over the last 10 years. We know a lot more about them, about companies, about communities, about the way things happen. But we also have a really long way to go.

“I think the other thing that I’ve learned is that all sides mater. And by that I mean everything from policy to research kind of at the high end, the macro end, to grassroots and communities at the micro end.

“And then the last thing I would say is that entrepreneurs are really … the ones that matter. And by that I mean, you know, everybody always thinks about capital, and people think about politicians passing stuff, think about venture capitalists — they think about all these different types of things. And at the end of the day, entrepreneurs will persevere, will find a way. They always do; that’s why they’re entrepreneurs. And so whether it’s leading a community or leading a company or really figuring out how to make things better, we need to help our entrepreneurs more, we need to listen to them more and we need to make things easier for them.”

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha

Over two days, a group of inspirational speakers took the stage at KANEKO (above), an artist’s creative center in Omaha’s Old Market district.

In what has become somewhat of a post-Big Omaha ritual, I’m camped out in the back of a local coffee house attempting to start processing what has taken place over the last week.

I know much has already been said and shared, and it will take me a few more days (and coffees) to fully and truly comprehend everything that took place, but I wanted to write down a few of my initial thoughts, reflecting on the experience and giving recognition to the individuals and companies involved.

Big Omaha 2012 was an event of continued excitement. There was a sense of wonder and surprise for everything that took place, and so far the consensus is that magic happened.

Each and every one of our amazing speakers brought something different to the stage, and our emcee, Antonio Neves, added something special throughout. His spirit, energy and emotion make me shiver. The man brought out his entire heart and soul, and we expect years of collaboration ahead.

The artists and DJ Tres Johnson added their passion and signature to make the event more than “just a conference.” Hundreds of veteran Big Omaha attendees joined first-timers in forming bonds and relationships that will last for years to come.

Our premier sponsor, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, along with our major sponsors, Microsoft BizSpark and CoSentry, and many other sponsors, provided amazing support to help make this year even bigger. And we can’t say enough about the wonderful work of our friends at Malone & Company, our still and motion content partner, Oxide Design, our design partners, and KANEKO, our venue partner.

Big Omaha is the amazing energy of some of the nation’s most heartfelt hustlers, builders, social entrepreneurs, change agents, doers and people who are a part of making things happen.

In years past, I’ve found myself in a lull while processing the events that took place, while this year I feel a renewed sense of energy and a new sense of curiosity as to what’s just around the corner for the community. That community continues to grow, as well, evident by the number of folks who came in from cities where maybe only a handful or so had attended in the past.

Many opportunities lie in front of us. The challenge now is to take the energy, motivation, friendships and inspiration and do something with them. Don’t simply let them pass until we meet again at Big Omaha 2013. Push forward on making something amazing happen, and know you have the entire Big Omaha community behind you as it collectively pushes forward to new levels.

On behalf of the Silicon Prairie News team, thank you for making this last week amazing. I’m continually blown away by what takes place each May, and it’s all because of the part that each and every one of you play in making Big Omaha more than another event. It’s something special that we’ve all had a chance to be a part of, and know that though the ways in which we’ll learn and build from Big Omaha 2012 are unknown, there’s more magic yet to happen.

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha