Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha was the first stop on our tour of the heartland. Omaha sits on the Missouri River, which we followed in our three-hour drive up from Kansas City.

The Lewis and Clark expedition passed through in 1804 and the first Mormon migrants wintered there on their way to Utah. The city grew rapidly as the most northerly supply point for overland wagons to the Far West. Named for the Omaha Indians whose tribal name means “those who go upstream or against the current,” the city was officially founded in 1854 after the Nebraska Territory was opened for settlement.

The city of Omaha has a population closing in on 450,000, though the metropolitan area including Council Bluffs, Iowa has nearly a million residents.

The city is best known for Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, but also boasts three other Fortune 500 companies in the Kiewit Corporation, Mutual of Omaha and the Union Pacific Corporation.

We held our interviews in the KANEKO event space in the Old Market district of Omaha.

Jeff Slobotski

Jeff Slobotski is the Founder and Managing Partner of Router Ventures, a seed fund venture firm that bypasses place to connect talented people and impactful projects with game-changing resources from around the globe. He is also the VP of Business Development for Wave Interactive, a team of engineers, designers and strategists who provide a full range of digital services. Jeff launched Silicon Prairie News, a digital media and events company dedicated to connecting and supporting entrepreneurs, creatives, and investors. Jeff and this team launched Big Omaha, an annual conference focused on start-up culture and entrepreneurship. An Omaha native, Jeff graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He lives in Omaha with his wife, Molly and their three sons, Cayden, Logan and Joseph.

Amy Johnson, co-founder at LifeLoop

After realizing the need through a personal family experience, Amy co-founded LifeLoop—a lifestyle management software application for senior living communities that connects families, residents, and staff, based in Omaha, Nebraska

Dan Houghton, BuilderTREND Solutions

Dan co-founded BuilderTREND Solutions in 2006. The company, which provides a user-friendly, web-based software for residential construction companies, has now grown to employ more than 175 people in a 27,000 square foot headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

Shonna Dorsey, Interface: the Web School

Shonna is co-founder and the managing director for Interface: the Web School. Based in Omaha, the goal of Interface is two-fold: Build people’s knowledge and skills for the web and increase the supply of technology talent for startups, small business, and corporations in the Midwest. A platform for learning and a platform for teaching, Interface provides practical training to meet the demands of job seekers and employers, while also teaching coding to youth to develop tomorrow’s talent in the Midwest.

Since 1950, Omaha has hosted the College World Series.
The frozen T.V. dinner was invented in Omaha by C.A. Swanson and Sons in 1954.
The Henry Doorly Zoo boasts the largest geodesic dome in the nation, as well as the largest indoor rainforest.
The “Got Milk?” and “Pork. The Other White Meat” ad campaigns originated in Omaha’s largest ad agency Bozell.
The reuben sandwich was prepared for the first time at the Blackstone Hotel.
Omaha is the headquarters for the U.S. Strategic Command, a hub of American military aviation and is where the Enola Gay was built.
Director Alexander Payne “About Schmidt,” “Sideways,”  “Election” and “Nebraska” is from Omaha and still spends much of his time there.
Omaha is home of Runza fast food chain where the signature sandwich is a mixture of ground beef and cabbage encased in bread.
Omaha was a favorite of quarterback Peyton Manning who used the word when calling signals to indicate he was redirecting the play called in the huddle to the other side of the formation.
Omaha boasts both the largest furniture store (Nebraska Furniture Mart) and the biggest jewelry store (Borsheim’s) in the U.S.