Great People and Presentations at Highlight Midwest

Last week our team had the pleasure of presenting at Highlight Midwest, an all-day, annual event where entrepreneurs, technologists, and business owners come together to highlight innovative projects and companies in the region.

Highlight Midwest made Des Moines home this year, following rotation between the three participating cities: Kansas City, Des Moines, and Omaha.

The event was organized so that everyone could listen in on each others’ presentations. With up to four speakers presenting at each session (20+ presenters in all), there was no shortage of greatness at the Des Moines Social Club, the host venue for the event.

Our favorite sessions from Highlight Midwest

Aside from a surprise visit by Senator Grassley, a live podcast recording, and buzzing video cameras, each of us has chosen our favorite part of the day to share.

Ninth Division

Katie Miller-Smith

Ninth Division, a software development company out of Omaha, NE, gave an informative, personable, and entertaining presentation. Andy Peters, the company’s owner and founder, firmly believes in creating applications that he or his employees will actually use. Their work is focused on projects where he and his team are truly engaged and passionate-and their hard work translates into impressive results.

Andy gave the audience a sneak peek into some iPhone applications that Ninth Division is currently working on, and both are likely to be very successful, helpful applications. I also hope to see Ninth Division doing next year’s BIG Omaha app as well (last year’s was smooth and useful).

Dwolla

Jarad Bernstein

Dwolla is a web application that allows users to send and receive money. This may sound pretty simple, but the Des Moines-based startup has a handful of slick innovations that give them awesome potential for quick market adoption. The main idea behind Dwolla is to eliminate the percentage-based fee system charged by credit card processors and replace it with a 25-cent-per-transaction charge. Another factor Dwolla’s creators are pushing, is that it will be easy enough to be used by businesses in local communities.

Once in the system, users have the ability to use an auto-completion based search tool, which effortlessly brings up transactions for easy discovery and categorizing. The company, represented at Highlight Midwest by founder Ben Milne and Greg Anfinson, showed everyone a sneak peak of how the system works. Dwolla officially launches on December 1st, but users can sign up for their private beta on their website.

Brett J. Trout, Iowa Patent Attorney

Mike Templeton

I’ve known Brett Trout for a while now, but I’ve never gotten a chance to hear him speak about what he does. Brett’s focus for Highlight Midwest was to discuss intellectual property for entrepreneurs, the most valuable asset of any new company. The full-spectrum of patent and internet law is a lot to cover (or learn about) in just 45 minutes, but he did a great job providing the basics related to fair use on the internet, pursuing patents and trademarks, and when to call in an expert

I’m still no lawyer when it comes to dealing with issues surrounding this field, but I did walk away with a much better understanding of how everything can impact a business (and especially so when that business isn’t prepared).

Silicon Prairie News

Abby Harvey

Perhaps it’s my journalist background and newly-found appreciation for the Midwest, but I was so impressed with the whole idea behind Silicon Prairie News. For those who weren’t at the conference or weren’t able to see the presentation, SPN founders Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson spoke about their online news publication, which targets regional entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, artists, and other “creative minds.”

With their user-generated content and focus on heartland happenings, they were a voice of inspiration and a perfect addition to the Highlight Midwest faction.

Highlight Midwest was a great event to be a part of, and we appreciate those who reached out to connect during the day. If you’d like to follow up with someone directly, please use our contact form or the direct email addresses listed on our website.

For more on the event, check the #hmdm hashtag on Twitter, search for Highlight Midwest on Google Blogsearch, or view the Des Moines Register photo gallery.

Tagged as: Highlight Midwest