Cowtown to Boomtown: Doing innovation for real in Omaha

CEDAR RAPIDS - Creating an innovation ecosystem requires a sense of commitment and urgency that Tom Chapman  seemed to symbolize Wednesday at the Cowtown to Boomtown conference here.

Within a few short months in the fall of 2001, Chapman received an alarming diagnosis that gave him eight years to live, watched the terrorist attack on the twin towers claim work associates, and had his first child. He returned to his childhood home of Omaha, where innovation and exciting new career opportunities were relatively scarce.

Chapman  joined the staff of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to work in entrepreneurship, hoping that his work would someday mean better careers for his kids.  He is the chamber's director of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Since then, Omaha's become a Midwestern hotbed of entrepreneurial activity, spawning companies such as Graffiti Tracker, which helps law enforcement authorities analyze graffiti vandalism patterns, and Mindmixer, a web-based community-building platform. About 18 innovative start-ups were funded in 2010, and the current "pipeline" of greater Omaha start-ups is about 350, Chapman said.

At the beginning, "the real question was how do you grow great entrepreneurial teams?" Chapman said. He said entrepreneurs trying to launch start-ups in Omaha were being overwhelmed by outside interest and demands, so an effort was made to help isolate them  from the draining distractions.

Building vital connections was next on the list. Many engineers or other "technical leads" couldn't find "business leads" with the savvy in areas like marketing and accounting that they needed to launch a successful enterprise.

Developing a base of "funders" or investors was key. Chapman learned that many funders didn't want to be considered the lead funder for the community. The chamber worked to create a network in which funders who wanted to be involved could remain anonymous, and get a "deal flow" that matched their level of interest and funding abilities.

One of the unexpected bonanzas that came Omaha's way was the opening of Silicon Prairie News web site dedicated to the innovation economy, by Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson. The web site created an ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurial activity in greater Omaha and created even more connections than the chamber could have imagined.

Silicon Prairie and other collaborators launched Big Omaha, an annual innovation conference that began three years ago.

Big Omaha put a human face on entrepreneurship by bringing together top nationally recognized and local entrepreneurs to share their stories.  Chapman called it "human entrepreneurship," the element of "being real" in the sense of starting a company. He said friendships accelerate the time element of the start-up because of the levels of trust involved.

Responding to questions, Chapman said he wished Omaha were at the level of organization he'd seen during one and a half days in the Corridor when it became focused on innovation in 2007. He said he doubted that the chamber could have done one of the innovation event, let alone the three that Seed Here has held in the last day.

Chapman said he had the impression the Corridor still needs to build trust, however. He discussed the importance of including other parts of the region in an innovation community, and maintaining a modest posture as an innovation catalyst.

"You have to find leaders that are not typical," Chapman added. He said Omaha couldn't accomplish what it does without relying on unconventional leaders who show up to lead a group "in a grungy t-shirt and flip-flops."

Chapman also discussed the importance of "geneologies," the patterns of influence of "serial entrepreneurs" who start business after business and leave in their wake networks of people who know the entrepreneur and others through the same individual.

About 100 attended the Cowtown to Boomtown keynote speech at Theater Cedar Rapids. Cowtown to Boomtown was organized by Seed Here with backing from Corridor economic development agencies and businesses.