A familiar face in the Des Moines startup community, Tej Dhawan was looking for his next challenge.
What he found qualifies.
Dhawan is the Chief Data Officer at Principal, the Des Moines-based financial services company with 19 million customers and over 14,000 employees worldwide.
"I'm one who likes the big problem, and not even so much as a…

All Scott Henry wanted was somebody to talk with about aeroponic farming.
A fourth-generation farmer on his family farm—LongView Farms—just outside of Nevada, Henry was thinking about the future of the family business and had just seen a YouTube video on aeroponic farming.
"I kind of saw that and said that looks like the future more than…

The cost of starting a company is what attracted Tony Hauber and his wife back to his hometown in Northeast Iowa from San Francisco last Spring.
Hauber is the designer of Death Ball, an arcade wizard video game that involves aspects of soccer. He has three cabinets in the market going through testing. Then later this…
Slow and steady wins the race...
That's the mindset Kaylee Williams uses with VolunteerLocal, a company that developed a platform to manage volunteer scheduling, registration and communications. As her role has grown—going from intern to President—over the last six years...so has the brand.
The company went from 30 customers doing some free testing in Central Iowa to…
After his dad spent his entire career working for one company, Ben Rempe had dreams of doing the same.
But after the financial crisis in 2008—and being one of the thousands of employees who were laid off—Rempe believed he needed to take more control of his career.
It took a few stops—and nearly a decade—but Rempe took control…

A Father's Day gift from a cartographer at the National Counter Terrorism Center in Washington D.C turned into a business.
Hunterra is an Iowa City-based company that creates custom hunting maps for hunters, land professionals and farmers. Hunterra started in 2009 after Ben Harshyne, who at the time was the lead cartographer at the National Counter Terrorism Center…

A group of game developers decided they would rather make tools for game developers and 3D artists rather than develop games themselves.
So four developers founded Marmoset in January of 2012, a computer software tools company that makes a 3D rendering software for game development and product digitalization/visual effects for film.
"We're making the software tools that others…

As someone who has worked in human resources departments and higher education, Mary Southern has helped students and established professionals get jobs.
So four years ago she took that knowledge and turned it into a business.
Southern founded a resume writing business Resume Assassin while working for the University of Texas in Austin to help students and…

There was a moment when Charlie Turri knew he made the right decision.
Turri, 51, had worked for large insurance companies for nearly 25 years. But as he advanced in those large companies, he got farther and farther away from what he really enjoyed doing.
Creating.
So as Turri explored different opportunities to get back in his natural habitat…

After the Monetery event in March, Clay & Milk is working to keep the conversation moving forward and provide the type of expertise that was on display during that event.
So we're connecting with venture capitalists around the Midwest to pick their brain and provide Iowans with insight into what they are looking for from entrepreneurs…

Conversations in the SG Interactive gaming studios are just different...
Are the balloons bouncy enough?
Are there enough balloons to make you feel happy?
Is there enough sparkle in the coins?
These questions and more are being asked in the Cedar Falls offices of SG (Scientific Games) Interactive. The office in Cedar Falls is the "social" division…

To make sure aspiring entrepreneurs feel comfortable entering the small business culture the Iowa Center for Economic Success is hosting an entrepreneurial leadership event next month to provide knowledge and relevant tools that can be put into action immediately after the event.
The entrepreneurial leadership event is part of the Aspirant Series hosted by the Des…