Nebraska Made
39 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 21 ratingsNebraska Made weaves a narrative journey that follows some of Nebraska’s best known brands, specifically the individuals behind them and their efforts to turn a kernel of an idea into a workable business. Along with meticulous post production and an intimate, dreamlike atmosphere, what makes Nebraska Made work is its focus on the early struggles of Nebraskan entrepreneurs dealing with rejection and financial uncertainty. Rather than showing business leaders basking in their own brilliance, it reveals the painstaking and sometimes painful process behind their achievements. The result is a unifying audio experience that’s as Nebraskan as Nebraska football. Nebraska Made pays tribute to the pioneers who have come before us and those who are taking us forward.
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This show is produced by Grindstone.
Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more.
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Episodes
The UNL Johnny Carson Center for EMA: Megan Elliott
November 18, 2021 20:32 - 21 minutes - 49.6 MBOur guest today, Megan Elliott has a diverse path that took her all over the world before landing her in Nebraska, where she's now the founding director at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. The program aims to be the premier destination in the world for creative young pioneers who use technology to innovate and solve human-scale problems, entertain audiences, and tell breathtaking stories that stimulate, provoke, and inspire. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | ...
Event Vesta: Andrew Prystai and Billy Martin
July 16, 2021 16:32 - 15 minutes - 15.2 MBOur guests today Andrew Prystai and Billy Martin set out in 2019 to create an event platform for discovering and sharing local events. What they didn’t know, is that they’d run into a buzzsaw in the form of a global pandemic that would shut down the event industry entirely. In March of 2020 things looked pretty bleak for them but then something unexpected happened. Here is Andrew and Billy to tell their COVID survival story. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagr...
The Lincoln Journal Star: Ava Thomas
July 07, 2021 22:43 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MBAva Thomas is the face of the Journal Star and Lee Enterprises which is the parent company of the Journal Star the Omaha World Herald and 350 other publications across 26 states. She’s someone who took a part time job in college and turned out to be so good that she climbed her way to the top of the organization almost unintentionally, which is a testament to how much people like working with her. She brings value and life into the communities she works with and plays an integral role in hel...
InsideOutside.io: Brian Ardinger
June 24, 2021 15:53 - 27 minutes - 26.2 MBOur guest today, Brian Ardinger, has a keen eye for what’s around the corner when it comes to technology and he’s been on the front lines for much of the innovation that has happened in the state. He was responsible to helping bring the first Paypal offices to Omaha, he started the Nmotion startup accelerator which has produced countless success stories and now he’s helping lead Nelnet into the future as their Director of Innovation. His path has taken him everywhere from Hong Kong to Silico...
BasicBlock: Taylor Monks
June 14, 2021 21:07 - 21 minutes - 20.7 MBOur guest today Taylor Monks is only 26 years old but he’s already the founder of a fintech company called BasicBlock that has received 4 million dollars in funding to date. Rumor has it that another massive round of funding is in the works but we legally aren’t able to talk about that yet on the show. Taylor went from a rebellious adolescent to a tech entrepreneur wooing esteemed silicon valley investors almost overnight and today we try to find out just how that was feasibly possible. _...
Enterprise Legal Studio: Bart Dillashaw
June 06, 2021 22:51 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MBBart Dillashaw is an under the radar silicon valley transplant. He spent the first part of his career as an attorney rubbing shoulders with Mark Cuban and Elon Musk and learning about corporate law at some of some of the most innovative tech companies in the country. You wouldn’t know that he has a heavyweight resume when you sit down with him because in person, he’s the definition of Nebraska Nice. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This s...
Nebraska's 40th Governor: Gov. Pete Ricketts
May 26, 2021 23:10 - 26 minutes - 25 MBBeing a career politician is a tough job. You have to pick sides on issues, you’re always in the public eye and you can’t always make everyone happy. It takes lifetime of putting yourself out there and hard work before people will trust you enough to lead. Our special guest today Gov Pete Rickets knows all about hard work as his father Joe Ricketts came up from humble beginnings to start something called a self directed brokerage that would eventually become TD Ameritrade. That’s right, the ...
Quantified Ag: Vishal Singh
May 13, 2021 16:12 - 24 minutes - 23.4 MBIf you said 50 years ago that one day cows would wear computers that monitor their health, people would think you were crazy. Well that’s exactly what Vishal Singh is doing with his massively successful agtech startup Quantified Ag. It was a long road that led Vishal to Quantified Ag and it starts when he and his family moved from New Delhi India to Nebraska at the age of 8. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grind...
Adjuvance Technologies: Dr. Tyler Martin, Pt. 2 (COVID Vaccine Discussion)
May 07, 2021 16:28 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBYou might remember Infectious Disease Specialist and Research Physician, Dr. Tyler Martin from episode 7 (he's also coincidentally my Dad). He has led teams that filed more than 100 Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications including two vaccines approved by major regulatory authorities and he has a few thoughts for Nebraskans about these new vaccines.
Teammates: Tom Osborne
April 14, 2021 01:07 - 22 minutes - 21.5 MBOur guest today doesn’t need much of an introduction. Tom Osborne was born in Hastings Nebraska and rose from humble beginnings to build the University of Nebraska into the greatest college football program of the 90s and if you weren’t around in the 90s to witness it, it was pandemonium. At game time the state would become a ghost town because every single Nebraskan was glued to their TV. Some fans would even mortgage their homes to follow the team. Tom has a way of leading and growing youn...
Hayneedle: Mark Hasebroock
March 31, 2021 22:26 - 22 minutes - 21 MBOur guest today paved the way for Nebraskan startups to successfully raise funding. You see, in 2011 Nebraska ranked dead last in venture capital deals with exactly 0 so this was a big problem. Mark proved that innovative ideas could happen here and he did it an e-commerce startup you might have heard of called Hayneedle. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindst...
Wax Buffalo: Alicia Reisinger
March 11, 2021 22:12 - 18 minutes - 17.7 MBOur guest today Alicia Reisinger studied radio and film in college so she knows how to tell a good story. She generously battled one of the coldest days in Nebraska history to come in and tell us her story and when you talk to her, it’s not hard to see how her personality would inspire a brand like Wax Buffalo that has somewhat of a cult following for it’s aesthetic and charm. Alicia is spreading her warmth and light throughout Nebraska and she’s doing it one candle at a time. ___ Connect ...
OpsCompass: John Grange
March 04, 2021 19:24 - 17 minutes - 40.9 MBOur guest today is the cofounder of one of Nebraskas hottest tech startups. Get to know the name OpsCompass because they have a lot of capital and a lot of momentum. OpsCompass essentially helps companies shift operations to the public cloud. They make sure you’re checking all the boxes to make the process run smoothly. And John Grange is the perfect person to build such a technology because he’s been hacking computers in Nebraska since the early days of the internet. ___ Connect with the ...
LifeLoop: Amy Johnson
February 18, 2021 20:34 - 19 minutes - 18.8 MBOur guest today Amy Johnson is from Fremont Nebraska. In 2015 Amy started LifeLoop, an operational technology platform for senior living communities that focuses on connecting families, residents and staff. Back then they had no idea that there would be a global pandemic that would put the entire retirement community industry into crisis. Today they’re on the front lines solving a huge need and it’s happening right here in Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook |...
Russ's Market, Super Saver: Pay Raybould
February 09, 2021 10:00 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBIn the 1960’s Russ Raybould started a grocery store that today has become the 36th largest employer in the state. His one little grocery store on the corner of 17th and Washington in Lincoln now has 22 locations across Nebraska and Iowa and is a staple in the state. And keeping any company going for 55 years isn’t easy let alone the grocery industry that has seen so much disruption from Walmart to Amazon to Covid. The chain continues to stand the test of time in part due to it’s friendly emp...
Speedway Motors: Clay Smith
January 29, 2021 15:54 - 19 minutes - 26.4 MBToday we’re joined by Clay Smith the son of Nebraska’s auto racing legend “Speedy” Bill Smith. Post World War II Nebraska had a thriving auto racing scene. Lincoln alone had 3 racetracks and attracted big names. Bill Smith fell in love with the sport at an early age and in the 60s turned his passion into a business that continues to benefit Nebraska’s local economy to this day. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Gri...
Retail Aware: Keith Fix
January 22, 2021 21:30 - 19 minutes - 26.6 MBOur guest today Keith Fix comes across as an easy going laid back younger man, but his resume has some serious weight. Before the age of thirty he’s won pitch competitions, the Peter Kiewit Entrepreneurial Award, and has already successfully exited his first company. He’s currently developing his next company “Retail Aware” that’s using some pretty futuristic technology to predict shopper behavior in physical stores. The company has a ton of buzz this year and it’s all happening right here i...
Department of Economic Development: Anthony Goins
January 12, 2021 22:03 - 17 minutes - 23.7 MBAnthony Goins is a true story of perseverance and integrity. He makes an immediate impression with his nicely pressed suits and shoes, he calls you by your first name and speaks directly, and during the recording of this interview, he very politely asked if he could pause to answer a phone call from Gov Ricketts. He’s a class act and he’s the face of economic development for the state. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produce...
Licorice International: Elizabeth Erlandson
January 07, 2021 00:21 - 19 minutes - 27.2 MBOur guest today Elizabeth Erlandson has lived an exciting life. From a self proclaimed hippie in the 60s to the founder of a successful online candy store she has a lot of stories to tell. When you talk to her you get a sense of her curiosity and excitement which is probably what has led to much of her success in Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grinds...
The Bay: Mike Smith
December 24, 2020 01:25 - 19 minutes - 27.1 MBOur guest today Mike Smith gave us 110% percent for his episode, and his energy is real. He’s worked with youth his whole career and he knows how to keep their attention. He runs 4 companies, has 100k instagram followers and when it’s not covid, he spends most of the year on the road as a motivational speaker inspiring students to be better people. Mike Smith is on a mission, and it’s all centered around helping Nebraska’s youth. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | In...
Ocuvera: Steve Kiene (part 2)
December 16, 2020 02:16 - 14 minutes - 19.8 MBToday's episode picks up with part 2 of the Steve Kiene story as Steve negotiates the multimillion dollar sale of his tech company eSellerate. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!
Ocuvera: Steve Kiene
December 11, 2020 00:07 - 18 minutes - 24.8 MBIt might be fair to call Steve Kiene the Steve Jobs of Nebraska. He sees things differently, he makes things happen and he doesn’t care what others think of him. He’s had plenty of success that has opened doors for him to move away from Nebraska and pursue greater ventures but he remains adamantly loyal to his home state and his home town of Lincoln Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Intereste...
EliteForm: Skip Cronin
December 02, 2020 22:29 - 19 minutes - 27 MBOur guest today Skip Cronin spent his early years becoming a fitness and movement expert and now leads a fitness tech company called EliteForm. One thing about skip is that he isn’t afraid of a challenge - he’s been known to get into bench press competitions with NFL players and he isn’t afraid to speak his mind in a company meetings. Skip lives in high gear and he’s helping to push Nebraska tech forward. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ ...
Wiase Capital: Joshua Armah
November 24, 2020 20:55 - 13 minutes - 18.8 MBOur guest today Joshua Armah, represents a new kind of Nebraska Made. Joshua’s journey as a young mind in Artificial Intelligent and Blockchain technology has taken him all across the country from New York City to Silicon Valley. He was introduced to the startup ecosystem here in Nebraska and immediately recognized it’s potential value and upside and has decided to make it his home. Joshua was remote at the time of this interview so excuse the audio quality but you can bet he is still very p...
Bison Inc.: Nick Cusick
November 19, 2020 00:51 - 17 minutes - 24 MBOur guest today Nick Cusick has been heavily involved in the economic development of Nebraska. He was the chairman of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and helped bring Pinnacle Bank arena to Lincoln. But before he began volunteering and working in the community he made a name for himself by building high end basketball hoops in Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast...
Bison Inc., Nick Cusick
November 19, 2020 00:51 - 17 minutes - 24 MBOur guest today Nick Cusick has been heavily involved in the economic development of Nebraska. He was the chairman of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and helped bring Pinnacle Bank arena to Lincoln. But before he began volunteering and working in the community he made a name for himself by building high end basketball hoops in Nebraska.
Saro Cider: Jonathan Henning and Eric Leyden
November 13, 2020 22:35 - 16 minutes - 23 MB2 years ago Saro Cidery was founded by 2 Doctors and their MBA wives. Matt Wood an ophthalmologist and his wife Tracy Sanford and Jonathan Henning a urologist and his wife Paige Duncan. They teamed up with Executive Chef Eric Leyden for his culinary expertise and together they’re creating ciders that are as Nebraska Made as they are. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? V...
Don't Panic Labs: Doug Durham
November 10, 2020 20:11 - 20 minutes - 28.1 MBDoug Durham calls himself a Jack of all trades, master of none. But that’s just his humble way of saying that he’s an incredibly talented generalist. His curiosity has propelled him through life and he’s done some incredible things to advance the Tech industry in Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support...
PenLink: Mike Murman
November 04, 2020 04:57 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBOur guest today, Mike Murman, has done some pretty amazing things in his lifetime. He first founded an incredibly disruptive software company that aggregates law enforcement surveillance data and now he’s making the top selling craft cider in the Omaha area. Two very different endeavors that both started right here in Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit g...
Fat Brain Toy Co.: Mark Carson
October 30, 2020 21:13 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBOur guest today Mark Carson, helped pioneer the early days of the internet right here in Nebraska. He was an early adopter of SEO and e-commerce and it led him to start his own online toy store which sold last week for a substantial amount. But it didn’t happen without setbacks. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. S...
Kiechel Fine Art: Buck Kiechel
October 27, 2020 23:54 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBBuck Kiechel is the owner of a 3 story art gallery in downtown Lincoln that holds thousands of rare and famous works of art with prices ranging up to $10M dollars. Fine art usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Nebraska but Buck has made a name for himself as an honest dealer. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/...
Adjuvance Technologies: Tyler Martin
October 23, 2020 02:34 - 19 minutes - 18.4 MBAdjuvance Technologies is a vaccine research company that made waves in the Lincoln biotech startup community earlier this year, when it announced that it had raised a 20M series A round of funding - reportedly the largest series a round of funding ever in Nebraska history. And their CEO Tyler Martin, has an unlikely story coming from humble small town Nebraska. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Intere...
Drone Amplified: Carrick Detweiler
October 16, 2020 02:21 - 18 minutes - 25.5 MBOur guest today is smart, really smart... Carrick is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UNL and completed his Ph.D. at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) at MIT. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!
@omahacarpetcleaners: Jake Kenney
October 13, 2020 18:45 - 13 minutes - 18.5 MBJake Kenney is a young business owner who started doing online videos for fun in spring of 2020. Today he has fans all over the world and has been featured in Silicon Prarie KMTV 3 and other local news outlets. Like many of our guest he grew up in a small farm town. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!
Dorothy Lynch: Monty Lynch
October 08, 2020 13:07 - 15 minutes - 21.4 MBDorothy Lynch Home Style salad dressing has somewhat of a cult following in Nebraska. You might see it’s commercials on the jumbotron at Husker football games and it’s so hard to get your hands on it outside the midwest that there have been reports of people willing to pay $100 in fees to ship cases to Israel or passengers stashing bottles in their luggage before boarding a plane. It’s a phenomenon. For Monty Lynch, Dorothy’s grandson, growing up in the Lynch family business was a dream chil...
Pawlytics: Lizz Whitacre
October 06, 2020 23:10 - 20 minutes - 28 MBToday we hear from Lizz Whitacre, the Ceo of Pawlytics and winner of the 2018 UNL new venture competition. Lizz has made a name for herself around the Lincoln startup community by wining pitch competitions and advocating for pet rescue shelters. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!
Archrival: Clint! Runge
October 01, 2020 19:28 - 18 minutes - 24.8 MBOur guest today, Clint! Runge is so outside the box that he legally added an exclamation mark to his first name. Clint! understands marketing and youth culture maybe more than anyone else in Nebraska and he works with major brands like Spotify, Hollister and Adidas. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!
Powderhook: Eric Dinger
September 29, 2020 19:15 - 18 minutes - 25.7 MBEric Dinger is a 40 year old UNL graduate living in Lincoln Nebraska with an interesting story. When he started building businesses it was 2003 and there were only a handful of young notable entrepreneurs in Lincoln at the time. It was very uncommon to be a young man who own his own business. But time and time again he found ways to solve business problems with practical solutions until he ended up with one of the most downloaded apps in Nebraska history. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made...
Coming Soon: Nebraska Made
September 24, 2020 23:44 - 2 minutes - 2.3 MBOn September 29th Grindstone launches a new podcast. "Nebraska Made" weaves a narrative journey that follows some of Nebraska’s best known brands, specifically the individuals behind them and their efforts to turn a kernel of an idea into a workable business. ___ Connect with the Nebraska Made | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ___ This show is produced by Grindstone. Interested in starting a podcast? Visit grindstoneagency.com/podcasting to learn more. Support us!