Omaha Archive

UGBT Memphis: Let's Play to Our Strengths, Guys

I have a lot to say about the past few days I've spent touring the various nooks and crannies of Memphis and its entrepreneur scene. And as luck would have it-- I finally have a few hours to say it, er write it. A theme that has consistently cropped up during this tour is what each city means by entrepreneurship, and what they want to get out of building their own culture to give rise to it. Increasingly, it's the cities who never really tried to be Silicon Valley in the late 1990s that seem to really have an exciting and burgeoning scene. Why? Because they were forced to play to their strengths.

I'd put Omaha in this category. Omaha's entrepreneur scene is totally nascent and who knows what will come out of it. But it's endemically Omaha-like. Same with Portland, to a degree. And, I think, that's even more pronounced in Memphis. (More on that in a second.)

The corollary would be Austin or Seattle, cities that have followed a more Valley-like model with varying success and failure. The success is obvious: More venture capital money, more jobs from what big or mid-sized companies have emerged. But is there really a sustainable culture around entrepreneurship? Or is it about being a Valley-satellite? And frankly-- which would a city rather have? Because you can argue the first brings in more jobs, prestige and money.

But I argue, there's something great about a city that at its core has its own unique, scrappy entrepreneurial drive.

UGBT: "I (Steak) Omaha!" Also, "Des Moines HELL YEAH!"

I saw both of those slogans on T-shirts during my recent swing through the Midwest. I asked Jeff Slobotski to mail me the first one, as the store was closed, and plan to order the second one on this rad site.

Why? Well, Omaha does have good steaks. And both Omaha and Des Moines have a genuine, not obnoxious  self-promotional culture that I've seen in few places. Cities like New York, San Francisco, and LA don't really have to promote themselves. They're like the cool guy at the party who's like, "Yeah, I know you're into me..." Atlanta, Phoenix and Nashville are almost the cool guy at the party who got to ride with him and wants to MAKE SURE YOU KNOW IT! (That guy is annoying.) Meanwhile cities like Memphis and Detroit have inferiority complexes, so they're frequently self-deprecating even when they have something to brag about.

Omaha and Des Moines aren't pushy about it-- but they love their cities and want you to know why. It must be a Midwestern thing because the same thing struck me about Chicago. I flew there several years back when BusinessWeek was trying to get me to move there and everyone from the cab driver at the airport to the desk clerk at the hotel told me how  much they loved Chicago and how much I would to. There's something undeniably endearing about it.

Beyond that, there were some other (hopefully more salient) impressions about the Midwest I wanted to share.

UGBT: Children of the Corn

This is a video Geoff and I shot on the way to Des Moines, our good times in Omaha fresh on our mind. It was a leisurely drive filled with great music, lots of sugar and many photography stops. We didn’t have particularly deep thoughts in this video, but I like the corn-playground cinematography and the $2 Aquaman shirt Geoff bought me in Omaha. I’ve always pulled for Aquaman. What kind of super power is talking to the fish?

Similarly, Omaha may appear to be a city with no natural Web-powerhouse-building abilities, but it does have an astounding creative class and a deep entrepreneurial spirit that goes back to the days when Warren Buffett and other city elders were making their names. That legacy may have been dormant for a while, but the new scrappy creative class is dusting it off.

OMAHA TO DES MOINES from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

More on Omaha in my next post. (aka, after lunch!)

UGBT: Feather City

We're absolutely exhausted and happy in that weird euphoric, tired way. We just got back to the hotel, but I wanted to express what a great night I had in Omaha! It was everything I hoped this tour could be. More details tomorrow.

In case the title of this post confused you, Geoff just said "ugh! feather city!" because he's getting in bed and he's allergic to feathers. But Omaha is sort of feather city too-- in that it's a nice soft, warm place to land!
Seriously-- it reminds me so much of Memphis which is a very very high compliment. AND I sold almost as many books here as I did at the mass party in DC!!

Ok, we've been up since 4 a.m. Bed time.

UGBT: Omaha Welcomes Me with "Lacy Jump"

Jeff Slobotski of Silicon Prairie News welcomes me to town with the first male Lacy jump. BTW: Omahaians (word?) I will have my video camera tonight... (Also: how is your garage that CLEAN?)

Jeff jumps to promote Sarah Lacy's book from Silicon Prairie News on Vimeo.