Breakthrough Weekend
From Sept. 29 – Oct. 1, you and other UNO students will form teams around a business concept, ideate and iterate to build a prototype, be coached by local entrepreneurs and business leaders, and pitch your idea for cash prizes.
Breakthrough Weekend 2023:
Join highly innovative and motivated people for a weekend of building, networking, and fun.
Breakthrough Weekend is hosted by the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Franchising at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
At this event, you will learn the first steps in starting a business, connect with community members, and compete for cash prizes.
Knowledgeable coaches and judges from the Greater Omaha startup ecosystem will provide key insights to enhance your offerings and presentations.
Click here to register!
Click here for the timeline of events!
2022 Breakthrough Weekend - Recap
2022's Breakthrough Weekend took place on September 16th, 17th, and 18th. This year's Breakthrough Weekend was sponsored by First National Bank Omaha, Wells Fargo, The Aksarben Foundation, Tour Golf League, NBDC, Nebraska Tech Collaborative, and American National Bank.
As teams worked together to develop their business idea, mentors from the Omaha community consulted teams about their business. By interacting with mentors, students gained valuable experience and were further exposed to meaningful networks throughout the community. This year, CIEF is thankful to have Bill Martin - Co-Founder and Director of Business Development at Event Vesta, Erik Peterson - Product Manager at Planview, Inc, Maria Carrasco - Learning and Organizational Development Consultant, and Luke Armstrong - UX Engineer at Dynamo as judges.
To learn more about our past Breakthrough Weekend events, please read this article.
For more information about Breakthrough Weekend, please email entrepreneurship@unomaha.edu
Kids Kloset
Kids Kloset is an online resale site for children's and maternity clothing with four founders: Samantha Barret, Logan Heger, Joel Mancino, and Debra Lucas. Their main goal is to make the lives of mothers easier by providing an avenue to make finding clothes for kids an easy process. This idea would save the time and money of shoppers as this platform will serve as a one stop shop to find all bundles of clothes while overcoming the problem of excess clothing waste.
2021 Breakthrough Weekend - Recap
Smart Sort
Smart Sort is an eco-friendly startup with four founders: Christian Licea, Ali Al-Ghaithi, Manav Nirmalraj, and Makayla Leiting. Their main goal is to make sorting waste easier and less time-consuming through smart trashcans. To achieve that goal, they will put into use a cutting-edge AI system with an accuracy rate of 97%. Their next steps are to design a prototype, collaborate with environmental organizations, and securing 100k of funding.
Nutreat
Nutreat is a diet restriction app founded by Ishani Adidam, Alex Bingham, Yahya Al Kindi, Humaid Al Sarakhi and Ajmad Al Humaimi. The startup provides its users with personally tailored and cost-effective grocery lists, recipes, and restaurants. The main goal is to assist and motivate people who have diet restrictions due to medical reasons. Their next steps in expanding Nutreat are connecting with local nutritionists and raising funds from venture capital.
New Wave | Athletic Branding
New Wave is an athletic branding startup with five founders: Josh Bartels, Jonthan Savoie, Miles McDonald, Yolvin Aguirre and Joel Mancino. The team is focused on providing college athletes with a chance to have their own merchandise. The company will provide the athletes with a convenient platform to design their products and market their brand. After Breakthrough Weekend, they want to start collaborating with athletes, get a credible local supplier, and hire a graphic designer.
Here are a few comments from past Breakthrough Weekend events:
"Breakthrough Weekend is the best real-world business event I have attended!” - Daisy Dean, Clean Colorz.
“I thought having local business owners as mentors was really impactful throughout Breakthrough Weekend. Leaning on their expertise really allowed my group to flesh out some of our concerns with our product. In addition, speaking to someone who had a lot of experience and advice was really beneficial to my Breakthrough Weekend experience.” - Madeline Allen, SoVOYAGE
Ly Phan, a 2018 Breakthrough Weekend participant, had the following to say:
"I'm really grateful that I had a chance to attend Breakthrough Weekend. Not only did I make many great friends, but also learned a lot about starting a business. Breakthrough Weekend gave me the confidence to pitch my own idea, which I did at the Big Idea! Pitch Competition, and won!"
2021 Breakthrough Weekend Sponsors
