Join highly innovative and motivated people who want to turn an idea into a startup.

Pitch your idea, form a team and start a business in a weekend. Make new friends, find future collaborators, and enjoy free food, drinks and snacks throughout the weekend.

Breakthrough Weekend is provided by the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Franchising. At this event you will learn the first steps in starting a business, gain an understanding of what it takes to navigate the road ahead and get a chance at winning $300 in Cash Prizes.

2022 Breakthrough Weekend will be held September 16th-18th, click here to view the event timeline.

To register for tickets click here.

To learn more about our past Breakthrough Weekend events, please read this article.

For more information about Breakthrough Weekend, please email Alden Ching: aching@unomaha.edu

2021 Breakthrough Weekend - Recap

Presented by the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Franchising (CIEF), Breakthrough weekend is an event that is open for students and community members with an interest in becoming an entrepreneur. Participants learn how to transform a business idea into a business and pitch to judges. This year’s Breakthrough Weekend takes place on September 24th, 25th, and 26th. Breakthrough Weekend was sponsored by 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 Andrew Prystai - CEO and Co-founder of Event Vesta; Bill Martin - Director of Business Development at Event Vesta and Dennis Einspahr - Founder of Tour Golf League and Disht as judges.

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