A conference, an experience, and a community.

Nebraska has no shortage of ideas, innovation, creativity, talent, grit, or hustle. What we do have is a density problem. Our entrepreneurship and innovation landscape is spread out and disconnected.

The purpose of Hustle is to be the big, galvanizing event that brings all these people and groups together in one place, for one turbo-charged day. 

Hustle started with an idea that answered a need. In the simplest terms it was: Hey, we should have an entrepreneurship conference in Omaha and there isn’t one now. That was in 2024, when Eric Gautschi and Curt Drew founded Hustle. Both Eric and Curt had started up multiple companies previously and had worked closely with many other entrepreneurs over the years. 

More and more people were starting up their own things – businesses, nonprofits, side gigs. We’re in our Entrepreneurship Era. We being Omaha, Nebraska, America, The World. Because, in a lot of ways, it’s so much easier than ever to do. First, because the Internet. And now, because AI.

It’s exciting, thrilling to start something new. The possibilities feel infinite. 
But anyone who’s done it also knows that the reality of being an entrepreneur can also be brutal. It’s brutal in its unpredictability, in its challenges that can feel like scaling Everest. And it’s brutal in the strain and stress it can put on you personally.

But entrepreneurs do it anyway, even with eyes wide open. Because they’re compelled to do so. They’re driven.

And that’s a good thing, a great thing, an essential thing. Because we need entrepreneurs. Look at every great brand in the world. Look at everyday objects and tools and devices, the tiny and the enormous. Most of these things were dreamed up and built by entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial-minded teams. These are the people who ask better questions, come at problems in interesting new ways, the people who disrupt and innovate and create.

No one does this alone. We believe that entrepreneurs need a community. And we believe that a community needs face to face interaction. Hustle is just one piece of this big puzzle. 

Hustle is a work in progress. So, our ask is that you help make it better. Tell us what’s working and what’s not, what you would change, add, or subtract. We started this thing to serve you, fellow entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial-minded. It’s yours.