How a tech business began in a basement and grew into an international company
In the last decade consumers have largely shifted from purchasing from local businesses to shopping online.
Srinivasan Prasanna saw this shift as an opportunity to optimize online shopping experiences and started his company iWMS Americas, LLC. in the basement of his Minnesota home in 2014 with himself as the sole employee.
Nearly six years later Prasanna’s company has graduated from the Prior Lake Technology Village with 52 employees worldwide and he has plans for even more growth.
Located in Prior Lake City Hall, Technology Village is a business accelerator program that supports the growth of tech and professional service businesses through various resources such as mentorship and office space. When Prasanna read about the Technology Village in the Prior Lake American, he saw it as an opportunity for his business to grow from a basement startup to an international company.
“When I went to this place, a beautiful location in downtown Prior Lake and a very nice office space for an affordable cost, I took the plunge,” he said.
iWMS Americas provides IT consulting specializing in supply chain services and during Prasanna’s time in the Technology Village it has evolved to also provide automation hubs and robotics conveyor systems inside distribution centers, he said.
Technology Village provided Prasanna with invaluable mentorship and guidance from other business professionals on handling finances, employee management and upscaling his business, he said.
“I was given a crash course which could’ve taken me say five or 10 years but this was given to me in three years,” Prasanna said.
And on July 31, iWMS officially graduated from the program.
“I am super excited. In this COVID-19 era, I think our business is the healthiest it's ever been,” Prasanna said. “The stability came and the fundamentals of my business got solidified by the Technology Village.”
Though the pandemic has paused some of his plans to relocate ...
Upcoming Event: Robert Half Hiring Manager Workshop
Join Robert Half Tech for their upcoming event, Hiring Manager Workshop
"Want to dramatically increase your interviewing results while saving time?
About this Event
Want to dramatically increase your recruiting results while saving time?
Are you jumping thru hoops to interview people only to have them take offers elsewhere?
Need to make sure that you're maximizing effectiveness and not wasting a ton of time with the wrong people who wouldn't be the right fit?
Want to reduce your hidden bias and increase your emotional intelligence?
Want to be better at predicting peak performance for your potential hires?
Join us for a delicious lunch (taco bar!) and sharpen your most essential leadership skill - hiring tech talent in 2020!
This is a small group setting reserved for technology leaders, hiring managers, and decision makers.
In this high-impact session you'll learn how to position yourself to beat the competition in the war for talent... in scientifically valid, proven ways that are more fun.
Hiring experts will rapidly show you how to save months of effort that goes nowhere... and instead get great results on identifying and engaging the people who will get exceptional results for your team.
We'll cover hiring some of the most in-demand roles in Chicagoland, including:
- Security, network, and systems engineers
- Software developers
- Strategic system integrators and software customizers"
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Date:
January 20, 2020
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Upcoming Event: 24 Hour App Building Challenge
Join Dare Mighty Things/ Ultra Beauty for their upcoming event, 24 Hour App Building Challenge
"Ulta Beauty will be sponsoring the Dare Mighty Things App Building Challenge and Conference in partnership with Google Cloud, Grainger, Cloudinary, Shure, Envestnet Yodlee, Buildout, Platter, The Disruption Institute and ITA Scaling Technology.
The app building challenge and conference is in Chicago on October 26-28th, with the 24 hour app building competition taking place on October 26-27th and then on October 28th the Dare Mighty Things conference is in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center."
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Date:
October 26-28, 2019
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Upcoming Event: Lightning Talks Chicago: 5 Min Talks
Join Lightning Talks Chicago for their upcoming event, 5 Min Talks on Software, Design, Mobile and More
"Join us on Wednesday, October 16 after work for a collection of lightning talks, with a focus on some of the newest technologies in web, design and engineering! The goal of lightning talks: Make your point, Make it quickly – in 5 minutes or less!"
Topic List (Subject to Change):
Greensock: Basic SVG Animations - Griffin Kelley
Intro to the JAMstack - Rosalind Wills
(Design Topic) - Ashlynn Denny
Intro to Code Walks: Or, Zen and the Art of Group PR Reviews - Joe Meyer
Random KATA - Valeria Ruiz
SQL Pivots - Tali Rotteveel
Design Topic) - Heather Angell
Mobile Device Check-in/Checkout with MS Flow - Paul Hermany
(Tech Topic) - Sean Sartell
Angular Bazel - Aaron Starkston
(Research Topic) - Rachel Zinser
Postman Testing in your CD Pipeline - Brian Hulse
Animated splash screens in Flutter - Daniel White
De-normalizing data with Azure Change Feed - Colin DeClue
gRPC vs Rest - Ed Miller
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Date:
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Location:
Rightpoint
29 North Upper Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
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Upcoming Event: Chicago Founder Fireside Chat | Creative Women’s Co. x
Check out Chicago Founder Fireside Chat | Creative Women's Co. x Muses
"Are you a freelancer looking for more avenues to showcase your talent and get exposure for more work? Or perhaps you're a fellow entrepreneur looking to meet top freelancer talents to help support your business and help you gain more momentum. Join us at this event where we will be chatting with the founder and CEO of Muses, Shirley Yang.
We'll discuss how having processes in your business is important and when it comes to propel your growth, it's crucial to know the ins and outs about hiring talents to help support you and your business.
We'll also talk a bit about her journey. She had led product teams at Fox Interactive, Sony PlayStation Network, and Audible, Amazon before she launched Muses, a global brand builders' network where entrepreneurs, small business owners, and influencers create partnerships for growth."
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Date & Time:
Thur, October 10, 2019
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM CDT
Location:
WeWork: The National
125 South Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60603
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Upcoming Event: Women Entrepreneurs and Tech Startups in Creative Industries
Check out Women Entrepreneurs and Tech Startups in Creative Industries Networking
"Please join us for a morning of power networking with inspiring and motivating women business leaders. Your $5 registration fee will be donated to 2112's Diversify Scholarship click here to learn more.
Our esteemed guest speakers are leaders in their respective fields and eager to share their insight on overcoming challenges and advice on building an inspired career in the creative sector.
Guest Speaker: Veronica Aguilar, Manager of ChicagoNEXT at World Business Chicago."
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Date & Time:
Tue, October 15, 2019
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM CDT
Location:
2112
4245 North Knox Avenue
Chicago, IL 60641
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Upcoming Event: VR & AR-#TheNextEvolution
Join VR & AR for their upcoming event, #TheNextEvolution of Emergency Response (Police, Military, Fire)
"Virtual and augmented reality are tools that emergency response industries have embraced for a long time. The military has used heads up displays – one of the earliest forms of AR – in planes & helmet goggles since the 1960’s. Firearm Training Situation Simulators for law enforcement date back to the early 1980’s. Today, VR and AR provide tools for training, logistics, fleet management, operational planning, on-location support, and more to the military, police, fire, and emergency response departments at all levels of government.
Come hear from the experts how immersive technology is supporting the jobs of the people who protect society."
Confirmed Panel:
Carla Bond - Upskill VR
Thomas Brady - Homeland Security Training Institute
Alan Beauchamp - Terminal54
Sean DeCrane - Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
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Date:
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Location:
1871
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212
Chicago, IL
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Upcoming Event: Chicago Women in Big Data
Check out Chicago Women in Big Data!
"Chicago women are active engagers, innovators and leaders in Big Data. And our ranks and influence need to grow! We bring valuable experience, perspective and ideas to drive business results and change the world.
Join us as we kickoff the event season of Chicago Women in Big Data!
Announcing Women in Technology - a free, half-day interactive workshop on September 19th exploring cloud & AI/ML Co-sponsored by Slalom, AWS AND Chicago Women in Big Data."
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Date & Time:
Thur, Sept 19, 2019
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM CDT
Location:
Slalom Consulting
200 E Randolph St #3700
Chicago, IL 60611
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Upcoming Event: Chicago Founder Night Out
Check out Chicago Founder Night Out !
"Founder Night Out is a fun, social event where you can meet local entrepreneurs and technology CEOs. Also, you can share your business ideas and aspirations with like-minded peers. Drinks and light food will be provided. The event is sponsored by Founder Institute Chicago.
Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator and has been operating in Chicago for the past 8 years. Founder Institute empowers entrepreneurs to launch a company around their ideas."
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Date & Time:
Wed, August 28, 2019
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM CDT
Location:
Lizzie McNeill's
400 N McClurg Ct.
Chicago, IL 60611
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