Iowa Business Podcast
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WearLab Solutions in Ames: using fashion to enhance prosthetics comfort
Prosthetic limbs allow amputees the ability to manipulate objects, walk up stairs, and better fit into our 4-limbed world, but for hundreds of years, comfort still plagues people who use them. Chafing, rashes, muscle and joint pain come with the territory but co-founders Dr. Rachel Eike and Bahar H. Esfahani are designing a better fitting…
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Booze-free and drug-free cocktails for health-minded “drinkers”
What do you reach for if you want to wind down with a delicious cocktail, but don’t want alcohol or THC? Your options are fruit juice or sparkling water. Taylor Grasso, co-founder of Pesche and a registered dietitian, says that gap is an opportunity to create a new beverage product focused around positive health “moments.”…
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Iowans milling flour at home for health? Meet organic farmer, Jeff Hafner
Organic Iowa wheat farmer, Jeff Hafner was a bit confused earlier this year when Iowans started grinding their own flour at home using their own countertop flour mills. The stories all started sounding familiar, people who thought they were gluten sensitive, were eating their own homemade bread just fine. Hafner says he’s no scientist. He’s…
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U of I students create pace-keeping LEDs for track athletes – Nicholas Gorsich of Stridelane
Long distance runners need to strike a delicate balance to win. If they go to slow, they fall behind. If they go to fast, they lose precious energy. Nicholas Gorsich, co-founder of Stridelane explains how their high tech LED pacing lights solves the problem and how their first version was made of hacked carnival lights!…
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Using Ai for stroke recovery! Dr. Michal Brzus of NeuroPred.
Stroke recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It may require patient monitoring over months. Sadly by the time enough data is collected, the recovery and healing window may be closed. Enter NeuroPred, founded by Dr. Michal Brzus. NeuroPred is not currently cleared for sale in the U.S. and is not FDA approved, but represents an exciting…
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How the NA Movement is helping Iowa-based Repour Wine Saver
You’d think Tom Lutz, founder of Repour Wine Saver would be shaking in his boots with restaurant traffic down and the NA movement driving down the consumption of alcohol, but you’d be wrong. In a counterintuitive local-Iowa victory story, lower alcohol sales are big business. Lutz’s technological breakthrough “eats” oxygen from the bottle keeping it…
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Iowa’s Plas-Tech Tooling Goes to DC For Freedom 250 Patriot Pitch
Update (Oct. 21, 2026): Plas-Tech Tooling won first place in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Million Dollar Pitch Competition, the final round of the SBA’s Patriot Pitch, taking the $400,000 top prize. Dean Sonquist and his sons Andrew and Ryan pitched to a celebrity judging panel in Washington, D.C., in a program that began streaming…
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Building a boutique made-in-Iowa golf brand? Jared Doerfler of Hanna Golf
Want a boutique, Iowa-made putter? Jared Doerfler of Hanna Golf says even though their premium golf gear is shipped all over the world, but surprisingly, 30% of his business still comes from within the state. Doerfler explains how they maintain their boutique quality, why their limited drops sell out in minutes, and how he taught…
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Pork! An evolving mainstay of Iowa’s economy with Dr. Steve Larsen
The pork industry’s facing major challenges, but therein lie some new opportunities. Jeff Caldwell fills in for Justin Brady in his discussion with Dr. Steve Larsen of R3 Consulting. New business models help, but it takes a concerted effort to understand what’s behind those challenges and the ways the industry’s best poised to overcome them.…
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Iowan breathing new life into old ag equipment with Ai retrofits.
Ai is allowing farmers to scale and cover more ground, but new Ai systems can be insanely expensive, costing nearly one million dollars. Craig Rupp of Sabanto Ag sees a more efficient path. His approach retrofits existing, older farm equipment with Ai packages, making old “dumb” farm equipment completely autonomous. Rupp says many of his…