Acorn Hours

David Allan, who founded Little Rock startup Acorn Hours and guided it through the 2014 fall installment of the ARK Challenge startup accelerator, has pivoted. Allan is the new CEO of Tagless Style, another Little Rock startup that participated in the ARK this fall. read more >

Spencer Jones, a surgical nurse resident at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock, won an investment round of $150,000 for his innovative blood-draw device Wednesday at the ARK Challenge Demo Day in Little Rock. read more >

The ARK Challenge is the tech-based startup "boot camp" launched in Fayetteville in 2012 through a federal grant that funded two installments. This year, the program was picked up by the state and private investors, continued in northwest Arkansas and expanded to Little Rock. read more >

Acorn wants to "intertwine" accountability and service when it comes to tracking service hours, help young people tell their stories and be "catalysts for change," and free up teachers from sometimes tedious paperwork. read more >

The 54-hour event, at which ideas are turned into potential tech-based startup ventures, is scheduled for Sept. 12-14 from the Charles Morgan Auditorium at Acxiom's River Market corporate headquarters. read more >

Introducing entrepreneurship into the standard high school curriculum is possible and ultimately inevitable, according to participants in Thursday night's young CEO panel discussion hosted by the Arkansas Venture Center at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. read more >