Nebraska Ed-Tech Startup Helps Students Improve as Writers, Avoid Overreliance on AI

After doing graduate studies at Stanford University in California, Adam and Alexa Sparks moved home to Nebraska to launch their startup business, Short Answer. Their educational technology (ed tech) platform helps K-12 students improve writing skills. Just three years after launching, Short Answer is used by over 80,000 educators in all 50 U.S. states and about 15 countries.

The business idea emerged out of Adam’s experience as an educator. While a social studies teacher in Milford, Nebraska, Adam was selected to take part in the Technology Leadership Cadre through Educational Service Unit 6. There, he received training on how to adopt technology for the classroom and train other teachers to use it.

“That's where I fell in love with ed tech,” Adam recalled. “I started to use it in my classroom, and it had a huge impact on my teaching.”

Seeing the immense potential of ed tech, Adam aspired to develop software that would more effectively serve his students. “I wanted to build it, but as a teacher I didn't have the skills to do that,” he said. Undeterred, he applied to his dream school, Stanford, and was admitted into a design and technology program.

From side project to tech startup

During seven years as a teacher, Adam had found it challenging to help students improve their writing skills. “I spent a lot of time giving kids feedback on their work, only to have them ignore it and move on,” he reflected. While studying at Stanford, Adam investigated ways to encourage students to thoughtfully consider, engage with, and learn from evaluations of their writing.

“There’s where the seed of Short Answer was planted,” Adam said. “I worked on it for a year as part of my grad program, and then we launched it together.”

After successfully applying for multiple grants to develop Short Answer into a classroom-ready product, Adam and Alexa decided to go all in on the ed-tech venture. At the time, Alexa was still working full-time as a software developer in California. She resigned from her job, and the couple moved back to Adam’s hometown of Louisville, Nebraska, to build the business.

Writing in the age of AI

When Adam and Alexa first started Short Answer, Artificial Intelligence (AI) software was just beginning to transform the ways people read and write. Three years later, as AI quickly spreads across platforms, students are getting less and less practice as writers.

“The first thing you see when you open Gmail in 2026 is a button that says, ‘Hey, I can write this email for you,’” Adam said. “I do think that AI is devaluing literacy. If you don't want to write [anymore], you don't have to.”

Adam is passionate about resisting overreliance on AI and teaching students to develop strong writing skills. “Learning how to write is almost inseparable from learning how to think,” he asserted. “It helps you organize your thoughts and helps deepen your thinking about whatever you're learning.” Yet, as students become more adept at using AI, it is increasingly hard for teachers to monitor the extent to which they are using AI to compose take-home research papers or essays.

That’s where Adam and Alexa’s ed tech can help. With Short Answer, writing happens right at a student’s desk. Students complete a short writing assignment through the web-based platform, and then give and receive in-class feedback. This ensures that students practice writing, and it gives them an opportunity to learn by evaluating their classmates’ compositions.

They can quickly compare their own writing to that of their fellow students, discovering ways to more clearly or persuasively express their ideas. The teacher can then lead a discussion about why some of these responses make clearer arguments or answer the questions more accurately. This process trains students to analyze why certain methods of written communication work more effectively. After gaining timely input on their own writing, students can be tasked to revise what they have written straightaway to improve their writing skills. This accustoms them to take in feedback and apply insights without delay.

From Silicon Valley to the Silicon Prairie

Adam and Alexa hatched the idea for their business while at Stanford in the heart of Silicon Valley, an area famous for its tech startup scene. Even so, they elected to build their business back home in Nebraska. In addition to being close to family, the couple cited affordability, community, and values among their reasons for choosing Nebraska.

“The Bay Area is great. Everyone is smart, and it’s really energizing there,” Adam described. “But the Bay Area is also really exhausting. There is so much naked ambition and pursuit of money and status that it can be draining.”

“When we told people what we were building in the Bay Area, the reaction was sort of like, ‘What? There's no money in education. Why are you working on that?’” he continued. “Here in Nebraska, people are thrilled to hear what we’re working on. There’s a different value set that I very much appreciate.”

Community support promotes business growth

Adam and Alexa have found Nebraska’s startup community to be incredibly supportive as they build Short Answer. “Lincoln has been really great for us,” said Alexa. “It’s a nice, welcoming community. I’ve met so many people who are like, ‘Oh, you’re a startup founder? Go to Open Coffee, go to 1 Million Cups, go to the founders Friday night drinks. There’s so much activity for a startup founder.”

In the early stage of creating their business, Adam and Alexa were awarded a State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Grant from the State of Nebraska to help promote their product at trade shows. This helped them show their software to future clients and network with key leaders in the education industry.

Short Answer was also chosen to be a LaunchLNK grant recipient in 2025 through the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development (LPED). They were one of six businesses selected to receive $20,000 to expand their operations in the Lincon area.

“There’s clearly a community in the state that is here to uplift startups,” added Adam. “Here it’s like they want us to succeed. It’s a lot more sustainable, and it’s also where our family is from. We have a community here that is really special to us.”

Learn more about starting and growing a business in Nebraska.