Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Archives for June 2011

Minnov8 Gang 129 – D-D-D-Digital

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Like many businesses, institutions and organizations, libraries are wrestling with an increasingly digital world. As devices become less expensive and more of a library’s customers demand access to digital content they can borrow, issues of how to satisfy that demand is at the forefront of library thought. As a thought leader in this space, Meg Knodl (LinkedIn; Twitter; Flickr) brings to bear a traditional base of library science knowledge, along with a social/new media acumen, and is delivering leadership around library’s pressing topics. Meg never does a “humma, humma” or stutters when talking about d-d-d-digital, but many in her field do since libraries and digital lending is in such a state of flux.

Host: Steve Borsch (Graeme Thickins, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson were picking up empty soda bottles in a park to pay their library fines this week)
Music: “Blue Sky” by Big George Jackson Blues Band via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 48:16 — 28.0MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Where’s Minnesota?

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Hey Minnesotans…time to take big, calculated risks. To use a baseball metaphor we need to forget about bunting to get to one base and instead start swingin’ for the fences.

Budget shortfalls are slamming many states like Minnesota due to revenue shortfalls and a reduction in federal money. Fortunately there are some states where the tax base and regulatory climate is one that is attracting business. Undoubtedly these states also enjoy other variables that make companies want to startup within them, or move to, and capitalize upon that business climate.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released their second report of its kind, “Enterprising States: Recovery and Renewal for the 21st Century” (PDF) and Minnesota is not high on most lists in this report. The report has four primary sections with pretty solid measures for each:

Top Growth Performers Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Top Export States Top Taxes & Regulation States
Workforce & Training Infrastructure

The worrisome aspect is that Minnesota doesn’t rank highly in anything but median family income and educational attainment. While both are good, the former is likely due to the high concentrations of people working for out-State companies and the latter since education is such a priority in our State. Due to the current budget crisis and slash-n-burn mentality by most politicians, quality of education will likely erode quickly.

The executive summary had some troubling things to say that are probably obvious on the surface:

“In the past, states could look to Washington for assistance. Now, whatever the intentions or real achievements of the stimulus package, future increases in federal spending seem likely to be meager at best. This presents a new, and perhaps unprecedented, challenge for the states. With Washington effectively forced to the sidelines, states will now have to address fundamental economic issues relating to growth and employment on their own. Most will have to do so without significantly increasing their own spending.”

No kidding.

…  [Read More…]

CoCoMSP and Minnov8

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You might have noticed the advertisement for CoCoMSP in the right sidebar. We’re collaborating on a new 2011 initiative that will see the Minnov8 Gang down at the new CoCoMSP downtown Minneapolis facility in the Grain Exchange.

We’ll be doing a few live podcast shows, helping them with some storytelling initatives, and my cohorts and I will be hanging out there periodically.

Normally this wouldn’t be “news” and worthy of a separate post, but CoCoMSP isn’t an ordinary coworking startup and the Grain Exchange facility isn’t a run-of-the-mill coworking space. I predict there are going to be a lot of breakthroughs in learning occurring with and around this facility and people will come to the Twin Cities to see what CoCo is up to like they do now to the Mall of America.

Minnov8 Gang 128 – Cloud Money

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The 2011 summer acceleration in all-things-tech continues unabated. The Gang discusses the continued explosion in cloud services and how many are driving toward “cloud money” by monetizing their offerings, or offering cloud strategies with the intent of being in-the-game and making money on cloud uses (e.g., Twitter, Best Buy’s Music Cloud, respectively).

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: “Draggin’ Down” by Angie & the Car Wrecks via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:57 — 32.6MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Minnesota Cup Honors ‘High Quality’ Crop of Semifinalists

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I stopped into a reception held last evening at the U of M’s Carlson School for this year’s group of semifinalists in the annual Minnesota Cup.  It’s the seventh year of this business plan competition, which has gained broad support from our business community.  I had a chance to interview cofounder Scott Litman, who talked about this year’s applicants and the process the semifinalists would now be going through as the competition continues.

After an opening reception in the atrium, a series of speakers and presentations followed in an adjoining auditorium. The main focus of these talks was to inform and instruct the 47 semifinalist teams (across six categories, called “divisions”) about how they can best prepare for the ongoing judging.  That includes the opportunity for each these startups to work with their choice of “Mentors” chosen by the Minnesota Cup and the Carlson School (a major sponsor).  A list of 47 such mentors, with their bios, was handed out, and John Stavig of the Carlson School is coordinating the choice of mentors by the semifinalists.  Most all the mentors are graduates of the U of M, the majority with degrees from the Carlson School, and they represent a wealth of business-building experience.

What’s next for the Minnesota Cup semifinalists?  Here’s what we learned last evening about the upcoming schedule:

• Each semifinalist submits a 20-page business plan by midnight July 22nd.

• The division finalists are announced on August 19th

• The division finalists present and winners are selected on Augusts 30th

• The division winners present to the Grand Prize Review Board the afternoon of September 8th

• The Minnesota Cup awards event is held the evening of September 8th at the U’s McNamara Alumni Center

Congratulations and good luck to all the semifinalists! And thanks to the many sponsors and partners of the Minnesota Cup, as well as to Scott and his cofounder, Dan Mallin, for helping another great crop of our state’s startups go through their excellent program.  I really believe all the entrants (1000+ this year) are winners, because they get an opportunity to learn so much from the process. Go, Minnesota startups!

Event: “Mining the Mega Mobile Opportunities”

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Rob Weber from W3i just gave me a heads-up on what looks like a fabulous mobile event occurring this Wednesday evening. Here are the details:

What: TiE Minnesota in conjunction with the St. Thomas Graduate Programs in Software and the sponsorship of MentorMate is bringing together premier leaders in the Minnesota mobile community to address “Mining the Mega Mobile Opportunity.”

Who: TiE Minnesota is the local chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (“About” page) and St. Thomas Graduate Programs in Software (see speaker/presenters here)

When: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 from 6:30 – 9pm

Where: 3M auditorium is in Owens Science Hall (OWS) room no. 150 (Map)

Cost: Charter Member $15.00; Member $15.00; Student Member $10.00; Non Member $35.00

More details: and to register, go here.

Minnov8 Gang 127 – UnSummitting

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Two of the Gang were at UnSummit 5 Saturday and did the podcast with Meg Knodl, Mykl Roventine and Julio Ojeda-Zapata while Meg and Mykl’s UnSummit co-organizer, Don Ball, was taking a nap presenting a session. We talk about a range of topics on this lively ‘cast.

Hosts: Steve Borsch and Phil Wilson (Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins are off)

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 45:22 — 26.0MB)

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Project Skyway Boot-Camp Weekend…Wow!

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Project Skyway Boot-Camp weekend was held this past weekend (June 10-12) at CoCoMSP’s downtown St. Paul location.  Curt Prins was one of the mentor/judges and asked me to join him in the sales and marketing group for the roundtable sessions. I must say I came away with an even deeper appreciation for the talent, energy and enthusiasm in the startup community here (and there were several from out of State too) as well as the incubator that is Project Skyway.

If you don’t know Project Skyway, it is, “…Minnesota’s first tech accelerator program for motivated entrepreneurs. The program will build connections among entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and other innovation hubs, and bring them together both online and in physical space. The vision places emphasis on building companies with long-term, sustainable value, ethical practices, mentorship, and strong networks.”

The Project Skyway founder, Cem Erdem, set up this weekend adventure to enable startups to be involved in multiple sessions and venues for learning, honing their value propositions, and learning from one another. Clearly it also would provide investors with those value propositions ready to grow and would separate the “separate the wheat from the chaff“.

I met all the finalists invited in for the weekend and many of them blew me away with the maturity of their vision and beginnings of executing on their value proposition. As a “judge”, I was asked to rank the top ten and it was probably the toughest force ranking I’ve done yet. Too many good ones!

If you have any doubt or concern that innovation is dead in this time of economic uncertainty, a few hours with this group of folks would wipe that right out of your mind.

Minnesota Cup Semi-Finalists Announced

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The Minnesota Cup announced their nearly 50 semi-finalists today!

These semi-finalists were selected and announced this morning out of more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs who participated in the 2011 competition. Judging the first round entries was challenging as the overall quality of entries was excellent. 47 of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semi-finalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

More than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs participated and 47 (plus 4 finalists from the Social Entrepreneur division) of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semifinalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

High Tech Division

The full press release is after the jump…

…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 126 – iShivani at Apple’s WWDC

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The Gang chats with Shivani Khanna (LinkedIn; Twitter), Software Development Manager at W3i, who was at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) this week and is reporting on what transpired, what she thought about key announcements, and more.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: “Sugar Rush” by Beau Hall via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:45 — 31.9MB)

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Discussed during the show: