Minnov8 was started to focus on technology innovation in the State of Minnesota. Borne out of a frustration that there wasn’t a showcase for the talent, brainpower, creativity, and innovation that exists in this Land of 10,000 Lakes, several geeks set forth on a quest to deliver a destination site for just such a purpose.
Your humble, modest, and foolhardy band of merrymakers includes:
Steve Borsch: With more than 25 years in high tech playing a variety of roles in sales, sales management, business development, and strategy creation, Borsch has enjoyed stints at Lawson Software, Vignette, Apple, Pioneer New Media, Panasonic Communications, as well as local startup Authorware (now part of Adobe’s Macromedia acquisition). Steve is CEO of Marketing Directions, Inc., a 21-year-old trend forecasting and management consulting firm in Eden Prairie, MN, with clients that include startups, small-to-midsize, and enterprise organizations. He also blogs on trends in social media, technology innovation, and other matters at Connecting the Dots and you can reach out to him via a Minnesota web startup, BusinessCard2, and his virtual business card.
Tim Elliott: After 20 years in technology marketing at Kodak, WAM!NET, and Datalink, Tim discovered podcasting and blogging. He created the first wine podcast, Winecast, in late 2004, and today it is a top 10 wine blog. Tim founded Acan Media in 2006 to bring online consumer-direct and conversational marketing to the wine industry.
He also consults with technology firms and Web 2.0 startups. Tim’s personal blog can be found at timelliott.us where he writes mostly about social media marketing.
Graeme Thickins was never a U.S. Marine, but he’s always looking for a few good clients. He’s a technology marketing consultant, new media strategist, and startup advisor. In 1982, he began boot-strapping what became GT&A Strategic Marketing Inc., a marketing, communications, content development, and startup advisory consultancy. In this role, he began to immediately make a damn good living because he was injecting a major amount of mojo into his tech startup clients (more 100 of them to date) — helping them launch their brands, grow, and build significant shareholder value. And for many of them, he began contributing right from the initial concept stage. Graeme went on to serve in several interim roles as a marketing and content development executive for some of his Minnesota-based emerging technology clients. Since 2005, he’s written Tech~Surf~Blog, which focuses on technology trends, entrepreneurship, innovation, startup issues, venture capital, angel investing, and other topics, and via which he often reports from major technology conferences around the country. It’s syndicated by so many other sites and blog networks, he’s lost count, and has been named one of the “Top 100 Analyst Blogs.” Graeme is also a widely published writer, his work having appeared in such media outlets as eWeek, Network World, Computerworld, The Angel Journal, Chief Executive magazine, and the Read/Write Web blog. To get some of what Graeme’s got for your business, it all starts with an email: graeme@thickins.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/graemethickins.
Phil Wilson has spent 20+ years in broadcasting. He has successfully built, managed, and marketed successful brands for both small and large broadcast companies. Adept at merging new and traditional media, he is responsible for initiating the web strategies and execution of new media tactics for many companies and continues to do so through his consultancy, RemainComm. Phil is also the co-founder of Localtone Systems, which maintains Localtone Radio, a website dedicated to allowing users to expose and control the play of local music. Localtone Systems is also developing patent-pending applications designed to provide user-controlled content beyond the web, including the mobile platform and terrestrial broadcast. A strong proponent of the use of new media and technology to enrich human communication, Phil blogs on the subject at remaincomm.com.
Don Smith recently embarked on a special assignment for the R&D organization at General Mills. In his new role as Digital Media Ethnographer, Don will actively research best practices of leading global organizations that use Web 2.0 tools to connect their organizations. More specifically, Don’s work will focus on use of new-age web platforms that help facilitate innovation processes and connect organizations. A General Mills veteran of over 12 years, Don’s prior career achievements center around product development for the Cereal and Snack divisions. A Chicago native and graduate of the University of Illinois, Don now lives in South Minneapolis with his wife Amy and children Colin and Caroline.
You can follow Don’s research at his blog – Perspectives on Connected Innovation and Collaboration.
The header graphic for Minnov8 was inspired by the original one for Minnov8 that our friend, fellow podcaster and all around great guy, John “JohneeBee” Benson, created as we were just getting going.
If you need media, graphics, or animations that are fun, gorgeous, and make an impact, visit his site now.
Or, stop on by his show Mostly Trivial and subscribe to it today…it’s free and fun.
