Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Clintone and the song “Full Circle” via the podsafe music network Music Alley.

Discussed during the show:

Minnov8 Gang 87: More Buzz About Mobile is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

The festivities were kicked off by fun video introductions by “Dream Team” leaders for UnitedWay fundraising and you can see all of the team leaders at Dreamteam2010.org and you, yes you, can get in on the action by corralling your friends and family to signup for one of the four teams. As part of our podcast, we invited Bob Brin (@eBob) from Padilla Speer Beardsley (and specifically Padilla Gorilla) as well Mykl Roventine (@myklroventine) who is a co-organizer of Social Media Breakfast – Minneapolis/St. Paul, co-founder/organizer of Ignite Minneapolis and UnSummit, as well as running the local chapter of TechKaraoke Minneapolis.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins was off this week).

NOTE: If you’d like to watch a livestream of the event you can do so here and here is a direct link to download Minnov8 Gang 86 mp3.

Minnov8 Gang 86: Small Business is Social is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Pete Birkeland

Is that true? We talk with Pete Birkeland, CFO at RAIN Source Capital, the largest network of Angel Investment Funds in US. Pete is part of a team that manages 23 funds in 6 six states with $40 million under management and is a guy who has worked in this area for 10 years on both the entrepreneurial and investor side.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott & Graeme Thickins (Phil Wilson is off this week).
Music by The Varatones and their song, “Surf Blaster” from Music Alley.

Discussed During the Show:

• Apple’s “Antennagate” press conference video; RIM’s (Blackberry) response
• Rainsource Rainmakers Conference, September 23-24 with early bird discount good until the end of July and this year is open to everyone
• On the podcast our guest Pete Birkland mentioned:
  • Crowdpitch and Funding Universe;
  • Jon Coudron and his startup MinuteBids;
  • Lisa Foote and her startup MixMobi;
  • Matt Bauer and his startup PedalBrain;
  • Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) releases the signup forms for startups & individuals to get certified (which then leads to angels being able to take the 25% Angel Tax Credit)
  • Also mentioned other venture capital models like TechStars and YCombinator
  • New York VC Fred Wilson.
• Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) “Small Business Gets Social” next Friday, July 23, 2010

Download or listen to the show

Minnov8 Gang 85: Are Angels Crying? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott & Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off dealing with his woody).
Music by Andre Bisson and the song, “I’m leavin’” from Music Alley.

Discussed During the Show:

• CrowdPitch at Dorsey Ewald Conference Center in St. Paul. A Rain Source Capital/Funding Universe collaboration
• WordPress Users Group on Thursday, July 22nd; Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul “Small Business Gets Social” on Friday, July 23rd; and Blandin’s Broadband Conference October 13-14 (Robert Stephens, Best Buy Company Geek Squad leader, is keynoting the event)
• Twitter’s business model article in Fortune magazine
• Eweek article on a Presidential Memorandum signed by President Obama would nearly double the amount of wireless broadband spectrum
• Clearwire wireless broadband coming to Minnesota; Article on mobile broadband; The Railroad and Minnesota Broadband
• Apple employee #1, Steve Wozniak, and his Segway polo
• Minnesota’s history of innovation arguably began with the explosion of companies in the business of milling grains (specifically wheat) along the Minneapolis riverfront at St. Anthony Falls. See this page at the Mill City Museum website for more and this Wikipedia page for the technologies entrepreneurs saw and the opportunities for innovation they seized. Image above from the Minnesota Historical Society Visual Resource Database located here.
• FUN FACTOID: One of the early milling companies, the Washburn-Crosby Company (which later merged with 26 mills to become General Mills) purchased a radio station in 1924 and renamed it WCCO, standing for “Washburn Crosby Company”.

NOTE: We’re having issues with the podcast plugin so just in case, here’s a direct link to the show.

Minnov8 Gang 84: Seeing Opportunities for Innovation is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

What pray tell is the purpose of Social Media Day? The folks at Mashable are glad you asked. It’s “A day that honors the technological and societal advancements that have allowed us to have a dialogue, to connect and to engage not only the creators of media, but perhaps more importantly, one another.”

Um…yeah. Allow me to translate; It’s a day to get your butt up from behind the monitor, your nose out of your smartphone, relax you thumbs and meet the people you tweet, poke and follow face to face.  A day to put the social in social media. Oh, and there’s booze and munchies. Of course, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore embellishes it a bit more in his welcome video. (Really…the video was meant to be played at gatherings around the world. Kinda creepy…) Perhaps he has a desire for this to be much more of a “revolution”. No matter, the intent is to get you out and about.

The local Minneapolis meet up was superbly organized by our friend and social media maestro, Mykl Roventine. Mykl is responsible for, or part of, everything social media from Social Media Breakfast, to Unsummit, to Tech Karaoke and beyond. When Mashable sent out the word to have a Minneapolis Meetup, Mykl stepped up and secured Chino Latino in Uptown, gathered up some sponsors (SMBMSP and Sterling Cross Media) and rallied the troops. Mykl tells the story in the video below.  (Forgive the sound quality..I guess the EVO 4G won’t replace my Flip cam, at least not without some sort of outboard mic.)

At 6:30pm some 50 of the 70+ who signed up began to congregate, the drink flowed and the tasty appetizers were savored. Much of the Twin Cities’ Social Media actives were in attendance and some new faces were spotted and welcomed. It was a great time. Of course, those of us who dig the social “media” are never really far from it as everyone checked-in, tweeted and posted photos throughout the evening. Yep, there was a tweet wall. However, well…there was just very little discussion of this “revolution” of which Mashable was speaking. It was just plain social.

Perhaps it’s because we, here in the Land o’ 10,000 lakes, already get the whole social part. While the concept of Social Media Day is all well and good, there are any number of meet-ups, tweet-ups, happy hours and  breakfasts of which you can attend during any given month in and around the Twin Cities. It makes me feel kind of sad for those in other cities who must look to, or be prompted by, Mashable to get together in “real life”. While no specific date for another gathering has been past down from the social media mount, you’re encouraged to once again step away from the warm glow of the screen and meet and greet your friends and followers in person at a location of your choosing. Oh…and don’t forget to check in on Foursquare.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqjwUlIFk0E

How Many Social Media Day Cards Did You Get? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Morgan joins a former colleague at Emeryville, CA-based Godengo: Peter Stilson, CEO.  Stilson served for several years as COO and Chief Revenue Officer at Internet Broadcasting during it strongest period of growth.  He moved from the Twin Cities to the Bay Area in September 2008 to take the reins at Godengo. Andy tells me he starts his new position July 16.

Godengo provides print and web publishers a strong online presence and networked advertising inventory, enabling them to more effectively compete online.  Godengo’s Rivista™ content management system (CMS) is designed from the ground up for multiplying traffic volume, enhancing search engine optimization, and increasing profits at magazine publisher’s web sites. The Godengo™ Online Ad Network harnesses an affluent, upscale consumer audience that reads the premier city & regional and lifestyle publications, providing advertisers national reach with deep expertise in local markets. One of Godengo’s investors also has a Minnesota connection. Chairman George Lawson was VP of Corporate Development for Dayton Hudson Corporation earlier in his career, and also held senior operating and corporate positions with Levi Strauss & Co. and General Mills.

Andy Morgan Leaving Internet Broadcasting to Join Godengo as CTO is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Tim Elliott was off this week).
Music by Al Phlipp and the Woo Team and their song, “Timber Stone” from Music Alley.

Discussed during the podcast:

+ SMBMSP at Target Center
+ Minnesota Cup Semifinal event and the semifinalists
+ UnSummit
+ 2005 Bush Administration objection to the .xxx top-level domain
+ The Collaborative
+ A fabulous resource for anyone in business in Minnesota (especially startups!), the James J. Hill Library
+ Alvenda funding ($5M from Split Rock: link to PDF)
+ W3i mobile strategy announcement coming. Check their site Monday morning.

Minnov8 Gang 83: Innovation is Accelerating is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

It’s not just the dough, though, it’s the “professional services” mentioned that can make a huge difference in the life of a startup enabling them to “…connect with local business leaders and mentors arranged by the Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management.”

The 2010 semi-finalists will be honored with a reception at the James J. Hill Library on Tuesday, June 22 from 6:00-8:00 p.m and Minnov8 will be there covering it live. Read the press release here.

MN Cup Announces Semi-Finalists is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

We revisit Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) through Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s experiences talking about the new iPhone 4 and his reliance on the iPad and HTC EVO 4G on his trip. Many other related subjects are explored to their logical conclusions.

Show Hosts: Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Steve Borsch was away this week).

Music by AjT “Apple Chunk Guitar” from Music Alley.

Discussed during the podcast:

iPhone 4 live blogs: Engadget | gdgt

Julio’s impressions of iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO 4G  on Your Tech Weblog

Simplenote app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Reeder app for iPhone and iPod Touch

Read It Later

Instapaper

Pulse News Reader app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Readability

Safari 5 Extensions blog

Xmarks extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari

Apple TV Rumors at Engadget

Julio’s “Twitter Means Business” book website

Julio’s latest TWiT appearance

Events:

Social Media Breakfast, Twin Cities

fontconf

Unsummit 2010

MIMA “Crowd Source/User Generated Content with John Winsor” Event

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 82: Vicarious WWDC is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Satan’s Pilgrims w/tune, “Psych-a-Go-Go” from podsafe Music Alley.

Discussed during the show:
+ Facebook reacts to the outrage over perceived privacy changes
+ HTC Evo 4G
+ Clearwire
+ RingCentral
+ Skype iPhone updated, 5M downloads, calling over 3G
+ Adobe’s Smokescreen and iPad Publishing
+ GlueCon
+ Mifi
+ Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (& Steve Jobs keynote) Monday, Noon in MN
+ Possible release of Safari 5
+ Pulse for iPad: NYTimes article
+ Quicksilver: Steve’s favorite utility for the Mac
+ UPCOMING EVENTS: fontCONF held at CoCoMSP and Unsummit

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 81: Is it Incredible? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Founders Ben Edwards & Luke Francl address the crowd at Minnebar

It was a good thing there was plenty of room. The session list was chocked full of a diversity of topics. What struck many of the attendees, myself included, was the challenge of deciding what session to attend…I always feel like I might miss something. That, and the inability to meet more than a handful of people who’d carved out a Saturday to attend, makes Minnebar a venue that will surely continue to grow and solidify its place as the premiere event for entrepreneurs and startups in Minnesota.

Sessions were all relatively well attended and ranged in adherence to the Barcamp-unconference expectations. Some were very engaging and some were straight ahead presentations…and those “presos” resulted in a less than stellar 40 minutes of time spent. Then again, that’s the fun, and risk, of the unconference style.

Steve Borsch w/Chief Inspector Robert Stephens

Fellow Minnov8er, Steve Borsch noted of defacto host Best Buy executive Robert Stephens, Chief Inspector of the Geek Squad, as “…passionate believer in entrepreneurship and a steadfast supporter of the Minnesota startup community. It was a delight to see him totally immersed in sessions, more than willing to talk to anyone willing to engage in conversation with him, and demonstrated Best Buy’s commitment to innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit simply by acting as a catalyst for this Minnebar.”

Our own Graeme Thickins added, “We need that — more big players who get it!  It’s heartening to know that so many people at Best Buy realize that new innovation often comes from the small companies, the startup teams, the individual developers. Robert had just gotten back from the huge Google IO event in the Valley, and wanted to talk about Google TV and all that. But he was also fired up to talk about ideas and technologies going on right here. It’s impressive that he and so many others dedicated a Saturday to talk about ways we can make tech in MN stronger.”

Mykl Roventine leading his web session

For one writer to try to indicate the highlights and lowlights would be pointless. No one person could truly appreciate all of the sessions. Minnov8er  Tim Elliot points out, “As we recounted in our podcast recorded at the event, MinneBar this year was quite varied than in past years…” He goes on to note topics like, “…web innovation, design, application development or social media.” Tim also said, “Mobile technology was a theme that ran through many of the sessions with iPhone, Android and iPad applications being featured on stage and in the audience as participants tweeted the proceedings.”

The real take away is the simple fact that the Minnesota innovation community continues to grow, it continues to draw energy from itself and those involved…and there is no sign of that letting up.

Graeme summed his experience up in one tweet, “..best evah!“

Strong Community of Innovation In Attendance at Minnebar is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This week’s show comes to you from Minnebar 2010 held at the headquarters of Best Buy. We talk about Thursday’s MOJO MN event, Friday’s Social Media Breakfast and Saturday’s Minnebar. Huge turnout (no final count but at least 500 were there) and big thanks to Best Buy’s Geek Squad Chief Inspector, Robert Stephens, who made this such a smashing success and, of course, to the herculean efforts of event visionaries and organizers Ben Edwards and Luke Francl.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson, and our guest Erik Blakkestad.

Minnov8 Gang 80: Minne-this, Minne-that is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Kahuna Kawentzmann w/tune, “Late Bird” from podsafe Music Alley.
Modified image based on the James Bond 007 knockoff from the 1960s, the Matt Helm movies series starring Dean Martin.

Links discussed during the show:

• Stillwater company Nibipedia led by Troy Peterson
• Internet Broadcasting, the departure of their CEO, David Lebow, partner Mashery
• Mentioned by Tom Bergerding: Polyvore
• Graeme mentioned Involver
• MOJO MN; Minnebar
• Visi Open House Friday, May 21st
• Open source alternative to Facebook, Diaspora. Just a concept, as of this writing they’ve raised $143k and have over 4k supporter/donators!
• Facebook controversy links:
  • OpenBook
  • New York Times stories compiled here
  • Excellent essay by social media researcher Danah Boyd (now w/Microsoft)
  • The case for staying with Facebook
• Fix your Facebook privacy settings or delete your account altogether
• FASCINATING infographic by a developer with the Visual Communication Lab at IBM Research Center for Social Software. The views expressed on it are his own, and do not reflect those of IBM (and read his disclaimers below the graph) BUT make sure you click on the years on the right in succession from 2005 until 2010 so you can visualize the erosion of privacy on Facebook since 2005. If your reaction is not “Holy Sh*t!” I’ll be surprised.

Minnov8 Gang 79: The Facebookers is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Join MHTA on Monday, May 24 at the ADC Auditorium for MHTA’s Angel Tax Credit Panel.

Registration:  7:30 a.m.
Program:  8:00 – 9:30 a.m.

The Angel Tax Credit Panel will feature an outstanding line-up of panelists who will discuss the recently enacted 25% tax credit for angel investors who invest in Minnesota high tech start-up companies.

• Dan McElroy, Commissioner, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development
• John Alexander, Chairman, Twin Cities Angels
• Dan Mallin, Co-founder, Minnesota Cup & Managing Partner, Magnet 360 (and Co-chair of the Science & Technology Economic Development Project Task Force last fall)
• Jay Hare, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
  
• Moderator:  Joy Lindsay, President, StarTec Investments and chair, MHTA board of directors
  

The cost for this event is only $25 and free for start-up companies. Start-up companies can indicate their status by selecting “start-up company” on the registration page.

This event is being co-presented by the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, MN Nano and the Minnesota Cup.

MHTA Angel Tax Credit Panel is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Podsafe music by Matt Mays & El Torpedo and their song “Travellin”…from Music Alley.

Show Notes:
+ FCC Broadband (CNet has good overview here and FAQ here)
+ Toktumi and their Line2 app for iPhone
+ Kelly Heikilla brought up Burbn and Shopify
+ Graeme brought up Pedalbrain.

Minnov8 Gang 78: Mobile Speed Geeking is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

The event features two identical half-day sessions (8am – noon and 1pm – 5pm) and the cost is $129 but you can visit them here and if you’d like to attend, use the discount code ‘minnov8‘ and get in for only $49.

Google, Bing & Nat’l Experts on Internet Marketing is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

• Apple sells 1 million iPads in 28 days. Took iPhone 74 days. Plus, Minnesota-based analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimated that Apple sold about 300,000 units over the weekend, similar to the 300,000 Apple sold the first day of sales April 3. He said the 3G unit was sold out in 49 of 50 stores he checked, suggesting that long term, 3G units will make up about 40 percent of all sales while Wi-Fi units will make up the remaining 60 percent. In related news, is the iPhone code ban facing antitrust inquiry? and Apple Policy Said to Prompt U.S. Allegation by Adobe

• HTC’s Incredible Android Smartphone Hits the Market

• Twitter Launches Embeddable Tweets and PCMag’s Lance Unaloff thinks Twitter is the new CNN

• Governor Pawlenty says Minnesota needs to be more competitive. Healthy state economies will play a critical role in future job creation, but Minnesota does not rank among the nation’s top 10 “growth performers,” according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study rolled out Monday by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

• KeyOn Announces Acquisition of Network Assets in Iowa and Minnesota. KeyOn is one of the largest providers of wireless broadband, satellite and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services in the United States, primarily targeting underserved markets with populations generally less than 50,000. (Good thing for rural Minnesota?)

• Google Acquires 3D desktop company Bump Technologies

• Microsoft’s IE Sinks While Google Chrome’s Market Share Triples

• Seven things you need to stop doing on Facebook and tech pundit Leo Laporte mentioned on TWiG 39 that he’s going to delete his Facebook profile over the incomprehensible social graph moves — and Leo’s inability to understand their impact on privacy settings (which he explains as, “If I can’t understand them…how can the average person!“) — made by Facebook at F8, their developer conference.

• Bill Gates says that Microsoft has some tablet projects in the works.

Newsbytes for Tuesday, May 4, 2010 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch; Tim Elliott; Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: By the Birdinumnums’ Michael Caine in this instrumental. Podsafe music by Music Alley.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ MOJO MN post
+ Startup Zipnosis signs this significant deal with Park Nicollet
+ Audiofile Engineering
+ BusinessCard2 User Conference (BC2 website)
+ TEDxTC at the Science Museum
+ Compellent’s CDrive event
+ Minnebar at Best Buy HQ on May 22nd
+ Aaron Kardell runs Performant Design and created the iGarageSale app
+ Minneapolis-based Crashplan for backing up “in the cloud”

Minnov8 Gang 77: “May Day! May Day!” is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Minnov8 Gang 76 at the Minnesota “High Tech” Association is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

MHTA positions the conference this way:

As we enter the second decade of the 21st Century it is time to examine the assumptions and approaches that are fundamental to our success.  The New Deal of the last century was about getting the basics right – productivity and efficiency, providing people with meaningful work, getting the economy on its feet – using production lines and automation tools.

Today, the New Way Forward is about achieving these same goals while using distinctly different tools and approaches. As Minnesota business leaders look at a greatly changed global economy, they know their companies not only measure up – they frequently outperform global competitors.

Join us April 22, 2010 at the Minneapolis Convention Center for another outstanding program filled with immediately applicable strategies and practices to help you do the same.  Collectively, these ideas will do more than just get us back on track – they will propel us forward faster than ever before!

MHTA 2010 Spring Conference & Minnov8 Liveblog is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.