Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I don’t have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do — they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just don’t (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. I’ve been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I can’t say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there’s another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We’re not talking a work reason here (I don’t think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac — though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS — that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new “GameCenter” in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I don’t have a need myself, and I’m certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about “CrossOver Mac,” here’s why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter.  She’s also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I’d help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called “Parallels” and “VMware Fusion,” either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think).  And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn’t like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month — plus a friend, Steve Borsch, told me Windows doesn’t really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another local friend, Gary Doan, said, “Wait, what about Boot Camp? That won’t cost you anything.” Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk — and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry’s here in MN). You can’t even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter’s Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1G to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2G. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didn’t want to do. I thought, wait a minute, we’re getting close to $200 here — for something we really don’t want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend’s tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her I’d gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldn’t have to invest any time at all if we went with this option.  Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, we’re both happy.

Which brings me to the subject of my post: there’s a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac — and it might just work for you.  I wish I’d have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money).  It’s a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

CrossOver Mac integrates seamlessly with Mac OSX. There’s no need to boot a separate Windows partition, or move files back and forth between two separate environments. It lets you work natively in Mac OSX — you run your Windows apps directly in OSX and save all your work files there as well. And here’s a key point: running just one operating system means faster performance as well. (Yes, that means better than Parallels and VMware Fusion.) Running on OSX also means that even if you’re running virus-prone applications like Outlook and Internet Explorer, you’re completely protected. But here’s the best thing of all, you need no Windows OS license! That’s right: you don’t need spend that additional money; you just pay for the very reasonably priced CrossOver program.

It comes in two versions: Standard at $39.95 and Pro at $69.95, and both are of course downloadable. And, yes, there’s a free trial. The system requirements to run CrossOver are really pretty simple.  And check out the list of supported Windows apps near the bottom of the product page — all the major ones you would expect.  But what if you want to use a Windows app that isn’t listed in their database? Does that mean that it won’t run under CrossOver? Here’s what CodeWeavers says: “Not necessarily. Many applications work perfectly under CrossOver without any modification whatsoever. However, we may simply not be aware of them. So, just because an application isn’t in our database doesn’t mean that your application won’t run. You might consider downloading the trial version of CrossOver to see if your application works. And if it does, please consider submitting it so that it makes it into the database.”

For more resources and links on CrossOver Mac, check out this nice video, and the company’s online  Support Forums are quite active.  You can also follow CodeWeavers on Facebook or on Twitter.

I learned at a recent business seminar at my local Apple Store that CrossOver Mac is available in pretty much every one of Apple’s stores. You may have to ask a staff member for it, since they may store it in the back room, but it’s there, according to James Ramey, the company’s head of sales, who gave a talk at the seminar. The title on his business card:  “Minister of Greed”… hah!  You have to admire a company with some seriously good products, but also a sense of humor — and not afraid to put it out there. Check out this news release they put out a few weeks ago:

CodeWeavers CEO Names Himself “Employee of the Month” for 175th Consecutive Month
Software Developer CodeWeavers Leader Calls Feat “Jack Welchian” as He Awards Himself Honorary Plaque

The only Codeweavers press release funnier than this one was from July of 2009:

Codeweavers to Overtake Microsoft by 2018
Current Sales Trend Indicates Gadfly Open Source Developers Will Be Nation’s Largest Provider of Windows Technology; Microsoft Imperiled CodeWeavers Offers to Buy Microsoft Campus “On Credit”

The company manages this unique approach to publicity under the guidance of Minneapolis PR firm Haberman & Associates, one of the best (and most unsung) here in the Twin Cities. As a marketing advisor to tech firms, I take my hat off to them.

And I thank CodeWeavers for helping massive numbers of people (me included) to avoid buying Windows.

One more thing: I forgot to mention CrossOver Mac is based on the Wine Project. Thank your local Linux geek for that!  Also note that CodeWeavers has two other very popular products: “CrossOver Games” and “CrossOver Linux.”

(Note:  This post appeared first at Tech~Surf~Blog.)

MN Company Lets You Run Windows Apps on a Mac – the Easy Way is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: The Brymers & their song “Do You Think” via the podsafe Music Alley.

Discussed During the Show:

+ Apple announces new iPods (like this one), ‘Ping‘ in iTunes and AppleTV
+ HP Buys 3PAR
+ Mergers & acquisitions rising. According to this 7 minute CNBC segment, the Commerce Dept. says that US corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash (e.g., GE could spend up to $30B in cash on takeovers in the next 2-3 years)
+ MIMA Summit
+ Minnesota Blogger Conference and the meetup the evening prior
+ Rainmakers Conference

Minnov8 Gang 92: Can I Get Your Card? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Any offering like BusinessCard2 requires critical mass to be effective. The more that people adopt and use this free service, the more powerful it becomes. As Lief has accelerated the number of people using the service, he and his team won’t be satisified until it becomes the primary way people encapsulate their value propositions and is a one-stop-shop for contact info, marketing of products and services, and even more portable on the web than it is today.

For competitive purposes Lief keeps intentionally quiet on disclosures of the exact reasons for this acquisition, but I suspect the customer base was one reason (that critical mass imperative is why) but undoubtedly there was other value not readily apparent that makes this a smart move for Workface.

The press release is after the jump. Congrats Lief and team!

Workface buys card.ly

MINNEAPOLIS (September 1, 2010) – Workface Inc. completed its purchase of card.ly from Massachusetts based Harkness Labs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will help Minneapolis-based Workface bring its technology to a larger user base.

Card.ly was launched in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Dan Blake, who also created the wildly popular video chat service, Tinychat. “Card.ly is a great service and it has tens of thousands of incredible users,” said Blake. “With the success of Tinychat we haven’t put more work into card.ly, but I thought it was important to find a good home for the service because I’m fully behind the need for an Internet business card.”

In 2007 Workface released BusinessCard2®, a rich interactive business card for the Internet. The company has been operating BusinessCard2 as an ongoing concern ever since. “Even in this challenging economy, we have been blessed to find opportunity and growth with BusinessCard2,” said Larson. “Our mission is to digitally interface business people with customers in a way that preserves the human condition and card.ly allows us to further that mission.”

At this time card.ly users will be unaffected, but Workface plans to integrate card.ly into BusinessCard2 in the months to come. “We’re very excited to bring these two services and visionary users together into a single, larger offering,” said Larson. “The result will be the leading network of interactive, web-enabled business cards on the Internet today.”

###

About Workface Inc.
Workface Inc. was founded in 2006 with the vision of humanizing the Internet and powering localized and relevant 1:1 real-time engagement. The company’s Workface® platform is customer engagement software that enables businesses to empower their sales and service force to digitally engage directly with customers on their corporate and third-party websites, search engines and mobile, in real-time. More information: http://workfaceinc.com.

About BusinessCard2
BusinessCard2 is a self-marketing tool designed to empower business people to create, promote, and broadcast their unique persona throughout the Internet. It is an open business tool that features improved identity-level search engine optimization, the ability to share business cards on select websites and social media, uploading of more than forty different file types, and engagement through messaging and live chat. More information: http://card2.com.

Contact:

Lief Larson, CEO Dan Blake
Workface Inc. Harkness Labs.
larson (at) workface.com and dan (at) harknesslabs.com

Phone: 612-310-5051
http://lieflarson.businesscard2.com

Workface Acquires Card.ly is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Though I’m a glass-is-more-than-half-full kind of guy and am constantly seeking out silver linings, opportunities and the positive, I wouldn’t be a good risk manager if part of that seeking didn’t acknowledge input that pointed out the downsides and the negative so I could modify our business strategies.

Suster starts off talking about the “funding frenzy” occurring in 2010 and later in the article discusses why this concerns him. He points out that the US economy has structural employment issues, consumer’s “piggy banks” (i.e., their houses) are empty, the appetite for government stimulus has waned, and what he sees as an end-of-year stock market sell-off will negatively affect VCs and angel investors.

His argument is that 2011 is likely to be bleak and that this year’s initial funding rounds, while fabulous due to that funding frenzy, could leave entrepreneurs in a “funding gap” as VC money dries up.

If you have time, read the entire article of if not, this post was originally published in a shorter format in the Wall Street Journal online.  Either way, read it.

Risks for Investors and Entrepreneurs is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furnari/177545342/

A survey of over 140 North American CEOs revealed that nearly half of their companies do not have a succession plan:

While 69% of respondents think that a CEO successor needs to be “ready now” to step into the shoes of the departing CEO, only 54% are grooming an executive for this position.

Part of the reason, as Felix Salmon points out, is that corporate boards like to hire the next big star to take over. That may work for big corporations (sometimes), but startups that lose an owner may founder and die without a clear successor to take over.

Startups are often personality-driven, but that does not mean they have to end when the driving personality leaves. A succession plan is simply an answer to the question “what do you want to happen if the owner leaves or dies or something?”

At a minimum, take care of these four things:

1. Pick and train a successor;
2. Make sure the owner’s will passes on the business;
3. If necessary, use a buy-sell agreement to pass on the owner’s interest; and
4. Fund the transition costs with a life insurance policy on the owner.

A succession plan is like a business’s will. And just like a will, you’ll gain peace of mind once you have one in place.

Sam Glover is a cutting-edge lawyer for cutting-edge Minnesota tech startups.

Startup Succession Planning is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

A new study (PDF) by the Kauffman Foundation paints a very different picture about the importance of startups:

When it comes to U.S. job growth, startup companies aren’t everything. They’re the only thing. It’s well understood that existing companies of all sizes constantly create – and destroy – jobs. Conventional wisdom, then, might suppose that annual net job gain is positive at these companies. A study released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, however, shows that this rarely is the case. In fact, net job growth occurs in the U.S. economy only through startup firms.

The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Foundation is among the thirty largest foundations in the United States with an asset base of approximately $2 billion.

You really need to spend some time at the Kauffman site since they have a wealth of research reports (all free) as well as this nifty Flash-based startup visualization tool.

But while it’s interesting and enlightening to see all of the efforts going on with startups around the country, the data about Minnesota was a bit disconcerting…until I thought about it for awhile.

Here’s what was disconcerting as I poked through the Kauffman data: Minnesota is not ANYWHERE near the forefront of entrepreneurial activity in the nation.

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity by State (PDF) states that, “Entrepreneurial activity rates follow strong geographical patterns. Entrepreneurial activity generally is highest in Western and Southern states, and lowest in the Midwestern and Northeastern states. The five states with the highest entrepreneurial activity rates were Oklahoma (470 per 100,000 adults), Montana (470 per 100,000 adults), Arizona (460 per 100,000 adults), Texas (450 per 100,000 adults), and Idaho (450 per 100,000 adults). The five states with the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity were Mississippi (170 per 100,000 adults), Nebraska (200 per 100,000 adults), Pennsylvania (200 per 100,000 adults), Alabama (210 per100,000 adults), and Minnesota (220 per 100,000 adults).”

WHY ARE THE STARTUP RATES SO LOW IN MINNESOTA?

1) Some say it was that we didn’t have incentives for investors and the Angel Tax Credit passing was key. In addition, some say there weren’t enough groups like MOJO MN, Minnesota Cup and others creating a climate of entrepreneurship in our State. I would argue that the Angel Tax Credit is a crucial (though quite recent) development and the jury is still out on it but it’s a foundational piece of kickstarting innovation in Minnesota.

2) Some say–especially as the gubernatorial race heats up—that it’s because Minnesota is such a high tax State which discourages entrepreneurial behavior. Ed Kohler, a local blogger and tech guy who does amazing writing, disagrees. Ed wrote about startups, high/low tax States, and whether or not that impacted where people started their company on his blog TheDeets. What I really appreciated was how he took another guy’s data visualization, did his own for the Twin Cities, and concluded that quality of life, smart people and the fact that startups don’t pay a lot of taxes anyway means high tax rates are a moot point in the startup debate and that Minnesota is actually a good place to start up a company.

3) Is it the lack of educational opportunities for startups? I’d argue no…since the Carlson School and University of St. Thomas have stellar entrepreneurial programs which have already produced many successful entrepreneurs. Add to that the sorts of coaching and professional advice winners of the Minnesota Cup receive, the lobbying and cheerleading of MOJO MN, community support from other techies here, and the ease with which startups can tap in to the brain trust that exists elsewhere because of the internet, and that doesn’t seem like a big issue.

4) Perhaps it’s the risk-averse climate? Maybe…but I’m already seeing that wane as an excuse, especially since so many local entrepreneurs are coming out with amazing technologies and leaping forward with calculated, but risky, endeavors.

IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS?

One thing in that The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity by State mentioned in their report was this tidbit: “From 2008 to 2009, entrepreneurial activity rates increased the most in the Midwest, but remained low in this region.”

That screams one thing to me: the Midwest has momentum. Especially in such an incredibly down economy in 2008/2009, startup levels increased (though no Minnesota-specific data was in the report comparing current levels to that particular increase).

I’d conclude that Minnesota needs to keep its foot-on-the-gas so we can reach what the author Malcolm Gladwell called the Tipping Point in his book of the same name. That tipping point is the moment that the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.

I’d argue that we’re damn close to that tipping point right now. Look around at all the activity with Minnedemo, Minnebar, Minnesota Cup, MN High Tech Assoc, Rainmakers Conference, all the meetups and tweetups and on-and-on and you can see that the one key statement in Kauffman’s report—that “Entrepreneurial activity rates follow strong geographical patterns“—means that building the momentum in our midwestern geography (and Minnesota specifically!) is going to put us on the map but in a high per capita startup level.

I’m sure you’ll agree that the momentum for change is accelerating and feels like it’s close to becoming unstoppable. But what are the other things critical to accelerate that momentum? What will the tipping point look like and when will we know we’re at one?

Comment and let us know.

Startups Aren’t Everything…They’re the ONLY Thing is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

“The Minnesota Cup is a statewide entrepreneurial contest that seeks out and supports Minnesota’s newest and most innovative business ideas, today announced the finalists for the 6th Annual Minnesota Cup competition. Finalists include a company that is developing the world’s first multilingual medical communication system and another with a revolutionary greenhouse technology for growers in any climate.

“Given the great success of so many of last year’s Minnesota Cup finalists, we’re thrilled to see some of the best and most promising business ideas in our program’s history this year,” said Scott Litman, Minnesota Cup co-founder. “These finalists are a true testament to the great entrepreneurial ideas that come from the state of Minnesota, and we look forward to honoring them at our awards ceremony in September.”

Read the full release after the jump.

MINNESOTA CUP ANNOUNCES COMPETITION FINALISTS

Sixth annual contest names top “breakthrough” business ideas in High Tech, BioSciences, Clean Tech & Renewable Energy, General and Student divisions

Grand prize winner to be announced Sept. 13 at University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center

MINNEAPOLIS – Aug. 19, 2010 – The Minnesota Cup, a statewide entrepreneurial contest that seeks out and supports Minnesota’s newest and most innovative business ideas, today announced the finalists for the 6th Annual Minnesota Cup competition. Finalists include a company that is developing the world’s first multilingual medical communication system and another with a revolutionary greenhouse technology for growers in any climate.

“Given the great success of so many of last year’s Minnesota Cup finalists, we’re thrilled to see some of the best and most promising business ideas in our program’s history this year,” said Scott Litman, Minnesota Cup co-founder. “These finalists are a true testament to the great entrepreneurial ideas that come from the state of Minnesota, and we look forward to honoring them at our awards ceremony in September.”

In the next round of the contest, the finalists in each division will compete by giving a 12-minute oral presentation to the judges. The winner of each division will be announced on Aug. 31 and will then compete for the grand prize, which will be awarded on Monday, Sept. 13, at the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis.

Contest organizers, University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks, the Minnesota Cup review board, mentors and past winners will join the finalists at the awards reception.

More than $130,000 in prizes will be awarded to winners, as well as consulting services from leaders in finance, accounting, legal and management support services. One finalist from each division – with the exception of the student category – will be awarded $20,000 in seed capital. The grand prize winner will be awarded an additional $20,000 and receive the Minnesota Cup, presented by David and Carolyn Cleveland and sponsored by the University of Minnesota.

One student winner will receive a $5,000 prize and the opportunity to compete for the grand prize.

The Minnesota Cup congratulates the following finalists:

Minnesota Cup Finalists – High Tech

• Curation Station – provides a multifaceted tool for gathering, curating and sharing content of nearly any media type on the web.
• GeaCom – developing a multilingual medical communication system.
• Open Preferences – provides a service that allows users to manage and control their ratings and preferences across many different media (e.g., music, movies, TV) and services (e.g., Netflix, TiVo, Yahoo, Last.FM, Pandora).

Minnesota Cup Finalists – BioSciences

• BioMatRx – provides tissue engineering products, equipment and information to the dental industry.
• MRI Robotics – designs and tests medical equipment for use inside an MRI scanner.
• NirvaMed – developing an organ-specific therapy-delivery technology platform for various clinical applications.

Minnesota Cup Finalists – Clean Tech & Renewable Energy

• EarthClean – commercializing an environmentally safe liquid that is exponentially more effective than water, Class-A Foams, and toxic retardants at stopping fires.
• Silent Power – manufactures and markets easy-to-install, highly reliable, power inverters for the renewable energy and backup power markets.
• Visiam – provider of processing technology that reduces the volume of municipal solid waste, dramatically increasing recycling rates and decreasing transportation costs.

Minnesota Cup Finalists – General

• Fresh EcoHarvest – developing a revolutionary greenhouse technology that allows growers to produce abundant, healthy food locally and in any climate with minimal environmental impact.
• Fruchi – provides a line of nutritious, real fruit frozen smoothies.
• Go Home Gorgeous – provides postpartum recovery treatments that have proven effective in decreasing the physical and emotional stress commonly associated with childbirth.

Minnesota Cup Finalists – Student

• Blue Water Ponds – provides environmentally-friendly services for restoring ponds through the use of barley straw and pond weed harvesting in an effort to control aquatic plants in the long term.
• OncomiR – developing a data repository of microRNA expression profiles; this information is critical to the development of drugs for cancer treatment.
• Power Trowel Solution Applicator – developing a device that allows a power trowel operator rather than a bystander to apply a chemical solution that slows the rate at which concrete dries.

About Minnesota Cup The 6th Annual Minnesota Cup is a statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs with the next breakthrough business ideas. From high-tech to high-touch, biosciences to retail, agriculture to social ventures, this is a competition for entrepreneurs, inventors and anybody with an innovative business idea. With more than $130,000 in prize money and support from the state’s leaders in finance, accounting, legal and management support services, the Minnesota Cup is the premier business idea generator in Minnesota.

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

How true is the perception that Minnesota lacks funding and risk-taking venture capitalists? If you read these three things below, you’ll see that it’s highly likely perception is reality.

• Having Eric Caron (@ecaron) point out this thread to me at Hacker News which was sparked by someone submitting this tech.mn article for discussion. While commenters have usernames vs. real ones and there is a lot of anecdotal discussion in the thread, it’s a troubling read since this is how many startups feel about being here in Minnesota

• Next I fired up my iPad RSS reader in order to skim the top tech sites I read at breakfast each morning. I immediately was presented with an incredibly contrarian-to-Minnesota-VC-funding-experience in an article on the tech site GigaOM entitled, “Seed Stage Investments Jump Sharply in Q2 2010.” It begins with this: “If there were any doubts that the entrepreneurial activity is hitting new highs, then the new data from the National Venture Capital Association puts them to rest –venture capitalists invested $6.5 billion in 906 deals during the second quarter of 2010, thanks to a renewed interest in seed and early stage companies along with new found enthusiasm for clean technology-oriented startups. This is in sharp contrast to a slowdown in the new money flowing into venture funds themselves.“

• In a pretty clear sign that everyone’s perception is reality came when I popped open StarTribune.com’s business section this morning and this article leapt out at me, “Venture capital still scarce in Minnesota.” It led with this: “Venture capital investments in emerging Minnesota companies perked up a bit in the second quarter but remained on track for the weakest year in 15 years of record-keeping, according to data being released Friday.“

The passing of the Angel Tax Credit will go a long way to tap in to the seed stage momentum GigaOM reported on this morning. Read Why Now? MN Legislature Passes Bill w/Angel Investment Tax Credit and Angel-backed Startups 30-50% More Likely To Be Successful to learn more about seed stage investing in Minnesota…

…but then tell us what else needs to be done? Make your voice heard in the comments!

Is Perception the Reality with MN Venture Funding? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

His most recent work comes from his own Zachstronaut, which he describes as a “web rocket-lab” site to showcase his love for the internet and gaming as well as his experiments. The result of that work is his internet game Infiltration.

Infiltration was built in response to blog Boing Boing‘s call for games to be developed that were inspired by “chip music“. (You can vote for Infiltration through today, 7/15). Most likely very familiar to gamer cycles but not far beyond, chip music is inspired by early video game soundtracks. Think Asteroids, Pac Man and a host of Nintendo games. Grab a Casio keyboard and hang on…

Johnson, a fan of this unique musical genre, has spent more than his fair share of time listening to chip music and envisioning the game activity that it might accompany. A User Experience developer at Worrell, he says, “Video games contributed to shaping my entire career in computers.” It was clearly a natural for him to develop a chip music inspired game.

Indie game developer game designs tend to be very simplistic, with an almost nostalgic look and feel. “Part of the design is a nod to the old school music but it’s probably more about the amount of time and money indie game developers have to spend on the games.” He goes on to note, “It took nine people a year to write Pac Man, I wrote this in about 30 hours.”

Johnson also saw an opportunity to advance his passion for open programming. “I wanted to make a game that didn’t need a plugin.” Hence the use of Javascript, allowing the ability to play the game directly from your browser. “Javascript and browser based games offer a very low barrier of entry.” notes Johnson.

The use of coding language like Javascript and HTML5 is on the rise as many see the use of Flash diminishing. “I don’t hate Flash, but it’s obvious it is going the way of the Dodo.” according to Johnson referencing the ownership and closed nature of the language. “I always bet on the openess of  web.” When developing the game and entering the Boing Boing contest (Did I mention you could vote for his game through 7/16.) Zach thought that the use of Javascript would allow him to be more unique and give him an upper hand. But “The use of Javascript was more prevalent than I thought…which is good.” Nearly half the games submitted use it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhvupyRdR5I

The design of the game and the participation in the contest serves Johnson in number of ways. First and foremost, it’s a hobby. It also clearly promotes his programming skills and many projects while allowing him to share his passion for open web design. In addition, while he could have spent much more time on the game he appreciates the short-term goal. “The competition set a deadline. Otherwise I can spend a lot of time on it. I need to make a game I need to get done.”

Where does he see this indie game developer movement going? “There are plenty of applications from entertainment to art to even civil engagement. Imagine someone demonstrating the need for better routing of traffic through a game.” He also notes a very basic result. “If I can make little tidbits of joy for someone, that’s great.”

The Joy of Infiltration Champions Open Game Development is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

On July 31, 1790, the first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process" and signed by then President George Washington.

Let’s say you’ve founded a startup and think you have a completely original idea no one has thought of before with new approaches to the way an old process works. You might then think all you have to do is patent that process and you can achieve the protection patenting is all about: excluding others from copying you.

Oh, if it were only so simple. The world of patents has become incredibly complex and is a minefield just waiting for a startup to get traction selling their offering before the unaware entrepreneur takes a step, hears a click, and thinks “Oh-oh” just before the “patent landmine” blows up. This is especially true in the area of method (i.e., process) patents but there’s hope.

Ernest Grumbles III

Ernest Grumbles III, an intellectual property attorney with Merchant & Gould and co-founder of MOJO MN, has one of the best posts I’ve read yet at StarTribune on the current state of method patents (and it’s obvious why you need somebody like him to ensure your idea is capable of being patented or even worthy of protection). As Ernest points out, method patents are neither good nor bad and are granted based on the merits of the claim and its level of abstraction. If you have a method idea you’re already moving forward on (or are about to) then you owe it to yourself, and your current and future investors, to make certain you are protected and that you wrap that idea in a way that minimizes abstraction and ensures you’re granted that patent!

That said, calls for patent reform are growing louder by the week and many of us who see some patents as ways to extort money from entrepreneurs and innovators or stifle innovation, hope the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office moves faster on reform.

Until there are significantly more precedents set in the area of method patents, people like Ernest will have no shortage of work and startups no end of concern over whether a method idea is too abstract to be patented or likely infringing on some obscure patent already granted.

Method Patents: Good or Bad? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

CEO Björn Stansvik and I grabbed lunch last week to discuss his company, their approach, some of the things they do and where they’re headed. To say they’re accomplished is an understatement (the firm is on the State of MN approved vendor list; they’re delivering numerous mobile apps and focusing on cell phone application development; and even creating translation apps) Stansvik himself has quite a list of accomplishments himself.

Björn Stansvik, CEO

Deciding to come to this country as a tourist many years ago, he was focused on getting a work visa and staying in this land of opportunity. He ended up finding a company for whom he wrote an 80+ page market analysis of opportunities for their product in another country and politely inserted himself in to their company by asking for a computer and desk. They declined, but he appeared anyway and worked for free for two weeks. They sponsored and hired him.

The way he tells the story you can see how this is a man who becomes totally focused and consumed with a goal, achieves it, and goes on to the next one. Quite impressive but the proof is always in the deliverable for a company in this space, right? Let’s take a look at two that are public and visible.

One of MentorMate’s “paying forward” products is called SpyderMate. This search engine optimization (SEO) tool is free (registration required) and crawls your site. I did ours and was surprised to learn that our Google pagerank is “3″ for our categories and it linked to several competitors.

SEO seems like a black art and one that assumes you’re willing to hand over your soul to the devil in exchange for meaningful data and guidance. While most of us are self-taught in this arena—and tools abound to ‘help’ us get better at it—it’s a beautiful thing to start with a free tool and migrate up from there.

Take a peek at this presentation (PDF) that contains some solid information about SEO and the reasons behind the creation of this tool.

The other paying it forward offering that caught my eye is MigraineMate, a free iPhone application for tracking and managing migraine headaches (iTunes link). If you haven’t suffered from migraines or know someone who has, then you should know that changes in weather and barometric pressure is quite often a trigger for these headaches to occur. Nearly 12 million people will experience these debilitating migraines on an almost daily basis and this app can help them prepare for migraine onset, track its onset and course, and thus work with their caregivers to create strategies and tactics to mitigate their effects.

Some screenshots of MigraineMate, an iPhone application for migraine sufferers

It’s good to see this kind of giveaway strategy since MentorMate should be on my radar screen (and yours) more so than it is. As I read through several case studies on their website one theme stood out: companies “discovered” MentorMate through a Google search or at an event. While this is a positive for their own use of SEO and a willingness to network, I always wonder why companies and people of high intrinsic value are too often flying below the radar of those of us who could utilize their services and why MentorMate (and Stansvik) didn’t register on my metaphorical radar.

With work that encompasses multiple visions turned in to software—from Living Tradeshow to an employee tracking iPhone app called LocationMate, to MobileInspector, a Minnesota Dept of Health & Human Services mobile application to collect data on the 24,500 services providers in our state—I’m certain that you’ll be hearing a lot more about this company going forward and Stansvik’s reaching out to Minnov8 is one such example that he has a clear, overt strategy to get the word out on their accomplishments.

Stansvik is an avid conservationist (and quite interested in green technologies) and a lover of kayaking. So much so that he’s about to embark on a trip for which he’s been training for over a year: the Yukon 1000, a canoe and kayaking journey up the Yukon river for 1,000 miles (I get sore just thinking about it!). But it’s this sort of laser focus on achievement that makes me suspect he’ll be highly successful in making us all aware that there is a firm right here that can turn our vision for a product or service in to software.

MentorMate: Turning Vision in to Software is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Jerry Grabowski, Redliner’s CEO, carved out time last week to sit down with me and talk about Redliner, their target markets and a bit about the features of the product they’re delivering as software-as-a-service (SaaS). To say that they’ve got a unique opportunity is an understatement.

All the things you’d expect in an online collaboration space are here and then some you wouldn’t expect: Document editing like we’ve all come to know; an audit trail of who has edited the document and when; and even simultaneous editing by multiple users. What I haven’t seen as well executed as Redliner has done it is: The ability to accept or reject changes and (probably my favorite feature) is the ability to make private comments about a proposed change to someone else. I can’t tell you how often I could’ve used this when I was managing dozens of contracts simultaneously while running strategic alliances at Lawson Software and how it would have been enormously useful to be able to coach one of my alliance managers on some salient point within the agreement before our company would propose a change.

A screenshot of a Redliner document being edited

Another key feature I saw as critical (especially for those of us managing multiple documents) is a personal dashboard. Not only can you set up workspaces for a wide variety of projects, initiatives, agreements or documents with multiple different people, the moment you login to Redliner it explicitly details what you need to pay attention to right away and redlines you’re waiting on from others.

A Redliner personal dashboard showing collaboration workspaces one has set up, 'redlines' needing your attention, and edits still pending for others with whom you're collaborating

How big is the market for a strong play like Redliner? Jerry Grabowski was very clear about their very real market opportunity. With 84,000 agency and 488,000 marketing communication personnel, their initial potential user base is significant yet targeted. Adding in the PR client user potential such as client management and audit firms adds another 336,000. With over 840,000 attorneys and their business contacts, the total user potential grows to over 4 million creating a market in the $billions.

One thing Grabowski mentioned during our meeting was the obvious word-of-mouth marketing that is already occurring with the beta of Redliner. When one early adopter begins to use it—and drags others into it since it’s so remarkably useful—these others see its benefit and features and sign up for it themselves. In most agreement collaborations I’ve been in, for example, there are typically a client and a legal team member along with one of us and our lawyer, which equals typically four or more people who’d have to log in to collaborate on the agreement (usually from different locations). Each would instantly see the benefits and the viral spread of Redliner is pretty clear to any of us who participate in this web/internet/SaaS space.

In my view, the only missing element right now inhibiting explosive rollout of Redliner (but will be in the commercial version at launch) is a security model implementation. Upon Redliner’s commercial release both secure socket layer (SSL) and in-workspace document encryption will be deployed and will certainly give warm fuzzies to anyone who’d harbor concerns over whether sensitive agreements could be tampered with or cracked. That said, when I’ve brought up Redliner to two lawyers I know who’ve said, “So you’re saying Redliner is NOT yet secure?” I question them and soon am able to point out that they are attaching highly sensitive agreements and documents TO AN EMAIL and counsel them that by doing so, they’re sending those critical documents around through insecure mail relay servers and can either be stored or intercepted by God knows who or where.

Then comes their reaction: “Oh.” It’s clear that once people are educated on their current insecure practices and see how powerful, simple and secure Redliner is, they’ll sign up in droves and you can too here.

Grabowski has assembled a solid management team and board and from everything I’ve seen and know in the SaaS space (and with their potential competitors like Google Docs, Zoho or Adobe BuzzWord) Redliner has very strong competitive differentiators. With intent for a premium user offering (perhaps $50/month for a license which I would’ve happily paid at Lawson!) and the casual user/collaborator with a free “lite” version facilitating a quick adoption.

If you, or anyone you know, have an interest in making an investment in Redliner, reach out to Jerry Grabowski at jerryg (at) redliner (dot) com. This company has a significant opportunity just waiting for them to grab it, and with the right resources will do so quickly and profitably.

See a quick run through of a portion of their features by viewing this video or the others here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4GG2LqzwGY

Powerful Document Collaboration with Redliner is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

If you don’t already know about the Minnesota Cup, it is an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas and is open to all entrepreneurs, whether your breakthrough idea is high tech or no tech, whether you are just putting your ideas into a business plan or if you’ve already been actively building your venture for some time.

James J. Hill

After some initial networking and refreshments, the evening festivities were kicked off by Anne Rasmussen, JJHill Library CFO/COO. She dropped some factoids on us about the Hill Library being one of the top business libraries in the nation, is fully self-supporting, and she ended her remarks by referring to how fitting it was that the entrepreneurs in attendance were sitting beneath a portrait of James Jerome Hill himself.

As you are undoubtedly aware living here in Minnesota, Hill was an incredibly successful entrepreneur who began his railroad empire in the 19th century and whose heirs established the library we were sitting in last night. (One factoid she didn’t mention–and one I’ve always found intriguing–was the supposed inspiration Hill’s life and empire building gave Ayn Rand for her character Nathaniel Taggart in her novel Atlas Shrugged).

Next up was Scott Litman, co-founder of the MN Cup (along with his business partner, Dan Mallin). Scott walked through the particulars of participating in the competition, what it took to deliver on it successfully as a competitor, a bit about the prize money, and gave the semifinalists the information they required to complete their business plans and make sure they submitted them by the deadline of July 23rd at 11:59pm (on a humorous note, Scott mentioned that historically something like 1/3rd of the plans are submitted within the final six hours!).

Scott then introduced several other folks who had remarks for the semifinalists about the reasons they were participating and why the Cup was such an important endeavor:

• John Stavig, Professional Director, Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, Carlson School of Management discussed the imperatives for our State in being catalysts for entreprenurial activity and ensuring innovation occurs here
• Mary Mathews, CEO of the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, represented the Arrowhead Growth Alliance described how their group—northeast Minnesota CEOs who’ve been meeting once a quarter for 20 years—decided to participate in the Minnesota Cup instead of doing their own thing since the Cup was so well established and already enjoyed gubernatorial support and considerable momentum (she also mentioned that 7 of the semi-finalists are from their alliance)
• Joan Moser, Spoken Impact: demonstrated how to present and wow investors by telling a story and emphasizing how to engage and focus ones message and value proposition as a startup
• Michael Wilmott, Consul & Trade Commissioner, Technology Partnering, Consulate General of Canada talked about historical investments they’ve made here and the motivations they have to discover ways to participate in Minnesota’s success.

The divisions are categories within which each semifinalist falls and it certainly appears that there are some fabulous and innovative startups being launched (or which have already been launched) here in MN. Don’t believe me? Then look here, click on any given semifinalist’s link, and check them out for yourself. The divisions are:

• Clean Technology & Renewable Energy
• BioSciences
• High Tech
• Social Entrepreneur
• General
• Student

The one thing that Scott Litman did (which you should take to heart if you’re an entrepreneur) is his strong message that the Minnesota Cup is truly an open competition and judging is based on the merits of the startup. Scott also gave we audience members the motivation to prod the startups and entrepreneurs we know (who’ve not yet participated) and make sure they participate the next time around (hint-hint Minnov8 readers).

Clockwise from upper left: JJ Hill Library in downtown St. Paul; the venue just before most people arrived; semifinalists Jon Coudron (MinuteBids) & Adam Sellke (Evolve); Scott Litman kicking off the event; a partial audience view; Joseph Reuter (Curation Station)

If you’d like to read numerous other perspectives on the Minnesota Cup and why this is such an important and worthwhile adventure for the future of innovation in the State of Minnesota, just head over to the Cup’s In The News and read a few articles linked to from that page.

Minnesota Cup Semifinal Kickoff is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

But Catherine was frustrated. She saw that the required AmeriCorps reporting was excruciatingly difficult for a program director to create and deliver so, like any good entrepreneur, she set about leveraging her background and abilities as a filmmaker, database design, technologist and advocate to pull together a team, obtain funding and set about writing her own software as a service (SaaS)!

Other State programs caught wind of what she was up to and climbed on board as initial customer/funders. The result of her efforts has evolved in to OnCorps Reports™ which provides web-based reporting and communication tools for National and Community Service programs, including AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps and Learn & Serve programs. Designed specifically to support service programs, the application framework is easily modified for use by any Non-Profit organizations to manage volunteers or staff, monitor program progress, and utilize financial reporting tools.

When we had coffee this week, I was at first delightfully surprised at how powerful and robust OnCorps Reports was and how it had a very well executed user interface, but at the same time I thought, “What the hell!?! Why isn’t Catherine involved with the minne* crowd, showing at Minnedemo or leading sessions at Minnebar? Connected to the startup community here in Minnesota?” So we spent some time having her walk me through the software and me thinking out loud about how to connect her immediately within our tech community and get her more attention from those of us keenly interested in discovering MN startup success stories.

OnCorps Reports’ mission is to provide state-of-the-art technology tools to help Non-Profit organizations and Community Service programs successfully collect, aggregate and analyze program data. OnCorps Reports™ strives to make it as easy as possible for program staff, participants and beneficiaries to share their success stories with funders, volunteers and the communities they serve, and greatly simplifies State and Federal grant reporting.

The key to the demand for software of this type is the old adage, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure” and it certainly allows program directors and State program management to do exactly that, but the mission-critical piece is ensuring that the lifeblood of AmeriCorps, its volunteers, can enter their served hours in an AmeriCorps program (if they’re even one hour shy of their service requirement it doesn’t count as volunteer service!) as well as recruit their replacement for the next year’s program (a commitment volunteers make when participating in AmeriCorps). The last critical one is mitigating the risk that an AmeriCorps program won’t fall short of its requirements and measured objectives and be in danger of losing its funding.

From what I saw in our brief time together and a casual demo, the hosted software certainly performed as a mature “Service as a Software” (SaaS) application. Designed in association with AmeriCorps State Commissions and program directors, the product suite Catherine and team have delivered is currently the market leader in AmeriCorps reporting systems, serving 20,000 users in 16 states.

A high level view of the OnCorps Reports software

One example of how a program director (or in this case a State Commission staffer) can easily get a scorecard-like view of each AmeriCorps program in their State, and quantify key aspects needed to be measured

So where is OnCorps Reports at today on their path to wildly successful and complete reporting dominance? Since their sales today are pretty much driven by unsolicited client referrals (they simply don’t have enough staff to sell and market to all 50 States and the hundreds of AmeriCorps program directors) they’re clearly trying to determine next steps and find ways to get the word out. That’s why I asked Catherine at our coffee to immediately send me information on OnCorps Reports so I could do this post and help her get more attention for this very worthy and important endeavor.

If you have ideas or have people whom you’d like to connect with Catherine, send an email to: info@oncorpsreports.com and let her know your thoughts or, obviously, leave a comment below.

OnCorps Reports: A MN Success Story is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

FryPanDigital

I met co-founder John Haddad at the Mobile March event a couple of months ago. He said that he’d keep in touch on the apps release and, true to his word, did so today and I thought I’d write a post immediately so you all could go and download this free app.

If you’ve ever spent any time hiking through the 8+ miles of skyway in the Minneapolis system, you know how challenging it is to find your way, locate that favorite deli or coffee shop you’ve been thinking about, or are heading toward to meet a friend for lunch and if you’re like me — a guy who detests pausing for several minutes to locate my destination on a skyway directory and then orient myself in the skyway labyrinth over-n-over again — this app will be a godsend and make it significantly simpler to ensure you and I don’t get lost in the skyway system.

For retailers and merchants who struggle to get the attention of potential skyway-walking customers (and face restrictions on placing signage in the walkways) this app promises to give them a new avenue to connect with customers as well as prospective ones. This is a struggle I know all too well since a few college buddies of mine once had a video rental store on the skyway system and every day multiple people would stop in and express surprise and delight that, “Oh good! There’s a video rental store in the skyway. How long have you been here?” even though they’d been in business at that location for several years. This app holds the promise of being both a fabulous tool for people to discover merchants and retailers but will also enable those retailers and merchants to deliver specials, deals and other focused advertisements through the app.

Mobile advertising through the app is the obvious monetization play for FryPan Digital and Haddad mentioned that they have been receiving nice feedback on the app, solid downloads (more than 100 even before this launch as a developer download) and they also enjoyed this great article at the Examiner. Here are some screenshots of the app:

It’s clear that Haddad and crew hope that this app becomes wildly successful and fuels a business surrounding it. If the word gets out and people use it, they’ve got a good shot at making it the de facto way for mobile users to navigate the skyway system and to also act as a channel for merchants and retailers to leverage.

Take a peek at their video about the app and go download it if you’re a Twin Citian who traverses the Minneapolis skyway system or if you’re a visitor to our fair city:

Lost in Minneapolis Skyways? FrypanDigital Has Your Lifeline is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

ReliaCloud, our own local (but national) cloud computing infrastructure company, has launched a full fledged channel program centered on their enterprise-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offering.

According to Reliacloud, the five year growth outlook for IT cloud services revenue from 2009 to 2013 remains strong, with an annual growth rate of 26% – over six times the rate of traditional IT offerings (IDC, September 2009).

If you’re paying attention to cloud computing at all, then you can’t help but see that enterprise and small business IT spending is moving more and more to the cloud due to its easier set up, scalability, flexibility, built-in maintenance and support, and reduced costs for hardware and software maintenance.

ReliaCloud is focusing on making the reseller process as easy as possible, by providing a suite of tools that supports their resale process. ReliaCloud has developed a series of programs that maximize the use of their Cloud Storage and Cloud Servers for each of their customer profiles and, according to Brian Stevenson, Vice President of Sales for ReliaCloud, “We expect IT consulting firms and managed service providers to be the driving force of cloud adoption.”

I couldn’t agree more. Isn’t aligning incentives of others to leverage what you offer the basis of building an ecosystem? Great partnering is what made Microsoft so dominant for so many years and it’s obvious that ReliaCloud understands that making it easy for providers to build a business atop, around and with them will gain significant momentum for what they’re offering, and if the growth in cloud computing continues like IDC states (and which I believe is true) then striving to build and deliver — through as many channels as possible — an infrastructure layer upon which people can build toward that growing future, the more likely it is ReliaCloud will become a significant player in the space.

During a session at the recent Cloudcamp George Reese, CTO of cloud computing firm enStratus, laid out the layers of the cloud: SaaS; PaaS and IaaS. Think of SaaS as the layer where Salesforce.com plays (i.e., application layer); PaaS as the layer where companies expose their application programming interfaces to functionality others can use (e.g., AppEngine from Google and Force.com from SalesForce); and IaaS as the layer of hardware and administrative, policy-based services, internet connectivity and stuff that allows the other two to run (IaaS is sometimes known as Hardware as a Service or HaaS).

Nothing is more important than the IaaS layer since without speed, rock solid storage and a robust platform, the other two layers can’t function. With this new partner program at ReliaCloud, they’ll have a good shot at differentiating themselves from other providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Rackspace due to their focus on customer service which they’re carrying over from Visi and the learning they’ve gained from their direct client interactions at ReliaCloud.

ReliaCloud Releases Partner Program is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

"Fail Whale" photo by binxitron

You can find anything online, including legal documents. But that doesn’t mean you should use them. Two local lawyers recently put LegalZoom and LawDepot, two popular online legal forms providers, to the test.

LawDepot calls itself a “trusted, do-it-yourself legal” website. LegalZoom says “we put the law on your side,” and features favorable quotations from the Wall Street Journal and a lawyer on its front page.

It remains true, however, that you get what you pay for. For example, employment lawyer Karen Lundquist recently took a good, hard look at LawDepot’s $15 employment agreement. She found that it actually contained a provision that was illegal under federal law. In other words, there is no state in the country where the term would be legal. In every state, a company that tries to cut costs by using LawDepot’s employment agreement is just begging to get sued.

Another local lawyer, Greg Luce, took a look at LegalZoom’s $69 will package. Luce tried to put a positive light on what he got, calling it “a good start.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

There is an old saying: “only a fool has himself for a lawyer.” Downloading online legal forms is like playing Russian Roulette with your business. Unless you have the expertise to spot the problems Lundquist and Luce ran into, you probably shouldn’t use them. Of course, if you had that expertise, you probably wouldn’t need the forms, anyway.

Cheap legal forms may be tempting, but sometimes the cheaper path costs a bit more up front. You will have trouble keeping your startup lean while you are defending yourself from an employment discrimination lawsuit. Pay a lawyer for the right document, and you can avoid that ugly scenario.

Skip the online legal forms unless you know what you are doing.

Sam Glover is a Minneapolis lawyer for consumers and tech startups. He also edits Lawyerist, the lawyering survival guide, and Caveat Emptor, a consumer law blog, and speaks frequently on law practice and lawyering. We’re pleased to have Sam as a new contributor to Minnov8.

Startups–Lean or Not–Beware Online Legal Forms is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This past week, I thought it would be an interesting little project for me to do a survey of sorts as the basis for this blog post. What I did (totally unscientific, I admit) was ask all the Twin Cities-area mobile developers I happened to know just how many apps they have on the two major platforms, Apple and Android, and how many users have downloaded their apps to date.  It turned into a bigger project than I thought!  It required a lot of back-and-forth emails to clarify all their current offerings.  But I’ve sorted it all out as best I can, and you’ll see the results of that survey in the second half of this post.

The two most-experienced mobile app development firms in Minnesota I have known quite well for some time, having been a consultant to both in the past: DoApp and CodeMorphic.  These two firms began developing for the iPhone platform as soon as Apple released the SDK in March 2008, and had their first creations in the App Store from the get-go, in the case of DoApp (July 2008), and CodeMorphic soon after. So, it was no surprise to me, then, that these two have the largest numbers of downloads locally. But many more Minnesota developers jumped in after them, and still are jumping in. In fact, I learn about a new one almost weekly. Some publish apps in their own name, some only for clients, and some do both. (For apps developed for-hire for client companies, developers cannot track ongoing download numbers in real time — only their clients know, unless they tell them or otherwise publicize the numbers. But the developers can certainly make educated guesses, which some of them did for me for my survey.) What triggered this idea for a post was a news announcement one of the two big local development firms just put out …

DoApp Inc. Announces One Million Downloads of Its “Mobile Local News” App

Actually, it’s not one app; there are more than 100 of these DoApp “MLN” apps out there, because that’s how many customers (media outlets) have signed up with DoApp to date to use what is really an “app platform.”  It allows DoApp’s customers — TV news stations, newspapers, online publications, and radio stations — to easily brand the app for themselves and deliver their content via smart phones and other mobile devices, including the Apple iPad.  (DoApp has not yet submitted to Apple an app designed specifically for the iPad, though its many iPhone apps do work on that new device.) In its recent announcement, DoApp counted downloads for all its locally-branded Mobile Local News apps, including both Apple and Android downloads, in saying they have surpassed the one million number. The company first made the Mobile Local News app available in April 2009. For more about all of DoApp’s products, see the company’s web site.   (In the photo: Joe Sriver, center, Founder; Wade Beavers, left, CEO; and Dave Borrillo, VP-Software Development.) I conducted an email interview with DoApp founder Joe Sriver to learn more about the current status of his company’s Mobile Local News app business, which follows….

First, here’s a map showing U.S. coverage of DoApp Mobile Local News apps. Click on it to go a page that also lists, below the map, all the media properties throughout the country that have the company’s app.

Minnov8: Just out of curiosity, Joe, what percentage of the one million downloads you’re announcing for Mobile Local News are iPhone vs. Android?
Sriver: “Currently, the breakdown is about 60/40 in favor of the iPhone. Android has really been gaining a lot of ground in the last year. 2010 is a big year for Android.  We are seeing over 49 different brands of Android phones that are tapping our MLN app — a challenge to maintain.”

Minnov8: How many of your existing customers for this app offer both iPhone and Android versions? Does our local WCCO-TV, your first customer, offer both?
Sriver: “Our platform offers the native iPhone and Android versions for all our media outlet customers — WCCO included. We will also have a Blackberry WAP version debuting in the next month.  We’re seeing a new influx of iPad users accessing the news, too, so let’s just say we will have an iPad solution soon.”

Minnov8: Most all your customers for this app appear to be TV stations. Are any radio stations or newspapers signed up yet? Do you expect more of the latter two?
Sriver: “We have been signing newspapers as well.  In the last few months, we signed Journal Communications, which includes Milwaukee’s Journal-Sentinel, and the Los Angeles News Group, which includes several newspapers in the LA area. Our SBT News app serves the newspaper in South Bend, Indiana.  We have also signed Swift Communications, whose properties include many newspapers in the western and northwestern U.S.  With our recent announcements, a flurry of radio stations are contacting us, and our first radio station app will be out in the first week of May.”

Minnov8: How much are you seeing media outlets developing their own custom, native apps for mobile devices — as opposed to simply skinning your app and configuring it for use with their local audiences?  What’s the difference in time and money with your approach?
Sriver: “We’ve talked to many media outlets. A few of them have decided to do development in-house. Many of them call us back a few months later after they realize all the development requirements for iPhone and Android. They tell us our Mobile Local News solution is the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient method to bring their content to mobile. The money difference is huge for them because its the support that kills them, and we have a solution that fits to scale.  We’ve done nine major enhancements in 12 months already, and for a property to do so is a huge resource drain.  It’s just tough to keep up with technology.”

Minnov8: How does DoApp Inc. make money from this app — licensing?  Revenue share? Where does your “Adagogo” ad platform fit in here?  What portion of your customers for this app have ads appearing on it?  What revenue do you make from ads that appear on the app?
Sriver: “We offer a subscription model where stations can receive 100% of revenue from advertisements, or an advertising revenue share model, where news organizations pay a small set up fee and then share advertising revenue with DoApp.”

Minnov8: Are all current customers for the app in the U.S.? If so, any plans to pursue business in other countries?
Sriver: “Yes, all current news entities who use Mobile Local News are in the U.S.  We do have plans for news organizations in other countries. We can support translations right now, and we are working to reach out to the growing Spanish-speaking consumer market.”

Minnov8: Your original partner for the Mobile Local News platform was Inergize Digital Media of Minneapolis — and I remember having the initial discussion with them on your behalf in the fall of 2008. What role do they play? What percentage of the media outlets that have signed up to use your app were existing customers of theirs?  And what revenue split does Inergize get from this partnership?
Sriver: “Inergize brought many of their existing stations who used their web solution to the mobile platform via DoApp’s Mobile Local News. We’re working to establish other relationships and also extending our direct model to TV news/radio/newspaper properties.  The relationship works like this: DoApp provides Inergize’s partner stations with the DoApp Mobile Local News mobile publishing solution. A percentage of ad revenue goes to the station or newspaper, Inergize, and DoApp.”

Minnov8: What does 2010 hold for DoApp? What portion of your overall revenues do you expect will come from the Mobile Local News and Adagogo combined?
Sriver: “We will continue to build our base of news entities who use Mobile Local News.  MLN is the most popular platform for mobile news delivery in the U.S.  Our Adagogo ad platform is currently being used on all Mobile Local News apps. We will continue to grow Adagogo as well. DoApp is also focusing on mobile real estate. We have created what is arguably the most advanced real estate solution, combining cost savings capabilities for agents with simplicity for their clients — allowing mobile access anytime, anywhere via smart phones and other mobile devices.”

So, what about DoApp’s total stats, for all their apps?  Here are the numbers I got from Joe:

-What is the total number of apps DoApp has had accepted into the App Store? iPhone: 125 (all but about 15 are Mobile Local News apps). Android: 110.
-Paid vs. Free? iPhone: 4 are paid apps, the rest are free. Android: all are free.
-What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? iPhone: 4.5 million. Android: 600,000.  Total= 5.1 million.

So, where do other Minnesota developers stand as far as downloads?  Well, here’s that unofficial survey of mine, with respondents in alphabetical order, by company name.  The first happens to be the other large player in the iPhone market I referred to earlier, who may in fact have the largest number of downloads of all, although that cannot be verified:

CodeMorphic – Bill Heyman, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 50. (All under the names of clients.)
-Paid vs. Free? 20 paid, 30 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? CodeMorphic provided a conservative estimate (because its clients have the download figures): 3-5 million.  The most popular of CodeMorphic’s apps has been the NPR Public Radio Player, which the firm said had 2.5M downloads as of two months ago. It also did MPR’s app. Its other popular apps include the “Smarter Agent” real-estate app. Some national brands CodeMophic has done apps for do not allow the firm to publicly disclose them as clients, but these apps have broad reach, too. To see a selection of some of  CodeMorphic’s apps, see the firm’s portfolio page.)
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None yet.

Mentormate – Bjorn Stansvik, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 1 (“MigraineMate”).
-Paid vs. Free? Free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 858.
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None yet. (“LocationMate app to be launched, for both iPhone and Android.”)

Mobile On Services Inc. (BuildAnApp.com) – Scott Pearson, VP-Business Development - UPDATED
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 22. (“We’re still in beta.”)
-Paid vs. Free? All free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 4,000 iPhone, 500 Android. (“Will be a much different story in a couple of months.”)
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? Yes, 12.

MobileRealtyApps.com, and Performant Design LLC – Aaron Kardell, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 4. (“Soon to be 5.”)
-Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 2 free. (“Soon to be 2 paid, 3 free.”)
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 20,000.
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? No. (“But coming soon.”)

Mobile Roots – Lynn Smith, CEO/Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 5. (Three are under Lynn’s name; two apps were developed by Mobile Roots for clients: “Margaret for Governor” and “Brazelton for House.” Two more apps are in development for political candidates.)
-Paid vs. Free? 1 paid (“What the Funkytown!” – $0.99), 4 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 3,270.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (“But releasing our first next week.”)

Recursive Awesome – Justin Grammens, Cofounder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 7 public apps in the App Store; also 5 private apps for one client, which are installed using the limited “AdHoc” distribution method, whereby each app is manually installed on individual Apple devices.
-Paid vs. Free? 1 paid, 7 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? Estimate provided: 850,000.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Yes, 6 — 1 paid, 5 free, and 1 in private development. Estimated total downloads for these: 60,000.

Refactr – Ben Edwards, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 2. (“And 2 more submitted.”)
-Paid vs. Free? All free to date.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? One app built for Mayo Clinic: download number not known. The firm says its own app, “Flashbang,” has been downloaded about 20,000 times.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? None yet.

Tiny Mission – Bekki Freeman, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 3.
-Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 1 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps to date? 1600.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (But “working on it as fast as we can type!”).

One thing that occurred to me as I was working on this survey over the past few days: it isn’t just software development firms that doing mobile apps — many of those being firms that do development-for-hire, and some of which are doing self-publishing of their own apps.  But there are also other types of local firms that are developing their own apps, some in-house, including startups whose initial product is a mobile offering, or has a mobile version. One such startup I just learned about is this one, based in Stillwater:

Nibi Software – Troy Peterson, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 1. (“An educational app called Nibipedia, which mashes all the educational Youtube channels with Wikipedia articles — so that, when reading an article, the app recommends relevant videos. It also tracks your research path for you so you can review later. We have several other apps in the queue. Apple makes taking an idea from conception to market so much easier than with traditional web apps. We’re stoked.”)
-Paid vs. Free? Paid – $1.99. (“But we’re offering it to teachers in our Facebook Group for free.” Presumably, that would be via the AdHoc distribution method.)
-What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? No specific number reported. (“It was just released, and has not been promoted. But we’ve had several hundred downloads already from people who became aware of it in the educational marketplace. It’s really designed for the larger display screen of the iPad, so we are setting to work to promote that in the next few weeks.” Presumably, that would mean an iPad-specific version of the app is coming.)
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Not yet. (“But we’re going to, for sure.”)

A footnote: I only contacted firms that I know to be developing for the Apple or Android platforms, but I make no claims that this is a complete list. One firm I contacted that chose not to report its numbers at this time was Handcast Media Labs, creators of the “SparkRadio” app (one of my personal favs), which is available for both the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad platforms. Another developer I contacted did not respond: Dan Grigsby, who was head of MobileOrchard.com, a company he announced recently he was shutting down.

Now we want your input: Who have we missed? Are you a developer doing mobile apps? Do you know of a Minnesota company that has released iPhone or Android apps?  Is your mother doing iPhone apps? How about firms based outside the Twin Cities? If so, please tell us in the comments!  Also tell us what apps you like.  And, lastly… is the iPad better than sex?

MN Mobile Developers Clocking Millions of Downloads is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

From the executive summary:

What difference do angel investors make for the success and growth of new ventures? William R. Kerr and Josh Lerner of HBS and Antoinette Schoar of MIT provide fresh evidence to address this crucial question in entrepreneurial finance, quantifying the positive impact that angel investors make to the companies they fund.

Angel investors as research subjects have received much less attention than venture capitalists, even though some estimates suggest that these investors are as significant a force for high-potential start-up investments as venture capitalists, and are even more significant as investors elsewhere. This study demonstrates the importance of angel investments to the success and survival of entrepreneurial firms. It also offers an empirical foothold for analyzing many other important questions in entrepreneurial finance.

Key concepts include:

• Angel-funded firms are significantly more likely to survive at least four years (or until 2010) and to raise additional financing outside the angel group.
• Angel-funded firms are also more likely to show improved venture performance and growth as measured through growth in Web site traffic and Web site rankings. The improvement gains typically range between 30 and 50 percent.
• Investment success is highly predicated by the interest level of angels during the entrepreneur’s initial presentation and by the angels’ subsequent due diligence.
• Access to capital per se may not be the most important value-added that angel groups bring. Some of the “softer” features, such as angels’ mentoring or business contacts, may help new ventures the most.

I came across this post from the excellent blog of David B. Lerner, a guy who describes himself as, “a Serial Entrepreneur, Director of Columbia University Venture Lab/Spin-Offs Program, Angel Investor, and Golfer-in-Exile” but who is, most importantly, someone who tracks this space and has this series on angel investing if you’d like to know more.

Angel-backed Startups 30-50% More Likely To Be Successful is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Besides being a good guy and friend of Minnov8, Lief is someone who is cut from the proverbial entrepreneur’s cloth: highly focused; persistent; always seeking; and someone who will make his offerings successful no matter what (disclaimer: Graeme Thickins has been assisting Workface as a client). It was with great delight that we saw Lief have an opportunity to present at the Always On/On Demand 2010 Conference this week and you can see him in action below.

Workface Presents at AlwaysOn is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.