All the effort underway to kickstart innovation and entrepreneurial activity ((e.g., MHTA; MNCup; MOJO MN; Minnedemo/Minnebar; Minnov8; tech.mn) is clearly a reaction to the nearly terminal decline of risk taking and venture funding in Minnesota. Wherever there is a vacuum, something will fill it! How true is the perception that Minnesota lacks funding and risk-taking venture capitalists? If you read [...]
Continue reading...15. July 2010
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 [...]
Continue reading...27. April 2010
A landmark study was just released by two professors, one from Harvard Business School and the other MIT, which reveals that, for the most part, angel-backed companies enjoy performance gains of 30-50% when compared to other non-funded startups. From the executive summary: What difference do angel investors make for the success and growth of new ventures? [...]
Continue reading...30. March 2010
After many years of lip service to angel investment tax credits, the House voted 112-20 to approve a package of tax credits designed to stimulate job growth in Minnesota with a subsequent 58-3 approval by the Senate shortly thereafter and it now goes to Gov. Tim Pawlenty for signature. Sponsored by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington) and [...]
Continue reading...25. March 2010
What could you do with $1,000 for your best idea? Could you turn it into a scalable business? Let’s find out! MinneSpark will award 1 to n grants of $1,000 to Minnesota-based teams who demonstrate to their trustees the ability to take that money and turn it into something real. This is about doing more with [...]
Continue reading...8. March 2010
Pretty sobering assessment of our state and the future of innovation here….we might not have one if we don’t get moving in a positive direction! Minnesota faces a crisis of competitiveness in attracting high-tech industries, and needs a comprehensive science and technology initiative to remedy the problem. A 16 member committee of experts from the [...]
Continue reading...14. September 2009
Members of the largest multi-state network of angel investor groups in the country will gather in Minneapolis for the 6th Annual RAIN Makers Conference (http://www.rainsourcecapital.com/rainmaker/conferenceinfo.cfm) on September 23-24 at the new Hilton in Bloomington. Sponsored by St. Paul-based Rain Source Capital (http://www.rainsourcecapital.com/), this event has been held in other cities throughout the Upper Midwest in [...]
Continue reading...6. August 2009
Here’s a story many in Minnesota have been waiting to hear — including several of you out there in the local developer and ad communities who knew something was up. Yes, our friends at Minneapolis startup FanChatter have finally gone public with what they’ve been doing for the past four months. FanChatter is a site [...]
Continue reading...24. June 2009
Ann Winblad, a well-known and respected software industry entrepreneur and technology leader (and Minnesota bred entrepreneur!), is the co-founder and a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. In 1976, following a stint as a systems programmer at the Federal Reserve Bank, Ann co-founded Open Systems, Inc. with a $500 investment, and turned it into [...]
Continue reading...29. January 2009
For Minnesotans interested in starting up or expanding within the internet space in these challenging economic times, solid financial sector analysis is often difficult to obtain. For anyone who has pitched their idea, concept or business plan, it’s clear how important it is to put oneself in the shoes of investors, venture capitalists and banks [...]
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16. July 2010
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