About Us

Minnov8 was started in early 2008 (our first post was in February of 2008: "Welcome to Minnov8") with the goal to focus on technology innovation in the State of Minnesota. Borne out of a frustration that, at the time, there wasn't a showcase for the talent, brainpower, creativity, and innovation that exists in this Land of 10,000 Lakes, several geeks set forth on a quest to deliver a destination site for just such a purpose.

On April 8, 2017 the Minnov8 Gang decided to stop podcasting on our 400th show and to "archive" this website.

Meet the Minnov8 Gang:

Steve Borsch: With more than 30 years in high tech playing a variety of roles in sales, sales management, business development, and strategy creation, Borsch has enjoyed leadership roles at Lawson Software, Vignette, Apple, Pioneer New Media, Panasonic Communications, as well as local startup Authorware (now part of Adobe's Macromedia acquisition).

He is now CEO of Marketing Directions, Inc., a 30-year-old trend forecasting and management consulting firm in Eden Prairie, MN, running various 'dbas' such as The Trend Curve™, Innov8Press and Innov8Trends. Clients include startups, small-to-midsize, and enterprise organizations.

Borsch also is a cofounder of IoTFuse, a Minnesota-based organization that unites accomplished doers, makers and hackers with the brightest executives, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators focused on the Internet of Things space. In addition, he blogs on trends in all sorts of areas that interest him on his personal blog, Connecting the Dots.

You can contact Steve using this site's contact form, at steve (at) minnov8.com, or you can connect with Steve securely.

Tim Elliott: After 20 years in technology marketing at Kodak, WAM!NET, and Datalink, Tim discovered podcasting and blogging. He created the first wine podcast, Winecast, in late 2004, and today it is a top 10 wine blog. Tim founded Acan Media in 2006 to bring online consumer-direct and conversational marketing to the wine industry.

He also consults with technology firms and Web 2.0 startups. Tim's personal blog can be found at timelliott.us where he writes mostly about social media marketing.

Graeme Thickins is a marketing consultant and advisor to technology firms.  He launched his business, GT&A Marketing, more than 25 years ago after positions in marketing and communications with pioneering tech giants Control Data and Medtronic. He's served as an advisor to more than 150 startups and corporate ventures that have achieved billions of dollars in shareholder value, some achieving highly successful IPOs or acquisitions for as much as $900 million. He's also served as an interim marketing or content executive for some of his clients.

Graeme has extensive credits as a published writer and analyst (more at his LinkedIn profile). His blog, now called GraemeThickinsOnTech, was launched in 2005. You can follow his daily updates at www.twitter.com/graemethickins.

Phil Wilson is the General Manager of BuzzFeed, Minneapolis, focusing on software development that makes it possible to share the Buzz. He runs Mobile Twin Cities, a mobile group dedicated to highlighting and discussing trends on mobile platforms, the Internet of Things, and how they all work together, as well as being co-founder of Mobile March, an annual event highlighting mobile technology and use.

Phil is also founder of RemainComm, a content creation firm and is adept at merging new and traditional media, creating content for many companies across broadcast, social, interactive and mobile media. He was formerly Co-Founder and President of Hyper IQ, a Twin Cities' mobile and web applications development firm. He is a frequent blogger, videographer and podcaster for all things tech and communication here and elsewhere.