Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

MN’s Own CodeWeavers Releases ‘CrossOver’ Version of Chrome Browser for Mac and Linux

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Talk about a brilliant move to get some attention. St. Paul-MN based CodeWeavers has extended the Google Chromium browser launch beyond Windows by announcing the release of “CrossOver Chromium” for Mac and Linux, available immediately as a free download.   Here’s the press release. (Note: To date, Google has only made the new browser available in a Windows beta version, which was announced on September 2, 2008.)

CodeWeavers says it is offering its version as a proof-of-concept “so Mac and Linux users can try firsthand the power and flexibility of the new Chromium open source browser.”  CrossOver Chromium also showcases the power of Wine, which allows CodeWeavers to rapidly migrate technology from Windows to alternate platforms. (Here’s more about The Wine Project.)

“We did this to prove a point,” said Jeremy White, CodeWeavers CEO, in the press release. “The message is very simply this: if you are a Windows software vendor, and you want to get your product into new markets, you should pay attention to Wine. Wine is a very powerful tool for bringing your product to new audiences in the Mac and Linux spaces. And in many cases Wine is faster and more economical than doing a native port.”

You have to love White’s latest blog post, Fire Drills and Proving a Point, which tells the story of how they pulled off their Chrome version.  An excerpt: “So in a CodeWeavers management meeting one day, we were looking for a way to show off Wine’s new maturity, particularly for porting applications.  What we needed was a freely redistributable application; one that didn’t exist on Mac or Linux, but one that was readily understandable….And then a little bird flew in the Window and chirped ‘Chromium’, and we knew we had it.”

CodeWeavers is no upstart. Founded in 1996, it brings expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster, and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. The firm is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the UK, and elsewhere around the world.

This announcement is just another example of the creativity and expertise in Minnesota’s developer community. Congratulations to CodeWeavers! I can hardy wait to hear how hard their site will get hit today with Mac and Linux users all trying to download the browser at the same time. Glad I got in early and got mine!  It will also be interesting to watch for Google’s reaction. I gathered that a Mac version was still quite a ways off, and here CodeWeavers does it in a week…   🙂

Best Buy Shakes Up VC Liaison Group

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The longtime head of the group within Best Buy Co. that served as liaison to the venture capital community is out, replaced by two senior VPs. Martin Nyman told me his position was eliminated June 30. He had been with the company for approximately seven years, with a recent title of Director-Global Innovation Network. At one time, Nyman had a staff of four, but that group was cut in April 2006 as part of a headquarters staff reduction.

A source inside the company described the recent moves as “the usual restructuring.” I was told that all VC-related activities are now under Rick Rommel, SVP-Emerging Business. Rommel reports to Kal Patel, whose title is EVP-Emerging Business. Also within Patel’s organization, I learned, is a second SVP-Emerging Business, Neil McPhail. My source tells me McPhail’s responsibilities are “less direct VC-related, although there is some overlap.” His main responsibilities relate to the stores and to the company’s “growth accelerator” initiative.

Yet another group within Best Buy is one that deals directly with the company’s own VC funding investments. That function has been headed for some time by Kuk Yi (first name pronounced “cook”), and is a part of the Finance function, specifically the Treasurer’s office. Yi also has a “dotted line” reporting relationship to Patel, I was told.

Late in March of 2008, a story broke via the blogosphere that Best Buy was forming a new VC fund of its own — actually two funds — which I later learned was an initiative headed by Kuk Yi, and it was seeking to hire Principals and Associates for those VC funds (as many as four positions). Here’s a blog post I did about the blog buzz and speculation going on at that time. The local Business Journal weekly broke the story in the Twin Cities media on March 28, picking up on the earliest blog reports.

No Action Since March?
The most surprising thing I learned from my sources recently is that no one has yet been hired for any of these positions. So, the question remains: just what is Best Buy doing in regard to formalizing its own venture investing function? And what changes, if any, can be expected in the liaison activity with the VC community at large, based on Nyman’s departure?

One thing is certain: Marti Nyman leaves Best Buy with a wealth of relationships with scores of VCs, including many of the most successful ones in Silicon Valley, where he spent much of his time. While assessing his next move, Nyman is doing business development consulting with a Twin Cities-based technology startup that had previously raised $5 million in venture capital and, he says, is on the verge of achieving significant adoption of its technology.

Thirty Semifinalists Named in ‘Minnesota Cup’ Business Plan Competition

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I attended and Twittered a bit at a reception Wednesday evening, June 25, at the grand, old James J. Hill Library in downtown St. Paul. (You remember old J.J., don’t you, the Bill Gates of his era?) It was an event to honor the startups who made it to the next round of the Minnesota Cup, an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas. The 30 lucky semifinalists were selected from a record of 840 entries in this fourth and largest year of the competition, and will vie for prizes that include $50,000 in cash for the first-place winner. An interesting tidbit I picked up at the reception: about 10% of the 840 entrants were Web 2.0 related.

Scott Litman, cofounder of the event, told me the competition this year was the toughest ever, and that many plans that might have made the cut in previous years didn’t. He also told me that, unfortunately, many entrants may have had great business concepts, but they were not understandable — the submissions were either poorly written, or riddled with so many acronyms and buzzwords that the judges flat-out did not know what the heck the submitter was talking about. (So, take heart, rejectees. You may be great at selling your ideas verbally — now work on the written word.)

Here’s how the Minnesota Cup site states its mission: “We’re looking for the next great entrepreneurial success story in our state. This competition is for 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 been out building your venture.” Well, I wonder if it’s possible that any who entered, and especially the chosen semifinalists, could really be “no tech” in this day and age? That would be hard to imagine. And, in looking over the list, there’s nary a one that would seem not to rely on technology in their businesses. (Although some without a website certainly have the aura of no-tech at this point, perhaps awaiting prize money to build? And what’s with all the student semifinalists being listed with no websites?) As for the lack of a requirement that the business be new, i.e., that older startups can also apply, I know at least two on the list are four to five years old and still chasing $50k. Ah, hope springs eternal. Here’s the full list:…  [Read More…]

Kwingo Launches Mobile Language Apps

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What do you do when you’re a successful, female, mid-career IT and operations executive with several big-name companies, and you decide to try something different? Why, you launch a mobile web apps company, that’s what!

Actually Lisa Foote first took some time to give back by using her executive skills for a year or so of non-profit charity work (with the United Way of Minnesota), after successful stints at Target, GE Capital, and Prudential. But it wasn’t long when the for-profit drive was back, and soon she was plotting, with husband Brad Roberts, a new business idea for solving language challenges in today’s increasingly global economy. And it just so happened that Web 2.0 technology was going to play a part — because Brad, who has a highly eclectic creative and business background, had become a self-taught Ruby on Rails developer.

The Birth of Kwingo
Foote and Roberts newly discovered life as entrepreneurs soon resulted in the birth of Kwingo.net, a venture they introduced earlier this year. Its mission is to bring simple, useful productivity tools to professionals working in field occupations using web-based mobile devices as a platform for delivery.

With her experience working in large enterprises, Foote knew that labor workforces were continuing to globalize, and that language challenges would just continue to multiply. Kwingo would provide the tools workers in the field needed to communicate with coworkers who speak a different language, helping everyone work more productively and safely….  [Read More…]

Minnesota’s Internet Tech Crowd Flexes Its Muscle

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If one had any doubt about the intensity of our state’s information technology and Internet community, one only had to be anywhere inside the U’s Coffman Union on Saturday for the third annual Minnebar “unconference” (part of an international phenomenon called Barcamp). To say the joint was a-jumpin’ simply does not suffice. And numbers alone don’t tell the story (though attendance was an event record at 430). Rather, it was the intensity of energy through the entire day that could only impress one about this somewhat quiet, and definitely underrated, sector of Minnesota’s economy.

I was there for at least 12 hours of the event — yes, it went on that long, and no one was complaining — and I can surely say that even the most skeptical of attendees who sacrificed part of their spring weekend were impressed with what they experienced, and left beaming with an elevated sense of pride in the industry they’re a part of. One needs only to scan the voluminous talk that went on in real-time — thanks to the magic of Twitter, and all archived here — to see that something big was happening in the Gopher state on this rainy fishing-opener Saturday. (In fact, Minnebar was ranked during the day as one of the top-five conversations going on in the entire, global “Twitterverse.”)…  [Read More…]

‘Minnebar’ Becoming Top Event for State’s Internet/Software Developers and Entrepreneurs

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An annual Minnesota event, playfully named Minnebar — which grew out of a grass-roots tech industry initiative called Barcamp — is happening for the third year in a row here in the Twin Cities this coming Saturday, May 10, at the U of M’s Coffman Union.
Minnebar logo By 8:00 am, somewhere between 300 and 400 software developers, startup founders (and hopefuls), web designers, interactive marketers, local media reporters, angels, VCs, and other investors will start converging in one place as they seldom do in any venue in these parts, at any other time throughout the year.

Coffman Union They come to talk shop, learn, share tips, listen to presentations on the latest tech developments and tools, share war stories, listen to startup pitches, and (of course) take notes, blog, and Twitter about all the proceedings on the laptops and smart phones they never seem to have far from their sides. …  [Read More…]

The Latest on U of M Technology Innovation and Commercialization

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The University of Minnesota is among the top patent producers in the world, ranking #4 on Scientist Magazine’s list of “Patent Powerhouses,” behind only three other major American universities. Yet, quantity of patents hardly paints the entire picture. What about helping to start up companies to commercialize those patents?

U of MN logo

According to the U’s own business development people (see link to Powerpoint presentation at bottom), the 20-year success record of the U’s technology company spinoffs is only half the university average nationally — and less than one-fourth the success record of the nation’s premier schools. What’s more, in one recent year (2004), for example, the U of MN spun off only one company compared to 14 at the University of Michigan and 16 at the University of Illinois. Why I am focusing here on spinoffs? Well, because, according the U’s own business development people, creating university spinoffs is “much more profitable than licensing (revenues)” to the school. …  [Read More…]

Innovation in Early-Stage Investing? You Bet! And MN Firm Is Major Player

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It’s no secret the gap between friends-and-family financing and venture capital funding is big enough to drive a…well, a busload of entrepreneurs through. But I’m here to tell you, friends, there’s hope on the horizon.

 

The capital needs of early-stage companies used to be served well by VC funds, but the aforementioned gap has been growing ever wider in recent years as most VCs have moved toward later-stage deals. Since the beginning of time, individual angel investors have been a factor in helping young companies with their capital needs. But never before have they had to step up as an organized force to address such a big problem as we now face in our country, and right here in Minnesota.

 

rainsource-logo1.jpgThe good news for all you entrepreneurs out there is that angels remain your best friends, because they’ve been banding together increasingly in groups to better fuel the capital needs of emerging companies.

 

petebirkeland1.jpgSo, why is this such an important issue? “If we’re not investing enough as a society in growth capital, we won’t grow jobs,” says Pete Birkeland (pictured here), CFO of St. Paul-based RAIN Source Capital. And his firm, the biggest little Minnesota investment firm you’ve never heard of, is doing much to innovate the process. Other members of RAIN’s management team are listed here.

 

Get this: RAIN Source is now the largest network of managed angel funds in the country, coming a long way in recent years in case you haven’t been watching. “We’re on the cutting edge,” said Birkeland. RAIN Source now numbers 24 funds in its network (including three licensees), across Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. And it already has its expansion sights clearly set on Oregon, Washington, and Florida.

 

The company’s RAIN Funds® are made up of angel investors interested in supporting growing companies. It helps organize these angel groups, providing part of of the capital for their funds, as well as legal templates, a process for due diligence, management support, access to deal flow, and other resources. The individual funds share expertise, deals, and experience between and among the other funds (angel groups) across RAIN Source Capital’s multi-state network. These groups range in size from seven to 61 members, with each pooling from $500,000 to $2 million in their own fund. The RAIN Source network currently has more than $25 million invested in 43 companies across its entire multi-state presence. At current count, RAIN has $17 million in available capital. And, since members can make side investments in any of RAIN’s deals, it estimates that at least another $17 million is available for investment.

…  [Read More…]