Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Geekettes Launches Twin Cities Chapter

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girlgeeksAs the father of a smart and accomplished young woman who is also very tech-savvy, I’ve seen first-hand what it means to a young woman when technology is a strength. As an always on and always connected person who “gets it”, this strength has accelerated her learning, her career, as well as her overall engagement as she uses her skills and abilities to collaborate, adapt and create.

She most likely doesn’t yet know that Geekettes is launching a local Twin Cities chapter but I’m going to send her this post. Geekettes is a community of female founders, engineers, designers, businesspersons, entrepreneurs, investors and communications specialists supporting each other in following dreams and achieving success. This is a group that welcomes all women from different backgrounds of the tech industry to participate. Fortunately they also welcome men to join them and engage in the discussion, but they probably don’t need us hangin’ around!

The objective with the new Twin Cities Geekettes chapter? To plan and organize regular inspiring workshops, events, hackathons, mini-conferences and mentorship programs where every woman and girl leaves feeling like they connected with and felt supported by other members of their community and learned something new.

The Geekettes have gone global in a big way across Europe and America, connecting Berlin, Hamburg, New York, London, Portugal and Maastricht. The brand new Twin Cities chapter is holding their Launch Party on Friday, March 14, 2014 at the University of Minnesota Kenneth H. Keller Hall.

It’s a free event but they can only hold 130 people so register right away or let the geekette in your life know about it immediately. Best Buy’s CFO and CAO Sharon McCollam and BMC’s Katie Tierney will be the speakers. More information and to register can be found here and their press release is below.

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Geekettes Launches Global Chapters To
Expand Efforts to Support Women in Tech

Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 1, 2014 – Geekettes, an organization offering a platform for aspiring and current women innovators in technology, today announced its first expansion to support, foster and create opportunities for burgeoning female entrepreneurs, engineers and designers across Europe and into the United States.

In an effort to promote women in technology and gain access to all insights and experiences of women, Geekettes will invest in programs that will foster new opportunities, innovation, job creation, startup support and inspiration for the next generation of ladies to enter the fast growing tech industry.

“Geekettes’ purpose resonates across the globe. With this in mind, additional chapters of the Geekettes movement will be created in other tech hotspots around the globe,” said Jess Erickson, Founder of Geekettes. “As your community grows, your organization should grow too. That’s why we’re thrilled to launch the next Geekettes chapter into NYC, London, Lisbon, Porto, Maastricht, and Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St.Paul) with current hubs in Berlin and Hamburg.” Denise Philipp, Co-Founder of Geekettes adds that, “Our aim is to connect women across different countries and inspire the next generation of ladies to get excited about careers in technology.”

Technology is pushing innovation in many different sectors across the globe. The Geekettes believe that there should be greater proportion of women in the creation and decision-making process on all fronts: from investing to mastering code to jumpstarting one’s own business. This global expansion will focus on empowering women by providing them with resources and tools to achieve their goals while connecting them across various global cities. In addition, it will focus on inspiring the next generation of women to join in on a rapidly expanding global technology community.

The expansion into these new cities will deepen the footprint and awareness for women and the opportunities that exist within a growing community.

About the Geekettes Twin Cities launch: We have creative, innovative minds here in Minnesota. There’s a thriving and quickly growing tech and startup scene with a vibrant community. Along with standout startups, the world’s largest electronics retailer, Best Buy, 3M and several medical technology companies call the Twin Cities home. The passionate and talented women of Minnesota are ready to build a platform for women interested and involved in the tech and startup scene. “It’s an exciting time to be a woman in this industry and inspire the next generation to learn more. Seeing my 10 year old daughter’s increasing interest in coding reminds me of the importance of what this organization does. I’m thrilled to be involved in a proven network where women support each other in following dreams and achieving success,” said Sara Heitkamp, Co-Ambassador of the Twin Cities Geekettes.

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The Twin Cities Geekettes programs will officially launch this March with a kickoff event sponsored by The University of Minnesota, Valere and Best Buy at the University of Minnesota campus. This event is open to interested women who’d like to join the community and men who want to join the discussion.

For more information on Geekettes organization: www.geekettes.io
For more information on the launch party: http://bit.ly/1jIJOfD

Geekettes is a global organization offering a platform for aspiring and current women innovators in technology to learn and connect.

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MN 2014 Entrepreneur Kick-Off

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mnentrepreneurkickoff_thMinnesota 2014 Entrepreneur Kick-Off on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Here’s a brief program overview and additional details.

Learn from and connect with prominent Minnesota investors and successful startups at the Minnesota 2014 Entrepreneur Kick-Off event. Hosted by an alliance of 19 Minnesota Entrepreneur Network partners, this premier event will teach, inspire and ignite local entrepreneurs and inventors, and propel Minnesota’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Program highlights include:

  • Savvy Entrepreneur Symposium – “Crowd Funding Nuts & Bolts” symposium to uncover actionable tips for successful crowdfunding and getting a company off the ground, led by experts at Mad Hatter Agency, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A., Risdall Marketing Group and Spark.
  • Entrepreneur Bazaar – Meet and learn from national award-winning startups, including companies recognized by the Minnesota Cup, Midwest and National Cleantech Open, Idea Competition and more.
  • Successful Entrepreneur Stories – Stories from Garden Fresh Farms, Perk Health and When I Work will demonstrate how startups gain traction and resources to succeed.
  • Finance Panel – A panel of finance experts from across Minnesota will answer investment questions, share funding examples and provide guidance.

Date:
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 3-9pm

Location:
Boy Scout Base Camp, Fort Snelling
201 Bloomington Road
Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111
Map

Registration:
$20 for students
$40 for startups (0-2 years)
$50 for general admission

For more information and to register, visit www.mnentrepreneurs.org

Tedx Comes South of the River

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IMAG0230Lakeville saw it’s first Tedx on Monday night…and Lakeville was impressed. Ok, not all of Lakeville saw it, but about 150-200 of its residents did. In case you’re not familiar with Tedx, it’s the local, independently organized version of the popular Ted Talks that have been popularly educating audiences, and YouTubers, on everything from driverless cars and neuro-science to global warming and conservation through using only one paper towel to dry your hands.

Tedx Lakeville was spearheaded not by some local brain trust, board or politician, but by a senior at Lakeville South High School (I know, right!). Dylan Adelman is by no means the embodiment of a stereo-typical high school senior guy. He shows very few signs of ‘senioritis,’ waiting for high school to end so he can celebrate the “Summer of Dylan.” Instead he decided Ted, and its series of short presentations, needed to come to Lakeville and he made it happen. The result was “The Next 100 Years: The Future of Politics, Education and Technology.”

So how did it go? In a word…fantastic. Ok, the placement of a tweet wall to the left of the stage was troubling. If you know me at all, you know I despise the tweet wall during speaking events. It’s distracting, a source of pointless tweets and a trolls playground. Not to mention it’s just plain rude to ask a speaker to present only to enable an insane distraction to their topic and presentation…(Oops, I’m ranting). I’m happy to say, after a few Taco Bell tweets, cooler heads prevailed and the tweet wall was turned off. (Well played, all.)

Topics included presentations from local business leaders. politicians, educators and students. They presented on subjects including, Redefining Failure, The Digital Self, Quality Candidates and Education and more. I was particularly taken with the Discovery Learning presentation by U of M Junior, Anthony Fleck in the first half of the show. However, the second half is where Tedx Lakeville took off.

I was most impressed with the last two presentations of the evening. Betsy Grawe, a teacher in Lakeville, presented “Going Off Script”. It was a great combination of the perception vs. reality of the thinking of that group known as millenials. It included results of a poll of Lakeville millenials compared to national numbers. But more importantly it conveyed the message for them to not follow the script for life that has been presented to them.

Finally, Matt Little, Lakeville’s 28 year-old Mayor presented an incredibly well prepared look at solving our current political gridlock in “Beyond Bipartisanship.” His desire to for each political party to take a more pragmatic view to serve the constituency rather than their own party was very interesting and indicated to me that the mayorship will not be the only stop on his public service journey.

All in all Tedx’s trip south-of-the-river was well put together. It lacked only in preparation and focus by some of the presenters that lead to some disjointed and unnecessarily long presentations. The topics were sound and the execution of the event itself was incredibly well done. Mr. Adelman was a standout as he deftly transitioned from presenter to presenter. This guy is a rock solid speaker and, with the help of his team and advisors, delivered a rock solid event. (If no one has said it to him yet, “This will look great on a resume.)

I can’t wait for the next edition of Tedx Lakeville.

Focus on Mobile at MobiU

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IMAG0225The first ever Mobile University, or MobiU, rolled into Best Buy Headquarters on Thursday evening to talk about the Mobile Path to Purchase with some 50 attendees.

The agenda, presented by Heartland Mobile Council, included panels addressing mobile insights and lessons learned about the use of mobile in the consumer purchasing cycle.

What I was most impressed with was the focus group that was assembled to find out how “real” people use mobile in relationship to their buying habits.

While my first impression was that many in the focus group were perhaps more tech savvy than average, some were from Best Buy, there were enough mainstream consumers to offer some insight. Takeaways from the session included: the use of push notifications are clearly annoying and the first thing the group deactivated after signing up for a retail loyalty program. These notifications included both native and text messages.

Comments also highlighted some disconnect with brands and the technology they use. One participant noted that pricing not always matched between the mobile app and the store. Additionally, when I asked if any ever presented a mobile code or coupon to someone in a store, only to to be met with an unknowing blank stare, there were plenty of “yes” responses. And, while many went on to say that they could eventually find someone who was ‘in the know,’ they really shouldn’t have to.

The best part of the Focus Group panel were the ideas generated by the panelists themselves on what brands like Best Buy, Target and Cub could provide on a mobile platform, including helping locate specific products bia GPS.

The Heartland Mobile Council is a Chicago-based non-profit organization whose mission it is to educate brands on how to use mobile effectively. Founder Hugh Park Jedwill kicked off the evening with some remarks including plans of launching incubators and more events around the country. He emphasized that the MobiU was a “safe learning environment” where brands were welcome to take part, but not sell or make pitches. In fact, he talked so much about that environment and the actual Heartland Mobile Council, it started to sound much like a pitch itself.

All in all, the event was a solid evening of learning and exchanging of ideas. Any organization that can precipitate that kind of interaction on the topic of mobile is great…and needed to effectively capitalize on mobile technology.

Listen Up! Tech Cocktail Social is Coming With Something Special for Startups

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Tech Cocktail Social 2013Another Tech Cocktail Social is happening in the Twin Cities this October! You will want to attend to network since these are very fun events and so many key people are in attendance.

That said, if you are a startup there is something special for you at this event so read on…

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TO ATTEND, NETWORK & PARTY

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SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR STARTUPS
If you are a startup that meets the criteria below, you could win a spot to the Tech Cocktail national shootout. Called Tech Cocktail Celebrate, it will be held October 22nd & 23rd in Las Vegas.

Wait…the national event is in Las Vegas?

Yep. You may have heard that the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, is keen on turning downtown Las Vegas in to a startup hub (see Zappos CEO Bets $350 Million on a Las Vegas Startup Scene) and he’s one of the key speakers and likely had some influence on this city as a location.

But a startup can’t even be considered to show and demo at the national Las Vegas event unless they first win one of the regional Tech Cocktail events like ours on October 2nd (Tech Cocktail Celebrate’s FAQ is here).

The benefit? Being one of the two winners of the Twin Cities event would be your ticket to Las Vegas and the opportunity to compete in the national shootout of startups. At the national event you would be in front of prominent venture capitalists and thought leaders, including Hsieh, but also technology press. Startups will also receive mention on the Tech Cocktail website during the event wrap-up post.

How does our startup get considered?

Pretty simple and here are the criteria:

  • Overall Criteria:
    • Less than 3 years old
    • Raised less than $1M thus far
    • Be an independent company (no subsidiaries)
    • Startups must have a working beta or better product.
  • Regional Event Criteria:

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TO ATTEND AND COMPETE AS A STARTUP

  • When: October 2, 2013 from 6:30-9pm
  • Where: The Open Book – Target Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue, 2nd Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55415 (map)
  • Event page: Tech Cocktail Social Minneapolis
  • Application page: Apply now for inclusion at the Twin Cities Social event.  Please note, unlike Tech Cocktail Mixers, startups will not showcase at the event, but will need to be present in order to win.

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Kim GarretsonTech Cocktail Social – Minneapolis is hosted by Kim Garretson (LinkedIn), now a Research Fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at University of Missouri; Board Member at Twin Cities Public Television; and Founder & General Partner of Ventures at Ovative/Group.

 

Fargo Roadtrip: Midwest Mobile Summit

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midwest-mobile-summit-15There are very few reasons for me (a 6′ 5″ guy) to want to drive for four hours. Family is usually the only reason…with Iowa and (gulp) Kansas frequent destinations. With destinations like that, I’m never looking to see more flat terrain like that found heading to Fargo from Minneapolis. However, the lure of the first ever Midwest Mobile Summit was strong enough for me to caffeine up and set out Sunday for the 2 day event.

I was excited to be heading to an event with a very grassroots vibe.  Jake Joraanstad and Ryan Raguse of Myriad Devices were responsible for putting this event together that attracted some 150-200 to downtown Fargo and it appears to have been a resounding success.

The multi-site format showcased mobile technology, strategy and industry tracks and three different downtown locations. The Fargo Theater, with it’s nostalgic feel, including an organ front and center, provided homebase for keynotes as well as the setting for the strategy track. The event even started  with the organ rising to the stage. After some brief remarks we were all treated to ‘feats of yo’ from John Narum, Yo-Yo World Champion at 11 years old. It was a nice way to get everyone engaged.

The Sunday keynote from Ryan Raguse set the tone with a dramatic smashing of the “box” that represented pre-mobile technology. The rest of the day and , for that matter, the rest of conference presented an array of topics. Some presentations were ok at best but most were above average and some simply crushed it. (Johnathon Rademacher of Sundog and Livefront‘s Mike Bollinger were the clear standouts.)

Screen Shot 2013-05-03 at 1.12.55 PMMany real world mobile experiences were shared throughout the Industry track. While finance and heavy equipment may not be sexy industries that represent a category that has plenty of need and opportunity for mobile solutions.

For a first-time event this was huge. Not only was there plenty of local talent  in attendance but plenty made the trip from outside the state. The chance to enjoy strolling from the historic theater to more modern and artistic spaces provided a nice transition. There was a clear passion for mobile and plenty of opportunity to learn. I look forward to next year. I can even visit my son since is heading off to NDSU in the fall. (See, family is once again I drive for hours across the plains of the heartland.)

*Many of you know I’m co-founder of Mobile March and am happy to see the birth of another mobile event with such a community focus.

Minnesota Cup Application Process Now Open

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mncuplogoThe ninth annual Minnesota Cup competition – the largest statewide new venture competition in the country – will close its application window on May 17 at 11:59 p.m. Entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses have two weeks to enter their breakthrough business ideas on Minnesota Cup’s website for a chance to compete for $200,000 in prize money.

The competition is free to enter and encourages entries from a wide range of business ideas in six divisions – Energy & Clean Tech, General, High Tech, Life Science & Health IT, Social Entrepreneur and Student. Entrepreneurs advancing in the competition will have the opportunity to advance business ideas, gain exposure, learn about resources available to entrepreneurs, be paired with mentors, meet members of the Cup’s review board – and win cash prizes if their idea is judged to be among the best entries.

Submissions must contain a description of the product or service, explanation of the market size or opportunity, a sales and marketing overview, brief operating plan and high level financial projections and assumptions.

For more information and to enter, please visit www.breakthroughideas.org.

What Comes First in Fargo – the #MidwestMobileSummit or the Spring Floods?

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MidwestMobileSummit-logoThey’re both coming soon! And they may actually be arriving about the same time. But, no worries, the first-year Midwest Mobile Summit will be held April 28-29 in downtown Fargo ND, which I’m told is a pretty safe area of town from the rising waters that come every spring to this city partially bordered on the Red River.

But if you really want to find out when the floods might arrive — well, it turns outH2O-1
there’s an iOS app for that.  Its name?  Why, H2O Fargo, of course!  And it became available a couple of weeks ago in the App Store, just in time for the inevitable rising waters.

I learned about the app when I met with the guys from Myriad Devices, a mobile app development shop that’s the lead sponsor and organizer of the Midwest Mobile Summit. They developed the flood app as a public service for their community, and Jake Joraanstad, CEO, told me the app was approved by Apple in only one day! I guess they understood the urgency of the situation. (Screenshots of the app shown.)

H2O-2The MIdwest Mobile Summit has big support of the local community, and will draw a large representation of the area’s significant technology industry, including angels and VCs, Microsoft and ex-Microsoft managers, NDSU officials, and a strong mobile development community.  Read more about the the schedule, speakers, and sponsors at the event site — and how to obtain tickets. You can purchase Day One, Day Two, H2O-3or both days. Overnight accommocations for Sunday, April 28, are availabke at the nearby Radisson downtown (info at event site). Several speakers and attendees are coming from the Twin Cities. See you there if you can make it!

Mobile Fans Have a Big Day at the Farm

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EarleBrownFarmA whole bunch of busy tech professionals dropped everything on Thursday and headed to the farm — the Earle Brown Farm, that is (now called Earle Brown Heritage Center  — a very cool place). Okay, it wasn’t all that far out of town, only Brooklyn Center, but it was like a trip to the country in a way, getting out of the office to focus on a where our world seems to be heading these days: mobile everything!  (Wonder what Earle would think of that?*)

The occasion was, of course, the 4th Annual Mobile March Twin Cities conference, and it drew a sellout crowd of some 300. This MobileMarchTC-logoconference gets bigger and better every year. The 2013 iteration offered myriad opportunities to network with mobile developers, designers, enterprise IT people, gaming enthusiasts, marketers, and knowledgeable vendor representatives. And an awesome agenda of 32 break-out sessions made for a jam-packed day of learning as well. This ever-changing industry we call mobile is made up of many moving parts and pieces, and it touches every segment of the Twin Cities business community — from the smallest of startups to the hugest Fortune 500 giants. All those segments were well represented at MobileMarch, and there was some serious mixing of the pot going on!

Sessions were in four tracks: Mobile Strategy, Mobile Development, Mobile Gaming, and Mobile MMTC13-BigRoomBusiness. A sampling: “Four Key Principles of Mobile User Experience Design” … “The Beginning and End of Mobile Marketing” … “BYOD & MDM FYI” (for enterprise IT types) … “Avoiding Apple Rejection” … and the ever-playful “Using Chipmunk Physics to Create an iOS Game.” It was damn hard choosing from the four concurrent sessions going on throughout the day! Which is why getting to see presentations you missed will be helpful — and many are in the process of being posted on the event site here. So keep checking back.

To get the real lowdown on the event as it happened, one can, of course, go read the very MMTC13-SystemsVsAppsactive #mmtc13 hashtag stream. During the day, I was trying to do my share on the Minnov8 tweet stream myself, and I also posted some pix here on Flickr — shot with a mobile device, of course!  The official tweets of the @MobileMarchTC team were flying all day, too.

Next time you see one of that team, who do such a great job organizing this event, be sure to thank them: Justin Grammens, our own Phil Wilson, Linda Cummings, and Mike Bollinger. Also, Phil made me tell you to lavish the sponsors with copious amounts of gratitude, as this event would definitely not happen without them: Verizon, Fusion Room, Livefront, Code 42 , SDG, W3i (now NativeX), Microsoft Windows Phone, Compuware, Intertech, and Digineer. They rock, each and every one of them! It was great meeting and talking to many of their people during the breaks and cocktail reception.

Postscript: To illustrate the reach and impact of this four-year-old MobileMarch event, I learned on Thursday that it’s inspired the Fargo tech community to launch one of their own: Mobile Summit, taking place April 28-29. The organizers were in attendance and have already landed some Twin Cities-based speakers.

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* Earle Brown Farm, which went through a major renovation that transformed it into an impressive, sprawling conference center, is the namesake of, you guessed it, a really cool guy named Earle, who was Hennepin County Sheriff in the early 1900s and founded the Minnesota Highway Patrol. He was also quite a horseman. He just never got to own a mobile device, as he died in 1963. More history here. When I worked for Medtronic early in my career, my office was in an adjacent building and looked right down on horses romping around the large corral, which is now a parking lot. See what you learn reading Minnov8!  (No, I didn’t ride a horse-and-buggy to work — we had cars then. Just no airbags.)