Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Predicting Human Behavior through Games

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Every week, people from around the world spend more than 3 billion hours playing video games. Professor Jaideep Srivastava of the University of Minnesota and Professor Dmitri Williams at the University of Southern California find this number too large to ignore. Their software company Ninja Metrics relies on social analytics to make sense of human behavioral data from these games.

Their startup coincides with a rising trend in game play and specifically an explosion in online games. Further, promotional forces like Dr. Jane McGonigal, an influential author and occasionally controversial visionary from U.C. Berkley believes that games can solve real-world problems through increasing the amount of time spent playing games to 21 billion hours per week by 2020. There is little doubt that gaming will continue to be an extremely important global activity.

The introduction of platforms like the Nintendo Wii, the Apple iPad, and the Sifteo Cubes has opened up a variety of new options for games. The social-gaming company Zynga has been steadily building innovative games delivered over social networking platforms like Facebook. The MIT Technology Review reported last week that Zynga is planning to produce a drastically more complex, strategic, and socially interactive gave than ever before. In a TechCrunch article last year, it was estimated that half of all Facebook users play games and that 40% of the time spent on Facebook is devoted to social games like those developed by Zynga. Clearly, there is an extensive amount of activity and data being generated through these evolving social interactions in massively multiplayer online games (MMO). …  [Read More…]

More Fuel for NGIN

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TST Media, the creators of the NGIN software platform has scored a round of financing led by El Dorado Ventures. When the ink dried on the agreement last week TST had secured $3.5 million to “grow existing business partnerships, drive software innovations and expand their talent base.”

TST Media CEO and co-founder, Justin Kaufenberg noted the fundraising as “transformational”. He notes that “To a degree, prior growth has been consciously checked in favor of reinvesting in our technology core…that patience and focus has set the stage for us to efficiently deploy these proceeds and exponentially enhance a proven platform and business strategy” In plain speak…TST has got plenty of fuel to power growth to the next level.

That point is further driven home as Kaufenberg commented on El Dorado Ventures. “As a venture partner, El Dorado brings an impressive track record of successfully aiding and nurturing the rapid growth of innovative technology companies.” With TST boasting 100% growth over the past three years and some 200 clients in 50 states and six different countries, Jeff Hinck of El Dorado was happy to note, “In TST Media, we found a company with a best-in-class technology platform. Unlike other players in the space, their NGIN platform has been architected for extendibility and growth.”

Also providing fuel for the local job market, TST Media will be adding more than 20 new positions this year including Software Engineers, UI/UX Designers, Development Operations, Project Managers, Technical Support and Sales.

Local start-up growth, more jobs, a growing platform. Light this candle!

Discovering High-Quality Produce through Actionable Analytics

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The startup Produce Ratings recently released their new beta website at ProduceRatings.com, which allows consumers to find and rate produce in their local communities. This Minnesota-based firm has been flying under the radar while their concepts emerge into a product that provides real utility.

While they are in a prelaunch phase, they do have the fledglings of a product. Founder Colin Tuggle was kind enough to give me the backdrop on his firm and where they are headed. He explained that “ProduceRatings is an online community that helps users find and rate produce in their local communities.”

Tuggle went on about the origins of ProduceRatings, “It started out in the summer of 2010 as a conversation between brother-in- laws over a few pieces of Minnesota peak season sweet corn. Both wanted to figure out when and where to get peak season corn without having to try every stand in the Twin Cities. A few beers later, ProduceRatings.com was born. Our sites ratings differ from others in that our ratings are time-sensitive. We have a rolling window for ‘what’s good now’ versus other sites that aggregate years of ratings in their current rating. We also differ in that we rate products, not sellers/locations. What we want to answer is ‘Where can I get the best sweet corn right now?’ Of course, you can substitute sweet corn for your favorite produce in that sentence.”
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StarTribune Debuts iPad App

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In this morning’s dead-trees edition of the StarTribune, a full page ad appeared announcing the availability of the StarTribune iPad app. Downloading and launching it presents you with a clean, easy to use interface, optimized for a tablet-sized device.

Offering a complimentary subscription until October 16th, the StarTribune iPad app joins many daily newspapers who are hoping that tablet access will shift people away from newsprint versions and bring in non-newspapers readers (i.e., the under-35 crowd). Ironically the current StarTribune website offers a great experience already on an iPad, so it will remain to be seen if people will choose a native iPad app over the website itself.

The app loads quickly, stories load fast, and there is little of the latency one expects with ad serving, a typical problem on many newspaper websites where page loads stall while ads are fetched from an ad server elsewhere. With its minimalistic and clean look, it’s a pleasure to read.

One startling and glaring omission is the lack of social sharing, especially if the StarTribune truly cares to go after those non-newspaper readers mentioned above. While most smartphone and tablet news apps enable the reader to send an article via email or to Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms, StarTribune has only enabled email. This makes the app significantly less useful for anyone using social media technologies.

The other aspect of using the app that was troublesome was how obvious it now is that the StarTribune — like most daily newspapers around the country — reprint articles from major dailies like the New York Times, Washington Post, LATimes and also from the major newswires like the Associated Press and Reuters. Unfortunately for the StarTribune, there are so many apps with which we can access these same stories, that it makes StarTribune reprinted ones far too obvious and redundant. (For more on this problem and others in the newspaper business, see my personal blog post, “How to Save Newspapers (But do we even care?)“).

StarTribune’s new iPad app is an acceptable first effort, but getting in to the game so late we expected more from this hometown paper. The good news is that they will be able to take feedback and iterate the app so new features will (hopefully) be added over time. We’d like to see more social features added, a larger emphasis on local vs. national news (especially “above the fold” on the first page after launch), video and audio (e.g., podcasts), ongoing reference material that would be “evergreen” and always available (e.g., directories, restaurant reviews, visitor information, guides) and other content that would make using this app (and paying for a subscription come October) a much richer, and more local, experience.

Opening Night at the Minneapolis Grain Idea Exchange

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The floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange was open for business Saturday night as Project Skyway and CoCo hosted an open house for the new co-working space. What was once a space bustling with grain traders has been transformed into four distinct spaces including drop-in working, campsite (small company) working, meeting rooms and event space.  While it remains to be seen if the cavernous area will yield to areas of more intimate collaboration CoCo founders Don Ball and Kyle Coolbroth have designed a very exciting space that they hope will mirror their success at their St. Paul location.

They appear to be well on their way as tech incubator Project Skyway and many small start-ups and individual have already set up shop in the shadow of the  “big board”. Project Skyway’s, Cem Erdem noted that their first class of companies will begin working in the space starting today.

See more from Cem as well as Don and Kyle in the short video below.

Congratulations to all on the launch of another resource to further innovation at all levels. We’re looking forward to the day when the hackers figure out how to turn the big board into a ginat tweet wall. Well…maybe.

Good Resources from Rasmussen College

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Here’s a resource that was brought to our attention and is one you might find useful.

Founded in 1900, Rasmussen College is a premier provider of educational experiences, dedicated to the growth and development of its students, employees, and the communities it serves. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Rasmussen College offers Bachelor’s and Associate’s degrees in fields with the greatest occupation opportunities to more than 15,000 students both online and through its network of 21 campuses. By partnering with leading universities, Rasmussen offers opportunities to students beyond the Bachelor’s level. The Rasmussen Partner Network gives students the opportunity to earn Master’s and Doctoral degrees completely online, at their own convenience, from prominent universities around the country.

Rasmussen frequently publishes valuable posts on their business blog such as 50 Useful Open Lectures for Business People, Tips for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, 25 Necessities Entrepreneurs Can Get for Free, 10 Common Mistakes Made by Internet Marketers and the Best Entrepreneur Blogs to name a few.

Check ’em out. Pretty good stuff here.

An Entrepreneur’s Expert Guidance Group

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A top level recruiter I know, Kevin Spanbauer, has teamed with a number of other movers and shakers in Minnesota to form a group called, “Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory (MESA)” This non-profit mentoring organization is comprised of C-level software and information technology veterans with strong local business roots. They have come together to help spark a movement to make Minnesota’s software economy rank among the most vibrant and respected in the nation.

Kevin Spanbauer

What does this mean for you if you’re an entrepreneur or founder? The MESA group members state that they are, “…interested in hearing from entrepreneurs and founders seeking expert guidance, seasoned CEO’s who have an interest in giving back in the form of mentoring, and vendors with a specialty in providing services to the software industry.”

The Minnov8 team is pleased that such a strong resource is available in Minnesota and run by proven leaders who have also begun surrounding themselves with key resources in our state.

Where’s Minnesota?

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Hey Minnesotans…time to take big, calculated risks. To use a baseball metaphor we need to forget about bunting to get to one base and instead start swingin’ for the fences.

Budget shortfalls are slamming many states like Minnesota due to revenue shortfalls and a reduction in federal money. Fortunately there are some states where the tax base and regulatory climate is one that is attracting business. Undoubtedly these states also enjoy other variables that make companies want to startup within them, or move to, and capitalize upon that business climate.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released their second report of its kind, “Enterprising States: Recovery and Renewal for the 21st Century” (PDF) and Minnesota is not high on most lists in this report. The report has four primary sections with pretty solid measures for each:

Top Growth Performers Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Top Export States Top Taxes & Regulation States
Workforce & Training Infrastructure

The worrisome aspect is that Minnesota doesn’t rank highly in anything but median family income and educational attainment. While both are good, the former is likely due to the high concentrations of people working for out-State companies and the latter since education is such a priority in our State. Due to the current budget crisis and slash-n-burn mentality by most politicians, quality of education will likely erode quickly.

The executive summary had some troubling things to say that are probably obvious on the surface:

“In the past, states could look to Washington for assistance. Now, whatever the intentions or real achievements of the stimulus package, future increases in federal spending seem likely to be meager at best. This presents a new, and perhaps unprecedented, challenge for the states. With Washington effectively forced to the sidelines, states will now have to address fundamental economic issues relating to growth and employment on their own. Most will have to do so without significantly increasing their own spending.”

No kidding.

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Project Skyway Boot-Camp Weekend…Wow!

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Project Skyway Boot-Camp weekend was held this past weekend (June 10-12) at CoCoMSP’s downtown St. Paul location.  Curt Prins was one of the mentor/judges and asked me to join him in the sales and marketing group for the roundtable sessions. I must say I came away with an even deeper appreciation for the talent, energy and enthusiasm in the startup community here (and there were several from out of State too) as well as the incubator that is Project Skyway.

If you don’t know Project Skyway, it is, “…Minnesota’s first tech accelerator program for motivated entrepreneurs. The program will build connections among entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and other innovation hubs, and bring them together both online and in physical space. The vision places emphasis on building companies with long-term, sustainable value, ethical practices, mentorship, and strong networks.”

The Project Skyway founder, Cem Erdem, set up this weekend adventure to enable startups to be involved in multiple sessions and venues for learning, honing their value propositions, and learning from one another. Clearly it also would provide investors with those value propositions ready to grow and would separate the “separate the wheat from the chaff“.

I met all the finalists invited in for the weekend and many of them blew me away with the maturity of their vision and beginnings of executing on their value proposition. As a “judge”, I was asked to rank the top ten and it was probably the toughest force ranking I’ve done yet. Too many good ones!

If you have any doubt or concern that innovation is dead in this time of economic uncertainty, a few hours with this group of folks would wipe that right out of your mind.

Minnesota Cup Semi-Finalists Announced

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The Minnesota Cup announced their nearly 50 semi-finalists today!

These semi-finalists were selected and announced this morning out of more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs who participated in the 2011 competition. Judging the first round entries was challenging as the overall quality of entries was excellent. 47 of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semi-finalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

More than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs participated and 47 (plus 4 finalists from the Social Entrepreneur division) of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semifinalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

High Tech Division

The full press release is after the jump…

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