MN Entrepreneurs

MN Tech Founders Tell 11-Year-Olds What It’s Like to Start a Business

February 29, 2016 By Graeme Thickins

A pretty cool meetup happened over the weekend at CoCo Northeast. On Saturday afternoon, the cofounders of Kidizen, Mary Fallon and Dori Graf (who office there), got

Wade Gerten

together with another experienced tech startup founder,

Wade Gerten, to show some young girls what starting a company is all about. Wade and his wife, Lisa, brought along a group of five 11-year-olds, including their own daughter, all classmates at Poplar Bridge Elementary School in Bloomington.

I was delighted to be the one who introduced Wade to Mary and Dori, after learning last week from Wade that he was looking for a female-founded startup who would speak to the girls. Though I was traveling and couldn’t be there on Saturday, Wade was kind enough to provide some photos and comments on how the meetup went.

(Wade, as you may recall, was CEO/cofounder of 8th Bridge, formerly Alvenda, which was the Minnesota Cup grand prize winner in 2009. It was acquired in 2014. He’s now VP of Digital & Customer Experience at Infor.)

After I made the introduction and asked if the Kidizen cofounders would be willing to host the girls, Mary immediately agreed and said, “We’ll do our best to show them how rewarding entrepreneurship can be! It’s truly great to see that Minneapolis girls are being exposed to the tech scene.”

Mary Fallon (left) and Dori Graf talking to 11-year-olds about business,

Mary Fallon (left) and Dori Graf tell the girls what’s it’s like to run a business.

Following the meeting, she said: “The girls were awesome! There were some great questions and ideas from the group. We were thoroughly impressed. We’re also truly impressed that Wade and Lisa, as parents, are encouraging these girls to learn how to code. They are way ahead of the game!”

Mary continued: “When I was their age, I was part of a group called the ‘Future Problem Solvers of America’ and, thinking back, it made a big difference in my education and path in life because it taught me how to think bigger… Part of my ongoing dream would be to give back to our startup community via its youth and/or schools by helping shape young entrepreneurial thinking. So, our meetup on Saturday certainly scratched an itch for me. Wade and Lisa, if you ever start that brainstorming group you mentioned, I’d love to help!”

In a followup email, Wade said: “I really appreciated Mary and Dori offering to host my girl coder gang of five 11-year-olds. Earlier in the day, we’d taken part in the Rebecca CoderDojo, a two-hour coding class just for girls. This was just a day I organized, not an official school thing. I was attempting to plant some seeds with the girls that not only is coding fun, but so could be starting their own company.”

He went on: “Based on the chatter in the car ride home, I think the girls were surprised by what ‘business’ means. My daughter commented, ‘I thought you said we were visiting a business. That wasn’t a business!’ She had some kind of image in her mind that business meant boring or corporate. They didn’t expect a slack line competition, a hammock chair, and the red tennis shoes! Thank you, Mary and Dori, for meeting our girls yesterday. You were gracious and inspiring. I suspect only a couple of hip momma storytellers like you could’ve made a business story so understandable and interesting to 11 year old girls!”

So, take a look: these may be the faces of some future Minnesota tech founders! Kudos to Wade, Mary, and Dori for making it happen.

Raising Money You Don’t Need: Minnesota Startup Trend?

September 23, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

[UPDATE 9/28/15: At the bottom of this post, I include some great comments I got from a leading VC over the weekend.]

This thing about profitable startups raising money they don’t need is getting deafening around here. A few years ago, Code42 shocked us by taking their first VC money (a huge $52M round), which confused people because they knew they were doing fine without it. Then LeadPages raises a surprise A round in late 2013 that it soon was openly bragging it hadn’t touched — didn’t need it. Then, just months later, it takes yet more — another $27M. It’s growing crazy fast, so we wonder… do they not need that either? How about SportNgin, raising something close to $40M over four rounds going back to 2011? With the continuous growth they’re experiencing, why do they need all that cash and can they even spend it?

Now we learn about another rapidly growing Minnesota startup, Field Nation, which began as a young college grad’s idea more than a decade ago and now claims a $100M revenue run-rate, grabbing a huge (for this town, anyway) Series A round of $30M. Reading the recent news in the StarTribune and the MSP Business Journal, you had to be impressed. Another homegrown startup raises a huge initial round. Wow, yes, we say to ourselves, beaming with pride, the Minnesota startup community really is rockin’! But what’s going on here with this latest winner in the local VC stakes?

The one thing that struck me was that both the recent media stories about Field Nation said it was the company’s first outside money, when I knew it wasn’t. The first institutional (VC) money, yes, but this company was hardly undiscovered by smart investors. And it was growing just fine without using what little outside money it had previously taken in.

Field Who?
Just who is this company, you might ask? It’s true we don’t hear a whole lot about them. Well, they’re “the leading marketplace platform for contingent and on-demand workforce management” — as stated in their funding news release. (Which contains so many “Tweet This” links within it, I had to laugh. Kudos to their PR dude, Chuck Grothaus.)

Field Nation has been quietly toiling away for several years now building revenues like… well, apparently like mad if the aforementioned $100M run-rate it is any indication. Such a projection — and it is a projection — might make it seem more reasonable to understand why Susquehanna Growth Equity would inject $30M for only a minority position. Another perspective on the investment comes from a longtime advisor to the company, Ryan Weber, who told me “The market Field Nation is in is extremely hot, with well over mid-double digit growth rates expected for years to come.”

There’s no arguing the company has some impressive numbers, as stated in its funding news release: “During the past year, Field Nation has connected more than 1,000 organizations with its network of over 65,000 registered contractors.” Describing its growth rate, the company uses glowing terms: “Prior to securing this investment capital, Field Nation has been a self-funded business, growing profitably at more than 65% annually since its launch in 2008.”

There’s that insinuation again that it really hasn’t needed any outside investment.

Mynul Kahn, CEO, Field Nation

I wanted some further background on the history of the company. So, I first went to Ryan Weber, the well-known cofounder of NativeX (formerly W3i), and, later, to Mynul Kahn himself, Field Nation’s founder and CEO.

The Viewpoint of an Early Advisor
Ryan Weber met Mynul while they were both working on their BS in Computer Science at St. Cloud State University. “He graduated in 2003, one year ahead of me,” said Ryan. “At the time, I didn’t speak to him about my business; we were simply classmates. This was before he had the idea that started Field Nation. Mynul had been living in the Twin Cities for a while and we didn’t keep in contact after graduation. However, in October 2008 he reached out to me to catch up. Soon after, in December 2008, I joined as an advisor to the company. Mynul had a false start with this business in the past, but I felt he had a lot going for him and was the type of person that wasn’t going to give up on this incredible idea.”

Ryan Weber
Advisor to Field Nation

How did Ryan participate? “I definitely did not have anything to do with the refinement of the business model. Rather, I provided feedback to Mynul on various organizational and business topics that had impacted my brother Rob and I in the company we had founded, as well as other startups we associated with. Mynul was already generating revenue when I got involved. He was very lean in getting the company started. After tracking the company a bit longer, Mynul and I agreed that I should approach Young Sohn (a board member at what was then W3i) about his potential involvement. Young had more business connections in Field Nation’s target markets, and was an occasional angel investor, a seasoned operator, and an incredibly strong leader. [Note: Young Sohn is now President and CSO of Samsung Electronics.] Ryan introduced Young to Field Nation in August 2009. “He was immediately interested in getting involved, and we worked out terms for a $200,000 seed investment, from Young Sohn and 32 Degrees, the angel fund I run with my brother Rob.”

How did Mynul fund the early days of Field Nation? “The company very early funded its own existence,” said Ryan. “It reminded me a lot of our company’s formation. Field Nation and W3i (now NativeX) were both bootstrapped to profitability and only raised a seed round to strengthen our savings, but, more importantly, to attract advisors — smart money.”

So, how was this $200K seed investment used? “He never actually spent the money we invested,” said Ryan. “I think the money helped Mynul feel more comfortable that he could spend the profits Field Nation was generating without worrying about taking on debt or having a bad month. He was also able to leverage Young, Rob, and I for any special projects and business advice.”

I asked Ryan, in regard to the platform Field Nation created, what made him think they could succeed in a market dominated by the likes of Odesk and eLance. “Mynul’s focus was very different than the others. I personally had been a customer of eLance and other services like those. I found they were useful for software type service work. But Field Nation was focused on helping companies with service needs that required on-site field work. It made total sense for a contractor marketplace of technicians.”

What does Ryan now see now as the company’s critical growth challenges? “Their market is not well penetrated by any player right now,” he said. “Field Nation has its work cut out for it to convert potentials into customers and help shape the market. The biggest challenge I see is multiple growth opportunities to consider, including expanding markets and expanding products. Choosing the right focus and building the right team that can execute it will be the most critical.”

Another Perspective, from an Acquired Company’s CEO
Longtime local tech-industry player Mac Lewis was CEO of Field Solutions before its acquisition by Field Nation earlier in 2015. I asked Mac about his take on the funding announcement.

Mac Lewis, CEO, Field Solutions (acquired by Field Nation)

“This $30M financing is a significant one, from a reputable firm, which I believe is an evergreen fund,” he said. “That might minimize pressure for a liquidity event in 5 to 7 years. It will provide resources to expand investment in sales and software.”

Mac is not an employee of the combined company, though does have an advisory relationship. “Field Solutions was a complementary addition for Field Nation. Although we were in the same business, we did not see them competitively very often. From Field Solutions they got a customer base that was, for the most part, non-overlapping. We had focused more on enterprise clients. They also got a full-service delivery capability — in addition to more automated, SaaS ‘self-service’ capabilities, which were offered by both Field Solutions and Field Nation. They kept about two-thirds of Field Solutions employees.”

The Founder’s Story
This morning, I was finally able to run down Mynul Kahn (whom I originally met in 2011) and get him to briefly describe the story of his company. “The idea first came to me right after I left college. I founded a site called ‘Technician Marketplace’ then sold it in 2006. Soon after, in 2008, I started Field Nation with a much broader vision than just technicians.”

So, how many years following your founding were you in the ‘pre-revenue’ stage? “The company had revenue in its first year,” he said. “Since we were not funded by VC, it was important to generate revenue as early as possible. We created a minimal product in 2008 that was effective and customers loved it.”

But you must have had some money to start — how did you fund the early days of Field Nation? “From my paycheck,” he said. Yes, he had a day job, working for several years at an analytics firm. So, Mynul proves you can build a startup on the side while working a full-time job — but of course you can’t expect to do that with VC funding. First you put your own skin into the game. Both sweat equity and hard cash in this case.

What role did Ryan and Rob Weber play after their angel investment with Young Sohn? “As my first angel investors, they were extremely helpful,” Mynul said. “They worked as my sounding board and help connect me with a lot of people who ended working for my company.”

When did you first envision your platform strategy to serve freelancers in general (not just field technicians), and what made you think you could compete and succeed in a market dominated by the big established players? “The early success in field services broadened our ambition.” I guess so, if his next statement is any indication: “What Amazon is for retail, Google is for search, we want to be known for work – the work platform.” Can you say Think Big?

Who were your early critical hires? And how many are still with you? “The founding team is still with the company. One person built the technology team, one person built sales, one person built customer service.”

Finally, I asked Mynul. what are your goals for the immediate future, through 2016? “Further development of the platform. We’re adding lot of capabilities so the platform can handle any type of work, any type of worker classification, and eventually anywhere in the world. We’re putting a lot of effort in building the sales and marketing team.”

But how much of that $30 million will be invested in all that, and how soon? He’s not saying. But, with Field Nation generating revenues and profits as they are, will they even need to tap it?

Which Raises the Questions…

If revenue growth and profit trump everything, why do you need VC? (Truism: customer money is better than VC money.)
Why do VCs deploy large sums of money that really just then…sits there?
If founders aren’t asking for all this big money, is it flowing because VCs are pushing it on them?
Does a startup take such funds as a war chest for acquisitions?
Or all of the above?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

———–

UPDATE: When I was planning this post, I reached out to Seth Levine of Foundry Group (no stranger to Minnesota) for his take on the concept for this post. It turned out he was traveling and didn’t get a chance to respond till a couple of days ago. Here’s what he had to say…

“The reality is that the old adage is at play here – raise money when you can, not when you need to. Ultimately, it’s a sign of strength to put capital on the balance sheet. The key is to spend according to your business metrics, not according to your balance sheet. That’s where some companies perhaps get in trouble. As a practical matter, there are lots of reasons companies raise these growth rounds: they may need the money for marketing; they may want to look at M&A to grow faster; they may want to derisk the business and make sure that if things slow down in the economy they have plenty of cash as a buffer, etc. All very good reasons to shore up the balance sheet.”

[Note: This post first appeared at Graeme Thickins On Tech.]

Minnesota SaaS Company Agrees There’s a New Sheriff in Town: Software WITH a Service #SwaS

April 28, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

So, we know you’ve been sitting around wondering… what’s the next big wave in B2B software? Well, so have a bunch of Silicon Valley VCs, according to the author of a recent TechCrunch guest post, “Why ‘Do It For Me’ Is The Next Big Thing.”

The author is Anthony P. Lee, a general partner at Altos Ventures, and he makes an excellent argument about how SaaS is no longer enough — specifically, for companies in the ginormous space we call Small Business.

What’s the latest trend he and his firm are seeing?

“We call it the Do-It-For-Me Revolution, or ‘DIFM’ for short. DIFM is more than software. DIFM combines technology automation with specialized labor to deliver a complete solution to a business problem. It’s as much about people-powered customer service as it is about code-powered efficiency. DIFM is sweeping the consumer world and will do the same for the business world. A generation of consumers that has grown accustomed to relying on high-touch, people-powered services for everything from groceries to dating will take those same habits into the workplace.“

Wasn’t SaaS supposed to relieve the burden of expensive software implementations for large companies, and therefore shouldn’t it be a good thing for small business, too? Well yeah, maybe in theory — but the reality, according to this argument, is that this isn’t enough. Savings in upfront capital expenditures is okay, but who has time to learn all this software, all these interfaces? These business owners lives do not revolve around using software all day long — they’re busy running the business! All aspects of the business.

The TechCrunch post continues:

” …to most end users, SaaS software requires just as much effort to learn and operate as the old PC and client-server analogs. Salesforce’s once innovative customer relationship management system has itself become a complex data-entry monster whose user interface has barely changed in more than a decade. But besides Salesforce, there are now tens of thousands of software companies vying for corporate attention — and wallets. One analyst recently catalogued nearly 2,000 marketing software companies alone. Many CMOs are now running 50-60 distinct software tools just to manage the marketing function. To many business end-users, all that software has become a DIY burden. DIFM makes things simpler.”

Can you imagine a small business marketing person — or a small business owner, who is very often the one who has to do the marketing, too — having the time to choose between 2,000 SaaS software marketing solutions? Or, as the author says, using 50-60 distinct software tools himself — as “many CMOs” do in large companies?

Hello! This just isn’t gonna happen in any small business I know of.

That’s why “Do It for Me” (DIFM) — which is Software WITH a Service — is such a natural trend. It’s definitely starting to happen, and certainly needs to happen broadly in the world of small business.

But I know what you’re thinking… is anyone really doing this yet in a meaningful way for small businesses? Well, how about one good example of this happening right here in Minnesota? I have just such a company to tell you about. It’s called Buzz360, and I LOVE the way this startup has taken to describing itself lately, which fits right into this trend:

“Marketing Automation for the Fortune Five Million”

That’s right, Buzz360 doesn’t give a hoot about the Fortune 500… 1000… 2000. Such companies have access to all the marketing software they could ever want (and the budgets to pay for it). It’s the vast millions of small businesses — the real engine of our economy — where marketing help is so direly needed. And that doesn’t mean just software, but high-touch services to go along with it.

I talked to Lisa Schneegans, Buzz360’s CEO and cofounder, who sold her last small-business software startup to giant SAP. “We’ve always been passionate about small business,” she said. “It became very obvious to us quite some time ago that most small businesses do not have the time or expertise to keep up with marketing trends and best practices — yet these were becoming increasingly important for their very survival.”

Lisa said that’s why she and her team created Buzz360 as a ”Software WITH a Service.” The Buzz360 marketing platform automates things like nurturing emails, postings to Facebook, web site development, and requesting reviews and referrals. “And we supplement our automated tools with small business SEO, SEM, and content creation, while providing interfaces to QuickBooks.”

Lisa continued: “Because we understand that many small businesses cannot afford expensive software and consultants, this notion of ’Do It For Me’ — DIFM — is really the driving force behind our product, our services, and our company. We currently have a ‘Do It For Me’ and ‘Do It With Me’ model, depending on the customer.”

Buzz360 was founded in 2013 and has more than $1 million in capital invested to date. The company is currently raising an additional round of funding to expand its team and its marketing and sales programs. It is marketing its brandable, white-label platform to media firms and franchisors, who are its partners in reaching significant sectors of the gigantic U.S. small business market. The company has revenues from multiple customers, and, says CEO Lisa Schneegans, is finding excellent acceptance of its platform and its model in the marketplace.

[Note: This post first appeared April 24, 2015, in Graeme Thickins On Tech™. Full disclosure, I’m proud to say that I’ve previously provided advisory and communications services to Buzz360.]

Minnesota ‘Mompreneur’ Launches Parent App and Crowdfunding Campaign

April 22, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

Karla Lemmon has done it. She’s left a successful corporate career as a product manager to pursue her dream of becoming a tech entrepreneur and marketing her own app — an app for which she’s convinced there’s a big need.

Little Peanut on the Go is a personal-assistant mobile app for parents to help them stay organized and connected when they or their children are away from home. It lets parents create packing lists and to-do lists, build care schedules to share with caregivers, and connect with their children while they’re away with updates and photos. Little Peanut on the Go just became available this month, first in the Google Play App Store for Android devices. It’s expected to be available very soon in the iOS App Store. (UPDATE: it’s there!)

This month was also Karla’s official start date for taking the reins of her own firm, Karimack Productions LLC, on a fulltime basis — and beginning the process of marketing her new app. She says she’s had several business ideas over the years, “but Little Peanut on the Go is the idea that gave me the passion to actually pursue entrepreneurship.” Read more about Karla’s story in her own words on her blog.

Previously, Karla was employed by Honeywell for a dozen years in a variety of progressively responsible positions. Most recently, she was a program manager, where she managed all aspects of a SaaS communications application, including product design and development, marketing, pricing, usability and quality testing, and deployment. Karla has a mechanical engineering degree and also holds an MBA from the University of Saint Thomas. Read more about her background on her LinkedIn profile.

I first learned about Karla’s new venture last fall when I attended and reported on the 2014 “MobCon” mobile conference in Minneapolis. In my recap of the event, I wrote about how she took first prize in the startup pitch competition — going up against some pretty smart guys! — winning $25,000 in cash and services in the process. As I said at the time, I was pretty blown away with the quality of her pitch and her app.

While Karla was self-funding the development and testing of her app, she realized she’d need to raise some funds to begin the marketing process once the app was available for download. But how? After considering various options, she chose to do a crowdfunding campaign — but not on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, where it can be hard to get noticed. Rather, Karla decided to use a site designed specifically for women entrepreneurs: Plum Alley. Her campaign to raise just a modest $7500 is underway there, and it’s doing well in the short time it’s been live. Read about Karla’s decision to go with Plum Alley in a recent blog post she wrote.

So, tell your mommy friends — and grandparents, too! Have them download the app. And, let’s see if we can help Karla reach her funding goal. You can support her project right here on Plum Alley. Creative, smart, hard-working Minnesota women entrepreneurs like Karla deserve our support!

Also, be sure to follow Little Peanut On the Go on Twitter, and Like the app here on Facebook.

MN Cup is Now Accepting Applications

March 23, 2015 By Steve Borsch

MN Cup – the largest statewide new venture program in the country – is now accepting applications for its 11th competition.

MN Cup is the premier resource for Minnesota entrepreneurs. They support emerging entrepreneurs from across the state through events, educational programming and an annual new venture competition that provides them with tools, resources and support to launch and accelerate the development of their new ventures. The competition inspires entrepreneurs to begin their startup journey, supports them as they develop a solid business plan, provides exposure for their ideas and offers numerous opportunities to expand their networks.

The 2015 MN Cup competition is now accepting applications. Apply here.

Rockin’ Appapalooza.

April 27, 2014 By Phil Wilson

As I walked into the room at TechnovationMN‘s Appapalooza I was hit by Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty to Me”. Wait, my mistake….it was the intro to the group “Talk Nerdy To Me,” a team of young women from Great River School presenting their application to the crowd. They were one of many teams of girls participating in the weekend event that served as the culmination of the Technovation Challenge. As noted in Graeme’s recent post, for the past 12 weeks, teams have been working on mobile applications that satisfy real problems in the community. The afternoon highlighted apps that provide help with organizing for school, preventing sexual assault and natural alternatives to current health and beauty products. All of the applications from teams like Tech Leopards, French Toast Mafia, and Talk Nerdy to Me are eligible to win up to $20,000 in funding for further development. It was great afternoon filled with music, fun, prizes and technology. The girls conceived, developed, and pitched their applications. Most importantly, it presented an exciting environment for young women to become involved in technology and inspire them as entrepreneurs…with a social conscience.

MN Gets Dismal Score For Policies

December 12, 2013 By Tim Elliott

Twin Cities Business magazine just released a bad-news-for-MN story stating that, “Minnesota was ranked the sixth-worst state for entrepreneur- and small business-friendly tax and regulatory policies.”

The list analyzes tax, regulatory, and government spending policies across the country and determines which states, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE) measures, have the most “entrepreneur-friendly policies.

Here is the article. The full list can be seen here and an interactive map of the different states can be seen here.

A Fix for US Under-Employment?

October 29, 2013 By Graeme Thickins

vBENCH thinks it has one solution. The startup, cobased in the Twin Cities, announced today a U.S.-only “talent exchange” that seeks to counter the massive amount of contract work that Americans lose out on, year after year, due to “offshoring.” Yep, let’s hear it for “onshoring” — keeping more of that work here in the good ol’ USA!

The wave of contingent workers continues to build, says vBENCH, with many reports citing a shift away from the 40-hour work week to a more flexible, on-demand workforce. Cofounder JT Eberly (based here) notes that, though the official U.S. unemployment rate is now around 7.2%, “many experts believe the actual figure is in the mid-teens when you look at those who are underemployed and have stopped looking for work.” A large number of those have either done contract or freelance work in the past, or could start doing it — IF there was a better, more efficient way for them to find work and get paid for it quickly and efficiently.

“We believe a significant number of highly skilled U.S-based professionals remain undiscovered, underutilized, and unemployed,” Eberly said. ” At vBENCH, we’re out to empower this onshore talent pool with a platform to establish themselves as ‘solopreneurs’ — so we can keep lots more income here at home.” Beginning today, at www.vBENCH.com, any hiring company can post a project for no cost, and independent contractors in a wide variety of professions can sign up for a free profile. Read today’s full news announcement here.

AdWords Is Too Complex – Adagogo is a Better Solution

October 21, 2013 By Graeme Thickins

What if you could post an ad in three minutes and geo-target it to mobile users in a given radius around you — or across an entire network of 45 to 50 million of them — then start seeing results minutes after that? Well, you can — I know, I did it, with a new self-serve ad service called Adagogo, soft-launched in recent days by mobile app platform company DoApp Inc. (www.doapps.com), based right here in Minnesota (Rochester and Minneapolis).

DoApp founder Joe Sriver began working at Google in early 2001 and knows a thing or two about online advertising. “After joining Google, I found out that I’d been about the 20th advertiser to sign up for Adwords. Also, I learned that Adwords was the reason my hire date was pushed a few months, as they were so heads-down developing it.” As Google’s first UI designer, he soon became steeped in AdWords himself. “It’s a great product, and I’m proud to have been part of its history,” he said. However, it’s become complex, really complex. It’s gotten so new users either need to spend days trying to understand all the options it now offers, or hire a professional to manage their ad campaigns.” He doesn’t think that’s right.

“What’s been missing in all this,” says Sriver, “is an easy method to just get your web site, business, blog, or app in front a lot of people quickly.” (Hello, startups!)

“I think we’ve developed the simplest way to quickly place your ad within thousands of local and national apps, on all the major mobile app platforms,” said Sriver, “Our network of users today is substantial, between 45 and 50 million people, and it will continue to grow rapidly.”

Because you can target locally or advertise across the entire network, DoApp says Adagogo is “great for everything from getting traffic to local garage sales to building national brand awareness.” How’s that for a bold addressable market?

Sriver recounted how he experimented with a lot of new ideas since he launched DoApp in early 2008. The company’s main app platform business (both Mobile Local News and Real Estate) continues to grow rapidly. (See my previous coverage of the company here, here, here, and here.) But, of all the new side-project ideas he’s played with over the years, Joe says Adagogo is the one he realized had the most potential to get traction.

How to Post an Ad with Adagogo:

> Choose geographically where you want your ad displayed
> Enter your ad copy and add a picture
> Select the amount of ad impressions you want to display
> Add a web site URL, phone number, and/or location
> Enter your credit card info
> DONE!

I Did My Own Self-Serve Ad Test
I set up an ad on Adagogo the other day just to experiment with it myself. And I must say, it was quite easy. Nice, intuitive UI — really simple and clean. My ad is the shown here with the headline, “Learn About Big Data.” The goal was to drive traffic to a Flipboard magazine — which I had launched a while back on a lark — just to see how many people I could get to subscribe with a mobile ad. Joe told me that 1000 ad impressions, the option I chose (price: $25) would go quickly on the DoApp network — in about 2-3 minutes. He was right. I watched as my subscriber count went up 20%+ almost before my eyes. Once my ad impressions were used up, my click-through rate was 1.2%. Not bad, as the ad was just promoting a web site — to get people to subscribe to a free mag — not some giveaway, coupon offer, or contest.

So, across what geography do users see the ads? “Many of our apps are local or regional news apps,” says Sriver, “but we do have a number of national and international news apps as well. You can either choose to advertise locally within a 5, 10, or 50-mile radius around a location specified by you. Or you can have your ad displayed ‘Everywhere,’ which means wherever our apps are used around the world.” One of DoApp’s widely distributed news apps, with a worldwide footprint, is called Headlines.

“Across iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and mobile web, we currently have more than 1500 apps,” says Sriver. “That number will be going up significantly, as all our real estate apps will soon have access to the Adagogo network. So our total number of available apps where Adagogo ads appear will grow a ton – stay tuned!”

Seriously, I can see Adagogo used for garage sales, fundraisers, local mom & pop stores, online businesses — even big brick-and-mortar retailers and, heck, ecommerce giants, for that matter. A Best Buy, for example, could advertise individual store deals using local-radius targeting, but could also do general brand advertising across the entire 50-million user base – say, to hype a Super Bowl commercial, or a contest or sweepstakes. No special expertise required — really anyone can use the simple Adagogo interface.

“From our start, DoApp’s mission has been to help in the growth and success of communities and local businesses through new technology,” says Sriver. “Adagogo builds on that mission.”

A Special Offer This Month
In announcing the Adagogo soft-launch, Joe offered up a special promotion for Minnov8 readers. With any ad package you purchase, the company will double your number of impressions. For example, buy the 1000 ad impressions package, get an addition 1000 for free (2000 total). Buy 5000, get a total of 10,000. This “buy one get one deal” is available only until October 31, 2013, and is for ads that are specified to run “everywhere,” as opposed to a specific location. Just place your ad before midnight Central time on October 31 and you’ll automatically get double ad impressions.

—————-

Postscript: See DoApp at MobCon
Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp, will be speaking at a mobile technology conference coming up in Minneapolis, Nov 7-8: MobCon. (Online registration still open.) His session and description: “It’s all about your latitude and longitude. How location is changing mobile.”
“Location and mobile are a perfect match. Learn more about how device latitude and longitude are changing the mobile game for advertising, social, commerce, personal data, and content distribution. A recent study showed that 43% of users were willing to provide their location to companies compared to less than 11% willing to share their browsing history. Has location information become the new cookie? You will learn: Location Data Trends, Effective Location App Offerings, Location Data Use, Consumer Behaviors, and Location Best Practices.”

Minnov8 will be reporting from the MobCon event, so look for us there!

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Disclosure: DoApp is one of the companies in my client equity portfolio. I helped launch the firm in 2008, serving as its VP Marketing.

CoCo Uptown Open House a Success!

October 11, 2013 By Steve Borsch

Last night was CoCo‘s open house for their new Minneapolis Uptown location and all four of the Minnov8 Gang attended along with several hundred of our closest friends.

The specs on this place were pretty impressive:

160 Coworking seats for individual members
9 medium campsites for group memberships)
The “Garage” – a 3,500-square-foot open space devoted to ideation, prototyping and presentations for groups up to 100
A small movie theater, for presentations and pitches
A billiard room that doubles as a meeting room.
A walkout patio, located within a beautiful green space
2 large conference rooms
6 private booths for phone calls and demos
A commons area that can be used for 100-person events and meetups

But it wasn’t until one is actually in the space that you get a sense of the possibilities and how fun it would be to tap in to that energy.

When you also consider that the Uptown area—and the increasing gentrification of blocks east with lofts being built and housing being remodeled—you can understand why CoCo carving out a space within it is a brilliant move. Learn more about the space here.

Don Ball, one of the co-founders of CoCoMSP alongside Kyle Coolbroth, Jeff Heegaard and Roger Heegaard, will be our guest Saturday on the Minnov8 Gang Podcast, episode 235. We’ll talk about the Uptown location, what’s going on with CoCoMSP overall, and what the future holds with co-working.