Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Method Patents: Good or Bad?

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On July 31, 1790, the first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process" and signed by then President George Washington.

Let’s say you’ve founded a startup and think you have a completely original idea no one has thought of before with new approaches to the way an old process works. You might then think all you have to do is patent that process and you can achieve the protection patenting is all about: excluding others from copying you.

Oh, if it were only so simple. The world of patents has become incredibly complex and is a minefield just waiting for a startup to get traction selling their offering before the unaware entrepreneur takes a step, hears a click, and thinks “Oh-oh” just before the “patent landmine” blows up. This is especially true in the area of method (i.e., process) patents but there’s hope.

Ernest Grumbles III

Ernest Grumbles III, an intellectual property attorney with Merchant & Gould and co-founder of MOJO MN, has one of the best posts I’ve read yet at StarTribune on the current state of method patents (and it’s obvious why you need somebody like him to ensure your idea is capable of being patented or even worthy of protection). As Ernest points out, method patents are neither good nor bad and are granted based on the merits of the claim and its level of abstraction. If you have a method idea you’re already moving forward on (or are about to) then you owe it to yourself, and your current and future investors, to make certain you are protected and that you wrap that idea in a way that minimizes abstraction and ensures you’re granted that patent!

That said, calls for patent reform are growing louder by the week and many of us who see some patents as ways to extort money from entrepreneurs and innovators or stifle innovation, hope the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office moves faster on reform.

Until there are significantly more precedents set in the area of method patents, people like Ernest will have no shortage of work and startups no end of concern over whether a method idea is too abstract to be patented or likely infringing on some obscure patent already granted.

MentorMate: Turning Vision in to Software

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One of the most challenging things to do as a startup, entrepreneur, or any leader looking to manifest a vision or outcome in software, is finding a trusted partner with whom to turn that vision in to reality. MentorMate, a mobile, application & web software development company in Minneapolis, does this sort of work all the time and might be a firm you’ve never heard of before!

CEO Björn Stansvik and I grabbed lunch last week to discuss his company, their approach, some of the things they do and where they’re headed. To say they’re accomplished is an understatement (the firm is on the State of MN approved vendor list; they’re delivering numerous mobile apps and focusing on cell phone application development; and even creating translation apps) Stansvik himself has quite a list of accomplishments himself.

Björn Stansvik, CEO

Deciding to come to this country as a tourist many years ago, he was focused on getting a work visa and staying in this land of opportunity. He ended up finding a company for whom he wrote an 80+ page market analysis of opportunities for their product in another country and politely inserted himself in to their company by asking for a computer and desk. They declined, but he appeared anyway and worked for free for two weeks. They sponsored and hired him.

The way he tells the story you can see how this is a man who becomes totally focused and consumed with a goal, achieves it, and goes on to the next one. Quite impressive but the proof is always in the deliverable for a company in this space, right? Let’s take a look at two that are public and visible….  [Read More…]

Minnesota Cup Semifinal Kickoff

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Last night’s turnout at the James J. Hill Library for the Minnesota Cup Semifinalist kickoff was impressive and quite large for an event of its kind. In attendance were 125-140 entrepreneurs, investors, sponsors, MN Cup judges and those of us covering the event (Minnov8 and tech.mn) as well as the people who were the entire reason for the kickoff itself: the semifinalists.

If you don’t already know about the Minnesota Cup, it is an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas and is open to 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 already been actively building your venture for some time.

James J. Hill

After some initial networking and refreshments, the evening festivities were kicked off by Anne Rasmussen, JJHill Library CFO/COO. She dropped some factoids on us about the Hill Library being one of the top business libraries in the nation, is fully self-supporting, and she ended her remarks by referring to how fitting it was that the entrepreneurs in attendance were sitting beneath a portrait of James Jerome Hill himself.

As you are undoubtedly aware living here in Minnesota, Hill was an incredibly successful entrepreneur who began his railroad empire in the 19th century and whose heirs established the library we were sitting in last night. (One factoid she didn’t mention–and one I’ve always found intriguing–was the supposed inspiration Hill’s life and empire building gave Ayn Rand for her character Nathaniel Taggart in her novel Atlas Shrugged).

Next up was Scott Litman, co-founder of the MN Cup (along with his business partner, Dan Mallin). Scott walked through the particulars of participating in the competition, what it took to deliver on it successfully as a competitor, a bit about the prize money, and gave the semifinalists the information they required to complete their business plans and make sure they submitted them by the deadline of July 23rd at 11:59pm (on a humorous note, Scott mentioned that historically something like 1/3rd of the plans are submitted within the final six hours!).
…  [Read More…]

OnCorps Reports: A MN Success Story

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While running strategic alliances at Lawson Software back in 2005, I met a woman named Catherine Settanni who was actively involved in digital literacy and a true advocate for ensuring that as many people as possible had access to the internet. Her leadership in the AmeriCorps Community Techology Empowerment Project (C-CAN) and its focused community outreach effort (the Digital Access Project) led her to a deep involvement in the Wireless Minneapolis effort to saturate the city with Wifi, bringing about one aspect to the internet access the other programs were intent on delivering.

But Catherine was frustrated. She saw that the required AmeriCorps reporting was excruciatingly difficult for a program director to create and deliver so, like any good entrepreneur, she set about leveraging her background and abilities as a filmmaker, database design, technologist and advocate to pull together a team, obtain funding and set about writing her own software as a service (SaaS)!

Other State programs caught wind of what she was up to and climbed on board as initial customer/funders. The result of her efforts has evolved in to OnCorps Reports™ which provides web-based reporting and communication tools for National and Community Service programs, including AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps and Learn & Serve programs. Designed specifically to support service programs, the application framework is easily modified for use by any Non-Profit organizations to manage volunteers or staff, monitor program progress, and utilize financial reporting tools.

When we had coffee this week, I was at first delightfully surprised at how powerful and robust OnCorps Reports was and how it had a very well executed user interface, but at the same time I thought, “What the hell!?! Why isn’t Catherine involved with the minne* crowd, showing at Minnedemo or leading sessions at Minnebar? Connected to the startup community here in Minnesota?” So we spent some time having her walk me through the software and me thinking out loud about how to connect her immediately within our tech community and get her more attention from those of us keenly interested in discovering MN startup success stories. …  [Read More…]

Lost in Minneapolis Skyways? FrypanDigital Has Your Lifeline

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FryPanDigital, a startup that intends to create “tasty apps” was founded by, “…two dudes who know nothing about application development, but wanted to try super hard to kick out an iPhone app.” These two have succeeded in “kicking out an app” and have released their new, free Minneapolis Skyway app for iPhone (their blog; iTunes link).

I met co-founder John Haddad at the Mobile March event a couple of months ago. He said that he’d keep in touch on the apps release and, true to his word, did so today and I thought I’d write a post immediately so you all could go and download this free app.

If you’ve ever spent any time hiking through the 8+ miles of skyway in the Minneapolis system, you know how challenging it is to find your way, locate that favorite deli or coffee shop you’ve been thinking about, or are heading toward to meet a friend for lunch and if you’re like me — a guy who detests pausing for several minutes to locate my destination on a skyway directory and then orient myself in the skyway labyrinth over-n-over again — this app will be a godsend and make it significantly simpler to ensure you and I don’t get lost in the skyway system.

For retailers and merchants who struggle to get the attention of potential skyway-walking customers (and face restrictions on placing signage in the walkways) this app promises to give them a new avenue to connect with customers as well as prospective ones. This is a struggle I know all too well since a few college buddies of mine once had a video rental store on the skyway system and every day multiple people would stop in and express surprise and delight that, “Oh good! There’s a video rental store in the skyway. How long have you been here?” even though they’d been in business at that location for several years. This app holds the promise of being both a fabulous tool for people to discover merchants and retailers but will also enable those retailers and merchants to deliver specials, deals and other focused advertisements through the app….  [Read More…]

Workface Presents at AlwaysOn

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For more than two years, Minnov8 has monitored the progress of Workface and founder/CEO Lief Larson. Especially the continued evolution of BusinessCard2, a technology which you can see a part of if you click on the tab on the right side of your browser.

Besides being a good guy and friend of Minnov8, Lief is someone who is cut from the proverbial entrepreneur’s cloth: highly focused; persistent; always seeking; and someone who will make his offerings successful no matter what (disclaimer: Graeme Thickins has been assisting Workface as a client). It was with great delight that we saw Lief have an opportunity to present at the Always On/On Demand 2010 Conference this week and you can see him in action below.

DoApp Signs L.A. Newspaper Group to Mobile Local News Publishing Platform

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DoApp Inc., the Rochester-based mobile development company behind such apps as WCCO for iPhone, Mobile Local News, iKenex for Real Estate, Adagogo mobile advertising, and mRemedy, a partnership between The Mayo Clinic and DoApp, just nnounced their Mobile Local News publishing platform has signed the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG). LANG properties include: Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles City Guide (LA.com) and seven more properties.

The key thing about the Mobile Local News publishing platform is that it integrates directly in to a publishing groups infrastructure and extends it into the mobile space and that “...publications can get up and running quickly with their own, branded mobile app. A Mobile Local News app can be ready within 30 days. The app is usually in the iPhone App Store or Android Market in less than 10 days if all news feeds are ready to go.”

Nice client. Congratulations to Wade Beavers, Joe Sriver, Dave Borillo and the team at DoApp.

Startup Visa Bill Introduced

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Early Wednesday morning, Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Richard Luger introduced the “Startup Visa Act”, aimed to change the EB-5 visa to allow immigrant entrepreneurs to obtain a visa, if there is funding from a sponsoring VC or angel. This should fuel job growth, as one of the requirements to get the visa is adding 5 jobs a year. The plan has garnered the support of over 100 VC’s and angels, and is now an official bill before the Senate.

It is very interesting to see the support that this bill is getting. In a time of healthcare, economy, recalls, and scandals, over 1200 messages were sent to 164 different congressmen from 33 different states about the StartupVisa bill.

What does this mean for the MN startup culture? For now, not much. The bill is fairly down on the docket, so it may be awhile until it gets voted on. However, with our state having a rich startup culture, several VC’s and angels, and a history as a destination for people looking to make a new home, I would not be surprised if we started seeing new faces on the scene once this gets passed.

You can get the full text of the bill HERE, and the website for the group/bill is HERE.

Minnov8 Gang 66: Flat Is The New Up?

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Is it true that “Flat Is The New Up?” Not if you’re a company just outside St. Cloud, Sartell-based w3i, which is consistently proving that “Up Is The New Up” every quarter through quite impressive and sustained growth. Our guest on this week’s podcast, co-founder Rob Weber (@robertjweber), tells us how they got started and what they’re up to now.

W3i was marketing apps when apps weren’t even cool and their founding is a great story. In 2000, the three Weber brothers (Ryan, Aaron and Rob) discovered the power of free and launched Freeze.com. Along with their team, they developed applications to satisfy users’ pent up demand for free content while pioneering new revenue models to spread the development and marketing costs across millions of installations — over 250 million to date.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (and thanks to Phil for tossing out the meme “flat is the new up” on the podcast!)
Music by Josh Woodward and the tune is “Stickybee”. From the podsafe music network Music Alley.

Discussed during the show notes:

 

Podcast: Download (Duration: 53:08 — 30.8MB)

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Zipnosis: Healthcare On-the-Go

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Zipnosis is a 2008 Minnesota Cup winner (Student category) and a pre-launch healthcare startup in Minneapolis that is zeroing in on the always-on and always-connected generation with a very interesting and potentially disruptive healthcare business model.

I sat down this week with founder Jon Pearce to discuss Zipnosis and what they were trying to accomplish. “When you’re sick and need to go to a doctor or visit a clinic, you have to take time off work, pay a co-pay, sit in the waiting room, and then just get seen by a nurse,” says Pearce. This occurs even for fairly routine and minor issues such as bacterial infections (e.g., strep throat) or viral ones like the flu, and Pearce has data-backed opinions about the percentages of office visits that are routine like these.

Those are the types of visits that require a considerable time investment for the patient and are low value ones for a clinician, and speeding up that process virtually and online (called a “zip”) is what Zipnosis is making more efficient for both the patient and clinician (minutes for a Doctor to turn around a diagnosis vs. 15-20 minutes of time for that same thing in-office, and undoubtedly 2 hours or so of time for the patient). What if instead you could use your computer or cell phone, answer a series of very structured questions about your symptoms, get fast clinician or doctor feedback and, if needed, a prescription sent to the pharmacy of your choice? …  [Read More…]