Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Mac Startups Is Back! Demo Day Sept 10th

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MacStartups-logoStartups are popping up all over, and St. Paul’s Macalester College is no exception. It’s doing its part to support entrepreneurial students in its student body. The Mac Startups program is back for a second year after a successful pilot program in 2014.

Another group of motivated students has spent this summer learning about Macalester-logoentrepreneurship and developing their startup ideas into real products and businesses. The college says the program is similar to the fellowship model it uses for academic research projects. It provides the selected  teams of students with coworking space, housing, funding, and resources. But, essentially, it’s a student-run entrepreneurship incubator.

Here’s how the program works: the teams identify problems in the Twin Cities community (and beyond) and develop creative products and services to solve these problems. Their projects range from a mobile app for group decision making, to a platform for sharing homecooked meals, to a home composting pickup service.

While working on their ideas this summer, the Mac Startups students have also been engaging with the entrepreneurial community in the Twin Cities by attending meetings and hosting events on campus, as well as by holding workshops. Each Macalester-campusteam was paired with an alumni mentor with expertise relevant to their project.

On September 10th, from 12:30 to 2:00 pm, the teams will be showcasing their work at a “Demo Day” event on the beautiful Macalester campus. The event will feature short pitches from each of the Mac Startups teams, as well as a light lunch and some great networking with members of the startup community, faculty and student leaders, and some notable Mac alumni, including Seth Levine of the Boulder, CO-based VC firm Foundry Group. This year’s Demo Day is an official event of Twin Cities Startup Week.

Get ready to see some great demos from this year’s batch: ArtDefy, NÜDL, Plannd, Unanimus, VendFresh, CoArt Designs, and Hop In.

I attended last year, and I was honestly blown away by the energy and smarts of the highly motivated Mac students who presented! And their startup concepts were very well thought out. I’m betting this year will be even better.

I encourage you to attend. For details and to register, just go the Eventbrite page. See you there!

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

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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.”

Service-keyboard-450wThe 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”

Buzz360-HomePageThat’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 LisaSchneegansautomated 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

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karla-lemmonKarla 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-peanutLittle 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 pitchKarlaLemmon-MobConStartupWinner 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.

Care Schedule

Packing ListPostsTo Do List

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.

All About the New Sofia Fund – and Now Its First Investment

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The newSofiaFund-logo-250ws about a new angel fund in Minnesota appeared in the StarTribune in late January: “Sofia Fund receives nearly $4 million for angel fund”.  Just over two months later, the fund has announced its first investment — in Minneapolis-based Kidizen, a “kid resale marketplace to buy, sell, and swap your kid’s clothing, gear, toys, decor and more.” Here’s how Kathy Grayson at the Business Journal reported that news on April 3: kidizen-logo“Women-focused angel fund Sofia backs Kidizen.” The amount of the investment was not revealed. [UPDATE: A Twin Cities Business magazine story that just appeared today said it was $100,000.]

I’ve known three of the Sofia Fund’s members for some years, and have had the pleasure of working closely with one of them, Barb Stinnett, since late 2012. So, I decided to interview Barb to get some more background on the Sofia Fund.

Minnov8: Barb, I know you’ve spent the majority of your career as a technology company executive in Silicon Valley. But how long have you been associated with Sofia Fund, and how did that start?

SofiaFund-principals-400w

Sofia Fund principals (left to right): Joy Lindsay, Cathy Connett, Lisa Crump, Barb Stinnett, and Dee Thibodeau. (StarTribune photo.)

Barb Stinnett: I’ve been a part of the Sofia Fund since I returned home from Silicon Valley in 2012. Initially, Dee, Joy, and Cathy kicked things off in 1998 with an organization called Women To Women. Lisa joined in 2006, during Sofia Fund I. I’d been doing angel investing for a number of years in the Bay Area, and wanted to find a new way to support my fellow Minnesota entrepreneurs. I was fortunate to meet this team, and to be able to do what I love — work with early stage companies and bringing Valley investment models to Minnesota.

Minnov8: Can you tell us some of the investments Sofia members made prior to this new fund?

Barb Stinnett: Previous women-led companies that Sofia Fund members have invested in include Gentra Systems, Apprise Technologies, and Iconoculture.

Minnov8: I know you’re especially experienced in the information technology business, having served in several executive positions, and that is certainly a major area of focus for Sofia. Will that include investing in Internet and mobile-based startups?

Barb Stinnett: Absolutely! The fund seeks early stage, growth-oriented, gender-diverse entrepreneurial companies that have women leaders on the management team who own equity in the business. Companies in information technology, business products and services, health and wellness, clean technology, or other technology areas that have demonstrated a value proposition with their business model and are looking for capital are on our radar. You can learn more about specific categories of interest to us on our web site, in the section called “Our Focus” — just scroll over each image.

Minnov8: What about consumer versus B2B markets — does Sofia have a preference for startups that address one or the other?

Barb Stinnett: We consider both consumer and B2B companies, as long as they’re in information technology, business products and services, health and wellness, clean technology, or general technology markets. It’s pretty clear on our new web site, and the application link is right there so entrepreneurs can submit an inquiry. What’s also important for them to understand is our “Investment Criteria,” another section of the site.

Minnov8: Barb, with your broad experience in the technology communities in both Silicon Valley and Minnesota, how do you like to characterize the differences in the two markets — including the investment mentality, taste for risk, and the talent pool here in Minnesota compared to the Valley? And is the climate getting better here for early-stage investing?

Barb Stinnett: In some ways, early stage angel investing is similar between Silicon Valley and Minnesota – driven by people who are passionate about the companies they invest in. Here in Minnesota, there’s more of a broad engagement approach. Many of the angel investors here take active roles in community activities that support and enhance our early stage entrepreneurs. A recent event at Café Inc. in Edina was a good example: there were more than 50 investors and mentors present who were all interested in working with companies, pro bono, including taking evenings and personal time to collaborate and sincerely offer assistance as needed.

Organizations such as the Minnesota High Tech Association, the Minnesota Cup, the Fowler Business Concept Challenge, Cleantech Open, Minnesota Emerging Software Advisors, the MN Venture Finance Conference, and Women’s Trust are all examples of exceptional organizations in Minnesota, with the passion and purpose to enhance our early stage companies. The Sofia team participates in all of these and believes angel investing is important to drive economic development in our community.

From a pure financial standpoint, a differentiator for Sofia in that initial valuations here are not as high as they are in the Valley for similar early stage companies, so there’s an opportunity for investors to benefit on the upside in a successful exit — and the companies themselves do as well. It’s a win for everyone.

————

Here’s the text of the January news release announcing the fund:

Sofia Angel Fund II Raises $3.925 Million

January 22, 2015 — Sofia Angel Fund II, LLC announces the successful first closing of its angel investment fund targeting women-led growth companies with $3.925M of capital commitments.

The Sofia Fund focuses on investing equity in early stage, growth companies that are women-led and which operate principally in information technology, clean technology, health and wellness, and business products and services. The Fund expects to concentrate its investing in companies located in the Midwest, and plans to bring resources, experience and expertise to help the businesses in which it invests achieve success.

The Fund is cofounded and managed by 5 experienced and successful women business leaders and investors each of whom have been active angel investors for multiple decades. Cathy Connett is the CEO of the Sofia Fund and the other members of the management team are Lisa Crump, Joy Lindsay, Barb Stinnett, and Dee Thibodeau. Investors in the Sofia Fund include a number of individuals who are committed to increasing funds available to early stage companies, particularly in women-led companies that have historically been underserved by private investors.

Cathy Connett, CEO, said: “Angel investing is an important component in the economic development of communities since angels often take the risks associated with early stage funding of companies that provide innovative new businesses and jobs for a community. The Sofia Angel Fund was created because the management team believes, based on its extensive investment experience in growth companies, that there are many exciting women-led growth companies that might otherwise have difficulty finding funding and will therefore benefit from a focused angel fund. According to a recent study from Babson College, the Venture Capital community is currently only providing 9-13% of their dollars to women-led, early stage companies even though an April 2013 SBA study has demonstrated that Venture Capital companies who invest in women-led companies perform better. The Sofia Fund wants to lead the way in changing the pattern of investment in women-led companies.”

A second closing for the Sofia Fund will be held in the next few months and is projected to bring aggregate capital commitments in excess of $5 million to the Fund.

MN Cup is Now Accepting Applications

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MN Cupmn-cup-home – 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.

Mobile App Discovery Not Getting Easier; ‘Zombies’ Gaining

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Image ©TelegraphUK

Image ©TelegraphUK

Basically, app discovery is a bitch, and the App Store is no longer the answer. That is the gist of a report on “2015 App Store Competition” published a couple days ago by an analytics firm in Berlin called Adjust. (PDF of the full report here.)

Minnesota developers are of course not strangers to this problem.  It’s especially painful for startups looking to get traction in today’s “mobile first” startup environment — and moreso if they don’t have Silicon Valley sized funding rounds.  I asked a couple of experienced mobile industry players here in Minnesota for their reaction to this news.  But first, more on the report.

It opens with a somber tone: “The app ecosystem is evolving, and it is becoming more Darwinistic every day. Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive – which comes as no surprise to the developers who have followed closely as the app economy took a couple of milestones in the past year. The total volume of apps available through Apple’s app store crossed 1,000,000 apps in early April, only to continue its unrestricted growth to reach almost 1.5 million apps in December. At first sight, this seems to be an insignificant problem, because while the number of apps grows, so too does the user base. But this is hardly a compensatory mechanism, as each user can only handle a limited number of apps… With the growing number of apps, winning at the app store discovery game, securing those top 10 or even top 50 placements in their category, is proving an unattainable dream for many developers with smaller marketing budgets.”

Here are the key stats from the report:

• The App Store grew 60% in 2014, from 890,000 available apps on January 1 to more than 1.42M on December 31.

• The “Zombie” rate increased from 74% in January 2014 to more than 83% in December.

Image ©AppAnnie

Image ©AppAnnie

What is a Zombie, you ask?  It’s an app that’s effectively invisible in the App Store and not ranking in the top lists.  An app that’s not displayed in the rankings is only available to users searching for it specifically.  The App Store is an exceedingly crowded marketplace where only the biggest brands and budgets are able to achieve visibility among visitors.

Competition for visibility in the app stores is expected to get even worse in 2015.  “If this trend continues – and nothing indicates it wouldn’t – we’ll see less than a tenth of apps attracting any kind of organic user attention by the end of the year, and those that do gain attention will be apps that already have significant traction,” said Christian Henschel, CEO and cofounder of Adjust. “The app store, as a source of organic acquisition, has finite capacity. When that’s reached, the app store will be dead.”

Okay, that last phrase is a little bit out there — but you get the point.

Emerging user acquisition techniques are replacing app stores for discovery.  Here’s how Adjust’s CEO puts it: ”Developers need to look to other ways of promoting their work.  In 2015, we’re looking at multiple techniques emerging that allow more ad formats to be less of a nuisance, instead adding value for users. If we can make ad user experience better, we can promote good content in new ways and places. The techniques that we are exploring – such as in-app use of source data – already show great promise to provide really good experiences for users in acquisition.”  [Here’s one example. Hint: it has everything to do with data.]

Adjust’s report makes it clear that, as more app developers vie for consumer attention, 2015 presents a huge challenge for developers, “and an opportunity for app marketing and analytics vendors to provide app publishers with the tools to optimize their user acquisition and in-app performance.”

So, what do some local mobile app industry players have to say?  First, I asked Wade Beavers, WadeBeaversCEO, DoApp Inc., a mobile app publisher founded in 2008. His answer shows this is hardly news to him.  He sees the growth in the App Store from another viewpoint:  “The amazing growth in the App Store is a direct reflection that the mobile web does not fulfill the appetite of users and developers.  That is the story.  For years folks have been trying to make the mobile web the replacement, but it is not happening.  The store needs a better way (for app discovery), but the real story is the mobile web is losing.”

Another Minnesota player who’s extremely close to this issue is Rob Weber, SVP and cofounder, NativeX (formerly W3i). His firm has been in the business of app distribution for RobWeberyears (even well before mobile). It has mobile app customers nationwide, including many in the Bay Area, where it has offices. Here’s what Rob had to say: “Nothing this report is saying is very surprising to me. From our vantage point at NativeX, we’ve seen that mid-sized app publishers and longtail hobby app publishers have been getting squeezed for a long time by the very top app publishers. Everyone has been watching Facebook’s massive growth in mobile ad revenues in recent quarters, most of which is coming from app advertisers. There are alternatives such as NativeX, but these alternatives also run on an auction basis, so there are some pricing pressures even in other channels. Facebook is the juggernaut. With Facebook’s auction-based ad platform being the dominant form of app discovery, top app publishers can afford to outbid smaller competitors and essentially squeeze them out of distribution. Many of the mid-sized app publishers have either folded up shop over the recent years, or been ‘acqui-hired’ by bigger app publishers. This trend is likely to continue.  It is a sign of the space reaching maturity.  The winners are primarily in gaming, where publishers like King and SuperCell have established dominant positions. To show just how far these top app publishers will go to expand distribution, and how big this space is, witness the multiple, very expensive Super Bowl commercials we saw this past weekend.”

As you may know, NativeX offers monetization solutions for app developers, with a heavy focus on game apps (the largest category in the App Store). And it has some pretty good data science chops of its own. The company was cited in this recent report: VentureBeat Recognizes NativeX As a Top 10 Company for Monetization & User Acquisition. It was also named as a leader in another report published by VentureBeat in late November: Mobile User Acquisition: How the most successful developers get better users for less money.

I’d be interested in hearing from mobile startups here in Minnesota — those in non-gaming categories — about what they’re doing to get their new apps discovered, or get more downloads for their existing apps.  Is it all just about raising more money to spend on Facebook ads?  Comment here or shoot me an email.

SPS Commerce’ Omnichannel – A Big Vision

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SPS Commerce, Inc. (SPSC) is a Minneapolis-based supply chain company that has, remarkably, been able to achieve 53 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. Good, solid, organic growth that has been slow and steady, though anything but exciting.

That is about to change.

This week SPS Commerce held their Omnichannel 14 event at the Marriott in downtown Minneapolis (recap here). The morning kickoff session on Monday was standing room only, much better attended than even the SPS team obviously planned for in advance.

Why so much interest in supply chain infrastructure software and services, especially from a company that did just over $104M in revenue in 2013? (2013 annual report PDF) Because of the huge challenges facing retailers as they try to compete with the accelerating changes caused by internet connectedness: ecommerce; social influence; supply chain efficiencies; and an constantly increasing level of expectation on the part of the consumer. A consumer who increasingly can get what they want, when they want it, at the best possible price, and it better come from a retailer that “gets it”.

Retailers have to make certain they can satisfy that consumer and also stock (or have instant access to) the products to back it up. If they don’t, the consumer is a click or touch away from buying elsewhere.

We’ve also been wondering why a serial entrepreneur who could go anywhere, Jamie Thingelstad (seen walking down the aisle in the photo above), would end up as the CTO at this small supply chain company. After hearing about their big vision at this event and talking with Jamie, it became clear that the enormity of the opportunity, and SPS’ position in the marketplace, makes this company a great place to work!

SETTING THE STAGE

SPS COO, Jim Frome, set the stage for the entire event with his kickoff presentation. He went through the historical view of omnichannel retail (previously dubbed “multichannel”) and what happened to lead us to the present day. A day where continued economic uncertainty is still negatively impacting retail and ecommerce is no longer a bolt-on: it must be an integrated experience. A day when the channels and ways in which consumers can buy are exploding and products are coming to market so fast that keeping up with item demand is incredibly difficult.

Jim Frome

Jim Frome

Frome went on to lay out how social media has become a dominant way people participate online (240m Twitter users and 1.23b Facebook users) which is driving purchase behavior, something traditional supply chain companies rarely even think about let alone bake in to their strategies.

He also laid out how the ubiquity of mobile is another key factor that is making it very hard for retailers to always be at the point of purchase when the customer is ready to buy. With 180m tablets & 1B smartphones in use there is an obvious and absolute requirement to have a digital presence but it’s more than that. The key is to be available to engage with the always on, always connected mobile user regardless of where they happen to be at the moment and whether or not that are even actively interacting with the retailer.

Competitive pressures are huge and accelerating too. From same day delivery to the growing mandate to significantly increase the items available in a retailer’s assortment, make the challenges facing retailers enormous.

Don't think retailers have many challenges? Look at this representation from Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2014 report (PDF)

Don’t think retailers have many challenges?
Look at this representation from Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing 2014 report (PDF)

Many of us not directly involved in retail probably have little clue about all the moving parts in the supply chain that leads up to the retailer and, in turn, to the consumer.

Several of my colleagues think “the big retailer challenge” boils down to showrooming and Amazon. Even though competing with Amazon is something many retailers contend with (both bricks-and-mortar and ecommerce ones), the challenges go far beyond that company in Seattle!

What do retailers think are their top issues? Deloitte report Global Powers of Retailing 2014 (PDF) had the graphic above which gives you, at a glance, at least an idea of the sorts of pressures retailers are facing. The sheer number of variables are overwhelming which is the primary reason why retailers are increasingly seeking strategic solutions, like those from SPS Commerce, to deal with the onslaught.

The Fourth Annual State of the Retail Supply Chain Report (PDF) by Auburn University and Retail Industry Leaders Association, is another good read. This report laid out the critical issues weighing on the minds of the 75 supply chain executives surveyed (from top retailers around the United States) but the top four hot button issues are key to understanding what is driving top retailers…as well as the concerns of leaders at smaller regional chains or individual stores:

1) Managing network growth (i.e., store and geographic expansion)
2) Serving omnichannel demand
3) Optimizing resource utilization
4) Navigating regulatory environment

Yep. Omnichannel is #2. So what would a smart strategy and big vision be for a retail supply chain company like SPS Commerce to execute on for 2014 and beyond?

THE BIG VISION

SPS is already well along the way toward having a critical mass to execute on a big vision: They have 50,000 in-network partners; source 1.3 million products from 7,000 companies (the largest in the world); have 35 million UPCs managed; support all fulfillment models; are deployed in 300,000 retail locations; and have a great reputation.

One way to see that in action is this press release that came out right after NetSuite’s CEO, Zach Nelson, talked about it on stage Monday afternoon: NetSuite And SPS Commerce Deepen Product Integration To Deliver Intelligent Commerce Collaboration. It describes how and why an alliance between NetSuite and SPS Commerce happened, why it makes sense, and what it will do.

Not only will SPS Commerce be able to tap in to NetSuite’s 20,000 customer base, NetSuite can integrate SPS’ supply chain capabilities and software into their platform. A classic win-win partnership and I’ll bet the first of many, especially as SPS’ vision becomes more well known.

jim-frome

Jim Frome & the big vision
(photo by @thingles)

SPS Commerce describes themselves as having “...the industry’s most broadly adopted, retail cloud services platform” and as “… a leader in cloud-based supply chain management solutions“. What I didn’t know was the extent to which SPS “...provides numerous prewired, proven integrations and comprehensive retail performance analytics to thousands of customers worldwide. With a singular focus on the retail marketplace, we revolutionized traditional EDI systems by developing a platform that enables highly cost-effective and reliable trading partner collaboration.” (my emphasis in bold)

There is that word “platform.” One we all hope to hear and read about when we look at how a company might scale, create an ecosystem, accelerate customer acquisition, and potentially grow like mad.

Without going in to great detail, just know that SPS has an already solid and growing customer base, partners in place and an already vibrant and emerging ecosystem. If they keep growing it at the pace they’ve been at, it will be interesting. If their ecosystem leaps forward like many suspect (and we are in that camp), then SPS Commerce is poised to become the dominant player in the omnichannel space.

SPS Commerce can do so because they have all the right pieces and parts already (and need to add more), don’t have to deal with enormous legacy software and major customer implementations stretching back to years before the internet, and can move quickly to execute on their vision for a smart, capable, scalable and ubiquitous supply chain. One that has partner extensions that will extend it in ways we cannot yet predict.

With a CTO like Jamie Thingelstad on board—someone who intuitively understands scalability, ecosystems, platforms, the web, social media, and all the ways in which these are impacting retailers and the supply chain itself—SPS has a bright future when it comes to the technology to drive their platform.

Resources

Rockin’ Appapalooza.

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IMAG0401As 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.

Invention Expo 2014

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invexpo2014The Minnesota Inventors Congress is holding their Invention Expo 2014 on May 2-3, 2014, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. They just announced its call for exhibitors with ample time to get signed up.

The Invention Expo 2014 provides a venue for inventors from Minnesota and beyond to introduce their products to new customers, learn from industry experts and connect with potential investors. More information about this event is in the news release below.

Nationally-renowned Invention Expo 2014 Announces Call for Exhibitors

The Minnesota Inventors Congress Invention Expo 2014 connects inventors
with industry experts and resources, provides market exposure for new products

REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. (March 24, 2014) – The Minnesota Inventors Congress today announced a call for exhibitors at Invention Expo 2014 onMay 2-3, 2014, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The Invention Expo 2014 provides an exciting venue for inventors from Minnesota and beyond to introduce their products to new customers, learn from industry experts and connect with potential investors. The early deadline for exhibitor submissions is April 4, 2014, and the final deadline is April 25, 2014.

“The annual Invention Expo connects exhibiting inventors with the best resources to help them get their products to market – from experts on intellectual property and patents, to authorities on funding, manufacturing and licensing, and new customers for market testing and word-of-mouth promotion,” says Doug Reuter, past Invention Expo exhibitor and inventor of SEQUENCE® and QB8™. “Exhibiting at Invention Expo is one of the most valuable commitments that inventors can make.”

Thousands of inventors from across the nation have participated in the Invention Expo since it was established by the nonprofit Minnesota Inventors Congress in 1958. The 2014 event format includes a combination of booth displays for exhibitor inventions and scheduled Inventing Success Workshops designed to teach inventors and attendees how to successfully develop and market their products.

In addition to exposure and networking, Invention Expo 2014 exhibitors are eligible to compete in several product invention awards, including the F. Robert Starr Grand Prize and the People’s Choice Maynard Speece Memorial. Exhibitors will also be given priority status for a “Pitch the Experts” panel, designed to give 30 inventors the opportunity to practice their pitch and gather feedback on their products from national product scouts – and potentially secure licensing opportunities.

Cost for exhibiting at Invention Expo 2014 is $595 before April 4, and $695 thereafter. For more information about exhibitor requirements and registration deadlines, or to complete an online registration form, visit www.minnesotainventorscongress.org/invention-idea-show/registration/

About Minnesota Inventors Congress

Established in 1958, the Minnesota Inventors Congress is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating economic development by supporting innovation and inventors at all phases of the invention development process. Through year-round access to knowledgeable staff and resources, the Minnesota Inventors Congress connects inventors with the information and experts to learn how to develop marketable products. For more information, visit www.minnesotainventorscongress.org

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