Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

DJ Edna – The Open Source Music and Art Catalog Engine

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logo.gifOne of the persistent issues with selling creative works digitally is the need for a middle man to handle the transaction. Engaging with these middle men – whether MySpace, iTunes, SnoCap, or another vendor – often comes at the cost of loss of rights or increase in fees for the artist. DJ Edna, the latest project from Thomas Bohmbach, is an open-source framework designed to make managing and selling digital works easy while allowing the artist to maintain full control over their work.

“Independent artists, who have a geek friend, could install [DJ Edna] on an extra computer in their basement, and run it that way, with no fees. ” – Thomas Bohambach, founder, DJ Edna.    

Full control means, DJ Edna will support any licensing or pricing structure the artist wants to release their work under. Plus, like any polite open-source project, DJ Edna is easily customizable for integration into WordPress, Gallery, and other projects.DJ Edna is currently behind The Skullcranes and Spirit of Salt. For those interested in using DJ Edna for their creative catalog, there’s a DJ Edna wiki with installation instructions in addition, Thomas provides set up, consulting, and hosting services.For more on DJ Edna, listen to my podcast interview with Thomas [mp3]

Podcast: Download (31.7MB)

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Locating Your Software Development in MN

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With all the accelerated political discussions during this presidential primary season, there has been considerable discussion about outsourcing, protecting the middle class, the economy and jobs. What is little discussed, however, is that the US has already outsourced much of our manufacturing base (thus directly impacting the middle class). What is not as apparent is that we’re also outsourcing more and more of our intellectual work in finance and software engineering.

Of course, this causes me great concern as someone who cares about our country, my children and my someday grandchildren, our State of Minnesota and most of all this premise: if you believe, as I do, that the Internet “platform” is the 21st century conduit for innovation, human connection and collaboration — and is the most “The World is Flat” accelerator of competition in intellectual capital globally — then you’d better be very concerned that we’re essentially shipping our high value, intellectually important work overseas and empowering our future competitors to become the software powerhouses of tomorrow.
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Yugma Accelerates

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yugmalogo.gifAs our world becomes increasingly interconnected and the need for collaboration with others — regardless of geography or time zone — grows as a business imperative at all levels within organizations, just talking with people over the phone or with Skype, instant messaging, sending an SMS or email, or even using some sort of Web-centric tool just won’t be enough.

Most of us are visual learners and communicators and thus have to see what you’re talking about and, of course, doing so is at the core of the idiom, “to be on the same page.” To communicate your vision in the most profound, efficient, synchronous and impactful way means that your virtual communications must include the ability to show others documents, presentations, Web pages, images and more in real-time so you can interact in the most powerful way possible.

In addition (and perhaps more vital) reason to find virtual ways to connect with others and be on the same page is the explosion in personal and company actions globally that are “green” in nature. More of us are trying to discover ways to consume less oil, spew fewer carbons into the atmosphere, and be just as, or more, productive without continuing to move atoms around (either our bodies or physical goods) like we’ve been doing in the past.

Meeting these needs (and more) is at the heart of what a Minnesota firm, Yugma (pro. “Yoog-mah” and not like many do “yugg-mah”) offers to the marketplace. As they say about themselves, “The name Yugma is a word from the Sanskrit language meaning “the state of being in unified collaboration.” Yugma, Inc. is a privately held venture-backed company headquartered in Minnesota , USA and has offices in Minneapolis, Mexico, Argentina and India.”

To me, being in unified collaboration means collaborating with others has to be easy to understand for everyone participating, nearly instantaneous to connect, and as simple to use as a to use as a word processor. Yugma delivers as you’ll see.

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Innovation in Early-Stage Investing? You Bet! And MN Firm Is Major Player

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It’s no secret the gap between friends-and-family financing and venture capital funding is big enough to drive a…well, a busload of entrepreneurs through. But I’m here to tell you, friends, there’s hope on the horizon.

 

The capital needs of early-stage companies used to be served well by VC funds, but the aforementioned gap has been growing ever wider in recent years as most VCs have moved toward later-stage deals. Since the beginning of time, individual angel investors have been a factor in helping young companies with their capital needs. But never before have they had to step up as an organized force to address such a big problem as we now face in our country, and right here in Minnesota.

 

rainsource-logo1.jpgThe good news for all you entrepreneurs out there is that angels remain your best friends, because they’ve been banding together increasingly in groups to better fuel the capital needs of emerging companies.

 

petebirkeland1.jpgSo, why is this such an important issue? “If we’re not investing enough as a society in growth capital, we won’t grow jobs,” says Pete Birkeland (pictured here), CFO of St. Paul-based RAIN Source Capital. And his firm, the biggest little Minnesota investment firm you’ve never heard of, is doing much to innovate the process. Other members of RAIN’s management team are listed here.

 

Get this: RAIN Source is now the largest network of managed angel funds in the country, coming a long way in recent years in case you haven’t been watching. “We’re on the cutting edge,” said Birkeland. RAIN Source now numbers 24 funds in its network (including three licensees), across Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. And it already has its expansion sights clearly set on Oregon, Washington, and Florida.

 

The company’s RAIN Funds® are made up of angel investors interested in supporting growing companies. It helps organize these angel groups, providing part of of the capital for their funds, as well as legal templates, a process for due diligence, management support, access to deal flow, and other resources. The individual funds share expertise, deals, and experience between and among the other funds (angel groups) across RAIN Source Capital’s multi-state network. These groups range in size from seven to 61 members, with each pooling from $500,000 to $2 million in their own fund. The RAIN Source network currently has more than $25 million invested in 43 companies across its entire multi-state presence. At current count, RAIN has $17 million in available capital. And, since members can make side investments in any of RAIN’s deals, it estimates that at least another $17 million is available for investment.

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ecoEnvelopes: Low Tech Meets Green Tech

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ecoEnvelopes logoOne of the mega trends of 2008 is green tech and I will be following this environmental issue here from a Minnesota perspective.

One interesting take on green tech is from Stillwater-based startup ecoEnvelopes that hopes to bring a green touch to the well established envelope business. Literally my first job out of college was selling custom printed envelopes so I am well acquainted with the “tech” of envelope manufacturing (at least circa 1982). And ecoEnvelopes’ novel twist on the old “reuse, recycle” axiom makes this a Minnesota startup to watch.

After closing a round of financing with TC Angels late last month, founder & CEO Ann DeLaVergne looks to staff up and bring her innovative envelopes to market. The idea is to make each envelope easy to use two ways, eliminating the return envelope and reducing the amount of paper required for mailing.

As environmentally sound products become more mainstream, socially responsible choices in many product categories will emerge. And as electronic as many of our lives have become, we still receive a lot of paper mail so ecoEnvelopes makes sense to me. Visit their FAQ for more details.