Startups & Developers

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!

—————–

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.

TCB: Another Negative Sign For MN’s Entrepreneurial Scene?

October 8, 2013 By Tim Elliott

Two studies released this year suggest that Minnesota is not a major hotspot for entrepreneurs, but their methodologies open the door to debate.

People who have the type of personality that leads them to start new businesses tend to be clustered together geographically—and Minnesota isn’t home to a particularly strong concentration of such entrepreneurially inclined individuals.

That’s one takeaway from a study that psychologists from Germany’s Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Texas released earlier this year and that seems to resonate with another 2013 report.

Read more at Twin Cities Business…

What’s DoApp Been Doing? Quietly Building a Powerhouse Mobile Business

August 16, 2013 By Graeme Thickins

DoApp Inc., a Minnesota-based mobile app development firm (www.DoApps.com), has come a long way since its founding five years ago. I had a chance to sit down with the management team last week in the company’s offices in Rochester, Minnesota, where most of its employees are based. (Disclosure: I have a small equity position in the company, as I helped it launch in 2008. So, go ahead, call me biased!) It was the first chance I’d had in a while to catch the management team together in one place (left to right in the photo below): Wade Beavers, CEO: Joe Sriver, Founder; and Dave Borrillo, COO. Wade and Dave call Rochester home, while Joe is based in the Twin Cities. (They met when they all worked for IBM-Rochester, before Joe moved West to join Google in early 2001.) DoApp now boasts 19 employees, with a handful located virtually, one as far away as Vancouver. A core group of employees has been with the firm since 2008. This company has had amazingly little turnover, which says a lot in today’s environment. See more about DoApp’s talented team here.

Wade Beavers, Joe Sriver and Dave Borillo

What do I mean by “come a long way”? Well, ever since the company launched its first apps right when Apple opened the App Store in early 2008 (I was there — it was a wild time!), it has been one amazing run for these guys. Here’s how DoApp describes itself on its web site: “Great design and enterprise-level code comprise the core of DoApp. We’ve built over 1500 apps for all major mobile platforms. After millions upon millions of downloads, our mobile strength has been tested. We are a pioneer in mobile app development. We are a leader in mobile app experience.” (Note: about 400 of those 1500 apps are iPad apps.) “We are obsessed with mobile: continually developing new ideas, user experiences, and methods of engagement. This is what we love to do.” That is about the most you’ll ever hear DoApp brag. There isn’t even much detail on its web site. These guys don’t talk a lot about themselves; they just keep executing, signing customers, and building their business. That’s why I had to make my trip to Rochester, to find out more…

So, what did I learn? Well, these guys have way too much fun together — but I seriously believe a sense of humor is mandatory for any startup. And I’m sure that has something to do with how tight-knit the team is. I also gleaned some pretty impressive stats (below). And I learned the company has been profitable for some time, and that applies to both its major businesses: publishing and real estate. The company has had no outside investment, by the way — it was self-funded initially by founder Joe Sriver, and started booking revenues immediately after launch. So, DoApp has been quite a home-grown Minnesota startup success story — even if it has been a bit more low-profile than many. So, about some of those stats…

DoApp’s Publishing and Advertising Business:

The company has customers in 110 local markets across 34 states, and those include 176 TV stations, 58 radio stations, and 110 newspapers. Just search “DoApp Inc.” on the iTunes App Store or on Google Play to see the huge number of apps it has developed for these broadcasters and publishers.

DoApp’s Real Estate Business:

The company also has been building its real estate app business for several years. Recently, it formed a partnership with CoreLogic, a leader in the real-estate market that has an estimated 70% of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) market in the U.S. DoApp powers all of CoreLogic’s “GoMLS” app offering. The GoMLS app (see the iOS version here) can only be used by real estate agents, brokers, or other affiliated professionals that already have an active MLS subscription for this service. It gives agents a time saving, easy-to-use, data-rich mobile app for access to listing data and more, directly from Apple or Android devices. It integrates with other systems and CoreLogic products to allow professionals to access saved searches and contacts, and edit key fields on-the-go. CoreLogic is a publicly traded firm (NYSE: CLGX) headquartered in California that provides property information, analytics, and services in seven countries.

Separately, DoApp serves as the mobile provider for the MLS organizations in Chicago, San Diego, Tulsa, Georgia, Birmingham, and more. These relationships, along with the CoreLogic partnership, make DoApp the largest provider in the U.S. of mobile real estate solutions for MLS organizations.

In addition, DoApp has 17 of its own branded apps covering sports, weather, news, and tech, which together now boast more than 8 million unique users. Here are a few:

myWeather app (iOS, Android)

Headlines app (iOS, Android)

Sports Tap App (iOS, Android)

Congratulations to the DoApp team for all they’ve accomplished to date! I’ll make sure to follow along and keep you up to date on their fortunes.

(Note: This post also appeared on my personal blog, Graeme Thickins On Tech™.)

CoFoundersLab to Expand in Minnesota

July 25, 2013 By Steve Borsch

Let’s say you have a startup, are a developer considering one, or are someone with a business poised for expansion. You are likely already well aware that angel investors and venture capitalists care deeply about making their bets on an idea and the team and you know that, in order to execute on your idea, you need a co-founder that has strengths you lack and vice-versa.

So now what do you do? You’ve been attending as many networking, meetups and other events in Minnesota you can, but you’ve found the opportunities to network with other developers, entrepreneurs and investors growing but your mingling and talking is not productive. How do you find the right person with the skills and knowledge you need? All that running around (and beer consumed) at those great events still won’t get you to the core of what every entrepreneur needs: a co-founder(s) that can offer your venture such things as expertise, capital, connections, knowledge or experience you might lack or need desperately in order to get to the next level.

You need a matchmaker.

CoFoundersLab believes they have the “matchmaking for entrepreneurs” solution and their early success is proving their model works. They position their venture like this:

Choosing your co-founder(s) is arguably the most important business decision you’ll make. Traditionally, entrepreneurs turn to friends and family when searching for business partners, but this search is often too limited in scope. Our free, online matchmaking service gives you access to the largest group of entrepreneurs ever assembled looking to join a startup or be joined on their venture, allowing you to cast a much wider net in your search for talent.

CoFoundersLab was started in 2011 to deliver a service that would be an accelerator of what the its co-founders describe as “healthy partnerships” to entrepreneurs everywhere. Co-founders Shahab Kaviani and Culin Tate met at the very first Co-Founders Wanted Meetup in Maryland in 2010. They quickly realized that, more than any other factor, the success they had enjoyed in their own startups was a direct result of the healthy partnerships each had built right at the outset.

I had a chance to talk with CoFoundersLab marketing and strategic partnerships leader, Michael Hughes, about their venture and why there is an interest in expanding in to Minnesota. Turns out they have been tracking various cities and states and have continued to hear about the vibrant (and growing) entrepreneurial activity in our state. They want to put together one of their quarterly “Co-Founders Wanted” meetup events and will do so as soon as there is enough interest and a good number of people signed up for a free profile (though the exact numbers aren’t stated). CoFoundersLab is already hosting these events in 30+ markets, so they definitely have a solid track record at this point and are approaching various communities methodically and managing their rollout so it remains high quality and effective.

Here is a quick video that will give you a sense of what CoFoundersLab does and how it works:

[youtube http://youtu.be/lJAltezzNsk]

If you’d like to read other’s perspectives on CoFoundersLab, take a look at this article at TheNextWeb (which talks about their international expansion objectives) and this one at Mashable.

Then get crackin’ and post a free profile today, search for and get discovered by other entrepreneurs, and find your perfect match at CoFoundersLab.

Go Buy Local with Bill Veeneman

July 25, 2013 By Steve Borsch

A Podcast Interview with Go Buy Local president and CEO, Bill Veeneman

Communities all over the country are experiencing the negative impact of big box merchants (e.g., Walmart) who are decimating local small merchants and putting many of them out of business. But that is only one reason that motivates shoppers to buy locally and certainly affects those of us who live in major cities or their suburbs much less. A much bigger motivator is what an innovative startup called Go Buy Local provides: Supporting local businesses and community endeavors all while the shopper is getting a deal!

Successes like General Mills’ Box Tops for Education as well as “deal only” startups (e.g., Groupon; LivingSocial) have proven that shopping-incentive models work. The challenge is these are usually of singular or limited focus: Either a manufacturer focusing on one of their product categories, a retailer like Target offering a program only for their own stores, or a deal site motivating shoppers only when there is a deal.

Go Buy Local has taken the “sweet spot” of these successful models one giant step further and lays out their focus and vision like this, “…money spent in your community will contribute directly to its sustainability and your welfare. Our focus is to engage residents and visitors to support local businesses, schools and causes. Our vision is to strengthen local business partners, enhance social welfare, and promote a “green” approach to consumption of locally grown, made, and sold items, which contributes to building a thriving, sustainable community. Each dollar spent in the community will multiply two to three times over as they pay wages and taxes, buy services and other items needed to operate, and enable donations to local nonprofits to enrich the community.”

Go Buy Local’s Deals+Donations is something they consider an industry “game changer” and is a model that is “…adding a new dimension to cause marketing that offers customers a deal along with a built-in donation to the school or cause of their choice. Consumers save money and their favorite school or cause receives much-needed donations, a true double incentive!”

Bill Veeneman

Go Buy Local was founded by Bill Veeneman, a former Target Stores executive and serial entrepreneur who founded, and is now president and CEO of, this startup that is poised for national expansion. Bill developed marketing technologies for Fortune 500 companies, including the invention of Target’s gift registry program (which generates more than $1 Billion in sales annually) and founding Hallmark Insights (which provides custom business incentive programs). Go Buy Local has already generated more than $150,000 for area schools and causes.

Having known Bill for many years — and witnessed his ongoing successes — I was delighted to have a chance to interview him about Go Buy Local so he could provide more detail and his own insights about his latest adventure.

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 24:31 — 18.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Download or listen link

Is Minnesota successful in entrepreneurship?

June 17, 2013 By Tim Elliott

Good story at MinnPost by Scott Litman, co-founder and Managing Partner of Magnet 360 (@scottmagnet) and co-founder of Minnesota Cup, and John Stavig, Director of the Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, Carlson School of Management (@gooddrjds).

Minnesota has consistently been at or near the bottom among all states in the formation of new business entities per capita and the headline from the latest Kauffman Foundation report reinforces this. Business formation rates per capita are one measure of entrepreneurial activity, and since 2007 our state has not placed above 40th. Many have voiced concern over this data, but business formation rates per capita can be a misleading measure, as it does not distinguish between high growth ventures, lifestyle businesses and sole proprietorships.

Read the rest here…

via @MNHeadhunter

« Previous Page