Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Good Resources from Rasmussen College

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Here’s a resource that was brought to our attention and is one you might find useful.

Founded in 1900, Rasmussen College is a premier provider of educational experiences, dedicated to the growth and development of its students, employees, and the communities it serves. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Rasmussen College offers Bachelor’s and Associate’s degrees in fields with the greatest occupation opportunities to more than 15,000 students both online and through its network of 21 campuses. By partnering with leading universities, Rasmussen offers opportunities to students beyond the Bachelor’s level. The Rasmussen Partner Network gives students the opportunity to earn Master’s and Doctoral degrees completely online, at their own convenience, from prominent universities around the country.

Rasmussen frequently publishes valuable posts on their business blog such as 50 Useful Open Lectures for Business People, Tips for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, 25 Necessities Entrepreneurs Can Get for Free, 10 Common Mistakes Made by Internet Marketers and the Best Entrepreneur Blogs to name a few.

Check ’em out. Pretty good stuff here.

An Entrepreneur’s Expert Guidance Group

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A top level recruiter I know, Kevin Spanbauer, has teamed with a number of other movers and shakers in Minnesota to form a group called, “Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory (MESA)” This non-profit mentoring organization is comprised of C-level software and information technology veterans with strong local business roots. They have come together to help spark a movement to make Minnesota’s software economy rank among the most vibrant and respected in the nation.

Kevin Spanbauer

What does this mean for you if you’re an entrepreneur or founder? The MESA group members state that they are, “…interested in hearing from entrepreneurs and founders seeking expert guidance, seasoned CEO’s who have an interest in giving back in the form of mentoring, and vendors with a specialty in providing services to the software industry.”

The Minnov8 team is pleased that such a strong resource is available in Minnesota and run by proven leaders who have also begun surrounding themselves with key resources in our state.

Want Spotify? Get Klout

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Minnesota’s Philip Hotchkiss joined the social influencer measurement startup Klout last fall as Chief Product Officer and they’ve been on a tear ever since.

This news just came in and, if you’ve been following the anticipation around the U.S. launch of Spotify, then you’ll want to know that Spotify has chosen Klout as their exclusive U.S. social launch partner. If you’ve got Klout…you can potentially get Spotify early if you act FAST!

Where’s Minnesota?

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Hey Minnesotans…time to take big, calculated risks. To use a baseball metaphor we need to forget about bunting to get to one base and instead start swingin’ for the fences.

Budget shortfalls are slamming many states like Minnesota due to revenue shortfalls and a reduction in federal money. Fortunately there are some states where the tax base and regulatory climate is one that is attracting business. Undoubtedly these states also enjoy other variables that make companies want to startup within them, or move to, and capitalize upon that business climate.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released their second report of its kind, “Enterprising States: Recovery and Renewal for the 21st Century” (PDF) and Minnesota is not high on most lists in this report. The report has four primary sections with pretty solid measures for each:

Top Growth Performers Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Top Export States Top Taxes & Regulation States
Workforce & Training Infrastructure

The worrisome aspect is that Minnesota doesn’t rank highly in anything but median family income and educational attainment. While both are good, the former is likely due to the high concentrations of people working for out-State companies and the latter since education is such a priority in our State. Due to the current budget crisis and slash-n-burn mentality by most politicians, quality of education will likely erode quickly.

The executive summary had some troubling things to say that are probably obvious on the surface:

“In the past, states could look to Washington for assistance. Now, whatever the intentions or real achievements of the stimulus package, future increases in federal spending seem likely to be meager at best. This presents a new, and perhaps unprecedented, challenge for the states. With Washington effectively forced to the sidelines, states will now have to address fundamental economic issues relating to growth and employment on their own. Most will have to do so without significantly increasing their own spending.”

No kidding.

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CoCoMSP and Minnov8

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You might have noticed the advertisement for CoCoMSP in the right sidebar. We’re collaborating on a new 2011 initiative that will see the Minnov8 Gang down at the new CoCoMSP downtown Minneapolis facility in the Grain Exchange.

We’ll be doing a few live podcast shows, helping them with some storytelling initatives, and my cohorts and I will be hanging out there periodically.

Normally this wouldn’t be “news” and worthy of a separate post, but CoCoMSP isn’t an ordinary coworking startup and the Grain Exchange facility isn’t a run-of-the-mill coworking space. I predict there are going to be a lot of breakthroughs in learning occurring with and around this facility and people will come to the Twin Cities to see what CoCo is up to like they do now to the Mall of America.

Minnesota Cup Honors ‘High Quality’ Crop of Semifinalists

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I stopped into a reception held last evening at the U of M’s Carlson School for this year’s group of semifinalists in the annual Minnesota Cup.  It’s the seventh year of this business plan competition, which has gained broad support from our business community.  I had a chance to interview cofounder Scott Litman, who talked about this year’s applicants and the process the semifinalists would now be going through as the competition continues.

After an opening reception in the atrium, a series of speakers and presentations followed in an adjoining auditorium. The main focus of these talks was to inform and instruct the 47 semifinalist teams (across six categories, called “divisions”) about how they can best prepare for the ongoing judging.  That includes the opportunity for each these startups to work with their choice of “Mentors” chosen by the Minnesota Cup and the Carlson School (a major sponsor).  A list of 47 such mentors, with their bios, was handed out, and John Stavig of the Carlson School is coordinating the choice of mentors by the semifinalists.  Most all the mentors are graduates of the U of M, the majority with degrees from the Carlson School, and they represent a wealth of business-building experience.

What’s next for the Minnesota Cup semifinalists?  Here’s what we learned last evening about the upcoming schedule:

• Each semifinalist submits a 20-page business plan by midnight July 22nd.

• The division finalists are announced on August 19th

• The division finalists present and winners are selected on Augusts 30th

• The division winners present to the Grand Prize Review Board the afternoon of September 8th

• The Minnesota Cup awards event is held the evening of September 8th at the U’s McNamara Alumni Center

Congratulations and good luck to all the semifinalists! And thanks to the many sponsors and partners of the Minnesota Cup, as well as to Scott and his cofounder, Dan Mallin, for helping another great crop of our state’s startups go through their excellent program.  I really believe all the entrants (1000+ this year) are winners, because they get an opportunity to learn so much from the process. Go, Minnesota startups!

Event: “Mining the Mega Mobile Opportunities”

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Rob Weber from W3i just gave me a heads-up on what looks like a fabulous mobile event occurring this Wednesday evening. Here are the details:

What: TiE Minnesota in conjunction with the St. Thomas Graduate Programs in Software and the sponsorship of MentorMate is bringing together premier leaders in the Minnesota mobile community to address “Mining the Mega Mobile Opportunity.”

Who: TiE Minnesota is the local chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (“About” page) and St. Thomas Graduate Programs in Software (see speaker/presenters here)

When: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 from 6:30 – 9pm

Where: 3M auditorium is in Owens Science Hall (OWS) room no. 150 (Map)

Cost: Charter Member $15.00; Member $15.00; Student Member $10.00; Non Member $35.00

More details: and to register, go here.

Project Skyway Boot-Camp Weekend…Wow!

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Project Skyway Boot-Camp weekend was held this past weekend (June 10-12) at CoCoMSP’s downtown St. Paul location.  Curt Prins was one of the mentor/judges and asked me to join him in the sales and marketing group for the roundtable sessions. I must say I came away with an even deeper appreciation for the talent, energy and enthusiasm in the startup community here (and there were several from out of State too) as well as the incubator that is Project Skyway.

If you don’t know Project Skyway, it is, “…Minnesota’s first tech accelerator program for motivated entrepreneurs. The program will build connections among entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and other innovation hubs, and bring them together both online and in physical space. The vision places emphasis on building companies with long-term, sustainable value, ethical practices, mentorship, and strong networks.”

The Project Skyway founder, Cem Erdem, set up this weekend adventure to enable startups to be involved in multiple sessions and venues for learning, honing their value propositions, and learning from one another. Clearly it also would provide investors with those value propositions ready to grow and would separate the “separate the wheat from the chaff“.

I met all the finalists invited in for the weekend and many of them blew me away with the maturity of their vision and beginnings of executing on their value proposition. As a “judge”, I was asked to rank the top ten and it was probably the toughest force ranking I’ve done yet. Too many good ones!

If you have any doubt or concern that innovation is dead in this time of economic uncertainty, a few hours with this group of folks would wipe that right out of your mind.

Minnesota Cup Semi-Finalists Announced

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The Minnesota Cup announced their nearly 50 semi-finalists today!

These semi-finalists were selected and announced this morning out of more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs who participated in the 2011 competition. Judging the first round entries was challenging as the overall quality of entries was excellent. 47 of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semi-finalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

More than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs participated and 47 (plus 4 finalists from the Social Entrepreneur division) of the best and most innovative business ideas will now compete in the second round of the contest. Congratulations to all semifinalists and good luck in the next round of the competition!

High Tech Division

The full press release is after the jump…

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MoFo ‘Magazine’

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Always on the hunt for resources we can share with our Minnov8 readership, I thought I’d offer you something I received via email today from a PR firm for the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, a global intellectual property firm. While good, whoever sent this out doesn’t “get” the fact that we’re in a new world of content delivery, sharing and consumption.

I found the content very intriguing and that’s why it’s being shared with you. From articles on how patents are used in hot markets for competitive advantage to one on stock buybacks to the big one on getting ready for the recovery, they’re short but intriguing enough to spark interest in knowing more.

While that content within this Spring/Summer issue of their “magazine” (PDF) is good, as we all know design and user interface makes content either easy to consume or presents barriers to its use.

I’m embarrassed FOR them that it’s a TECH publication that is a PDF, and not a very well executed one at that! Not only is this less accessible than alternatives (like good HTML) but they go from single pages to a “spread” layout that, on their PDF page 22, has three pages and ONE OF THEM IS BLANK! You’d be doing a lot of pinchin’ and zoomin’ if reading on an iPad or “+” to make it bigger if in a browser on a PC.

So while the content is kinda, sorta worth the effort to consume, it could be so much better. Thinking that their website might offer up a better experience and easier access to this content, I went there. They bounce from white to black pages, navigation that isn’t consistent and, for example, under “Resources” I selected the search “Publications” and couldn’t find this magazine. I found myself shaking my head and chuckling over how their website was worse as I searched “MoFo Tech” in the searchbox, and found, a bunch of magazine covers linked to PDFs just like this issue.

My intent with this post is not to rain on Morrison & Foerster’s parade, but rather point out a fabulous resource and to share the lesson I took from my experience reading this publication: Any of us who have tremendous content value to deliver—like MoFo definitely does as a major IP law firm—but don’t focus on making it as easy as possible for our audience, completely miss the entire value proposition and its potential impact. Whether you’re delivering a how-to video for your company, an email newsletter, or (God forbid) a newsletter in a not-very-well-executed PDF, make damn sure you make your viewer/readers experience a good one.