Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

MN Cup Announces Semi-Finalists

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Out of a field of 1,000 participants from around the State, 48 of them have been chosen as semi-finalists to enter the next phase of the competition. If you don’t know the Minnesota Cup, it,  “...presents entrepreneurs and start-up companies with a unique opportunity in these challenging economic times. More than $130,000 in seed capital and many hours of professional services are awarded to competition winners across six divisions. Beyond the cash and prizes, participants gain exposure for their ideas, strengthen their business plans, and make strong connections in the business community. The payoff is real: 2009 Minnesota Cup finalists have already secured more than $8 million dollars in capital and brokered numerous business partnerships, collaborations and distribution agreements.”

It’s not just the dough, though, it’s the “professional services” mentioned that can make a huge difference in the life of a startup enabling them to “…connect with local business leaders and mentors arranged by the Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management.”

The 2010 semi-finalists will be honored with a reception at the James J. Hill Library on Tuesday, June 22 from 6:00-8:00 p.m and Minnov8 will be there covering it live. Read the press release here.

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…]

iPhone 4: Is it enough?

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Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

As Minnesotans continue to embrace the always-on and always-connected online world — and mobile startups here continue to clock millions of app downloads with their offerings — there is no question that our ability to richly communicate with one another, be more productive, work when and where we want to, and have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips (provided our mobile carrier connection is operational!) took a big leap forward today with Apple’s introduction of iPhone 4.

Taking the stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) Monday, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone, a product we unfortunately had already seen in some detail due to April’s leak at tech site Gizmodo, but still eagerly anticipated.

Priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (same as the previous generation 3GS now priced at $99) iPhone 4’s features are impressive: a 5 megapixel camera (which Jobs pointed out was technically far superior to other smartphone manufacturers with even more megapixels); a camera in the front for videoconferencing and one in the back for photos; the rear camera lit with an LED flash; and recording software for HD video capture; and a 960 x 420 display that’s roughly twice the resolution as the 3GS model, now rendered permanently inferior to this new model with its cutting edge features.

The operating system driving this new phone, dubbed “iOS4” instead of “iPhone OS 4” since it will also be available to run the iPad come Fall, adds multitasking, clustering apps in “folders” and more. These features are key to keeping up with competitors — like that of Google’s Android operating system running devices such as the recently shipped HTC Evo 4 — but many pundits and bloggers are dissecting Jobs’ keynote and some are wondering if this new hardware and software will be enough to stave off competitors (like Google) and keep the iPhone sales momentum going? …  [Read More…]

Are you building in time for contemplation?

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One of the unfortunate byproducts of our continually accelerating internet and information age – especially now that we have a dizzying array of devices to connect and be always-on – is how challenging it is to take time away for something we all take for granted: contemplation.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) published this article about a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey that showed, ”people in professional services (consultants, investment bankers, accountants, lawyers, IT, and the like) simply expected to make work their top priority. They believe an “always on” ethic is essential if they and their firms are to succeed in the global marketplace.”

I feel their pain since I’m absolutely “always on” and “always connected,” often feeling guilty if I’m not working or putzing around on some project. You probably are doing this too since it’s likely you’re at home in the evening, or on weekends, preparing presentations, reading journals, checking email, and performing other tasks that are probably easier to accomplish when other workday distractions are at a minimum.

BCG also discovered in that study that, ”94% of 1,000 such professionals said they put in 50 or more hours a week, with nearly half that group turning in more than 65 hours a week. That doesn’t include the 20 to 25 hours a week most of them spend monitoring their BlackBerrys while outside the office. These individuals further say they almost always respond within an hour of receiving a message from a colleague or a client.”

Whoa. That means that these consultants are, practically speaking, always working. The problem with that sort of response time too is an growing expectation that people will be paying attention to their turned on and connected devices, able to receive a notification of a message, and are willing and eager to get back to us and BCG’s consultants were suffering from significant (and increasing) stress related to being seemingly “on call” constantly.

Is this the sort of future workplace behaviors we want for ourselves and our children in what is becoming an always connected world? …  [Read More…]

ReliaCloud Releases Partner Program

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ReliaCloud, our own local (but national) cloud computing infrastructure company, has launched a full fledged channel program centered on their enterprise-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offering.

According to Reliacloud, the five year growth outlook for IT cloud services revenue from 2009 to 2013 remains strong, with an annual growth rate of 26% – over six times the rate of traditional IT offerings (IDC, September 2009).

If you’re paying attention to cloud computing at all, then you can’t help but see that enterprise and small business IT spending is moving more and more to the cloud due to its easier set up, scalability, flexibility, built-in maintenance and support, and reduced costs for hardware and software maintenance.

ReliaCloud is focusing on making the reseller process as easy as possible, by providing a suite of tools that supports their resale process. ReliaCloud has developed a series of programs that maximize the use of their Cloud Storage and Cloud Servers for each of their customer profiles and, according to Brian Stevenson, Vice President of Sales for ReliaCloud, “We expect IT consulting firms and managed service providers to be the driving force of cloud adoption.”

I couldn’t agree more. Isn’t aligning incentives of others to leverage what you offer the basis of building an ecosystem? Great partnering is what made Microsoft so dominant for so many years and it’s obvious that ReliaCloud understands that making it easy for providers to build a business atop, around and with them will gain significant momentum for what they’re offering, and if the growth in cloud computing continues like IDC states (and which I believe is true) then striving to build and deliver — through as many channels as possible — an infrastructure layer upon which people can build toward that growing future, the more likely it is ReliaCloud will become a significant player in the space.

During a session at the recent Cloudcamp George Reese, CTO of cloud computing firm enStratus, laid out the layers of the cloud: SaaS; PaaS and IaaS. Think of SaaS as the layer where Salesforce.com plays (i.e., application layer); PaaS as the layer where companies expose their application programming interfaces to functionality others can use (e.g., AppEngine from Google and Force.com from SalesForce); and IaaS as the layer of hardware and administrative, policy-based services, internet connectivity and stuff that allows the other two to run (IaaS is sometimes known as Hardware as a Service or HaaS).

Nothing is more important than the IaaS layer since without speed, rock solid storage and a robust platform, the other two layers can’t function. With this new partner program at ReliaCloud, they’ll have a good shot at differentiating themselves from other providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Rackspace due to their focus on customer service which they’re carrying over from Visi and the learning they’ve gained from their direct client interactions at ReliaCloud.

Strong Community of Innovation In Attendance at Minnebar

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Saturday saw another Minnebar come and go at the sprawling (OK, really big) Best Buy campus. Boasting over 900 who’d signed up for the event, it appeared to the Minnov8 Gang that there were roughly 500 or so people in attendance which still made it the biggest Minnebar yet and the largest Barcamp event of its kind in North America. Ben Edwards and Luke Francl continue to raise the bar (easy pun) for these events.

Founders Ben Edwards & Luke Francl address the crowd at Minnebar

It was a good thing there was plenty of room. The session list was chocked full of a diversity of topics. What struck many of the attendees, myself included, was the challenge of deciding what session to attend…I always feel like I might miss something. That, and the inability to meet more than a handful of people who’d carved out a Saturday to attend, makes Minnebar a venue that will surely continue to grow and solidify its place as the premiere event for entrepreneurs and startups in Minnesota.

Sessions were all relatively well attended and ranged in adherence to the Barcamp-unconference expectations. Some were very engaging and some were straight ahead presentations…and those “presos” resulted in a less than stellar 40 minutes of time spent. Then again, that’s the fun, and risk, of the unconference style.

Steve Borsch w/Chief Inspector Robert Stephens

Fellow Minnov8er, Steve Borsch noted of defacto host Best Buy executive Robert Stephens, Chief Inspector of the Geek Squad, as “…passionate believer in entrepreneurship and a steadfast supporter of the Minnesota startup community. It was a delight to see him totally immersed in sessions, more than willing to talk to anyone willing to engage in conversation with him, and demonstrated Best Buy’s commitment to innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit simply by acting as a catalyst for this Minnebar.”

Our own Graeme Thickins added, “We need that — more big players who get it!  It’s heartening to know that so many people at Best Buy realize that new innovation often comes from the small companies, the startup teams, the individual developers. Robert had just gotten back from the huge Google IO event in the Valley, and wanted to talk about Google TV and all that. But he was also fired up to talk about ideas and technologies going on right here. It’s impressive that he and so many others dedicated a Saturday to talk about ways we can make tech in MN stronger.”

Mykl Roventine leading his web session

For one writer to try to indicate the highlights and lowlights would be pointless. No one person could truly appreciate all of the sessions. Minnov8er  Tim Elliot points out, “As we recounted in our podcast recorded at the event, MinneBar this year was quite varied than in past years…” He goes on to note topics like, “…web innovation, design, application development or social media.” Tim also said, “Mobile technology was a theme that ran through many of the sessions with iPhone, Android and iPad applications being featured on stage and in the audience as participants tweeted the proceedings.”

The real take away is the simple fact that the Minnesota innovation community continues to grow, it continues to draw energy from itself and those involved…and there is no sign of that letting up.

Graeme summed his experience up in one tweet, “..best evah!“

Best Buy Announces Movies & TV Online

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With the acceleration of online movie and TV show distribution from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple along with on-demand access from cable company services, it was inevitable that Best Buy would get in to this online distribution business.

Best Buy Co. Inc today announced the availability of its new digital video service CinemaNow which will provide customers same-day instant access to new release movies and TV shows.

This month the service will be available on the CinemaNow website, but also with internet connected BluRay players. Netflix has been delivered on these devices (as well as the Roku box, internet connected HDTVs and more) but Best Buy is in a highly unique position with consumer electronic manufacturers.

Add to that their ability to explain to consumers how to use the service, Geek Squad ‘officers’ to set it all up in the home, and the potential to begin to reallocate the sheer square footage devoted to merchandising TVs and movies on DVD/BluRay discs.and you can see why this is of such strategic importance to Best Buy.

The full press release is after the jump. …  [Read More…]