Entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

Sustainable food, farm-to-table, artisan products: there's no doubt that the food world is changing rapidly, and as it does, Ingle Marketing is picking up clients along the way.
 
Founded by entrepreneur and marketer Jodi Ingle about seven years ago, the firm draws on Ingle's experience working on foodservice accounts at several advertising agencies. That industry is unique, she notes, because unlike retail, which has a set of measurable metrics, foodservice presents a distinct B2B niche that can be tricky to navigate.
 
She's drawn to the industry because she simply appreciates food, she says: "Really, I love everything about it, from growing to cooking to grocery shopping. A big goal for me is to be the go-to agency partner for food companies, in terms of branding, marketing strategy, and creative development."
 
Ingle seems to be reaching that goal nicely, with a roster of clients that include a fresh fish purveyor, a creator of wine jelly, and a developer of "foaming sauce," among others. Although Ingle Marketing is a one-person company at present, Ingle draws on a wide array of contractors, freelancers, and branding experts to put specialized teams together for every project.
 
Social media is a booming field for her, she notes, and more clients are asking for campaigns that incorporate blogging and other online, interactive communication.
 
No matter what the medium, though, Ingle is ready to prepare the message. "Each brand has its own flavor," she says, "and our menu is full of new creations."
 
Source: Jodi Ingle, Ingle Marketing
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

When Drew Geraets and his wife moved back to the Twin Cities from New York in 2010, they bought a 1908 charmer in St. Paul. Like so many older homes in the area, the house had plenty of character, but also boasted a lengthy to-do list of improvements. It also had a distinctive feature: a book of photographs from the previous owner, showing the work that had already been done.
 
"I got a history of the place, and it was so striking to see how it had changed," Geraets says. "Because of that, I started to notice how often people posted their projects online, in blogs and on Facebook or Instagram. There are a ton of DIYers documenting projects from start to finish."
 
Although a somewhat popular site, Houzz, tries to collect these kind of efforts, Geraets envisioned a more user-friendly site for DIYers, and eventually, a mobile app. Along with a fellow entrepreneur, Ryan Cavis, he launched HouseTalent, a site that allows users to upload photos, create project sites, and browse other projects.
 
Currently, the founders are working on an iOS app that will make it easy for users to take photos with smartphones and upload to the site. The app should be ready by the end of June.
 
HouseTalent is seeing a steady increase in users as word gets out (and the spring renovation momentum takes hold), and Geraets anticipates that the next step will be developing a revenue model that could take the form of premium content. Right now, just like his house, everything is a fun work in progress.
 
Source: Drew Geraets, HouseTalent
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

As communication and information increasingly go mobile, Leviathan Technology Group is seeing the benefits.
 
The Minneapolis-based technology services firm is finding significant growth in interest for mobile tools, as well as new methods for pushing content to users. That shift is creating strong expansion opportunities for the firm, propelling it beyond its initial healthcare specialization and into many other industries.
 
Founded about nine years ago by entrepreneur Steve Engels, the company first focused on software development and product design for health-related nonprofits, helping them build content tools online. Since then, the firm has grown into a developer of mobile tools and web applications, and Engels sees a wealth of opportunity ahead.
 
One secret to the company's success is local hiring combined with expert contractors in Russia and Ukraine, he notes. Leviathan's system of connecting consultants from all over the world has allowed the small local team of 10 to be more agile, according to Engels, and integrate mobile technology in a creative way.
 
At this point, he's now trying to anticipate the next big thing. "When it comes to the future, we'll be pushing more, trying to find the cutting edge," he says. "We're seeing strong growth in mobile, but we have to think about what's after that. We need to be experts by the time technology hits the mainstream."
 
Source: Steve Engels, Leviathan Technology Group
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Successful creative agency KNOCK is likely to find even more open doors in its future, with expansion of its brand strategy, advertising, and design services to global clients.
 
The agency's CEO, Lili Hall--quoted in our lead feature this week--has been zipping around the world in the past six months, and just completed a Master's degree in international practice management. She's in talks with business connections in countries like Saudi Arabia and India, and she anticipates much more global work coming to KNOCK in the near future.
 
"Global is really becoming our focus," she says. "We have a great partner who's consulting with us about cultural relevance, and we feel very connected to global networks in a new way."
 
Hall founded the company in 2001, just a few months after 9/11, and she admits the timing was challenging. Without a business plan, and in a tricky economic climate, KNOCK might have faltered if it hadn't been for Hall's passionate belief in creating an agency based on the right way to treat colleagues and clients.
 
"When I started the company, I reflected on the attributes of people I admired and respected," she says. "But I also thought about the situations I'd seen that were negative. I created a list of 'how to never treat people,' and in many ways, that's become a major part of our philosophy."
 
For example, KNOCK stands apart for blending creatives with account professionals, which is an unusual arrangement for an agency. Those two "sides" tend to do battle, but Hall saw the power of collaboration from the start, and has shown that blending those viewpoints creates more strength for clients. In other words, when thinking about how never to treat people, the first lesson is: don't make your colleagues into enemies, just because of their job titles.
 
Hall also credits transparency, a proactive approach, and internal entrepreneurial energy for driving growth throughout KNOCK.
 
Source: Lili Hall, KNOCK
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Most consumers haven't heard of Grocery Shopping Network (GSN), but it's likely that nearly everyone has seen the company's work. The Minneapolis-based firm creates digital tools for grocery retailers and packaged goods manufacturers, resulting in a wealth of online and in-store promotions.
 
With the surge in digital marketing efforts and greater interest in food and cooking, GSN, currently on a roll of hiring and expansion, is likely to have even broader reach in the near future. The company's distinctive analytics capability is leading sales on a national level, promising to expand GSN's market reach, according to company spokesperson Albin Andolshek.
 
"We’ve built a great deal of strength on the regional level, and now we’re seeing more national campaigns emerge," he says. "With the new digital shopper marketing tools we have access to, our clients have access to unlimited reach."
 
Started in 1996 as a website developer for the grocery industry, GSN has been beefing up its offerings ever since. The company added e-grocery.com in the late 90s, then brought in software that let clients add recipes and online coupons to the mix.
 
GSN still offers end-to-end solutions for websites, but it also integrates online display advertising into its services. Both areas of the company are growing, and attracting partnerships with sites that focus on grocery shopping, coupons, deals, and cooking.
 
Part of the unique digital marketing that GSN provides is deep integration with digital marketing resources. For example, if a grocer runs a special on coffee and wants to target only coffee drinkers in the store's loyalty card program, GSN helps them find those individuals and tailor a message to reach them.
 
As a result of strong growth and expanded services, GSN has been hiring and expanding, Andolshek says. "We have milestones we want to hit, and we're excited to keep growing."
 
Source: Albin Andolshek, Grocery Shopping Network
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Digitiliti was founded in 2005 to offer basic database backup and disaster recovery software, and has been expanding ever since. Having moved to cloud backup services just a few years later, the company is now poised to continue its innovation curve with more services around unstructured data.
 
In most companies, unstructured data comprises about 80 percent of an enterprise's information, in the form of emails, documents, records, audio and video files, online journal articles, and other non-database formats. This type of data can be difficult to search and store without an effective tool for addressing backups and security.
 
"We looked at that data and wondered how we could make it useful," says Billy Cripe, Digitiliti's Vice President of Marketing and Sales. The company came out with a flagship product, digiLIBE, that offers archiving, sharing, and access to all unstructured data in an enterprise. Even better, the product can collect all business content from any device and put it into Digitiliti's cloud-based system.
 
The company currently has nine employees, and Cripe says it will continue to operate in lean and efficient mode, but Digitiliti is growing in terms of client numbers. Enterprise content management as an industry has been stagnant in the last five years, but nimble technology like Digitiliti's is surging in popularity as companies use content for collaboration, peer-to-peer file sharing, and other efficiency gains.
 
"The technology is changing so rapidly, and that's really exciting," says Cripe. "What we focus on is building functionality that adapts to how people need to deal with information."
 
Source: Billy Cripe, Digitiliti
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Minneapolis-based social media and digital marketing agency The Social Lights (see The Line's previous coverage here) recently unveiled a new training and certification program that could boost the number of social media professionals in the Twin Cities.
 
The six-week accelerated course will be designed to equip qualified candidates with the knowledge and skills to shine as full-time social media community managers. Training is done in a classroom setting as well as online, blending client projects, industry speakers, and case studies. Participants learn to manage multiple platforms and pages, measure the success of their efforts, and develop creative content.
 
"Over the past three years of managing social media on behalf of a variety of brands, we've learned what it takes to be a strong Community Manager and act as the eyes, ears, and voice of a brand," says Martha McCarthy, co-founder of The Social Lights. "We've also noticed that an increasing number of social media positions require years of experience, but most candidates have no formal training, and limited experience."
 
During the past year, McCarthy and her partner, Emily Pritchard, have spoken with recruiters, HR managers, brand managers, and others, and discovered that many companies are in a similar position when it comes to recruiting social media professionals: the selection is slim, and those who have great potential lack a deeper level of training.
 
In addition to providing that instruction, the company will act as a placement agency of sorts, matching training participants with enterprises that need those skills.
 
"We aim to fill the social media talent gap and provide value to our students and clients alike," says McCarthy.
 
Source: Martha McCarthy, The Social Lights
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

A beautiful website or app might be satisfying, but if they lack a high degree of usability, they could sink a business.
 
Minneapolis-based NiceUX focuses on creating digital products that people enjoy using, and their expertise is becoming more in demand as companies across a range of industries rely on sites and applications.
 
Seeing steady growth, the company recently moved into new offices in the Warehouse District, and expects to grow its three-person team to 10 within the next year.
 
Founder Jon Hadden says he doesn't want to turn NiceUX into a large agency (or even be considered an agency), but he feels that the firm offers a distinctive service that will prompt further growth.
 
"What sets us apart is that every project is different, and we have the skills to recognize that," he says. "Each project has unique content and a unique audience, so we do the research upfront before we pick up a pencil to start any design work."
 
Many agencies produce digital work, he adds, but skimp on making sure that people will be viewing the finished product in a way that most benefits a client. NiceUX makes that endpoint a priority from the beginning, and Hadden believes this creates a higher level of customer service.
 
"Sometimes at companies, the research on usability gets put on a back burner," he notes. "But it should be a starting point."
 
Before making the move to new offices, the company was sharing space with another firm in the Grain Belt building, and Hadden feels this shift will kick off a fresh wave of growth. He says, "It's a wonderful space, and we're excited for what's ahead."
 
Source: Jon Hadden, NiceUX
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Many times, entrepreneurial inspiration comes from seeing a gap in a specific chain of supply and demand. For University of Minnesota student Benjamin Hohl, that gap was filled with textbooks.
 
As a freshman, Hohl learned that the average college student spends about $900 per year on textbooks, and receives significantly less than that when selling them back to a campus bookstore. For example, Hohl bought a $200 psychology textbook, and sold it back for $15.
 
"I wondered why there wasn't a better system to connect students who had the books with those who were willing to buy them," he says. "I thought: why not localize it? We all take the same classes, so why shouldn't we connect with each other to get what we need?"
 
A few years later, the idea came back to him over a holiday break, and he put together a rough website called TextExchange, which he later changed to the "more catchy" NakedTextbooks. After rebuilding the site several times and adding more functionality, he launched recently and had 2,500 site visitors in the first week. The startup has brought on two other university students to expand its marketing efforts.
 
The setup is simple: users arrange book exchanges in person, stating how much they'd charge for their used textbooks. Hohl anticipates that the service will always be free for users, but will be monetized by local advertising, especially from potential meet-up sites like coffee shops.
 
Based on how well the site does at the U. of M. in the near future, Hohl expects that NakedTextbooks could roll out to several more campuses next fall, and expand beyond that in subsequent semesters. In addition to textbooks, he sees the site becoming a major exchange point for students, who could buy and sell items like futons or dorm furniture. Eventually, there could even be subscription fees from universities themselves, he believes.
 
"We think we have a service that's valuable, and at some point, we'll see a revenue stream," Hohl says. "In the meantime, we're just excited about the different directions this could go."
 
Source: Benjamin Hohl, NakedTextbooks
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

When it comes to crowdfunding, most people are familiar with Kickstarter, a site that boosts the potential of artists and businesspeople, with a strong focus on community efforts and creative arts. For those who don't fall into those categories, though, utilizing crowdfunding has been almost impossible.
 
That is, until now. Savage-based company LiifGroup offers a dynamic platform that allows users to raise money through multiple crowdfunding sites designed by the firm.
 
Co-founded by Mark Connelly, Jack Cosentino, and Kristi Masser, the platform launched on January 8th, and has already been gaining traction.
 
"The last couple months have been crazy," says Connelly. "We're vetting projects, looking at financials, and going from meeting to meeting. We're the first crowdfunding company started in Minnesota, and it's obvious already that there was a need for this."
 
LiifGroup's model differs from Kickstarter, since a venture won't lose all their money if a certain amount isn't reached within a specified timeframe. Instead, they can receive partial funding. LiifGroup generates revenue by receiving five percent of the amount each company raises.
 
The medical market, in particular, will benefit from the platform. Connelly is an emergency and trauma physician for North Memorial Health Care, while Masser spent 15 years with pharmaceutical giant Merck. That experience, combined with Cosentino's tech startup background, made the trio gravitate first to the many medical device startups in the region.
 
In addition to its medical crowdfunding site, called LiifMed, the company has a platform for sports-related startups, LiifSport. Connelly notes that another one is being built for luxury goods, and he anticipates a variety of platforms in the future.
 
"Already, we see growth ahead, and a great deal of opportunity," he says.
 
Source: Mark Connelly, LiifGroup
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Although online deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial boast plenty of fans, the model can be challenging for consumers and businesses alike. Those who change their minds about a product or service will lose money because they paid upfront, and for companies, demand can be so intense that more than one business has been shuttered by a Groupon deal.
 
Minneapolis-based startup lumaNEAR believes there's a better way.
 
The idea for the deal site has roots at the University of Minnesota, where co-founders Scott Sailer and Kyle Ries were roommates while attending the Carlson School of Management. Sharing a passion for business efficiency, the pair tried a number of different startup ideas, but none felt large enough for eventual expansion.
 
Then, they started listening to complaints about the online group-buying model, and like the lightbulb in their logo, something clicked on. "We wondered what would happen if we removed the friction and hassle from both sides," says Sailer. "People could still get deals and companies could still get business, but without the headaches."
 
Their venture, developed with creative guru Teresa Facciotto, went into beta on April 6th. The platform lets users navigate a map with posted deals, but doesn't require pre-buying to take advantage of them. Unlike other online deal sites, lumaNEAR lets vendors tweak a deal at any time, or even remove them if they choose.
 
Best of all for both sides, the service is free. As a bootstrapped venture, lumaNEAR will likely add fee-based premium features for businesses in the future in order to begin turning a profit, but the co-founders are adamant that basic functionality will always be free.
 
"Our mission is to connect these two groups together, easily and with low cost," says Sailer. "We have lofty goals for expansion, and we're excited to see where this takes us."
 
Source: Scott Sailer, lumaNEAR
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

As the construction industry roars back to life after a difficult recession, Minneapolis startup BuildTools is finding robust growth, less than two years after launching.
 
The construction management software got its start when a local builder approached business development professional Chad Mayes and asked for a software tool to assist with building projects. After a test run, Mayes and his team took the software platform to other builders to see if it was worth further development.
 
"It quickly became apparent that we were sitting on something really valuable, so we took it from in-house ugly duckling to polished software platform," says Mayes. The new BuildTools application released nationally in the summer of 2011, and since then, growth has been so solid that the tool quickly went international, and is now translated into six languages.
 
Timing has been key, Mayes notes. During the darker days of the recession, many in the construction industry learned to streamline operations, and they didn't make investments for new software. As the industry regained health, the ongoing desire for efficiency and looser budgets brought a surge of customers to BuildTools.
 
Designed by builders, the software is ideal for mobile devices like iPads, which are increasingly used by project managers, contractors, and even carpenters, for making lists and referring to construction plans.
 
Mayes estimates that BuildTools is currently reaching just under 10 percent of the market, which means that major expansion is likely as the platform becomes more widespread.
 
"Definitely, we see increased growth, and we'll be looking to expand not just locally but also nationally and internationally," says Mayes.
 
Source: Chad Mayes, BuildTools
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Minneapolis-based Sport Ngin just received a major funding infusion that will boost the company's already impressive growth even more. The sports software provider recently closed a $6 million financing round with El Dorado Ventures, a venture capital firm with offices in Minnetonka and Silicon Valley. That brings their overall funding total to $10 million since the company's founding in 2008.
 
Sport Ngin began as TST Media, a design and creative agency started by Justin Kaufenberg and Carson Kipfer while both attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. "Originally, it was just to make a little extra beer money," Kipfer says, with a laugh. "But by the time we were finishing school, we could see the potential for much more."
 
Looking for a niche, and drawing on their experience playing sports through high school and college, the pair focused on developing software for sports organizations, first for hockey and then for many other sports.
 
The software they developed allows teams to manage players, post schedules, and track stats, as well as offer online registration. A tournament package offers tools that let users run everything from a Little League event to a professional playoff.
 
Currently hiring for a number of positions, Sport Ngin sees more growth ahead, both in employee numbers and in products. The company's revenue has increased 100 percent year after year for the past four fiscal years, and aggressive hiring has increased staff numbers to 120.
 
"This current investment underscores our progress, hard work, and many successes to date, and validates the widespread adoption of Sport Ngin by thousands of sports organizations," says Kaufenberg. "This capital infusion will enable us to further grow our market presence, and to expand and enhance the functionality of Sport Ngin."
 
Sources: Carson Kipfer and Justin Kaufenberg, Sport Ngin
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Real estate isn't the only industry where location matters.
 
For marketing, branding, and creative design, a company needs to understand its figurative place among competitors and customers. Susan Hopp and Karl Schweikart, founders of Minneapolis-based creative firm 45 Degrees, have spent the last 16 years as mapmakers for their clients--helping to figure out how each client fits into a specific place in the world.
 
The married couple started the business in 1997, and chose the company name as a nod toward their geographical position--on the 45 parallel of latitude, which runs through the Twin Cities. They feel that 45 Degrees is unique in the creative industry because of the amount of time they spend in finding a client's "location."
 
"We need to really understand them before we start designing anything," says Schweikart. "We help them identify their strengths, their emotional connections, in order to give them a solid foundation to move forward."
 
Hopp adds that other design firms try to capture the essence of a company or brand, but not as in-depth as 45 Degrees. That tendency toward brand cartography can be invaluable for clients, since they might come in thinking they only need a new logo, and end up realizing that they're deeply disconnected from customers.
 
Looking ahead, the pair don't anticipate growing their employee numbers (currently, it's just the two of them in their happy groove), but they are leaning toward taking on more mid-size companies, which tend to feel the pain of customer disconnection most acutely.
 
"We have an opportunity to make an impact for clients of any size," says Hopp. "For us, this work is about much more than design."
 
Sources: Susan Hopp and Karl Schweikart, 45 Degrees
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Now entering its 9th year, the Minnesota Cup is distinctive for its array of innovative ideas and entrepreneurship, attracting startup founders and inventors to showcase their best insights for the chance to win $200,000. This year's kickoff came on March 25th, with ideas accepted until May 17th, and organizers are gearing up for another year of robust competition.
 
"Just like every year, we're excited about what's ahead," says Scott Litman, Minnesota Cup co-founder. "This has become such a great way to inspire and support the state's early-stage entrepreneurs, and it's become a cornerstone for the entrepreneur ecosystem here."
 
The competition features six divisions: Energy/Clean Tech, General, High Tech, Life Science/Health IT, Social Entrepreneur, and Student. Those who advance to higher rounds get the opportunity to present their business ideas, get paired with mentors, and network with potential investors.
 
Since the competition began n 2005, over 7,000 Minnesotans have participated. Finalists from just the past four years have gone on to raise more than $60 million in capital. Last year's Grand Prize winner, PreciouStatus, has raised over $1.5 million since its win.
 
Although every division is chock full of entrants, Litman notes that there are some trends from year to year. "It's fascinating to find a big surge of quality and ideas in certain areas," he says. High Tech tends to be a busy division, he says, but in teh past few years, Health IT has been growing steadily.
 
Participation is fairly consistent, though, with about 1,000 participants every year. Those who make it to the semifinal round in June will be paired with mentors, with finalists from every division chosen in August.
 
Source: Scott Litman, Minnesota Cup
Writer: Elizabeth Millard