Innovation + Job News

A local firm that helps startups get off the ground announced a new online video service last week for Minnesota entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas.

The Minnesota Startup Showcase won't replace the handshake, creator J.C. Gureghian admits. But it might help cut through some of the clutter, he said.

"Entrepreneurs get 100 no's before they get one yes. The idea here is to be a timesaver for entrepreneurs, to weed through all the no's and get to the yes," Gureghian said.

Gureghian is founder and CEO of the StartupShoppe, which helps new companies with everything from refining business plans to managing human resources paperwork.

For a $300 setup fee and $100 monthly hosting fee, Gureghian will produce a 5-7 minute video and slideshow to appear on the Minnesota Startup Showcase website.

The video plays side-by-side with the entrepreneur's PowerPoint, with links underneath so potential investors can download a summary or share the video on social media.

Gureghian said he's looking to showcase quality startups with promising intellectual property. He doesn't perform intensive due diligence on the companies he profiles, but he does screen them using his instincts from ten years in the local entrepreneur community.

Ten Minnesota startup companies, including LunchBox, PrepAthlete.com and Twin Cities Coworking, are currently featured on the site, though it has no paid clients yet.

Source: J.C. Gureghian, StartupShoppe
Writer: Dan Haugen

Doris Taylor earned international acclaim in 2008 when she and her team at the University of Minnesota grew a living, beating rat's heart from stem cells in a jar.

Now, the state is betting that a Minneapolis biotech startup can grow that technology into a successful company.

The state Agricultural and Economic Development Board announced an agreement last week to loan $250,000 in seed capital to Miromatrix Medical, a six-month old U of M spinoff. Under the terms, the state's loan is to be matched by private investors.

Miromatrix has an exclusive licensing agreement with the university to commercialize the technology, which might one day be used to grow human replacement organs.

Miromatrix CEO Robert Cohen said in an e-mail that he is pleased with the state's support, but that as a "matter of corporate policy" stopped commenting publicly several months ago.

"Our preference is to let the ultimate success of our products speak for itself," Cohen said.

Cohen and Taylor did speak with MedCity News in January, when they commented on the incredibly high expectations many have for the company and its significance to the state's biotech industry.

The Ag Board has traditionally funded the expansion of manufacturing firms but its scope is broadening to include emerging high-tech businesses, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Source: Department of Employment and Economic Development
Writer: Dan Haugen

A team of students from the University of Minnesota believe they can build a sustainable business bringing biogas services to residents of rural India.

A 2007 report estimated that 82 percent of Indians rely on stoves that burn wood, dung, coal and other solid fuels--a major source of indoor air pollution, according to the World Health Organization. Solid fuels are responsible for 3.5 percent of disease in the subcontinent.

Since the 1980s, the Indian government has invested in hundreds of thousands of biogas digesters, which turn cow dung into clean-burning cooking fuel, but it's estimated that nearly half of them no longer work. The student team wants to get to work refurbishing that infrastructure with a new company called BioServ.

The students are collaborating with another group from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, on a business plan that would help families purchase digesters at-cost with a lease-to-own financing model. BioServ's revenue would come from a small monthly fee it would charge for repair and maintenance of the equipment by locally hired technicians.

Most of the cross-continent collaboration so far has taken place over Facebook and on Google Chat exchanges and Skype calls. This summer the students will work face-to-face in Minnesota, then India, to refine their business plan before seeking financing and firing up a pilot project in the fall.

The concept won the energy division last month in the 2010 Acara Challenge, an annual student social entrepreneurship contest.

"It's extremely exciting," said Judd Eder, one of four Minnesota students involved in the project. "This is the first time for me being a part of something this multiculturally dynamic. It's been really exciting and really fun."

Source: Judd Eder, BioServ
Writer: Dan Haugen

Minnesota researchers may have a brighter future thanks to a new cross-border compact.

The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota signed an agreement last month giving members improved access to the Canadian Light Source synchrotron facility at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.

The synchrotron is a giant X-ray microscope that lets scientists see what's going on inside cells at the atomic-particle level. The device works by accelerating electrons around a football-field-sized racetrack, then focusing them into a light beam brighter than the sun and sending it through the material being studied.

Only a handful of synchrotrons exist around the world because they are so expensive to build. Canada completed its $174-million national synchrotron facility in 2004.

Canadian researchers have always had preferential pricing and access to the synchrotron, but under the new agreement with the BioBusiness Alliance, "they're in effect treating us as through we're Canadians," said Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of the BioBusiness Alliance.

Wahlstrom said many university and larger companies already use synchrotrons for research, but many other companies aren't aware of the potential applications. The BioBusiness Alliance's next step is educating Minnesotans about the technology.

"It's very broadly applicable," Wahlstrom said, citing the life sciences, computer industry and materials sciences as a few areas where the light source could be used.

The hope is that giving Minnesota researchers better access to the facility will speed up the time it takes to develop products and get them to market, said Wahlstrom.

Source: Dale Wahlstrom, CEO, BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota
Writer: Dan Haugen

An ad agency whose clients range from Sesame Street to Steve Jobs is growing to keep up with new business.

Minneapolis-based mono announced last week that it's made two new hires, a designer and a project leader, to keep up with recent client growth. They follow three previous hires announced in April and bring its employee count up to 43.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad at Apple's annual winter gala earlier this year, the giant graphic on stage behind him was designed by mono.

The six-year-old branding and advertising firm is also responsible for producing back-to-school and other seasonal in-store displays for Apple Stores.

Other clients include Macy's, Rolaids, Herman Miller, General Mills, Sesame Street, and Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day.

The most recent hires by mono were in preparation for another large client that's expected to be announced soon.

James Scott, a co-founder and managing partner, said the company is as busy as it's ever been. It grew last year despite the recession, and it expects to grow more this year.

"I think it was because we were able to retain and maintain a really, really smart and talented bunch of people," Scott said.

While others were downsizing, mono manged to avoid layoffs, and that's helped it win new clients, such as Macy's and Rolaids, which it might have missed had the company scaled back, he said.

"We were able to capitalize in a very tough year on opportunities that came our way, and we grew."

Source: James Scott, managing partner, mono
Writer: Dan Haugen

Boston's Fenway Park is already known for the Green Monster, its towering, forest-colored outfield wall.

Now, a growing Minneapolis agency has been hired to make fans associate the ballpark with environmental "green."

GreenMark is the world's first environmental sports sponsorship agency. President Mark Andrew plays matchmaker between sports teams and facilities and companies that have environmental causes or products to promote.

"We create opportunities for companies to showcase their green products and services from a sports platform," Andrew said. "It's very experiential. We don't do signs on walls."

The concept first came to life at Target Field when Pentair signed on as "The Official Sustainable Water Provider" for the Minnesota Twins. The sponsorship centers around the high-tech rainwater recycling system Pentair installed under the field.

GreenMark's clients include the Twins and Wild, as well as Target Center and TCF Stadium. It also represents the San Francisco 49ers.

"The reason we want to be in sports is that sports buildings are enormous platforms to tell sustainability stories," said Andrew, a former Hennepin County commissioner and state DFL chairman who started the company in 2006.

The Boston Red Sox last week announced the hiring of GreenMark as the team's green sponsorship agency for Fenway Park. Andrew and his team are now scouting for green technologies that might be incorporated into the century-old ballpark. The brainstorming includes the obvious question of how to best incorporate the iconic Green Monster in left field.

The company has about half a dozen full-time employees. Andrew expects it to grow to about a dozen by the end of 2011.

Source: Mark Andrew, President & Founder, GreenMark
Writer: Dan Haugen

The success of Denali Marketing's Tally software is helping it add to its employee count.

The Minneapolis marketing firm, which helps companies like Best Buy, Sun Country, and Toys "R" Us manage customer loyalty programs, announced three new hires last week: a web app developer, a marketing analytics specialist, and a senior IT project manager.

The company has grown from fewer than 10 employees when it started in 2006 to more than 70  today. Guy Cierzan, partner for client services, said one factor in the company's growth has been Denali's proprietary Tally software.

"It's really been a differentiator," Cierzan said.

The software collects and mines data on customer behavior and lets companies manage and monitor every aspect of customer loyalty programs. For example, clients can use it to set program rules and send targeted communications to members.

The company provides a variety of other marketing-related services. One of its higher-profile assignments lately was working with Best Buy on the design and placement of its advertisements at Target Field.

Source: Guy Cierzan, partner for client services, Denali Marketing
Writer: Dan Haugen

Could mobile phones help the homeless find permanent shelter?

A St. Paul nonprofit started distributing cell phones last month to homeless residents. It's part of a small pilot program to show how cell phones can help people in transition find jobs and permanent housing, as well as stay better connected with family, friends and agencies.

"There's just no way to survive in this world without a phone. It really puts people further out of the mainstream than they are already," says Marcy Shapiro, executive director of Twin Cities Community Voice Mail.

The cell phone pilot is a first step toward updating the group's model for the wireless era. Twin Cities Community Voice Mail has offered free phone numbers and voice-mail accounts to low-income Minnesotans since 1994. Today, finding pay phones to retrieve and respond to voice-mails is increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, many employers and landlords expect people to be reachable on demand. Missed phone calls can mean missed opportunities.

The phones are being distributed by three partner agencies, the Dorothy Day Center, the St. Paul YWCA and Face to Face Safe Zone, which are offering the phones to participants in a federally funded Rapid Re-housing program. The cell phone plans are covered for six months, after which participants can keep the phone and number.

Similar experiments have been tried in Fort Worth, Tex., and Washington, D.C., but Shapiro believes the program is the first of its kind in Minnesota and among the first in the nation.

The trial is being funded through a $12,000 grant from the St. Paul Foundation that will cover the cost of 30 phones. Long-term funding is the major challenge. Voice mail accounts cost the organization about $10 per month per client, but cell phones cost three times that amount. After much research, the nonprofit settled on a $30 monthly plan from Virgin Mobile that includes 300 daytime and 1,000 night/weekend minutes.

"The money is what's really kept people from doing it," she says. "The need is there. It's really just about figuring out how to pay for it."

Source: Marcy Shapiro, Twin Cities Community Voice Mail
Writer: Dan Haugen

   
Thanks to a sort of American Idol for ideas, a Twin Cities woman gets $15,000 to implement her concept, and a Minnesota foundation gets an experience that could help change the way local institutions make decisions in the future.

Christine Tubbs of Stillwater was named winner Tuesday of the inaugural Minnesota Idea Open challenge. Her idea was culled from more that 400 submissions in an online contest that asked Minnesotans to submit their best ideas to encourage healthier eating and more active lifestyles.

All submissions were posted on the contest's website, where they could be viewed and comment on by other participants. Judges picked three finalists, which were then put to an Idol-style vote. Tubbs' proposal, to put on a series of youth-led activity field days, was selected as the winner by the nearly 5,000 Minnesotans who cast their votes on the website since early April.

The Minnesota Community Foundation had the web application built through a partnership with Ashoka Changemakers, which organizes similar international contests for social entrepreneurs. Major funding came from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The two-month contest showed how the Web can be used to get more people involved in public dialogue.

"We have been able to have conversations and get ideas from people from all walks of life, all across the state," said Jennifer Ford Reedy, the foundation's vice president for strategy and knowledge management. "We didn't reach everybody, but we reached people who were not usually a part of the conversation."

The local foundation now owns the web application and plans to make it available for other organizations in the state, as well as to sponsor one or two statewide contests per year.

Up next, though: helping Tubbs turn her idea into reality.

Source: Jennifer Ford Reedy, Minnesota Community Foundation
Author: Dan Haugen

Think of it as Minnesota's Next Top Entrepreneur.

The deadline for entries in this year's Minnesota Cup contest was Friday, May 21.

The sixth annual entrepreneurship invited Minnesota inventors to submit ideas in four areas: bioscience, high tech, clean tech, social entrepreneurship, as well as a general entrepreneurship and student category.

Minnesota Cup director Matt Hilker said he's hoping this year's contest will match or exceed the 1,100 participants who submitted entries last year.

Judges for each category will spend the next month choosing about half a dozen semifinalists in each category. Those entrepreneurs will then spend the summer developing in-depth business plans and presentations for a chance to win up to $40,000 in startup or growth capital.

"The biggest benefit, even more than the prize money, is just the exposure they get," Hilker said. Judges include prominent and experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

The finalists from the 2009 Minnesota Cup have collectively raised more than $8 million in capital since September.

Last year's winner was a Minneapolis app developer called Alvenda, which garnered the grand prize for an e-commerce tool that allows retailers to sell products directly from web banner advertisements.

Source: Matt Hilker, Minnesota Cup
Author: Dan Haugen

Starting your own company doesn't have to mean working alone.

A St. Paul co-working center recently kicked off a new Startup Saturdays theme. The 3rd Place, 2190 Como Ave., is one of two co-working centers that opened in the city earlier this year. The other is CoCo in Lowertown St. Paul.

Co-working centers are meant to be an alternative to the kitchen table or coffee shop for self-employed and telecommuting professionals, who typically pay a membership fee for access to a workstation, Internet connection and other office amenities.

The 3rd Place, a project of the social-media marketing firm Monkey Island, centers on the hope that a handful of aspiring tech startups will decide to take their projects out of the garage or basement and into its co-working space one day a week.

The sessions are free during the month of May. Amenities include high-speed wi-fi, whiteboards, and a conference room with a projector, but co-founder Zack Steven said the real reason to participate is the chance to be around other startup-minded people.

The real benefit is getting to "talk to people who have done it, and are doing it, and dedicate time to it so you can actually find out if what you're working on is worth while from a market/business standpoint," Steven said.

So far, Startup Saturdays have no formal program or curriculum � participants just show up between 9 and 5 � but Steven said they're talking with local tech groups about possibly developing sessions specifically aimed at entrepreneurs.

Source: Zack Steven, The 3rd Place
Author: Dan Haugen

Minnesota economic officials expect applications to be available for the state's angel investor tax credit before the Aug. 1 deadline set by the Legislature.

Dan McElroy, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, told an audience Monday that his department hopes to have documents related to the tax credit posted on its website as soon as July 1.

McElroy spoke at an angel tax credit panel discussion at ADC Auditorium presented by several local science and technology organizations.

The Angel Tax Credit was signed into law April 1. It set aside $11 million in 2010 and $12 million for each of the following four years for a 25-percent tax credit for investment in Minnesota technology startups.

"We're most interested in jobs, and good paying jobs," McElroy said. "We'd love to see a couple relatively early successes."

Among the criteria for companies to qualify: They must be less than 10 years old and have fewer than 25 employees. Their headquarters and more than half their payroll and employees must be in Minnesota, and all employees must make at least $18.55. Qualifying companies also need to be using or researching proprietary technology in a high-technology field.

More information is available at http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/angelcredit

Source: Dan McElroy, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
Writer: Dan Haugen

An energy management software company is expanding in the western suburbs.

Open Systems International broke ground Friday on a new $20 million corporate headquarters in Medina. The 100,000-square-foot building will be LEED-Gold certified and incorporate some of the company's own energy management technologies.

"We are growing rapidly, leaps and bounds, and the space we're in right now just isn't able to accommodate our fast growth any more," said Mimi Nelson, OSI's director of marketing and communication.

The privately held company currently employs about 240 people in Plymouth, where it rents space in an office park. The new headquarters, on the corner of Highway 55 and Arrowhead Drive, will put everyone under the same roof and allow Open Systems to add more employees.

OSI, which was founded in 1992, makes automation software for the gas, electric, and transportation industries that allows companies to monitor and control their systems. A couple of years ago the company started upgrading its software to support smart-grid projects.

Source: Mimi Nelson, Open Systems International
Writer: Dan Haugen