I had the pleasure today to sit down over coffee with the founders of a content site for attorneys called Lawyerist, based in downtown Minneapolis: Sam Glover and Aaron Street. I met Aaron at a recent monthly lunch meeting of Club Entrepreneur, which is run by my colleague Rick Brimacomb.
Justin Porter is a Venture Center Analyst with the University of Minnesota’s Office of Technology and Commercialization (OTC). The OTC oversees all aspects of technology commercialization, including patenting and licensing of intellectual property, development of start-up companies, and the providing of resources for researchers. In other words, they are the mechanism by which IP developed from within the University’s research field (3,500 strong) is packaged and released into the market. This process is generally known as “tech transfer” amongst other Universities and research institutions around the world.
In 2009, the OTC generated around 95 million dollars in gross revenue on behalf of their IP portfolio which (not surprisingly) is predominantly medical & life science-but does include IT, hardware and software. For detailed information and statistics on how the OTC compares with its peers, The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) provides a comprehensive assessment of the tech transfer market at large. Here is a glimpse of the IT/Software the shelf here at the U of M.
Join us as we chat for 20 minutes with Justin about his role with the OTC- where they’re at, where they’re going and why they want to partner with entrepreneurs and startup companies.
Kristofer Layon is Director of MinneWebCon, the University of Minnesota’s annual regional conference about Web design and standards, content management and strategy, user experience, and social networking. Into its third year, MinneWebCon remains much of a grassroots initiative – produced by a core group of University staff & alumni who volunteer their resources to bring us a day packed with some of Minnesota’s finest minds and material. Last years conference drew a crowd of 250 attendees with featured keynotes by Doc Searls and Bruce Schneier; this years keynotes are:
Kristina Halvorson
“Kristina Halvorson is the CEO and founder of Brain Traffic, an internationally-renowned content strategy agency. Her recently-published book, Content Strategy for the Web, is helping to shape and define the value of this emerging practice all over the world. Kristina has appeared as a featured speaker at Web 2.0 Expo, An Event Apart, Voices That Matter, and SXSW Interactive.”
Wendy Chisholm
“Wendy Chisholm is a Web developer, human factors engineer, and co-author of Universal Design for Web Applications. She was a staffperson for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for 6 years where she focused on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Wendy has also consulted for Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and the American Foundation for the Blind.”
The conference will be held on April 12 at the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education and Conference Center from 8 – 5. Tickets range between $100-$200 depending on one’s role and the format remains consistent with years past: two keynotes (morning/afternoon), four breakout tracks with three sessions each and three “unconference” facilitated discussions. Lunch buffet is included.
By day, Mr. Layon is a web designer with the University where he works as part of an “internal agency” on an estimated 30-40 websites. In his personal time, he also develops mobile applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch and (eventually) the iPad. His first release was ArtAlphabet followed by ArtKids. His more specialized apps include OrthoTrauma and UrgentCare.
Joy Lindsay is President of StarTec Investments, a private VC firm Co founded with Thomas McLeod in 1998. Joy started her technology career with West Group (sold in 1996; now West, a Thompson Reuters company) as an exective in software, sales and marketing. Unlike most venture firms, StarTec has no Limited Parters, whereas Joy & Tom not only make all the investments decisions but they also draw on personal funds.
Ms. Lindsay is quite active in the local high tech and investor scene: she is a member of the Sofia Angel Fund – a group of 30 women that makes investments in women led/run companies; 2010 Vice Chair of the Minnesota High Tech Association; Vice President & Secretary of the Minnesota Venture Capital Association and also a member of the MOJO/MN initiative.
StarTec saw its first win right out the gate with Xiotech (acquired in 2000 by Seagate Technology); since inception, the duo has made 18 Minnesota investments and seen 1 IPO (Compellent). StarTec currently maintains 8 portfolio companies with a focus on early stage (100-500k) Science & Technology startups. They prefer pedigreed entrepreneurs/referrals from trusted sources, but do consider the blind plans and pitches they receive (1 per day on average). StarTec maintains no public website.
Kate Rubin has been President and CEO of the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) for over 8 years. Her background includes organizational and human resources studies, sales, marketing, executive coaching and leadership development. Ms. Rubin originally moved to Minnesota in 1990 with IBM as part of a 100 million dollar initiative focused on health care and transportation within the public sector.
The MHTA has a rich history dating back 28 years; currently, it’s a non-profit with the mission to drive the growth, sustainability and global competitiveness of Minnesota’s tech based economy through their ACE strategy: Advocacy, Collaboration and Education. Membership is made of companies that range from small consultancies to Minnesota’s largest and best known tech firms. Membership dues run on a graduated level and are revenue based ($300-$12,000). Benefits include: supporting policy and legislative initiatives, continuing education, leadership tracks and member only networking/ collaboration events.
This years MHTA Spring Conference, themed “A new way forward”, will be on April 22nd at the Minneapolis Convention Center . The organization is also known for it’s annual TEKNE Awards which “Celebrate companies, innovations and individuals that have positively impacted Minnesota’s technology-based economy.” Additionally, the MHTA is nationally recognized for its “Get STEM” portal, a unique means of connecting underserved classroom environments with the greater Minnesota business community.
Launch Media, based out of Plymouth Minnesota, has a vision to bridge the gap between traditional media and the interactive world via mobile device. By leveraging SMS and two dimensional (2D)/quick response (QR) technology, they aim to partner with consumer brands and retailers to enhance a customers shopping experience by creating engagement at precisely the time when actual shopping decisions are made: point of sale.
The first step is to identify established (major) brands that seek to deliver a more meaningful experience with their customers through emerging mobile consumer application space. Next, they bring their combined 40 years of retail and merchandising experience to the table and craft an in store mobile-centric campaign featuring a SMS “call to action” and/or a scanable 2D barcode that a shopper can capture and explore, in real time, on their personal mobile device. Odds are, the customer would be using a custom-branded reader application, but the barcode’s themselves can be read by any myriad of open readers available on the market. From here, customer experiences include a plethora of interactive options including but not limited to: ratings, reviews, coupons, recommendation engines, profiles (think shopping/wish lists), rich media, etc. From the retailers perspective, the immediate benefits are obvious, and to make Launch Media an even more attractive option, they have the ability to integrate advertising, hook into consumer databases, track detailed shopping habits and chart abstract trends. Yes, the QR reader technology can even be embedded within pre-existing branded mobile applications.
The software applications that go onto the phones doesn’t cost the consumer anything; while discussing the business model, Launch Media wouldn’t get much more specific than “the charge is based on how deep the engagement with the consumer goes and how much value is derived to the brand.”
Fair Enough.
The Launch Media team consists of: Scott Thomsen, Doug Thompson, Tony Frank and Adrienne Dyer.
Arthur Ventures Growth Fund is a “pre series A” fund organized in Fargo, North Dakota. The Fund Managers are pursuing investments in Minnesota and can prove it. They raised an 11 million dollar fund about two years ago and have since made 4 investments with an estimated 5 million remaining “to put to work.” Arthur Ventures makes early stage investments in startup companies from a variety of sectors but are known for their software pursuits with respect to their strengths and experiences. Arthur Ventures is ramping up fundraising efforts for a second fund, aimed between 20-30 million.
Arthur Ventures is the offspring of North Dakota’s biggest software success story – Great Plains Software – which was sold to Microsoft in early 2000 for 1.1 billion. Great story and quality conversation with guests Zach Robins, James Burgum & Tadd Tobkin!
Direct Podcast Link
Matt Crowe is an Entrepreneur – first and foremost - a Venture Capitalist second. He’s been building businesses since the age of 16 and he reflects regularly at Matt’s blog – business and philosophy. He’s also a columnist for Real Business Magazine, a blogger for the Star Tribune, published Author and host of an online talk radio show called The Matt Crowe Show.
So, what is a Huckleberry already?
“A problem in need of a solution” says Mr. Crowe, Founder and Chairman of Huckleberry Ventures, an emerging Minneapolis, MN Venture Capital firm.
Huckleberry puts an explicit emphasis on building companies through their “holistic” model compared to that of a more traditional Venture Capitalist approach. The difference? Huckleberry integrates their “brand of ideas” into a methodical process of discovering real problems, pooling (multiple) teams/talent and creating a competitive environment centered around guidance and support…all before injecting the capital. Whereas Entrepreneurs and CEO’s typically pitch investors with their products and plans, Huckleberry aims to (first) go directly to consumers using their own hybrid crowdsourcing technology, ideation engine and diligence tools to uncover what large scale problems markets are facing. Next, they gather results and push out “Huckleberry’s” to the Entrepreneurial community across the country in the form challenges that will culminate in a Minnesota-based competition known as the “Huckleberry Harvest” featuring a prize in the million-dollar range. What’s more, is that Huckleberry will also function as a fund, exclusively focused on consumer products and services. Their target investment is “Post Angel, Pre-VC”, but they “have the means to last into the VC Stage of single digit millions.”
“We’re trying something different and new with leveraging technology,crowdsourcing and an event..this is like the combination of Virgin, the X-Prize, Y-Combinator, Sequoia, Techstars – all combined into one…” – Matt Crowe
This unique platform will be released early this spring at http://whatsyourhuckleberry.com and consumer-side beta testers can sign up here now 
Marti Nyman is the Managing Partner and founder of Altavail Partners, LLC, a strategy, growth and innovation consulting practice based in Minneapolis, MN. Mr. Nyman’s background as a senior business development executive includes over 20 years of successfully creating new growth opportunities for Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries (Energy, Telecommunications, Consumer Retail). Marti has extensive expertise in strategy development, growth opportunity identification, new venture creation (M&A, Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances) sales and territory management, operations, relationship development and business execution.
In addition to his work in helping companies develop leading innovation initiatives, he was recently named as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Gary S. Holmes School of Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota. He has held leadership positions at GE, Ericsson, ADC Telecommunications and Best Buy. Most recently, he responsible for the formation, launch and growth of Best Buy’s Venture Capital practice.
By Steve Borsch, Minnov8
“Is it true that “Flat Is The New Up?” Not if you’re a company just outside St. Cloud, Sartell-based w3i, which is consistently proving that “Up Is The New Up” every quarter through quite impressive and sustained growth. Our guest on this week’s podcast, co-founder Rob Weber (@robertjweber), tells us how they got started and what they’re up to now.
W3i was marketing apps when apps weren’t even cool and their founding is a great story. In 2000, the three Weber brothers (Ryan, Aaron and Rob) discovered the power of free and launched Freeze.com. Along with their team, they developed applications to satisfy users’ pent up demand for free content while pioneering new revenue models to spread the development and marketing costs across millions of installations — over 250 million to date.”
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