TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

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Whatever the motivation — to learn, network, hire, pitch, find inspiration or quench curiosity — over 1,000 Minnesota technology, design and startup enthusiasts passed through the doors of Best Buy HQ over a a 12 hour window yesterday.

Heralded as the largest BarCamp in the US, the latest production of MinneBar (6th to date) was easily the best yet in terms of participation, session breadth / quality, reach and energy.  Guided by Minne* catalysts Ben Edwards, Luke Francl and Adrienne Pierce, the unconference was clearly a success on many levels; the message is clear: Minnesota tech has arrived.

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On Saturday, May 7th, at Best Buy Headquarters in Richfield will be the sixth incarnation of MinneBar — a free and largely decentralized (un) conference aimed at getting those in Minnesota’s tech and design communities together to discuss topics that interest them.

Registration is now open and so is the opportunity for you to signup to lead a session!

Minne* Community Catalyst Ben Edwards anticipates building off last years attendance of roughly 750, with sights set on a cap of 1,000. “Not only is MinneBar Minnesota’s largest and longest running tech gathering, but also one the largest barcamps across the country,” according to Edwards.

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Behind all the talk about innovation, startups and entrepreneurship in Minnesota are two men who have (modestly) been building the local tech community for years through a series of initiatives culminating under the brand umbrella Minne*.

It started back in 2006 with Minnesota’s first barcamp unconference aka MinneBar, followed by “show and tell” MinneDemo (next up: Jan 13), and more recently the introduction of MinneSpark.

“When we created barcamp, I had no idea what Minne* was going to be…I just thought Minnesota needed a barcamp…and we had one and it was a good time…then Luke Francl and Dan [Grigsby] picked up the Demo events, and it became a number of events and we needed something to support all these things,” says Minne* Catalyst Ben Edwards.

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Last Saturday, Mike Bollinger and I moderated a panel discussion at Minnebar focused on the concept of improving Minnesota’s startup community.  This session, titled “How Can Minnesota Be Better“, can be viewed in its entirety above with credit to our panelists who generously shared their insights and perspectives.  Special thanks to Brett Thoreson for the steady hand and Andrew Frenz for collecting audience questions.

Joel Dahlin, Geoff Dutton and Derrick Shields have collectively summarized the experience.  Leave a comment if you have an opinion to share…

MinneBar is an (un)conference aimed at getting those in Minnesota’s tech and design communities together to discuss topics that interest them. This Saturday (5/22) from 9-6,  a crowd 500 plus will gather at Best Buy headquarters for one of Minnesota’s premier tech events – now on its fifth evolution.

Mike Bollinger and I will be facilitating/moderating a session focused on the Minnesota startup culture, aptly titled: “How can Minnesota be better?“

Below are the five hand-picked panelists who will be sharing their unique perspectives on the notion of  “improvement”.  Are there other local thought leaders, experts, executives, stakeholders and numerous people or parties equally interested in and actively working towards improving Minnesota’s startup culture?  Absolutely! This was the best we could do to pull together a diverse and complimentary group of qualified/concerned individuals  on such short notice.  This session will be held during the second part of the day, likely between 2-5;  please indicate your interest here so the organizers can anticipate the demand for this and any other sessions you’re attending.  If you have a question for the panel just leave it in the comments or grab us day of 

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Have a killer idea but need a little push to get you going?  What if that little push was a grand?

In the coming year, MinneSpark—the latest initiative from Minne*—will award grants of $1,000 to Minnesota-based teams who demonstrate to a set of “trustees” their ability to use the small amount of cash to leap from an idea to a working startup.

MinneSpark hopes to raise the $1,000 needed for each grant by collecting $100 from 10 people (the trustees). Trustees will pay a minimum of $100, which earns them 1 vote in the selection process. Trustees can purchase additional votes (and therefore more strongly influence the decision of who is awarded money) for $100 per vote. People interested in becoming a trustee can apply online.

The money awarded is truly a grant—no strings attached. There is no exchange of equity, no entitlement to future revenue or profits, no obligation to run errands or pickup dry cleaning for those who gave you the cash. Further, winners will receive help in the form of mentoring from the trustees and services from sponsors.

This is not a new model. ScaleWell, an organization based in Chicago, has already used this model to award one grant to Unatronics, and as of this month is taking applications for the second grant.

“This is about doing more with less,” says Luke Francl, one of Minne* partners. “It’s an experiment, really—what kind of cool things can be done with $1,000?”

Individuals/teams/companies can apply for the MinneSpark grant starting today. The application deadline is April 30th at which point voting will follow, and winners will be announced at MinneBar on May 22nd. The grant awarded at MinneBar will be at least $1,000 (reportedly, it may be higher if fund raising goes well). Do your part to make sure it does goes well: become a trustee.

“On November 21st over 600 developers and entrepreneurs got together to discuss what’s important to Minnesota tech start-ups. The halls that Best Buy legendary founder, Dick Schulze, built made for a great location for the next wave of Minnesota entrepreneurs to begin spreading their wings.”

Read the complete recap here.