Creative Leadership : Innovation + Job News

Whether the world is flat is open for debate, but there is no denying it is getting smaller as the global economy progresses.
 
Plus Relocation Services helps companies move and manage their employees and operations both in the US and abroad. Since the turn of the century, Plus has seen a steady annual increase in international business. In 2010, the "global side" grew 80 percent, says Chris Pardo, Plus' vice president of global services.
 
In response to the increasing international demand, the company will open a small, service-focused office in London, with 3�5 employees. That number could increase, says Pardo, given existing and expected business, and the interest the European office could generate.
 
Plus has long had activity in the European market, says Pardo, in "bread and butter" cities like London, Zurich, Dublin, Paris, and Munich.
 
"Now we're seeing Prague, Moscow, Poland, Romania starting to have lot of activity," he says. "The Eastern bloc is opening up."
 
Business is also heating up beyond Europe, of course. Of the "BRIC" countries--Brazil, Russia, India, and China --Plus has seen the most activity in the latter two.
 
They are also seeing an increase in country-to-country activity "that doesn't touch the US, and activity within countries," says Pardo.
 
The activity has led to growth stateside for Plus, as well--the company was busy with at least seven new hires in January, bringing its total employment to almost 90 people.
 
Source: Chris Pardo, Plus Relocation Services
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The international organization Ashoka has been effecting social change for more than 30 years in over 70 countries. So why did Ashoka's national organization look to the Twin Cities to pilot a new kind of local chapter?

"The Twin Cities is great at sort of homegrown solutions," says Jennifer Aspengren, director of the Ashoka Twin Cities. The chapter was launched in January 2010 with a $99,000 startup grant from The John S. & James L. Knight Foundation, a national partner that is "particularly interested in St. Paul," says Aspengren.

Other factors were Ashoka's Minnesota Changemakers and YouthVenture programs, and that its four active Twin Cities fellows comprise the largest concentration of Ashoka fellows outside of the coasts.

Ashoka fellows are "very, very rare individuals who are making very high-impact systems changes," says Aspengren. They receive $30,000�$50,000 annual stipends, as well as the support of Ashoka's global network of fellow social entrepreneurs and businesses.

Ashoka Fellows Conchy Bretos & Felipe Vergara, both from Miami, will speak at a free Ashoka Solutions Forum on Feb. 8 at the Walker Art Center. The 7 p.m. forum, sponsored by InCommons, Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, and the Knight Foundation, will focus on three major challenges to growing and expanding a social change initiative: capital, talent, and marketing.

An afternoon session (invite-only) will convene representatives from local businesses including General Mills, Wells Fargo, 3M, and Best Buy.

Private-sector entrepreneurs are an important part of the Ashoka network, says Aspengren, in terms of funding, expertise, and strategic support. "It's the same thing they've been doing in the private sector," she says, "but just trying to push a different question in the public sector."

While Ashoka has local presences in other cities, the Twin Cities chapter is the first to "plant a staff person on the ground," says Aspengren. Its goal is "mapping out how to start building new chapters and integrate Ashoka programs in a new city," she says.

Source: Jennifer Aspengren, Ashoka Twin Cities
Writer: Jeremy Strattton

Social media has given researchers of every stripe a mountain of new data to explore.

As tweets and status updates work their way into studies across the University of Minnesota campus, from computer science to environmental studies, a group of researchers have recognized a need for more cross-department pollination.

This week they'll hold the first monthly gathering of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Group in Social Computing. Organizers have put the call out to researchers across the university who are exploring social media and its impact on society.

"This is our first rattling of the bushes to see who shows up and it should be pretty interesting," says Nora Paul, director of the SJMC Minnesota Journalism Center.

So far, potential participants include students, staff, and faculty from the English department, computer science, journalism, writing studies, public health, mathematics, environmental studies, youth development, and Spanish/Portuguese studies.

The kick-off event will consist of a round of introductions. Participants are asked to bring a single PowerPoint slide and a short description of their work related to social media. After that, monthly meetings will likely revolve around a speaker from outside the University.

The group is particularly aimed at graduate students, but Paul says they want to have the events open to the community as well, with a goal of spurring collaboration not just across departments but also with people outside the University.

The meet-and-greet kick-off event is 4-6pm Thursday, Jan. 27, in the Digital Technology Center Auditorium, room 402 in Walter Library.

Source: Nora Paul, SJMC Minnesota Journalism Center
Writer: Dan Haugen

A public-private partnership plans to launch a new web portal this summer aimed at better connecting Minnesota startup companies and angel investors.

The Minnesota Angel Network is the result of two years of planning by the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota and several partner organizations, all stemming from a recent report that identified a need for better "full-spectrum" funding opportunities for growing companies in Minnesota.

The network won't be funding companies, nor will it be making recommendations about what companies deserve investment. Instead, it'll be a clearinghouse of standardized information about startups seeking money.

"Although there are investors throughout the state that are looking for deals, there's no single resource or single access point where they can find quality deals. They can only find the ones that are in their own network," says Todd Leonard, director of the Minnesota Angel Network.

The goal is to standardize a process to help entrepreneurs prepare and organize all of the information that investors are going to expect from them. They'll enter summaries and business plans into a standardized format, and then have them reviewed by mentors to make sure all the pieces are in place.

Once a startup's information is ready, it will be added to the network. Certified investors will then be able to anonymously view summaries of any company in the system. Confidential or proprietary information about a company can be stored in the system and only revealed to specific investors with permission.

While the project is being initiated and hosted by the BioBusiness Alliance, it's meant to serve startups and investors in all industries, not just bioscience. The site is currently being beta tested and is scheduled to be up and running by the middle of this year, likely in July.

Source: Todd Leonard, Minnesota Angel Network
Writer: Dan Haugen

An effort to develop a regional entrepreneurship action plan for the Twin Cities continues this week with a pair of information-gathering forums.

JumpStart Community Advisors, a Cleveland-based nonprofit, is coordinating the grant-funded effort, with support from local industry and economic development groups.

Mike Mozenter, the group's president, says they've had an advantage in the Twin Cities because the region had already started work with the Brookings Institute on a metropolitan business plan. JumpStart's program will compliment the Brookings planning and focus on identifying ways to better support entrepreneurs in the region.

The JumpStart process, which kicked off in the fall, is expected to take two years to complete. Currently it's in phase one: research and planning. The team has been interviewing local entrepreneurs, investors, and economic development officials about gaps and opportunities for creating and launching new companies in the region.

A pair of community leader meetings Wednesday and Thursday are aimed at gathering more ideas and information about how the region can better serve innovators and entrepreneurs. Mozenter says they plan to conduct an online survey as well, to help gather the input of as many people as possible. Then they'll help write a business plan aimed at capitalizing on the opportunities.

Phase two consists of a year of fundraising to turn the business plan into reality, and the third phase involves JumpStart supporting the region in getting it operational.

"I think one of the preliminary conclusions is that the region has a lot of opportunity, and people there recognize that," says Mozenter. "It's a matter of putting a vehicle in place that helps bring those together and supports those [opportunities]."

This week's community gatherings are free to attend, however, all seats were already reserved for Thursday's event. RSVP for Wednesday's event here.

Source: Mike Mozenter, JumpStart Community Advisors
Writer: Dan Haugen

At The Beauty Room in south Minneapolis, the iPad has become as indispensable to its stylists as a pair of scissors.

The six-year-old salon, which recently moved to a new location at 4300 Chicago Ave. S. in the Longfellow neighborhood, was having an increasingly difficult time coordinating the schedules of its 19 specialists. If a customer needed a perm, a wax, and a manicure, for example, a clerk would have to consult three separate paper calendars to find a window of time when all three specialists would be available.

"It was just a nightmare," says owner Mi Shaun Schmidt-Schwab.

In November, the salon switched to an all-electronic scheduling system that syncs to everybody's personal iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Now, instead of someone at the front desk spending up to five minutes searching for an open time, any of The Beauty Room's specialists can quickly schedule clients from anywhere using their Apple device.

The same system also allows staff to check-in clients when they arrive, which automatically pings an alert to the stylists' iPad or iPhone. It's eliminated the need for front-desk staff to track down people in the often busy salon to tell them their next customer has arrived.

Schmidt-Schwab says switching to the iPad solution has freed up front-desk staff to focus more on customer service, things like greeting and making customers feel welcome, instead of being tied up on the phone. If a customer wants to book another appointment, the stylist can do that from their station while they're still in their chair.

Several stylists already owned Apple devices. Others have since purchased them. The app that runs the scheduling system costs $4.99. Schmidt-Schwab expects the investment will pay for itself by freeing up time from administrative tasks to focus on its services.

Source: Mi Shaun Schmidt-Schwab, The Beauty Room
Writer: Dan Haugen

When it comes to boosting participation in health and wellness programs, employees respond to goals and rewards � especially when the message isn't coming from their employer or health insurer.

That's the conclusion of a national health engagement survey commissioned by Minneapolis-based RedBrick Health.

RedBrick Health is a health technology company that partners with employers on health and wellness programs. Chief Marketing Officer Eric Zimmerman says they commissioned the survey to get a better sense of what employers are doing and what's working when it comes to employee health engagement.

Employers spend significant money on health and wellness programs, which can lower health insurance costs and increase productivity. But many of these initiatives suffer from anemic participation levels, often preaching to the health-conscious choir and reaching only around 10 percent of employees, says Zimmerman.

The survey results show, however, that engagement is not universally low, and patterns emerge among the programs that are seeing higher participation rates. Programs that involved setting goals saw 63 percent higher engagement levels, while programs that rewarded meeting those goals with incentives saw 107 percent greater engagement.

Another characteristic associated with success: having a program administered by a third-party other than the company's health insurance provider. Zimmerman speculated that it could be a trust issue, or it could be a matter of specialization, and that having a company like RedBrick that focuses on engagement can deliver better results because it's all they do.

Another finding in the survey was that many employers plan to increase their spending on health and wellness programs, despite the mixed results. Says Zimmerman:

"There's a terrific sense of urgency to address the cost issue and a terrific appetite for a different approach."

Source: Eric Zimmerman, RedBrick Health
Writer: Dan Haugen

A nonprofit whose mission is showing low-income high school students a path to economic self-sufficiency looks to be nearly self-funded in its third year.

Genesys Works is a St. Paul program that offers students in an intensive eight-week IT and professional skills training course before placing them in one-year paid internships.

"We are truly a social enterprise. We operate very much like a for-profit IT staffing company, that just also happens to have a nonprofit mission of helping low-income students of color," says Jeff Tollefson, Genesys Works' director in the Twin Cities.

The organization was founded by a former Compaq executive in Houston. It started a Twin Cities branch in 2008 and launched a Chicago program this year.

Tollefson says about 90 percent of the program's budget this year should be covered by fees collected from its corporate partners, mostly large employers that pay to have students placed at their organizations, much as they would working with an IT staffing agency.

Genesys Works partners with Minneapolis, St. Paul, Richfield, and Robbinsdale school districts to recruit students, who apply for the program in the spring. An eight-week training course begins in June, and the top students are then placed at employers, where they work as IT technicians throughout their senior year of high school.

The program hopes to have a summer class of 150 students next year. It's also going to pilot a finance and accounting program in 2011 with about 30 students.

Tollefson says the response from employers suggests the program is working. Not only is it adding partners, but existing ones are increasing their commitment. Medtronic, the largest employer of Genesys Works students, went from 5 to 11 students this year.

Genesys Works will be recognized with the Innovation Collaboration of the Year Award at the Minnesota High Tech Association's Tekne Awards on Nov. 3.

Source: Jeff Tollefson, Genesys Works
Writer: Dan Haugen

A Twin Cities software entrepreneur has announced plans for a new venture called Project Skyway that will aim to connect young entrepreneurs with mentors, resources, and funding.

Cem Erdem, born in Turkey, founded Augusoft in 1994 after reading about the Internet in a magazine on his flight from Turkey to the United States with his new wife.

The company makes online software for education administration. A decade and a half later, Erdem has a management team in place that can run the company without his day-to-day involvement, freeing him up to take on a new challenge.

Erdem says he's decided he wants the next phase of his life to be about helping other entrepreneurs achieve their goals faster, better, and more efficiently than he was able to do.

Project Skyway will be a new-business seed fund and incubator, launching in July 2011. The details are still coming together, Erdem admits, but above all he wants it to be a connector.

Erdem envisions a program that will build connections among ideas, entrepreneurs, investors, and other innovation hubs, and bring them together both online and in physical space.

He believes there are probably would-be entrepreneurs attending community colleges, as he did, who are not being reached out to. He wants to use his education connections to cast a broad net for potential entrepreneurs and bring them into an innovation community.

"Lots of people have e-business ideas, but they are not necessarily the programmers. They don't know how to take a concept to the virtual world, and we can help them with that," says Erdem.

Some of the other values that he's making a priority as he develops the program include a focus on long-term value, ethical practices, and making sure the program is accessible.

Erdem admits it's a "high-level model" right now. He's prepared to spend his own money getting the program off the ground. He's not seeking funding help, but he is seeking ideas.

Erdem says people looking to get involved should contact him at [email protected].

Source: Cem Erdem, Augusoft
Writer: Dan Haugen

A revolving, low-interest loan program by the city of Minneapolis recently marked its 1,000th loan to a small business in the city.

City officials celebrated the milestone last week with an event at the Blackbird Cafe. The restaurant was the recipient of the 1,000th loan.

"These are the right investments for government to make--and now more than ever, this is the right time to do it," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

The investments consist of 10-year, 2-percent interest rate loans, which must be matched at least dollar-for-dollar by loans from private lenders. "It's definitely a way to encourage banks to not turn off the spigot, to keep the funds flowing," says Bob Lind, the city's director of business finance.

Since the program started in 1988, it's made 1,000 loans totaling $28 million, and leveraged another $87 million in private investment. The city estimates the program has helped create more than 2,000 jobs and retain another 9,300. The average loan size is $25,000, and more than 97 percent have been fully repaid.

The Blackbird Cafe used a $75,000 loan from the program to relocate after a Feb. 18 fire destroyed its previous home at W. 50th St. and Bryant Ave. S. Owners Gail Mollner and Chris Stevens hosted last week's event at their new location at 3800 Nicollet Ave.

"The whole idea was to get that investment and make sure those commercial corners and commercial nodes continue to  thrive, continue to look good, continue to be occupied," says Lind.

In addition to the mayor, speakers included Robert Stephens, founder of the Geek Squad, which received financing through the program in 1998.

Source: Bob Lind, City of Minneapolis
Writer: Dan Haugen

The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota supports businesses that are working with materials on the molecular and cellular level.

In other words, stuff that's too small to see with the naked eye.

Last week, the organization unveiled an original artwork it commissioned that it hopes will help Minnesotans visualize the type of work it promotes.

"We wanted to create a symbol that will help to connect the individual to the science, so that people can feel part of it and connected to it," said Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of the Alliance.

"Unfolding the Natural History and Science of Life" is a 3'-by-6' print by multimedia artist Lynn Fellman, who specializes in science-inspired art. Fellman reversed the scale of her subjects; the largest footprint goes to proteins and DNA strands, while animals and plants are pictured smallest.

Wahlstrom said the goal is for the image to become an identifiable symbol for the life-science community the Alliance represents in the state. It also plans to sell notecards and posters to raise funds for its Destination 2025 mission.

The image is hanging in the BioBusiness Alliance's office. (A small version image can be viewed on its website here.)

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

A pair of recent announcements put Minnesota at the forefront of digital government.

A survey by the Center for Digital Government gave Minnesota's state government a 'B+' grade and said it was "trending up" when it comes to using digital technology to better serve citizens and streamline operations..

Meanwhile, the state's Office of Enterprise Technology announced last week that Minnesota is the first state to move its collaboration and communications software into a cloud computing environment. (That means the applications are stored online rather than in servers owned by the state.)

The Center for Digital Government report highlighted Minnesota's innovation in the areas of finance and administration and energy and transportation. Only four states received a grade higher than Minnesota's.

An example of the state's recent successes, says OEM spokeswoman Cathy de Moll, was consolidating all state agencies into one centralized e-mail system. Innovations like this let the state "put our attention and dollars toward the kinds of applications that are directly related to citizen services," she says.

The announcement came two days after the state announced a first-of-its-kind cloud computing arrangement with Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite.

The move means the state no longer has to maintain its own servers and hardware for e-mail, file-sharing and other collaboration and communications programs. Instead, it leases those resources from Microsoft, which keeps the state's data in a private cloud environment.

Source: Cathy de Moll, State of Minnesota
Writer: Dan Haugen

If inefficient data storage is the corporate equivalent of searching for your lost car keys, Digitiliti provides valet service. The downtown-St. Paul�based company offers an integrated data management service that files, stores, secures, and backs up company data seamlessly and automatically--functions that are typically spread across half a dozen software platforms.

"The biggest problem is that for data, there's a point solution for every problem," he says. "If you want to store your data, you buy backup software. If you want disaster recovery, you take it offsite. If you want to be able to collaborate, you buy software for that. We've integrated it into one system."

For this nifty achievement, the company picked up a Tech Award Circle gold medal in July and a nomination for a Tekne Award from the Minnesota High Tech Association in September.

The company launched in 2005 with a data protection service, but quickly identified the need for a broader product, explains Ken Peters, executive vice president in sales and marketing. The company's DigiLIBE (Digital Library) product launched two years ago, and has fueled remarkable growth for the tech company right through the recession, doubling the company's workforce to about two dozen.

In growth, Digitiliti has maintained its flexibility. Headquarters are located in St. Paul's artsy Lowertown neighborhood, an environment that "fosters innovation," according to Peters. And rather than bulk up on staff, they've taken a nimble approach to growth: "We have built a flexible workforce, both internal and external," he says. "Our approach is, hire the best talent. It doesn't matter where they're located."

Source: Ken Peters, Digitiliti
Writer: Joe Hart

A new venture in Minneapolis is innovating ways to connect nonprofits with young professionals who want to give their time and skills.

Jim Delaney, a former director with The LEAD Project, started Engine L3C after an experience as a board member at the YMCA.

"I wanted to do more than show up once a quarter and provide my advice and raise a little bit of money in the meantime," says Delaney. "I wanted to use what I thought were my skills and capabilities a little bit more directly to solve the problems that the 'Y' was facing."

So many nonprofit volunteer opportunities consist of one-day opportunities, helping out here and there with events and fundraising, he thought. Meanwhile, he understood that most directors were too busy with day-to-day demands to tackle big-picture challenges.

Delaney's idea: put together small strike teams of young professional volunteers to tackle big-picture projects. He pitched it to the YMCA and recruited 24 volunteers to work on six projects. One team created a guide for social media use. Another created a 140-page best practices handbook after analyzing the best practices at each of the local YMCA's 14 branches and camps.

Delaney recruits and matches volunteers to the project teams that best match their skills. A typical project lasts about six months, after which the volunteers are free to move on or get involved in a different way.

The young volunteers, most of whom are between the ages of 25 and 35, get personal and professional development, as well as a more satisfying volunteer experience. Meanwhile, the nonprofits, which pay $1,000 per month per project, get professional services for a fraction of what they would otherwise cost.

After 10 projects with the YMCA, about a month ago Engine started another project with the Neighborhood Development Center. Next, Delaney hopes to get corporations involved by offering the program to their employees as a professional development tool.

Source: Jim Delaney, Engine L3C
Writer: Dan Haugen

If you're familiar with the concept of software-as-a-service, consider this lawyering-as-a-service.

The Glover Law Firm in Minneapolis has launched a new practice aimed at serving tech startups, with a billing model inspired by the flat-rate, tiered pricing associated with many web applications.

"We're trying to build a firm that feels similar to the types of businesses we hope to represent," says owner/founder Sam Glover.

Clients choose from one of four service plans that range from $150 to $1,200 per month and include document preparation, annual reviews, and weekly, monthly or quarterly check-ins.

It sounds simple, and that's what makes it such a departure for the legal industry. Since the 1960s, law firms have almost universally charged clients based on "billable hours." Attorneys tally up every six-minute increment of work they do for a client and add it to their tab.

But that system, says Glover, rewards inefficiency and encourages clients to put off asking questions, even though a quick answer might help prevent bigger problems down the line. Glover's model allows an entrepreneur to call with a question without worrying about a new bill.

"It's great for the clients because they know how much they're going to pay next month," says Glover. "It's great for us because we know the money that's coming in next month."

Glover started his law firm in 2005 focusing on business and consumer protection law. He and business partner Aaron Street started signing up clients for the startup practice last month at startuplawyer.mn.

Source: Sam Glover, The Glover Law Firm, LLC
Writer: Dan Haugen