Podcasts about minnesota cup

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Amanda Heyman. Amanda went from journalism to a career in law, driven by a mission to serve the public interest and champion social justice. Then, life took a surprising turn when she and her husband saw a golden opportunity in fantasy soccer. Moving to a venture-backed business focused on growth and profit was a major pivot. Together, they co-founded Starting 11, a fantasy sports app that combined her husband's 30,000-hour passion for fantasy sports with Amanda's network and startup savvy. But stepping into the world of capitalism brought new challenges, like pitching for venture capital, raising funds, and weighing their financial goals against their principles. Amanda shares how she navigated this shift in mindset, balanced personal values with business ambition and managed the unique pressures of being in business with her husband. Amanda is co-founder and Managing Partner of Tundra Ventures, a pre-seed venture fund investing in companies focused on health, wealth and resilience solutions with 1) exquisite founder-market fit and 2) unique insight into untapped markets and overlooked end users. Prior to founding Tundra, Amanda spent four years as a Founding Partner at Lunar Startups, a Twin Cities-based accelerator designed to supercharge high-potential startup companies founded by diverse CEOs. Amanda created her own proprietary system of business milestones linked to a curated digital platform that helped 75 Lunar cohort companies create a strong foundation for scale. Amanda has taken her proprietary system to Tundra Ventures, where it forms the backbone of Tundra's founder support platform. In addition to her 10+ years of experience as an attorney for startups, Amanda is a seasoned entrepreneur. She co-founded and served as General Counsel for a venture-backed global sports technology company; prior to that she co-founded a boutique law firm focused on natural food startup companies. Amanda further developed expertise in the food and agriculture sphere as an international expert on organic agriculture for the United Nations in Mauritius, a Fellow in Practice at the Vermont Law School Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and a staff attorney at a national nonprofit law firm serving family farm businesses. Amanda has also handled FEMA appeals for Hurricane Katrina survivors, managed an online news network at a Boston digital media startup (acquired by MTV) and won awards for her newspaper reporting in Wisconsin and New Mexico. Amanda has served as an advisor and board member to various startup support organizations, including Forge North, The Nice Center at NDSU and Minnesota Cup. She was named a 2021 and 2020 Minnesota Rising Star by Super Lawyers/Thomson Reuters, a 2017 MN Cup High Tech Division Winner and a 2015 Women in Business award winner by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Amanda holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and earned a B.S. in Journalism and a Certificate in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After many years living near the best lake in Minneapolis, she currently resides in the Bay Area with her husband and young daughter.

Dan Mallin and Scott Litman have become synonymous with entrepreneurship in Minnesota. Together, they've co-founders several successful technology startups starting with Imaginet in the 1990s and moving on to Magnet 360, a marketing tech firm they sold to Mindtree in 2016 for a reported $50 million. In all, they've had four exits of their own, and advised countless others. Beyond their own companies, Litman and Mallin may be even better known as the founders of the Minnesota Cup, the state's largest startup competition. Launched in 2005, it's become the gold standard for startup contents—a rite of passage for many Minnesota companies that have gone on to great success and exits of their own. For the last six years, Litman and Mallin have been building another tech company: Lucy. Unlike their previous service-based businesses, this one is a product: an AI-powered management platform designed to help businesses keep track of internal files and documents and find answers quickly. But beyond innovation, this is a story of relationships—the enduring partnership of two independently minded founders, their encouragement of thousands of other aspiring entrepreneurs, and their commitment to building both businesses and an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Minnesota. “This is the best place to build companies,” LItman says. “Everything we've ever touched is really around entrepreneurism. People working hard to achieve a mission. Not letting hurdles or pitfalls get in their way. Hopefully that rubs off on others.” Adds Mallin, “The best ideas are not because of a great idea alone. It's a great idea executed by a great team with the passion to do it.” Following our conversation, we go back to the classroom with University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship Professor John McVea who picks up on the idea of being “born entrepreneurs,” to point out that we all are. “Innovation is a natural trait. Human beings are naturally inventive.” But successful entrepreneurs don't just make something cool—they do it to add value. “It's an inherently social process and we do that uniquely well in Minnesota.”

The story of Rebiotix is a success story. Lee Jones founded the company years ago in a region that, at the time, was not seen as a biotech hub. Today, Rebiotix is thriving and the biotech scene in Medical Alley continues to grow. On this episode of the Medical Alley Podcast, Lee joins us in studio to talk about the founding of Rebiotix — and how programs like the Minnesota Cup and the Angel Tax Credit were instrumental in helping get the company off the ground. She also shares insight on the startup scene in Medical Alley today, something important to her as an adviser with Medical Alley Starts.

The conversation this week is with Scott Litman. Scott is a serial entrepreneur with multiple exits under his belt and someone whom I highly respect and appreciate for what he has done for the technology community here in the Twin Cities. Currently, he is the co-founder, managing partner, and CRO at Lucy.ai. Lucy is an AI-powered knowledge management platform. You see combed through more data in a minute that an entire team could sift through in a year, unlocking, democratizing, and making it instantly accessible to those who need it. Lucy has earned significant recognition and is being adopted by many of the world's biggest ad agencies and Fortune 1000s. Scott also gives back by being on the board of multiple organizations and a co-founder of the Minnesota Cup. The Minnesota Cup is an annual competition that seeks to support and accelerate the development of the best breakthrough ideas from across Minnesota. They are looking for the next generation and the next entrepreneurial success story in our state. More information on the Minnesota cup can be found at mncup.org. Finally, this is a little bit of a blast from the past. But I'd like to tell people that Scott was one of my first bosses after getting out of college. He absolutely had an impact on me at that young age on how to build a technology business through solid culture and leadership.If you are interested in learning about how AI is being applied across multiple industries, be sure to join us at a future AppliedAI Monthly meetup and help support us so we can make future Emerging Technologies North non-profit events!Emerging Technologies NorthAppliedAI MeetupResources and Topics Mentioned in this EpisodeLucy.aiLucy.ai/careersMinnesota CupIndustry 4.0Industrial IoTCaptovation.auSmartThingsEnjoy!Your host,Justin Grammens

This week on the podcast we talk more about some big news that hit Rochester's entrepreneurial ecosystem this September. This season, our community had three Divisional Winners at the Minnesota Cup, the nation's largest statewide business pitch competition. Minnesota Cup is a rigorous program that starts each spring and runs through multiple rounds to crown winners across nine different divisions, as well as an overall Grand Prize Winner at the end of the competition in early fall. Competitors receive mentorship, pitch practice, seed funding, and much more as part of their experience at Minnesota Cup. This year, Rochester based startups Shrpa, Canomiks, and Nanodropper each walked away as Divisional Winners in the High Tech, Food/Ag/Beverage, and Student Divisions, respectively. In addition, Nanodropper was named the overall Grand Prize Winner and is the first ever student-led team to win the entire Minnesota Cup! This is a conversation that needed to be shared in our community as we sit down today with co-founders Chris Lukenbill of Shrpa, Leena Pradhan-Nabzdyk of Canomiks, and Allisa Song of Nanodropper to hear more about what the Minnesota Cup journey met for themselves and for their teams and why they choose to keep their businesses in the Rochester community. Links from today's show: Minnesota Cup Website: https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup Facebook: @mncup Twitter: @MinnesotaCup Instagram: @minnesotacup Shrpa Website: https://shrpa.com/ Facebook: @shrpa.explore.local Twitter: @explore_shrpa Instagram: @shrpa.explore.local Shrpa origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/main/meet-rochesters-newest-startup-shrpa Canomics Website: https://www.canomiks.com/ Twitter: @canomiks Canomiks origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-181-inspirational-collisions-with-leena-pradhan-nabzdyk Nanodropper Website:https://nanodropper.com/ Facebook: @nanodropper Twitter: @nanodropper Instagram: @nanodropper Nanodropper origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-193-alissa-and-robbie-with-nanodropper Our sponsors: CliftonLarsonAllen Website: https://www.claconnect.com/ Music Attribution: Like That by Ano Domini Beats is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library. Episode Breakdown: 0:00 Start 7:56 Shrpa 17:43 Canomiks 34:15 Nanodropper 49:12 Conclusions 50:44 End

On the podcast this week we talk with local students Anjali Donthi and Sarah Bulur of CASP Technologies. Along with their friends Caitlin McWilliams and Payton Maas, these innovators came together as part of the global Technovation challenge to create their first product, Operational Serenity. The girls intend this mobile application to serve eight to fifteen-year-old pediatric surgery patients. The app helps to reduce anxiety and stress associated with surgery prep by providing a clear visualization of the surgery procedure. Tune in today as Anjali and Sarah talk about their process to create the app, their progress through Technovation, and what it was like to get to the final round of the 2020 Minnesota Cup. Links from today’s podcast: CASP Technologies/Operation Serenity Website: https://opserenityapp.wixsite.com/casptechnologies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CASP-Technologies-107089940946645 Instagram: @operationserentiy Other Links: Technovation: https://www.technovation.org/ Technovation[MN]: https://technovationmn.org/ Minnesota Cup: https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup Music Attribution: Jane Fonda by The Grand Affair is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library. Our Podcast: Subscribe and like us wherever you listen in to your audio content! You can find us on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rochester-rising/id1135305723?mt=2 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ikxL2wdmI67DOqBl8FvM2?si=JXQ4Q5C5RvC05CljsB803g YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL7qErj0NfmmgVngwozoEFWGwajTc98V3

Abilitech Medical is on the brink of launching the first-of-its-kind wearable assistive device that makes it possible for patients with upper-limb weakness or injury to use their arms for everyday activities. “This is my imprint on the world,” says founder Angie Conley. Even before the Abiliitech Assist device becomes widely available through hospitals and clinics, it has already won numerous awards including the Tekne Award for innovation from the Minnesota High Tech Association and the Grand Prize and Top Woman-led Business at the Minnesota Cup, which is the largest state-led business competition. Abilitech has also been recognized as a Top 20 Medical Device Startup You Need to Know by MassDevice magazine; and a Top Promising Life Science Company by Rice University. So far Conley has raised $12 million, primarily in equity funding. Abilitech is Conley’s first startup, but years of experience in the medical device industry prepared her for the challenge. Following several years as a senior product marketing manager for Medtronic and a medical device marketing consultant, Conley took on the executive director role at Magic Arms, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit that works to help children with orphan medical conditions including muscular dystrophy. It exposed her to the need for an assistive device, and she quickly realized it would take more money than a nonprofit could raise to solve it. “The mission is what carries you through,” Conley says. The opportunity is significant: Abilitech’s initial market of multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy patients with enough hand function to operate the device is around $2 billion; Conley has her sights set on the stroke rehab market, which she says pegs at $30 billion. “It’s an exciting opportunity to fill an unmet need and change the lives not just of patients but their caregivers,” Conley says. After our conversation with Conley, we go Back to the Classroom with University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. Dan McLaughlin, director of the Center for Innovation in the Business of Health Care at Opus discusses the med tech innovation happening beyond computers, in the area of motors and sensors. Emerging technology is an area of particular interest at St. Thomas. “That’s the best part of health care,” McLaughlin says. “You get to make those human connections and really change people’s lives.”

*Note* This episode was recorded in December 2019 On Episode 35, Kevin McArdle, owner of SureSwift Capital, and Jac Stark, community manager for tech.mn, welcome founders Dr. Angie Eilers (UR Turn) and Matt Hardy (Kidblog) to talk about the journey from being educators to entrepreneurs. We discuss the track to identifying as tech entrepreneurs and passing it down to the young people on their team. In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week (something we have been feeling very heavy has of late) this week’s episode theme is Edtech. We talk with Dr. Angie Eilers, founder of UR Turn, a goal setting and progress tracking app that plugs into student information systems, and Matt Hardy, founder of Kidblog, a student publishing platform. We talk with both about the transition from teacher to tech founder in Minnesota and the thriving edtech ecosystem in Minnesota. Hype Time Every episode we ask our guest to name drop someone doing cool things in the tech community. Angie gives a shout out to Minnesota Cup, BETA, and Pat Dillion from the MHTA. Matt name drops a couple people including Josh Susser with Cascadily and Louis Abramowski of HotLou and Evergreen.    Sponsor:Thank you to Arthur Ventures for sponsoring this episode of The tech.mn Podcast. Arthur Ventures invests in B2B software founders beyond Silicon Valley and takes a partner approach to venture capital. They support tech entrepreneurship in Minnesota. You can learn more about them at their website and hear about their latest raise here.  Socialstech.mn on TwitterKevin McArdle on TwitterJac Stark on TwitterAngie Eiliers on TwitterMatt Hardy on TwitterUR Turn on TwitterKidblog on Twitter Links:UR TurnKidblog EdNorth

The 2PM hour starts with Jess Berg who is the Director of the Minnesota Cup. Online apps open for Minnesota’s premier startup competition. In 15th year, Minnesota Cup has 9 categories w/$500K. Roshini opens up the phone lines in the next segment and takes your shout outs and who you’re thankful for. Film Critic Paul McGuire Grimes joins Roshini at the bottom of the hour. Paul shares advice for best movies, TV, streaming. The buzz about #TigerKingNetflix?  

It’s been a crazy past couple of days for this week’s guests.  In the last week, UMD women’s head coach Maura Crowell and the Bulldogs director of hockey operations Nick Bryant won gold with the U.S. Under-18 Women’s Hockey Team in Slovakia and then came home to Duluth to win the Minnesota Cup at Amsoil Arena. Crowell and Bryant tell us about their experience in Bratislava, Slovakia, everything from what they were feeling in that 3-on-3 overtime against Canada in the championship game to what they ate and what sites they visited when they had free time.  Hosted by News Tribune college hockey reporter Matt Wellens and My9 Sports commentator Zach Schneider, and produced by the News Tribune’s Samantha Erkkila, new episodes of Bulldog Insider are released every Thursday throughout the season. You can listen to Season 1 and 2 of Bulldog Insider at duluthnewstribune.com, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Email us feedback at mwellens@duluthnews.com or serkkila@duluthnews.com.

How does somebody go from play youth sport growing up in California, to playing college tennis, to founding a company that could change the face of medicine. Ping Yeh fought a tough battle with blood cancer and survived. Yeh is cancer-free, but he still deals with side effects from a high-potency regimen of chemotherapy that had almost no positive effect because his body was resistant to the drugs. He survived the treatment, but the question remained: Why was this a trial-and-error situation? Why did Ping have to go and take this drug that could have killed me? These questions burned in Ping, so he co-founded Stemonix, which invented a way to create and test chemical reactions between drugs and human cells outside of the body. The company launched in 2014 and worked for a year perfecting its idea and forming its team. The privately held company has attracted more than $11 million in investments so far, including a $6 million series A funding round. In 2016 Stemonix was the grand prize winner in the Minnesota Cup, an entrepreneurship competition organized by the Carlson School of Management. July of 2017, Stemonix received a Red Herring Top 100 North America award from tech-news company Red Herring. This is his how he got here. Good Listen for aspiring entrepreneur, business men and women, and seeing how sports helped a person through chemotherapy --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/linklete/support

Join us this week on the podcast for our 100th show! To celebrate this event, we went back to where we started from in our very first podcast with an entrepreneurial roundtable discussion with local innovators in the community. This week on the podcast we sit down with Chris Lukenbill, Hunter Downs, and Jamie Sundsbak to talk about entrepreneurship in Rochester. On the podcast today, we discuss: • The definition of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and why they are important. o We talk about an entrepreneurial ecosystem as the networks that surround entrepreneurs and help to address the needs of those innovators. o Also important to an entrepreneurial ecosystem is the will and spirit to be an entrepreneur. o And lastly, a community that is supportive of risk taking and trying new things is also essential to an entrepreneurial ecosystem. • Major milestones that have occurred in the Rochester entrepreneurial community over the past two years. o These milestones include the continued growth of the community and the emergence of events like 1 Million Cups Rochester and Startup Weekend, which can serve as conduits to the entrepreneurial community as a whole. o A very recent milestone is the announcement of the Collider Foundation, a nonprofit focused on building the Rochester entrepreneurial ecosystem. o Important events also include the continued growth of companies Sonex Health and GoRout, organizations that are capable of having a large presence in Rochester. o The emergence of initiatives like Red Wing Ignite and Minnesota Ignite are also imperative with their efforts to build up communities and augment resources. o Over the last few years, we’ve also seen an increased number of applications from Olmsted County to the Minnesota Cup business pitch competition. o There is also heightened awareness of businesses starting up in this city, including elevated business growth outside of the medtech space. • Gaps existing in Rochester’s current entrepreneurial community. o We talked about the difficulty of going outside of early stage growth communities to obtain talent for young companies. o Location is also important and marketing the importance of that location is essential to building an entrepreneurial ecosystem. • Observations in other entrepreneurial ecosystems of methods to spur entrepreneurial activity or business development. o This includes instances of 100% tax rebates for investments in high tech companies and up to 100% matches on SBIR grants. o We also need to make a dedicated investment in talent to spur entrepreneurial activity locally. • Activity taking place in the community right now that hints to where our entrepreneurial ecosystem is headed. o This includes increased construction activity, which might not be matched with the amount of people and workforce being recruited to the city. o We’ve seen an increased sprit of entrepreneurship demonstrated from Mayo Clinic. o Rochester experienced an increased number of freelancers with versatile skill sets. o We have not seen the emergence of quite as many companies as we might have expected over the past two years. o There is also a general lack of incentives in the community to be entrepreneurial and a lack of culture for young people. • Events taking place over the next few months in the Rochester entrepreneurial community including: o Startup Weekend o The Assistive Tech Challenge o Global Entrepreneurship Week o Walleye Tank o The Ag Tech Challenge

There are so many new, exciting initiatives and developments going on in Rochester and the greater Minnesota community right now. Today on the podcast we take a look at four powerful stories unfolding within the community. • First off, we talk about gener8tor and their launch of a brand new medtech specific accelerator, called gBETA Medtech, in Minneapolis. gBETA Medtech is a free, seven-week accelerator program for medtech startups that’s sponsored by Boston Scientific, Mayo Clinic, and the University of Minnesota. The first six companies are currently working through the program; applications for the summer 2018 cohort are now live. • Next, we talk about Minnesota Cup and the addition of a new education and training division to this startup competition. This division is focused on businesses developing technology or services related to education, training, and workforce or professional development. Applications for the 14th edition of Minnesota Cup opened on March 26th and will close on April 27th. ● Then we chat about Sonex Health, a Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator graduate making huge strides in the community. Sonex Health created the SX-One MicroKnife to enable minimally invasive, ultrasound guided carpal tunnel release surgery. Sonex now has grown to a team of five, has graduated out of the Accelerator, and was one of the first recipients of capital from the Southeast Minnesota Angel Fund. ● Lastly, we take a brief glimpse at Marblehead Medical, an emerging startup, founded by two Mayo Clinic radiologists, that’s treating ischemic stroke through a novel process called mechanical thrombectomy. The team behind Marblehead Medical has designed a balloon-guided medical device for ischemic stroke intervention and is close to locking in a $1M round of financing. Guide to Press Releases and Opinion Pieces on Rochester Rising

Entrepreneurs, business owners, and a tax manager get together to discuss the challenges and successes of starting and running a business, with the added challenge of: no BS allowed. Featuring: Host Steve LeBeau – Editor-in-chief of Minnesota Business Magazine Sidekick John Sweeney – Owner and Director of Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater Panelists: Matthew T. Brown – Manager of Tax Services and part of Lurie’s Emerging Leaders Group; CPA and Juris Doctor; provides tax and consulting advice to individuals, businesses, trusts and estates. Lisa Nicholson – Founder and owner of Salsa Lisa; makes fresh all-natural salsas sold throughout Minnesota and nationally. Chip Pearson – Cofounder, Board Chairman and Managing Partner of Jamf; founder of The Foundation; got his start in IT desktop support; dedicated to helping organizations succeed with Apple. Ping Yeh – Cofounder and CEO of Minnesota Cup-winning startup StemoniX; accelerates the discovery of new medicines; alumnus of Carlson School of Management; holds degrees and certifications in nanotechnology and program management. Music by Bill Lang Sponsors: Kruskopf & Company (KC Truth) Minnesota Business Magazine Lurie, LLP Schram Vineyards Recorded live in the Truth Bar in downtown Minneapolis.

Chiara and Tony Bolton fell in love with bees first then each other. This husband and wife entrepreneur team learned the bee keeping trade from Chiara's experience on a farm in China. Once bitten by the love of bees, they started mating queens and genetically selecting them for the best characteristics for Minnesota to create more thriving bee colonies. From bees to their bee by-products of Bolton Honeys to the Finalists in the Minnesota Cup their bee story is fascinating.Support the showFollow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Chiara and Tony Bolton fell in love with bees first then each other. This husband and wife entrepreneur team learned the bee keeping trade from Chiara's experience on a farm in China. Once bitten by the love of bees, they started mating queens and genetically selecting them for the best characteristics for Minnesota to create more thriving bee colonies. From bees to their bee by-products of Bolton Honeys to the Finalists in the Minnesota Cup their bee story is fascinating.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)

Chiara and Tony Bolton fell in love with bees first then each other. This husband and wife entrepreneur team learned the bee keeping trade from Chiara's experience on a farm in China. Once bitten by the love of bees, they started mating queens and genetically selecting them for the best characteristics for Minnesota to create more thriving bee colonies. From bees to their bee by-products of Bolton Honeys to the Finalists in the Minnesota Cup their bee story is fascinating.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)

On this episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, host Stephanie Hansen chats with Cathy Skinner, Minnesota Cup semi-finalist and creator of Thrivors, an individualized exercise and nutrition self-managed program on a mobile app. How did Cathy bring this app to market? What were the challenges? And what is it like to compete in the Minnesota Cup start-up competition?Support the showFollow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, host Stephanie Hansen chats with Cathy Skinner, Minnesota Cup semi-finalist and creator of Thrivors, an individualized exercise and nutrition self-managed program on a mobile app. How did Cathy bring this app to market? What were the challenges? And what is it like to compete in the Minnesota Cup start-up competition?Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)

On this episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, host Stephanie Hansen chats with Cathy Skinner, Minnesota Cup semi-finalist and creator of Thrivors, an individualized exercise and nutrition self-managed program on a mobile app. How did Cathy bring this app to market? What were the challenges? And what is it like to compete in the Minnesota Cup start-up competition?Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)