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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
December 2007

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Best Practices: Technology & I

BEST PRACTICES: TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

cutting edge
Customer response is key to finalists? innovation 
FINALIST RUNDOWN
AppDev, technical training provider: launched KSource Online Learning, an online learning format, leading to an expected 300 percent increase in booked revenue in 2007.

Craig Jensen is president and CEO: 952.943.1363; craigj@appdev.com;
www.appdev.com
Innovative Tools & Technologies, products for auto body repair: created the SuperStand, the Parts Cart, and other products to ease auto body repairs.

Jason Cox is general manager: 651.415.0733; info@innovativetools.com;
www.innovativetools.com
Lighthouse1, software to manage consumer-driven health care plans: developed OnDemand, the first rules engine to simplify claim decisions for the consumer.

Jeff Fritz is CEO: 952.852.7099; jfritz@lighthouse1.com; www.lighthouse1.com
Serotek Corp, software for computer and Internet accessibility: company was first to make Web 2.0 accessible to blind and visually impaired, among other firsts.

Mike Calvo is CEO: 866.202.0520; mike.calvo@serotek.com; www.serotek.com
Star Exhibits & Environments, trade show exhibits supplier: launched Startranet, an interactive Web-based program to support and manage any retail or trade show program.

Mark Johnson
is CEO: 763.561.4655; mjohnson@starexhibits.com; www.starexhibits.com
by Sarah Brouillard

How to foster innovation is a key issue for small companies, and the finalists for Best Practices in Technology & Innovation demonstrate there is no one way to go about it. Listening to the customer, and then adapting to those demands, is one common theme.

Waiting for bandwidth
While many technical learning providers began offering electronic learning as a solution to training needs several years ago, Eden Prairie-based AppDev resisted the temptation to join the pack, unwilling to sacrifice quality for what it perceived as an unproven format.

Instead, AppDev stuck to its traditional, tangible deployment tools ? CD-ROMs and printed courseware ? until bandwidth improved to the point that it could deliver and support the company?s rich content via the Internet.

?Bandwidth early on only allowed for text, Flash ? very thin content,? CEO Craig Jensen says.

While there was initially the temptation to ?jump into the latest cool, cutting edge technology,? the company chose to listen to its customers ? mostly high-end IT professionals,