Popular Articles

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?

read more
by Andrew Tellijohn
August 2003

Related Article

Upsize Stages: Figuring what i

Read more

2-minute meeting


CEOs had 15 minutes
to entice at annual
venture capital confab

Brainy CEOs, many with multiple academic titles, had just 15 minutes each to wow a crowd of peers and venture capitalists May 19 and 20, at the annual Minnesota Venture Capital Conference.

John Haaland, Ph.D. and CEO of Discovery Genomics in Minneapolis, was one who could make the connection between his company’s lofty research and the crowd’s hard-nosed interest. Not all were as good at translating terms like single nucleotide polymorphisms.

The mission of Discovery Genomics, Haaland said, is to discover gene function, deliver therapeutic genes, and cure diseases. It was just three years ago that researchers announced the mapping of the human genome. Since its founding in January 2002, Discovery Genomics has generated $280,000 in revenue from contracts with such places as 3M Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacia.

The company is slated to break even by fiscal 2005, and is looking for $5 million to get to a strategic partner stage and clinical delivery.

Warning: If you don’t have a Ph.D. after your name, you were definitely out with this crowd.

Try to make it to: Next year’s conference, always held in May with a call for presenters going out six to nine months earlier. Contact Matt Noah of NetSuds and MedicalSuds, which produced the conference: 612.605.5252; matt@netsuds.com; www.mnvcc.com

As the whistle blew,
St. Kate’s guests worked
to ‘Get Connected’

They came to ‘Get Connected’ May 22, to attend the College of St. Catherine-sponsored event by that name. And they learned how to make “consequential connections,” the title of one of the breakout sessions amid the meet-and-mingle parts of the evening.

Networking is an overused term that puts off the individuals you’d like to build relationships with, said Yvonne Cheek, president of Millennium Consulting Group of Minneapolis. “Beyond networking” is what she advocates.

Her definition: Systematically seeking out and becoming acquainted with new people to share ideas, information and resources. Creating linkages between people and clusters of people. Creating relationships based on mutual interests. Building community. Connecting from the heart.

Cheek’s advice on networking: Avoid using the term “networking” as you network. Be aware of the value of important chance encounters. Vary the type of circles in which you network. Fully use the circles you’re already in, such as other departments at work, your place of worship, your neighborhood, where you volunteer. Vary your approach: Go alone, then go with a friend.

Bonus: The event was at the gorgeous Depot Courtyard by Marriott in Minneapolis, where you get to blow a train whistle to signal when it’s time to move to a new workshop.

Try to make it to: Get Connected is part of St. Catherine’s International Institute for Women Entrepreneurs, with regular programs and on-line business courses. Contact M.J. McGregor: 651.690.6926 mjmcgregor@stkate.edu

Young inventors show
the future to older
counterparts at ME!

Lotion Lover wipes, invented by a student as a non-messy way to keep his dry hands moisturized in the winter.

A diaper rash treatment packaged like a roll-up deodorant stick, to cut down on the sticky mess. A girl who had to change her sister’s diapers came up with it.

A backpack with a built-in battery-operated light-up tube, so the inventor’s sister could be seen when waiting for the bus in morning darkness.

Those were three inventions shown to ME! members at their get-together the second Tuesday of every month in The Venue in St. Paul. Minnesota entrepreneurs, all older than 18 by the looks of them, got a taste of the Young Inventors Program, in which school-aged kids use a problem-based approach to inventing.

“Students come up with a problem and solve it,” said Cathy Macdonald, who runs the program. “I really believe these students are the future entrepreneurs of Minnesota.”

Try to make it to: ME!, formerly called Minnesota Entrepreneurs Inc., meets the second Tuesday each month to hear an educational speaker and an inspirational speaker. Contact Kathy Gatliff: 952.897.5072; www.mn-entrepreneurs.org

U’s Ted Bowman tells
how to handle grief
and loss of dreams

“We have our own memorial days,” said Ted Bowman to the Normandale Business and Professional Women the day after Memorial Day. They might be the anniversary of a death, of the discovery of an illness, or of a corporate layoff.

These disruptive changes in everybody’s lives cause grief over the loss of dreams. Bowman said he’s heard countless stories of disruptive change over his years of counseling, and at first he thought people’s grief was over the conspicuous loss. But then he learned that people had dreams and now they were shattered, they had pictures of the way their life was supposed to be and now those were gone.

“If you have pictures and your pictures don’t match,” life is hard, Bowman said. “We have to let go of old pictures before we can move to new pictures.”

When he was done bringing down the crowd, Bowman made suggestions. First, we must name these losses. Why? “If it’s unmentionable it’s also unmanageable,” Bowman said.

After a layoff, for example, managers must talk to survivors about the difficulty of the change and the contributions of those who are gone. “If the manager doesn’t spend time on grief and loss, some people won’t be able to move ahead,” he said.

Second, we must grieve the losses, through storytelling and rites of passage or rituals. If a business is closing, gather all the employees and former employees you can. Walk from room to room and tell stories about life in that place. “Otherwise it’s too cold to close the door and walk away,” Bowman said.

Third, we must reinforce our support systems.

Fourth, we must add things that move us to hope and healing. “I’ve said I don’t want flowers at my funeral,” Bowman said, “but I wouldn’t mind if I’d start getting a bouquet every month right now.”

Bowman’s e-mail is bowma008@tc.umn.edu

Try to make it to: Normandale Business and Professional Women meets the fourth Tuesday of each month. The Aug. 26 program is on genealogy research. Contact Patty Reynolds: 952.881.6669; preynolds@mn.rr.com; www.bpwmn.org