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?
Education
Business owner turns professorial, seeks info on angels
Local tech entrepreneurs, be advised: If you get a call from Mike Porter, call him back to contribute to his new research project.
Porter wants to learn from local tech entrepreneurs how they find their angel investors. The president of Sopra Voce Communications in Bloomington, he is launching a research project to be the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation.
The goal is to learn how these sometimes hidden folks find each other, why they invest and whether more people of means can be convinced to back emerging companies.
He figures it will be complete in about 18 months, and may be suitable for a popular article as well as an academic treatise. “Although I’m becoming an academic, I can never get away from the practical,” he says.
Porter is an adjunct professor at St. Cloud State University, and is completing his doctorate at the University of St. Thomas. He’s been involved in technology startups and in the communications business, and says he plans to keep his communications consulting clients when he’s a professor, his ultimate goal.
Mike Porter, Sopra Voce Communications: 952.881.3426; mcp@sopra-voce.com; www.sopra-voce.com
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