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We are Forging Our MNwest Entrepreneur Ecosystem

 Join the Journey!

Tuesday, October 29^th at the U of M Crookston

Why does Forging an Entrepreneur Ecosystem Matter?

To shed light on that question, we hope you will have the chance, during the Summit, to see, Founder, Peter Chamberlain’s video about the importance of a supportive ecosystem in bringing WalkWise from problem solving idea to participation in a national healthcare technology accelerator and product piloting.  WalkWise is a regional company that garnered its first acclaim as the winner of Spark Your Startup 2017, in Barnesville. 

Research by the Kauffman Foundation confirms Mr. Chamberlain’s experience. To that end, they have commenced ESHIP Conferences and Mayors’ Conferences to help regional leaders and those at the helm of city governments to understand how important a vibrant entrepreneurial community is to the vitality of a region or City.

Within the last year the Foundation has gathered their first-hand interview research insights into policy recommendations and are taking those recommendations to State Legislative Halls and to the Halls of Congress.  Their recent outreach activities are described here with links to their policy recommendations entitled: America’s New Business Plan. 

Minnesota’s new initiative Launch Minnesota, which will be the opening program segment of the MNwest Entrepreneur Summit on October 29^th, was built on recognition by our State Legislature of many of the same needs ighlighted by the Kauffman Foundation.

Let’s capture the energy of Launch Minnesota and of connecting at the MNwest Entrepreneur Summit – across all the sectors that make ecosystems a success – and put the MNwest region on the map as a region of innovators who support entrepreneurial success of all types from high tech endeavors to ag and the arts and to our Main Streets.

We hope you can come.  Register here and for details see:  www.MNwestEntrepreneurs.org!

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With sincere appreciation we recognize MNwest Entrepreneur Summit Sponsors and Partners

ARVIG – OTTER TAIL POWER – NIMBELINK – EIX.org | E-Fest 

The EDA Center – Bush Foundation – SBDC/Northwest MN Foundation

The University of Minnesota Crookston

Entrepreneur Summit Puts Faces and Applications on Technologies

On October 29^th we have the privilege of interacting with the Founders and leaders of fourteen companies, with regional and national recognition for their use of technology.  These companies will showcase products and services that apply to business operations in our region. 

Featured technologies include:  Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Microfluidics, Microbiology, Voice Recognition, Optics, Multi-faceted Sensor Technologies, Robotics, Aerospace, Drone Technologies, Autonomous Operations, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile Technologies, 5G.

These are the fields about which we read and which we know will change business-as-usual, but about which we may well wish we could have better understanding.  This is the opportunity to not only better understand, but to learn more about how we can leverage these technologies in our region for the growth of our economies – an opportunity not to be missed!

Meet the company founders, explore the technology applications in the morning on October 29^th and discuss how to benefit as a region in the afternoon.  See:  www.MNwestEntrepreneurs.org.

Funding Resources for Starting and for Growing a Business

At 1:30 on Tuesday, October 29^th during the Funding Resources Actionable Takeaway Roundtable, it will be possible to learn about funding resources from nine (9) different sources.  Some of these sources can be used together and some compliment six to seven of the sources about which founders are more aware:  Friends and Family, Banks, Credit Unions, Grants, Initiative Foundations, Reward Crowdfunding, Credit Cards and Online Loan Funding. The featured funding resources carry unique requirements; accordingly, being able to meet, in one setting, those who can explain the requirements to you, as a business owner, is a rare and enviable opportunity.

Learn about State & Federal Investor Crowdfunding, USDA Grants and Loans, MN Angel Tax Credit, Launch Minnesota Funding, DEED Business Development Funds, Utility Company targeted funding, Agricultural Research Assistance, City Financing, and SBIR/STTR.

Whether you are a growing company, a Founder starting your journey or analyzing launching, this breakout session will shed bright light on the ever-critical component of financing! 

Tuesday, October 29^th at the U of M Crookston

______________________________________

With sincere appreciation we recognize MNwest Entrepreneur Summit Sponsors and Partners

ARVIG – OTTER TAIL POWER – NIMBELINK – EIX.org | E-Fest 

The EDA Center – Bush Foundation – SBDC/Northwest MN Foundation

The University of Minnesota Crookston

FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE EDUCATION SETTING

Meet Sponsor – EIX.org | e-Fest and Presenter James Beal, Director

e-Fest encourages post-secondary institutions across the nation to open doors for students to think entrepreneurially within any line of study that they choose.  A problem solving/challenge meeting entrepreneurial mindset fosters innovation, realization of creative potential and benefits society.  James Beal will share examples and support network resources for educators providing entrepreneurship instruction at the MNwest Entrepreneur Summit.   Register!  

We are Forging Our MNwest Entrepreneur Ecosystem – Join the Journey!

Tuesday, October 29^th at the U of M Crookston

Register Here

Student Entrepreneurs Grow $40 Million Business

A By All Means podcast:

“His story has become legendary at the University of St. Thomas—and beyond. Zachary Quinn was a sophomore when he enrolled in an entrepreneurship class. There, he met Brian Keller, and together, they turned an assignment to create a business into Love Your Melon, the $40 million hat company that donates half its profits to fighting pediatric cancer.

‘We wanted to start something that would make a difference,’ Quinn says. … [Here] “he outlines the key moments and decisions that set Love Your Melon up for success, including its college ambassador program, a hockey bus tour that garnered national press, and brand building through social media. … Love Your Melon’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing and its first brick and mortar store, which the company is using for special events designed to tell the brand story and build engagement.

What’s next? ‘I never look more than six months out,’ Quinn says. But he does have ‘more crazy stuff’ in the works, including a concert series and e-gaming competition.

After our conversation with Quinn, we go Back to the Classroom with his entrepreneurship professor at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business Jay Ebben. ‘We really push students to build their career or a business around their own values, their own sense of purpose and mission,’ Ebben says. He describes what it was like to have the Love Your Melon founders in class, and why he gave them an A- for the semester—a grading decision he’s never quite been able to live down.

We are Forging Our MNwest Entrepreneur Ecosystem – Join the Journey!

Tuesday, October 29^th at the U of M Crookston

Register Here

Education – Educators – Entrepreneurship: Learning & Living as Creative Problem Solvers

The MNwest Entrepreneur Summit opens with Executive Director, Neela Mollgaard, introducing Launch Minnesota, which was created by the 2019 MN Legislature to bring together a statewide startup ecosystem to collaboratively nurture technology startups and their founders.  Central in that collaboration is our Educational System and its educators who have the privilege and the challenges of providing the foundational preparation for technological learning! 

TEACHING TECH

 The MNwest Entrepreneur Summit on October 29^th has a targeted breakout session from 1:30 to 2:45 for K-12 teachers to experience technologies and the research grounded  ways to help others to learn about them, Presented by Angie Kalthoff of Tufts University. 

“I look forward to meeting PreK-6 educators and sharing current research on technology in elementary education, current research projects we are working on at the DevTech Research Group at Tufts, and to providing hands-on time with robots and software to solve a challenge.” Angie Kalthoff teachingtotech@gmail.com

We are Forging Our MNwest Entrepreneur Ecosystem – Join the Journey!

Tuesday, October 29^th at the U of M Crookston

Register Here

The excitement is building for October 29th, we hope you can come!  Register here!

ENTREPRENEUR ECOSYSTEMS CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Introducing Weave Got Maille —Founder Edie Ramstad  – Global Headquarters, Ada, Minnesota

Edie’s pathway to doing business in 82 countries was covered by Inc. Magazine in 2018. The informative article  “A Tiny Minnesota Town Now Has Fast Wi-Fi and New Jobs, All Thanks to This Chain Mail Startup”  is excerpted below.

“…Ramstad grew up artsy and entrepreneurial. … In 2011, … she ditched retirement to start Weave Got Maille.

The idea was to work 10 hours a week and bring on a part-timer for another six to 10. Her business plan projected $50,000 in revenue in five years. At first, customers arrived through word of mouth from former students. Then appearances at a couple of trade shows catapulted her onto the fast track. Sales doubled year after year.

A rural rescue

But the demand strained a business that, back then, op­erated out of a building in the middle of a wheat field. Ada is a county seat; but a few years ago it had only dial-up internet. The local post office turned away Ramstad’s business because it couldn’t handle the volume. As she struggled alone with infrastructure constraints and new challenges, like managing a scaling workforce, she grew increasingly frustrated.

The only solution, Ramstad decided, was to close up shop and let everyone go. She resolved to deliver the bad news on a Friday in the summer of 2014. That week, “I was trying to find things to keep me out of the office because I could not face my employees,” she says. One such evasive action was a 75-minute drive to Fargo for a meeting of 1 Million Cups, an education and networking program run by the Kauffman Foundation.

That program, which Ramstad had never had time for in the past, was a revelation. The business had been strug­gling with phone calls, which could not be heard in the noisy manufacturing environment. A speaker suggested setting up an employee outside the office with an inter­net phone system. Another attendee connected her with a manufacturer for specialty production equipment she’d been unable to source.

More important, Ramstad says, for the first time she no longer felt isolated. “I went home energized,” she says. “Rather than letting people go on Friday, I put an ad in the paper and hired three more.”

On October 29th Founders, Mayors, Superintendents, Teachers, Students, Business and Community Leaders and all who want to strengthen our MNwest Entrepre­neur Ecosystem will connect to pursue that end.  There will be attendees from Luverne to Hallock and points all in between – Join the Journey –Register here.

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With sincere appreciation we recognize MNwest

Entrepreneur Summit Sponsors and Partners

ARVIG | OTTER TAIL POWER | NIMBELINK

EIX.org & E-Fest