There was a great post on Minnov8 (@Minnov8) on the state of the state of the high-tech start-up community in MN. The post was only the beginning, the comments section tied to the article highlights the mood in the Twin Cities on what is needed to foster this fledging community. Below is a recap of the post I left in the comments on what I think is needed to help build a sustainable community:
I could not agree more with most of the comments on this site. I have to say that we need to get out of own way. I have to give a huge kudos to Refactr on their no more NDA policy and one for Jeff above on the let’s not keep secrets or control groups. My policy has always been to share openly and freely and tell everyone about what I am doing as that is the best way to find those undiscovered opportunities.
I also agree that MN is lacking some serious fundamentals when it comes to fostering a start-up community. Let me list my 2-cents:
1. Where is the University of MN? Seriously, they are no where to be found when it comes to supporting the local community let alone churning out new companies based on their research. Please, please try to model the WARF after UW – Madison.
2. Where is our state government? Really should it be that hard to pass an angel investor tax credit? They talk about job creation, small businesses, etc but there is not one piece of legislature that supports start-ups outside of the above mentioned tax credit.
3. Where are our companies? With 3M, Medtronic, St. Jude, Target, TCF, Cargill, General Mills, Carlson Companies, and so on and so forth?
4. Where are our start-up mentors from those successful start-ups we do have? Those that have had success or having success, what are they doing to give back to our community?
We seem to have a tremendous amount of engagement from our creative, marketing, PR, and Legal Communities, but how about a formal program that donates time to start-ups to assist them.
One of the best things about TechCrunch and Y-Combinator is not the $15K you get for a summer of work, but the $100k’s you get in free advice and consulting work from those willing to give back.
I have a small company called Activ8. It is not ground breaking technology, it is not a new idea, but I think I can outsell and out market to others to the niche that I am targeting. I would love help from our local experts on how best to structure my legal entity, how to set-up my merchant account, how to create buzz for my product, how to maximize concepts like SEO, how to generate leads, how to develop a salesforce… You name it. I would love the help. So where are our mentors?