The Minnesota Business and Technology Forums are useful for many purposes.  In order to view and post information on the web forums, you need to register by creating an account.  There are many reasons to create a free account.  In order to fully participate as a "NetSudser" or "MedSudser" in the Minnesota high-tech community, you should create an account and use it to full advantage.  Find Upcoming Events, Medtech Companies, Biotech Companies & High-Tech Companies.

The Minnesota Business and Technology Forums - http://www.masvf.com/forums/index.php

Med-Tech & Biotech Companies - http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7

People On The Move:

Press Releases:

Why email only to your small email list of associates when you can post this information on Minnesota Business and Technology Forums and have access to 5500+ NetSudsers and 2800+ MedSudsers.

2.0 Jobs & Careers

NetSuds Executive Search - http://www.netsuds.com/search - is a traditional search firm your company can engage with to find premier professionals in the telecom, datacom, IT, software, web and Internet markets.

MedSuds Executive Search - http://www.medsuds.com/search/ - is a traditional search firm your company can engage with to find premier professionals in the medtech, biotech and life sciences markets.

Current Search openings - http://www.medsuds.com/jobs/ for both high-tech and medtech jobs.

Click on http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28 for a list of available High-Tech Jobs in Minnesota that have been posted at the Minnesota Business & Technology Forums.

Click on http://www.masvf.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30 for a list of available Medtech Jobs in Minnesota that have been posted at the Minnesota Business & Technology Forums.

We encourage you to post available jobs for high-tech professionals in Minnesota.  You must identify which company you represent.  If your company is already listed, please do not create a duplicate thread.  Instead, post to the same thread.  If you are a recruiter, you must identify yourself as such.

Thank you for the support many of you have shown to the NetSuds/MedSuds recruiting association with the American Consulting Company.  We have developed a quality and impressive NetSuds/MedSuds candidate database.  We always appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we might help in locating candidates for your open positions. If you are a hiring manager, you are invited to review our process, our commitment to ethical standards and diversity recruiting, and other areas of interest at: www.americanconsultingcompany.com.  When you identify yourself as a member of the NetSuds/MedSuds association, we will offer you a discounted rate to assist in locating candidates for your company.  And remember, you never pay a fee unless you hire one of our candidates.  If you are a candidate, visit the ‘Candidate Kit’ at www.americanconsultingcompany.com.  You will find valuable tools to help in your job search.  When you send us your resume, be sure and mention your association with NetSuds/MedSuds.

How did one out-of-work Design Engineer from Ohio get hired -- right over the phone -- after making a simple telephone call to his old manager?  Discover the answer -- and learn about 50 other job search secrets -- in a controversial report ... Click here

Renowned entrepreneur and local resume-writing expert Kevin Donlin - www.gresumes.com - is available to assist you in writing a powerful, effective resume.  Kevin can also help you with cover letters and job search coaching.  Contact Kevin at guaranteed.resumes@netsuds.com and tell him Matt Noah referred you.

The calendar for high-tech and medtech events in Minnesota is scattered all over in print, email and online publications.  Up until now, there has been no single definitive calendar.  NetSuds and MedSuds has created the first and only online calendar for all high-tech, medtech, biotech and life science events in Minnesota.

Calendar of Events - http://www.masvf.com/forums/calendar.php?

4.0   Short Stories

4.1  Wisconsin News Conference February 1 at 10 am

MADISON – A news conference will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the Governor’s Conference Room in the State Capitol to announce two developments of interest to Wisconsin’s economy: 

•       A significant private equity investment in one of Wisconsin’s emerging technology companies. (See 4.5 below)

•       A report describing the state of “angel” investing in Wisconsin. Angel investors often provide the first private equity financing for start-up companies, particularly in high-growth industries.  (See 4.5 below)

Invited speakers include Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Lorrie Heinemann; Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield; Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still; NorthStar Economics President David Ward; and representatives of the investment and technology community.

4.2  Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest

Angel investors will get first crack at top ideas in Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest

Go to www.govsbizplancontest.com to learn more. 

 

MADISON – Entrepreneurs who enter the third Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, will have the opportunity to post their executive summaries on a “deal-flow pipeline” operated by the Wisconsin Angel Network.

 

At least 50 semi-finalists in the contest will automatically be offered the chance to post their executive summary plans on www.wisconsinangelnetwork.com, a secure web site now available to more than 200 prospective investors in Wisconsin and beyond.

 

The process begins no later than Tuesday, when 250-word business plan ideas must be submitted through www.govsbizplancontest.com for the third annual contest.

 

More than $100,000 in cash and in-kind prizes have been pledged for the 2006 contest so far; first prize in the statewide contest will be worth at least $50,000 in cash and services.

 

The mission of the contest is to encourage entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin. Contestants may win seed capital and valuable services to help them launch their businesses, as well as enhance the state’s economic development. Highlights from the 2004 and 2005 contests include:

 

•      More than 530 entries were received across four categories – advanced manufacturing, business services, information technology and life sciences. Those categories continue in 2006.

•      Nearly $300,000 in cash and in-kind prizes were awarded.

•      Virtually all of the 2004-2005 finalists responding to a recent Tech Council survey are still in business; they  average seven employees each.

•      Nearly 60 percent of the finalists received financing since participating in the contest. Of those who received financing, 54 percent were funded by angel investors; 15 percent by family and friends; and 31 percent from other sources, such as banks and SBIR grants. AquaSensors, a Milwaukee-area company that won the Advanced Manufacturing category in the 2005 contest, recently attracted $360,000 in angel financing.

•      69 percent of the finalists reported that the contest led to an increase in public exposure for their company or idea.

•      26 percent of the companies reported that the contest led to new customers and business partners.

 

Here’s how the 2006 contest will work:

 

•      In the “Business Concepts” phase, which ends 5 p.m. Tuesday, the contest will accept IDEA Abstracts on the web site. IDEA abstracts are 250-word business concepts that will be graded on a scale of 1-10 (10 highest) by our judges. The top 50 IDEA Abstract presenters will be asked to write a Summary Business Plan. All 50 receive a congratulatory letter from the governor and the Tech Council.

•      In the “Summary Business Plan” phase, which runs from Feb. 15 to March 15, 2006, the top 50 IDEA Abstract presenters, plus ties, post their 1,000-word summaries online for comments by the judges. The top 20 plan summaries are selected for the final round. All 20 receive a congratulatory certificate.

•      In the “Final Business Plan” phase, which runs from April 3 to May 1, 2006, the top 20 Summary Plan presenters, plus ties, prepare final plans for judging. Limited comments and mentoring continues. Judges will review the plans and pick three place winners in each category.

•      The four category winners will present this spring at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, where all prize winners will be announced.

 

The Wisconsin Angel Network had a successful first year rolling out initiatives and resources dedicated to increasing early-stage capital in Wisconsin companies.  Created in January 2005 as a private-public initiative with bipartisan support from Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature, WAN is managed by the Wisconsin Technology Council. It focuses on enhancing “deal-flow” throughout the state, resource development, early-stage investor education and angel network support and development

 

WAN wrapped up 2005 with 12 member-organizations representing more than 200 individual investors.  Its “deal-flow pipeline” hosted 58 entrepreneurial executive summaries and a total of 177 entrepreneurs registered.  The organization also held seven educational seminars and workshops held throughout the state.  At the beginning of 2005 there were six active angel networks in Wisconsin; by the end of the year there were 11.

 

Wisconsin Technology Council

455 Science Dr #240

Madison WI 53711

608-442-7557 x22 / 1-888-443-5285  FAX 608-231-6877

Mobile:  608-332-6288

www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com

sallym@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com

 

4.3  Wisconsin Angel Network Expands Resource Directory
 

For more information, visit www.wisconsinangelnetwork.com or contact WAN director Joe Kremer at jkremer@wisconsinangelnetwork.com

 

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Angel Network web site hosts a number of resources available to entrepreneurs hoping to raise equity investments.  The resources, available on-line at www.wisconsinangelnetwork.com, include a newly created template for making presentations to investors. 

 

The template, developed with the input of angel investors, is a step-by-step “how-to” for making effective investor presentations.  Learn what investors really want to know when reviewing an investment opportunity! The template includes tips for each slide along with the suggested amount of time to spend on each segment.

 

Others resources on the site include:

 

·        A presentation by Tim Keane of the Golden Angels Network on “What an Entrepreneur Ought to Know about Angels.”

·        A business plan template with tips by Brian Pope of Clear Advantage Research and Consulting.

·        Links to services available to entrepreneurs, such as the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network, the Wisconsin Innovation Network, the Governor’s Business Plan Contest, and the Kauffman Foundation’s “eVenturing” site.

·        Links to sites where you can learn more about regulatory issues.

 

The Wisconsin Angel Network operates the Deal-flow Pipeline, an on-line database of entrepreneurial deals seeking equity investors. Sixty deals are listed currently, with 120 more pending. WAN’s accredited investor network includes 14 organizations representing more than 200 angel investors.
 

4.4  Midwest Association of Seed & Venture Funds Conference

The MASVF Conference - http://www.masvf.com/ - comes back to Minnesota after a very successful sojourn to Fargo, North Dakota where 110+ attended on January 17.  The Minnesota version is being held on April 26, 2006 in New Brighton.  The agenda will be released March 1.  Register now for early-bird rates!

Registration is open for our next conference on April 26, 2006.  Contact matt@masvf.com if you would like to host a MASVF Conference in your State.

 Entrepreneurs  - Apply to speak at the April 26 MASVF Conference here.

Who Should Attend  Entrepreneurs - because you need to know how to play the seed-stage game.  Seed Investors - because you need to find fellow seed investors, find seed stage deal flow, learn how to invest in early stage deals, learn how to feed deals to venture capitalists.  Venture Capitalists - because you need to meet more seed investors, stay connected to other venture capitalists and find more limited partners for your fund.  Service Providers - because legal, financial, consulting, HR, PR, marketing and other decisions are made early by new companies.  University Representatives - because some of the best seed deals are born and die without seeing the light of commercialization (learn how to change that!).  Politicians - because economic development and new company formation affect your State's future.

The MASVF Conference is held in various midwest locations many times each year.  Each conference is unique and geared both to the local economic climate and current market climates.  Our first MASVF Conference was held May 11 in Minnesota following the annual Minnesota Venture Capital Conference.  The second conference occurred January 17 in North Dakota along with the MarketPlace for Entrepreneurs.  Both conferences attracted 110 to 130 attendees.

4.5   Alzheimer’s Disease drug developer secures first funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (2-1-06)

Contact: Trevor Twose at 608-278-1068 or 608-332-8319

To learn more about angel investing in Wisconsin, please visit:

www.wisconsinangelnetwork.com

FITCHBURG, Wis. -- Mithridion, Inc, a new drug development company focusing on Alzheimer’s disease, announced Wednesday it has received the first portion of an anticipated $1.6 million first-funding round.  The remainder of the funding is expected over the next few months.  Mithridion will use the funds to establish laboratories, hire scientists and develop drug candidates. 

The funding came from Rosetta Partners LLC, an investment management firm in Lake Forest, Ill., dealing exclusively in public and private early-stage biotechnology companies, and members of an angel investor network, Wisconsin Investment Partners, of Madison, Wis. 

“This funding enables us to begin work aimed at developing novel drugs to stop or slow down disease progression in this devastating disorder,” said Trevor M. Twose, PhD, the company’s CEO.

“We’ll be equipping a first-class laboratory, provided by the University Research Park, as part of our prize from winning the 2005 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, hiring up to six employees over the next year, and starting research in the next few weeks,” he added.

The company’s technology was developed at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy.  In June 2005, Mithridion signed a license agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the UW’s technology transfer arm, receiving worldwide exclusive rights to the technology.  WARF is a shareholder in the company.

Mithridion is another start-up company that is based on technology developed at UW-Madison, patented by WARF and located in University Research Park. 

“WARF is looking forward to this company producing products that will address a global health need and bring revenue back to the university,” WARF Managing Director Carl Gulbrandsen said.

“An important part of our mission is to create and capture value for Wisconsin from this exciting discovery made here at UW,” Twose said.  “In Mithridion, we have brought together the science, the management, and --with the help of Rosetta and Wisconsin Investment Partners -- the vital capital to set out on this mission.  Success should create not only valuable drugs and rewards for our investors, but also contribute to the state economy in this high-priority biomedical sector of industry.” 

Mithridion was formed by Twose (through the vehicle of Biopons, a Fitchburg-based biotechnology consulting company), Jeffrey A. Johnson, PhD, an associate professor with the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, and Thor D. Stein, PhD, of the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy. Johnson and Stein are co-inventors of the technology.  Johnson serves as chief scientific adviser to the company; Stein will join Mithridion as chief scientific officer.

Mithridion won the Life Sciences category in the 2005 Governor’s Business Plan Contest, and won the overall competition in close balloting. The second-place finisher in the contest, AquaSensors, recently announced a $360,000 round of angel financing. 

4.6   StrandVision Among Four Technology Companies that Governor Doyle Qualifies for Investor Tax Credits

Governor Jim Doyle announced that the Department of Commerce (Commerce) has qualified four small businesses for investor tax credits under the Angel Investor and Venture Fund Tax Credit Programs.

Madison, WI (PRWEB) January 30, 2006 -- Governor Jim Doyle announced that the Department of Commerce (Commerce) has qualified four small businesses for investor tax credits under the Angel Investor and Venture Fund Tax Credit Programs.

“I championed legislation to spur more venture capital investment, as it is essential to the state’s economic growth,” Governor Doyle said. “By encouraging investors through tax credits to make these crucial investments, we are helping to turn these great ideas into viable, job-creating businesses. Today, new technology firms are starting and expanding all across Wisconsin.”

“Governor Jim Doyle and the State of Wisconsin are tremendously supportive of business,” said Mike Strand, founder and CEO of StrandVision, LLC. “The Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, organized through the Wisconsin Technology Council, was instrumental in helping me launch StrandVision. The Qualified New Business Venture program encourages similar interest and investments from the private sector. I am pleased and honored that StrandVision has become a designated venture.”

The Angel Investor and Venture Fund Tax Credit Programs offer Wisconsin income tax credits to angel investors and investors in seed-stage venture capital funds. These programs are designed to increase the supply of both qualified angel investors and investors in qualified venture capital funds. The tax credits are available only for investments made in technology businesses qualified by Commerce. As Commerce qualifies businesses for investment, it will list them on the Commerce website at www.commerce.wi.gov/act255.

StrandVision, LLC, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County. This company was established in 2000 to develop online digital signage. For more information about the company, visit www.strandvision.com.

Horizon Systems & Services, Inc., Sheboygan, Sheboygan County, was established in 2002 to provide engineering, production and marketing application software systems and related services. For more information about the company, visit www.hrizn.com.

Ohigo, Inc., Fitchburg, Dane County. This company was established in 2005 to develop a database search engine.

Visonex, LLC, Green Bay, Brown County. This company was established in 2002 to develop a proprietary web-based disease management reporting service. For more information about the company, visit www.visionex.com.

For further information on the Angel Investor and Venture Fund Tax Credit Programs, contact John Stricker, Department of Commerce, at 608-261-7710.

4.7   Graeme Thickins New Blog

Graeme Thickins, longtime technology marketing consultant in the Twin Cities, has launched a new blog, which is at http://graemethickins.typepad.com. As many of you may recall, Graeme reported for several years on major technology conferences around the country.

With his new blog, he's restarting that activity, and will first be reporting live from the very well regarded "Demo" Conference, February 6-8 in Phoenix (see www.demo.com). Demo has a 15-year history of debuting important new companies and technologies, including such names as TiVo, Java, VMware, Salesforce.com, and Movable Type.

Watch for Graeme's reports on his blog. He can be reached by email at graeme@thickins.com.

4.8  Goodbye MinCorp - Hello RainSource Capital

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5.0   Turbo Charging Your Web/Online Marketing for 2006

by John Risdall, CEO, Risdall Advertising Agency, john@risdall.com

In the last 12 months, 100% of the rules of online marketing have changed.  Today, a marketers biggest friend is Google.  Your new friend, Google, is doing everything he can to help you market.  In 2005, new things like Google Local and Google Toolbars arrived to make your life so much easier and rewarding. 

In this first missive we will talk about the first steps to take to optimize your online experience – the building of a great organic website that Google and the other search engines will love. 

The first step is to figure out how do you drive and increase traffic to your website on an ongoing basis? The answer begins by first knowing your current site traffic levels or baseline. From there maximizing the full potential of your site involves using both on- and offline marketing tools including print ads, direct mail, promotions, search optimization, link building, RSS feeds, blogs, organic optimization, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and other types of online ads, among other things. To implement these tools in the most effective manner requires an analysis both of the website itself, as well as that of the marketing strategy. 

Your website traffic. Could it be higher? Could be better targeted? Of course it could. So how do you get more of the right people to your website? 

Increasing traffic to your website takes time and careful planning. It’s not a single, one-time project, but rather, creating a new frame of mind that incorporates the established rules of marketing while embracing new tactics. 

Establishing a Baseline

First, you need an established baseline.

With a smart Traffic Analysis Package, you can run a report that shows you exactly where you currently stand. Some of the more important things you need to be able to analyze include: 

1.  Visitors

The goal in this analysis is to get a feel for who is coming to the site. 

    • How many hits are new visitors versus returning visitors?

    • What times of day are people coming to your site? Do certain days of the week generate heavier traffic than others? What times of year show increases and decreases?

    • How long are people staying on the site?

    • How many pages do they go to? 

From here, you can ask yourself things like:

    • How can I turn first time visitors into repeat visitors?

    • How can we get people to interact with the site more? 

2.  Visits and Conversions

Your goal here is to determine the current ROI of your website (leads versus conversions.) 

    • How many total visits did my site have?

    • How many conversions were generated?

    • Which promotions are working well? Which are failing? 

From here, you can ask yourself things like:

    • Presuming your using PPC ads, what percentage of clicks become conversions?

    • How many leads come off the contact form? 

3. Monitor Site Usability

Usability tells you how users experience your site and how easy is it to navigate around your site. Your goal here is to discover: 

    • What pages do users come in on?

    • What pages to users leave from?

    • What paths are users using to get around the site?

    • What are the top site pages?  

From here, you can ask yourself things like: 

    • What navigation pieces are working well?

    • What needs to be improved?  

4. Monitor Search Engine Optimization

The goal in this analysis is to discover what search engines are finding when they scan your site and what users are searching for. 

    • How often are search engines spidering the site?

    • How many people are referred to the site from each different search engine?

    • How many people are referred to the site from each keyword phrase?

    • What keywords are picked up by which search engines?  

From here, you can ask yourself things like: 

    • Which keyword phrases are working best? Which ones need to be reworked?

    • Are people actually searching for what I intend them to search for?

    • Are the people coming into my site finding what they are expecting?  

5. Monitor Site Programming

Site programming analysis will tell you if your website is working correctly. 

    • How many 404 (file not found) errors occur? What files and why?

    • How many server side programming errors occur? Why?  

From here, you can ask yourself things like: 

    • What errors need to be fixed?  

6. Monitor Site Performance

Your goal in gauging site performance is, first knowing if your hardware is working and then, is it sufficient to accommodate the demands of your site: 

    • How often was the site down?

    • How fast are pages being served up on average?

    • How much bandwidth is being used?

 From here, you can ask yourself things like: 

    • Should we upgrade/downgrade hosting?

    • Do we need to optimize site performance?

Written by John Risdall, chairman and CEO of Risdall Advertising Agency which has been in business for 33 years and ranks number one website developer in the state of Minnesota as ranked by Ad Week Magazine IQ January 16, 2006.

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6.  Ask Don't Tell Leadership

by Gary Cohen, Co-Founder, CO2 Partners, gcohen@co2partners.com

Ask Don’t Tell Leadership
	If I were the competition, what would I do to put us out of business?  Successful corporations reinvent themselves every year. Sony is producing X new products per day. 3M races itself in the invention process. Leaders of these corporations ask themselves, “If I were the competition, what would I do to put us out of business?” They pride themselves on finding the answers to this question and acting on them before the competition does.  My business partner, Rick Diamond, CEO of ACI, has a saying over his desk that he got from Ted Deikel, former CEO and Chairman of Fingerhut Corporation. It says: “Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.”                           -Abe Gubegna, Ethiopia, circa 1974
Rick and I had no prior experience in the call-center industry, so in the early days, when we woke up in the morning, we knew we had to do at least one thing better than our competition. Otherwise, our company would starve. We asked ourselves, “How can we catch the competition? How can we improve upon what they do?” We needed to find a way to increase the productivity of our call-center operators. How could we reduce the amount of dead time they spend on the phone? What if there was a more seamless transition between calls? These questions led us to create the technology for predictive dialing. Predictive dialing eventually became the industry standard, but not before little ACI grew from two employees to 2,200. This technology predicted when operators were going to complete a call and transferred another call to them the moment they hung up. If call center operators normally spent twenty-two minutes talking to customers on the phone, now they would spend forty-five minutes. Because payroll was our largest cost, we were able to both out-produce and undercut the competition. As lions new to the territory, lion cubs really, we caught our first gazelle.  If you are chasing the competition, be a lion. Ask yourself, “How can we catch the competition?  How can we improve upon what they do?” If you are trying to stay ahead of the competition, run like a gazelle. Ask yourself, “How can we avoid being caught? What will allow us to increase the distance between us and the competition?”
Gary B. Cohen is co-founder of CO2 Partners. He does Executive Coaching for leaders of organizations and was President and co-founder of one of the fastest growing companies in Minnesota, going from 2 to 2,200 employees, starting with only $4,000. He serves on many for profit and non-profit boards. He can be reached at gcohen@co2partners.com.

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7.0   Email Advertising

The NetSuds and MedSuds email lists reach 8500+.  The NetSuds email lists are double-opt-in and concentrated on professionals in the communications, IT and Internet markets.  The MedSuds email lists are double-opt-in and concentrated on professionals in the medtech, biotech and life sciences markets.  So, rather than spend your advertising dollars on any other email lists in the Twin Cities, consider the NetSuds and MedSuds lists.  Contact matt@netsuds.com or 612.605.5252.  For current ad rates, visit www.netsuds.com/adrates.htm.

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8.0   Writing for NetSuds/MedSuds

I have opened up the Monthly  the Minnesota  Medical,  Biotech  and  Technology  Report  to guest writers. If you have a passion for a topic, and you can write (at least no worse than me), send an email to me matt@netsuds.com.  You can even send copies of your work. 

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If you are aware of others who would like to receive the  the Minnesota  Medical,  Biotech  and  Technology  Report , ask them to visit http://www.netsuds.net/mail.htm to subscribe or unsubscribe.

Please send your comments and feedback regarding this issue of the  the Minnesota  Medical,  Biotech  and  Technology  Report  to matt@netsuds.com.

Matt Noah

980 Lake Susan Hills Drive
Chanhassen, MN  55317

612.605.5252
fax:  612.677.3934
matt@netsuds.com or matt@medsuds.com

© 2000-2006 NetSuds.com™, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.