Is your website increasing your close rate or is it just a fancy brochure?
A website is arguably your most important sales and marketing asset. It works around the clock—nights, weekends, and holidays. But many websites don't pull their weight in the sales process. From lead generation to conversion, learn how your website can be your most powerful sales enablement tool. When built with revenue-generation as the primary goal, you won’t need to hire a huge sales team right away—you can let your website do the heavy lifting. Join 25-year industry veteran, Kitty Hart, for fresh takes on how to build a powerful, sales-focused website that drives growth for your business.

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

Are you trying to grow a social enterprise, or thinking about launching a new venture? Hear from leaders in the Twin Cities ecosystem of mission-driven businesses, discussing strategies for success. Also, meet social entrepreneurs and shop with purpose at the virtual Social Enterprise Showcase marketplace, featuring dozens of local vendors and changemakers.

Join us for a fast-paced overview of the necessary legal steps startups should take in order to be successful. Panelists from Fredrikson & Byron will cover the basics, providing attendees with answers to key questions they face when running a startup and answer questions like: 

•    Does entity choice matter, and why?

•    When raising money, what do you need to do to ensure you comply with securities laws??

•    What kinds of rights should I give investors? 

•    How do I decide who will be an employee and who will be a contractor?

 •    Why do I need to get IP assignments, and when?

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

Please register in advance for this meeting: Register here

Join us to hear fundraising best practices for early stage startups from an experienced VC sharing some tips and tricks. How to prepare and run your fundraising process? What's the best way to approach investors? How do you secure investment from out-of-town investors? Bring your questions!

Paving a Strategic ROADMAP™ to Success: The challenge of developing a simple, clear and effective business strategy. There is always more than one way to a destination.  Choosing the right strategic path for your business is a challenge. Strategic ROADMAP addresses the seven critical questions your strategies need to answer – in a simple, logical and memorable structure. The questions apply at the company, business unit or project level.  Equally they can be framed for core or disruptive business growth. This talk will explain developing your strategy using the Strategic ROADMAP.  It will discuss each of the 7 critical questions and provide a clear example using one of the most well-known, and maybe the only, success stories in the U.S. commercial airline business – Southwest Airlines.

An inside scoop from VCs on what's changed, and how to stand out

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 30 minute Q&A.

The ILT Academy delivers extensive educational experiences to cultivate problem solvers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. We empower problem solvers and innovators to rethink and redesign problems, solutions, customers, and context. We equip entrepreneurs with the skills needed to commercialize ideas, develop successful ventures, and create high-growth businesses.

Learn how career, top-level executive assistants integrate into their principal's lives to free up their time and increase their productivity.

Founders Live is an unforgettable happy hour competition where up to five companies pitch their business, but YOU decide who wins. 

Five handpicked companies take the hot seat, with only 99 seconds to pitch their company and describe their value proposition in front of an eager audience. After the pitches and audience Q&A, the crowd votes on a winner who will not only receive an award but recognition from the crowd and the opportunity to talk more about their product or service. It's like Shark Tank, but you decide who wins it all! 

What's in it for you? Bring your friends, co-workers, grab some food and drinks, get to know your local entrepreneurs, and vote for who you think will be the next big thing in Minneapolis! 

What's in it for the companies? We at the Founders Live Minneapolis team are excited to announce ALL presenting companies who are chosen to give their 99-second pitch at a Founders Live event receive $5,000 credit towards their web hosting on Amazon. "Amazon Web Services provides startups with low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow any size business. AWS Activate is a program designed to provide startups with resources they need to get started on AWS." The winner gets an extra $5,000 credits, bringing their total to $10,000! 

Pitch Applicants: We are currently accepting innovative pitch applications! 

This is an opportunity for your startup to gain more recognition in the Minneapolis startup community. Tell us your story--who you are and what you do. We'll send you more details and you may become one of the finalists who pitch.

Minnesota Innovates welcomes the Founders of five companies as they share insights and their experiences funding the growth of nationally and internationally successful companies.

Taxpayer investments (non-dilutive funding) is critical to startups in the technology commercialization arena!  In this two hour session, you will learn the basics of the annual federal $3.7B Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs; two sources of non-dilutive funding to move from the lab to the marketplace.  This is an ideal session for scientists, engineers, innovators with novel ideas, concepts, and projects that possess strong commercial or societal potential, domestically, and internationally. 

While COVID is a biggest issue of today, its death toll pales by comparison to Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cancer and countless diseases caused by food. The entrepreneurs in this session tell the tale of two battles: just being entrepreneurs and fighting the unpopular fight of nutrition in a world with adverse interests to health. Over $3 trillion is spend in “sick care”, caused by unhealthy food. Imagine what we could do with that money and how the affected people would thrive in absence of those diseases. We’ll explore the issues, uncover the dichotomies, tell of trials, tribulations and triumphs, and pose solutions to the gargantuan problems of wellness and wellcare.

Celebrating Minority Owned Businesses in Minnesota

An inspiring look at 20 companies in 20 minutes that are making a profit in the circular economy. Learn about business model trends that are not only planet-friendly but enhancing the customer experience and increasing Return on Investment.

There will be time at the end for Q&A and discussion with Natasha Gaffer, co-founder of Forever Ware, a Minneapolis tech startup that strives to partner with food vendors around the world to replace single-use food packaging with superior borrow-and-return alternatives that won’t end up in landfill. More information at https://foreverware.app 

Are you trying to move your organization, or even your community, out of the status quo? Are you looking for effective ways to disrupt while keeping your credibility and social capital? If yes, join us for practical strategies on how to successfully move toward more innovation and more modernization. That is, how to disrupt without being disruptive.

Hear from 9 purpose-driven consumer brands that participated in the first every ImpactSKU accelerator! ImpactSKU is a collaboration between Minnesota's FINNOVATION Lab and SKU from Austin, TX, and is supported by CPG greats, 301 INC and The Stable. This year's Preview cohort went through six weeks of CPG-specific curriculum, tapped into a great mentor network, and wants to share their visions for high-growth, impactful brands in food, personal care, and apparel.

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

Are you building a business as a force for good? One that balances purpose and profit? B Corps are driving a global movement of business as a force for good. Join us for a panel discussion with three Minnesota B Corp founders and hear about their journeys becoming B Corps, benefits and challenges, and their recommendations for businesses considering B Corp certification.

Join this exciting round table event showcasing local & international startup founders that have launched a sustainable business online! Kim Lehult (Saucilicious, UK), Gregory Binsfeld (Blinng, USA), Sam Harper (Hippy Feet, USA)

Join the Minnesota startup community as we present live pitches from 18 of the top businesses that emerged from the 2020 MN Cup competition season. They're vying for a share of $500,000 in prize money that will be awarded live during the event. You won't want to miss this!

MN Cup is a startup competition for early-stage companies hailing from anywhere in Minnesota. Thanks to an incredible group of sponsors and the time and talents of our volunteer mentors and judges, we are able to offer all programming and prize money completely free for participants. We take no equity in exchange for the seed capital we award, and are here to connect Minnesota founders to the education, resources and capital they need to build and scale successful companies.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-16th-mn-cup-final-award-ceremony-tickets-117138096199?aff=TCSW

Hear from Annie Lu & David Lu the co-founders of H2Ok Innovations and recent alumnus of Farm to Fork.

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

What makes change STICK? We've all been there, seeing initiatives start out well and then fail. Or implementing projects that just lose steam a few weeks or months  in. In this session, we will take participants through a tried-and-true model for making change stick. This interactive workshop will provide a framework that participants can apply to their business in employee or customer behavior, using six levers to improve the results and sustain them in your change.

How can collaboration strengthen the potential for impact in our communities?  The E1 of SE Minnesota is a collaboration made possible by a LaunchMN DEED grant.  We are elevating entrepreneurs by leveraging the strengths of our 14 partner organizations.  Be part of the discussion on how we are making this happen!

Social impact ventures can take many forms and tackle a variety of problems – from supply chain resiliency, sustainable farming, homelessness and hunger, and others. Listen in as these founders discuss how they have found innovative ways to solve these problems, the challenges they face scaling their business while also scaling impact, and why consumers and Big Food should take note.

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

The restaurant business was already tough. The transformations of 2020 brought desperation and anxiety to the forefront of day-to-day operations. In this conversation explore how restaurant owners in St. Paul used design, technology and customer experience to survive and thrive.

Lean about the impactful work Marcus Kar is leading in North Minneapolis and then join a discussion with Jonathan Banks in the Community Lounge.

What is Food Justice? What is a Food Desert? What are the calls to act?

The why, the how, and the who of regenerative agriculture. How large CPG and Ag companies, community supporters, and farmers are thinking about regen ag. How and why we must mobilize capital to create innovation and demand. How regen ag practices and impact compare to traditional practices. How traditionally under-represented farmers and startups can find opportunity, promote innovation, and discover connections to accelerators, investment, and aligned professionals and networks.

Have your beer and eat it too. Find out about food upcycling and how it helps food & beverage manufacturers can eliminate food waste and feed the world.

80% of people with disabilities are unemployed or under-employed. Listen to Nicole Rabinowitz of Inclusive Networking & Tasya Kelen of Isadore Nut Co discuss steps to bring people with disabilities into your company.  The panel aims to shine a light on inclusion from multiple perspectives. Joining them are Isadore Nut Co employee Abby Pearson and Allianz employee Ajani Lewis-McGhee. 

It's easy to come up with an idea for a startup, but actually making it a reality can be a complex and intimidating process. Founders from Otrafy, Canomiks, Netzro and Big Wheelbarrow share with us how they went from having a concept to having paying customers.

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

Working with Corporates: What Startups Should Know when Engaging with MN's Food and Ag Leaders. A panel discussion about how large corporations think about interacting with startups in the food and ag industries. 

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a 15 minute Q&A.

A complex patchwork of federal, state and even local employment laws applies to startups and emerging companies. While early stage companies are focused on growing revenue and visibility, increasing headcounts, and securing funding and new investors, they are not immune from these laws. In fact, non-compliance exposes even the smallest employers to serious consequences such as audits, litigation, and investor trepidation, and can delay or derail acquisitions or other critical transactions.