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.

65% of people are visual learners, and only 17% are data literate. Because graphics are an important method of showing complex systems - visuals (including data visualization, infographics, and visual storytelling) can be a useful tool to help audiences relate to and connect with ever-growing mountains of data. 

This presentation will walk participants through a case study showing how better data visualization of complex value chains can help an organization connect with customers, partners, and funders. When everyone can see the benefits of your product, service, or partnership, selling it is as easy as a pie chart.

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.

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.

Have you ever had an idea to strengthen your community? Do you have a desire to use your skills or knowledge to solve critical social problems? Code Switch is for you. We are looking for techies AND non-techies — from developers to entrepreneurs, artists, educators, business professionals, concerned citizens, everyday people and more!  We believe everyone has a role to play in improving our communities, and Code Switch provides that opportunity. Join us and leverage your knowledge and skills to reduce the gaps that exist in Minnesota. 

Code Switch is in its fifth year as a civic hackathon where community members connect to co-create solutions that disrupt inequity. This year, our virtual hackathon will kick off on September 12, the National Day of Civic Hacking. Participants will then have one month to work on projects in teams before our final celebration and sharing of projects in late October.

Register Here!

As the economy works to recover from pandemic conditions and our country reckons with systemic inequality, addressing the tech skills gap especially among unemployed and underemployed Americans is more important than ever. Hear success stories from graduates of technical job training programs created to address these issues head on.

Join Thomas C. Murray, as he shares how to create personal and authentic cultures of innovation in our organizations, where people are valued and trust is built so that productivity can thrive. Innovation is about people, so we must keep our people at the heart of all processes and decision-making.

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

Join us for this panel discussion with youth CEO's that are building the future of hospitals, Government and non-profit leadership building the world's fair for 2027 around health, Mayo Hospitals, and AI tech entrepreneur's.  They will each share their experiences with how the future of our hospitals and health care systems will be changed through the innovations they are helping bring to the world.  Understand through this how youth are engaged to solve problems in new and innovative ways and leveraging design thinking.

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

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. 

People! Place! Profile! Let's kick off the day with a primer on the three essential pillars of Sustainability!

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

Learn about Program-Related Investments (PRIs), what they are, how they fit with your fundraising plans, and what to expect when pursuing PRI capital.  Hear first-hand from a social enterprise about its experiences with PRIs and how it effectively uses them.

As a startup business owner, you don't want to leave anything on the table. Did you know that 99.999996% of what our brains process every moment is unconscious? Learn how to raise awareness of your biases and replace them to act in alignment with your mission and values while you build your business. 

This session provides a definition of unconscious bias, a quick dive into how to understand it, a framework for how to address it, and tools to help you move forward with actions and activities to be more successful. 

This session will help open your eyes and open your mind.

We'll touch on the current state of solar and battery storage, trends that we're seeing in the industry, and how these together are instrumental in creating a more sustainable energy grid. 

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

Join us for a moderated panel of four early-stage social entrepreneurs (all alumni FINNOVATION Fellows) as they share their lessons learned from building a social impact business in Minnesota.

Values aren't an add-on. Rather, they're core to everything your business does. Make sure your company represents what you want it to. Start with a strategic approach, understanding to elevate values in every part of a company. We'll look at how this framework applies for early stage ventures, and dig into visuals and worksheets to help you apply the takeaways for companies of any size.

Here how these recent Target Incubator alumni have navigated uncertainty and stayed true to their mission.

SOULMUCH is a social startup venture that has found a solution to the logistics of rescuing food waste and upcycling into delicious snacks that are good for you and the health of the planet.

Following this session join a 15min discussion in the Community Lounge.

Want a work place more inclusive and open to all communities of color, gender, ability, and sexual orientation? Come learn what is microaggression, how to identify it, why microaggression hurts your bottom line and how to address it.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://spmcf.zoom.us/j/98432844829?pwd=VHRRZHRzRWZUT215S3pyS1J5d05KUT09

Meeting ID: 984 3284 4829

Passcode: 616086

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 

Rapidly advancing technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and algorithmic decision-making have proven to be a force for good. These technologies can also amplify forms of inequality, discrimination, and bias.  

This conversation will focus on opportunities for more digital inclusion through Data Policy and opportunities via immersive Virtual Reality experiences.

We will discuss creating a more inclusive narrative that addresses racial and social inequalities which bends into the metaverse thus improving AI & The Black Experience.

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

Join us for a panel discussion to listen and learn from three social enterprise founders their lessons on bruising shins, empathy and humility, and harnessing the power of outcomes and impact and the value it provides in ops, strategy, and marketing & communications.

Openness. Support. Collaboration. Diversity. We're going to have a frank conversation about the acceptance of others and a sense of duty to support the startup community here in the Twin Cities & beyond.

This conversation focuses on environmental sustainability. We touch on policies, funding, building codes and why action is needed now.

Following this session join a 15min discussion in the Community Lounge.

The world needs more purpose-driven leaders. But how do we know we are making an impact? The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs or Global Goals) offer a framework against which your startup can align, measure and explain its actions to operate more responsibly and deliver positive social, environmental and economic impacts. 

Hear from a panel of local social entrepreneurs and changemakers who are putting impact at the center of their business and learn how the SDGs can help you: 

- Define your aspirational purpose in a way that is relevant and inspiring to stakeholders 

- Allow purpose to become the foundation for your business strategy 

- Ignite long-lasting positive change

An opportunity for anybody interested in climate technology solutions to meet each other, chat about what we're working on, and get help moving forward with their startup. 

We’ll start with a round of introductions, potentially in breakout rooms depending on attendance. Next, we will have a (yet-to-be-named) investor discuss what they are looking for specifically when it comes to funding startups focused on climate tech. We’ll wrap it up with an opportunity for anybody that wants to hold the floor for 3 minutes - to get feedback on their elevator pitch, bring up a specific discussion topic for the group, or anything else constructive. 

Let’s start building the Minnesota climate tech community!

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.

This interactive event is geared for participants who have a skill set that they want to monetize while building a business that has a social impact. A workbook will be available for participants attending this workshop.  This session will help you: 

*Clarify what skill set to offer and monetize 

*Identify and build a social impact component into your business concept 

Create a preliminary action plan that helps you quickly start earning revenue and making a difference

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 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

During this pandemic, we hear the refrain over and over “I can’t wait to get back to normal.”  There is an honest and earnest feeling behind that sentiment, however, we have been asking ourselves - is “normal” what we want to get back to? In many ways our past “normal” was not nearly good enough and even exasperated many of the problems we are facing during this pandemic.  In this session we’ll outline some of those not-so-good “normals,” how they put us in a worse situation relative to an international crisis and how we have the opportunity to “get back to better” through acknowledging the bad, identify technology and non-technological solutions to address a better tomorrow by making our cities smarter and more responsive to our communities. “Smart North” is a collaboration of people working in and around smart city development thinking deeply around how our cities and communities can better work together and more efficient in building a better normal.

COVID 19 has further exposed the catastrophic
gaps in equity to digital access that in
turn impact access to healthcare, education,
employment among-st many others. In this session
we will explore the role of 5G in making this a reality.

The Twin Cities have come together to build smart and sustainable collaboration centers to foster entrepreneurial-ism and innovation around energy solutions that deliver resiliency, minimize climate impact and assure healthy sustainable working environments. Join entrepreneurs and sustainability leaders from the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as they share how their city plans, development and implementation have leveraged smart, sustainable technologies for climate and human livelihood.

The Midway area of St. Paul has a rich history, combined with the diverse surrounding communities, aging infrastructure, and the busiest intersection in the state (at Snelling & University). Many stakeholders have been working to create a more resilient and vibrant community in Midtown, in addition to heightened near-term demand from 2020 COVID-19 and social justice unrest along University Avenue. Minnesota entrepreneurs bring a wealth of offerings to the equation, leveraging connected technology and data to help (re)build a better community.

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 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.

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.