Culture is the key to building and maintaining a winning sales team whose passion is unfazed by today’s uncertainty times. Hear from a panel of diverse sales leaders on how they are using collaboration, training and development programs, advancement opportunities and more to inspire their sales teams in 2020. You’ll receive proven advice and unconventional tips that companies of any size can use.

Brands are built, scaled, and sustained based on buyer trust. The value of trust in fueling growth cannot be underestimated. For startups and early-stage businesses (whose brands are essentially unknown), trust-building must be a top priority, cultivated proactively, and re-invested with purpose.

Hear from Jennifer Zick, CEO of Authentic Brand, as she shares a formulaic approach to trust-building; drawing upon her own entrepreneurial and startup growth experiences, and supported by Authentic Brand’s Fractional CMO work with growing companies across the country and around the world.

Attendees to this session will learn:
* The power of personal brand to fuel corporate brand engagement and trust;
* How and why to cultivate a trusted, multi-dimensional, authentic personal brand;
* A formula for transfer of trust from a founder’s network to a broader ecosystem;
* Understanding trust equity and investment: the multiplier effect of influence.

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

Since the beginning, Minnebar (the nation's largest and longest running tech unconference) has included a rapid-fire Lightning Talks session where local technologists can take the mic for just a few minutes to hype their projects or share quick stories. This year, it will be an online event as part of Twin Cities Startup Week!

Hosted by Brandon Johnson and Daniel Feldman, we'll feature 8-12 short, spontaneous, unscripted presentations. Previous topics have included zany Twitter bots, a machine learning model that makes your voice sound like a celebrity's, and vegan cooking. If you're interested in doing a lightning talk, please email Daniel Feldman at [email protected]

Your network makes you and your business successful. Networking is a skill and finding the best people to grow your business requires a strategy and tactics to make the most of your time and the people you want to network with. Build your Top25 and your Impact100 relationships.

Join us as we walk through a start to finish revenue model on how Founders can find, land, and expand on their first customers. 

Our mobile video platform is for founders, job seekers, employers, and community members. Stories will be told on your phone and opportunities will be crowdsourced. As much as we wish we could see you in person, this is an opportunity to rethink networking and a chance to share your career wisdom at scale. 

The theme is Rebuilding the Twin Cities: acknowledging the problems we’re facing and using the startup mindset to overcome them. Minnesota is home to 20 F500 companies and all of those companies were once startups. We’re going to bring that same entrepreneurial spirit back to the MN ecosystem by connecting the corporate, startup and education in a truly equitable way. 

Over the next few weeks we’ll be rallying the people who really hold this startup ecosystem together. They’ll all be on the Homi and they all want to help.

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.

The long term success of purpose-driven organizations hinges on their ability to efficiently grow their audience, but they are also the least likely to have access to the expert marketing support that can make that happen. 

We’ll talk through the MVPs of your essential marketing assets to get started and how to use them to create something actionable. 

- Building your marketing personas 

- Mapping your buyers journey 

- Identifying your key messages 

- Planning actual campaigns and content 

This workshop teaches a new approach to marketing that will leave you feeling confident in your strategy and ready to dive in and execute!

Share your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend in the Community Lounge from 12-12:30pm during every TCSW track day. Join in the fun and meet and network with others and their pets!

Influencer marketing can be a powerful and cost-effective strategy for startups to get the word out. However, it's often misunderstood. And done wrong, it can produce disappointing results or even damage the brand. This session will explain six ways to succeed with influencer marketing, as well as six pitfalls to avoid.

You are confident you have a great market opportunity.  You developed or built the prototype. You vetted it with people that are really smart.  You have a potential customer. Now what. The key to success in early days of launching a business is target, reach, and pivot. Target who you are solving a problem for, reach as many people as you can, and pivot as you learn the reality of their world and needs. In this session, you will learn proven ways that you can go-to-market as a founder with limited time and budget. Learn the power of your network, marketing tools, social networks, A/B testing and your own selling abilities.

A fundraising round is a pivotal news moment for most startups, and making the most of one requires a thoughtful, strategic communications process that helps boost your profile on a more public stage. This year, the communications pros from Hotwire Global Communications are back with a cohort of founders, investors and media to discuss how to make the most of a new funding round – how fundraising has changed in 2020, getting investor attention amidst economic uncertainty, a pandemic and social unrest, and how to make sure your company’s narrative authentically ties into these broad societal issues.

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

Artificial intelligence has become a buzz term shrouded in mystery and mystique behind what it's actually being used for. From how it can be helpful to where it can not only improve business outcomes but work alongside job functions and departments. We're taking a peek behind the curtain on where AI is already being implemented and how it can create value within your business.

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.

You are an entrepreneur, CEO, CTO, solo dev, maker, shaker, or doer. You have 1,000 things you should be doing this very moment, but what is the right thing to focus on? That is the fundamental question behind growth hacking. Growth hacking is all about prioritizing your activities, measuring results, and taking effective action, which is much easier said than done. 

In this fast-paced participatory session, we will cover two critical tools to increase the growth of your business, the Idea Pipeline and ICE metrics. Originally developed by Sean Elis to bring explosive growth to Dropbox, LogMeIn, and many others, the Idea Pipeline and ICE metrics are simple but powerful tools to get your business focused and growing fast. Our speaker Brian Krohn, has implemented these methods for startups, corporations, non-profits, as well as his own businesses and personal projects.

You’re ready to grow. What’s holding you back? With the right data, tech, and processes delivered by an all-on-one sales & marketing system, you can supercharge your growth. Make the right investment the first time and rest assured that you won’t have to scrap and rebuild your systems as you reach maturity.

In this session, Denamico will show you how you can build a website, marketing, sales, and customer service system that scales alongside your business.

HubSpot will share its insights on the future of SEO and how to win. In this discussion, we will cover SEO fundamentals such as:
· How search engines work.
· Discovery vs relevancy vs authority (how to rank)
· Cutting Through Bad (and expensive) SEO Advice
· Choosing the right SEO strategy for your business size and customer
· Scaling SEO as an Entrepreneur
· Tactics to Build Authority in the Search Engines
· How to boost your SEO

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

Talk about video and technology. Learn about some video platforms and how to use them for sales, marketing, support and telling your story. I will also go over some tool I suggest like cameras, lights and audio setup. Will cover 360 video for deep creative storytelling.

We'll demystify the overarching video strategy for your startup and then give key insights into effective video storytelling for sales and marketing.

Join us for a humor-filled chat about hopes, dreams and sunk costs in an age of crushing dystopia — and learn how our VR dev shop shifted focus to stay focused. After we've bashed on 2020 for a bit, we'll wax poetic on the wonderful future that awaits — and share a few strategies for getting there.

We’re often lumped into two categories: creative or technical. But we’re here to prove that wrong. With the combination of art and tech, new categories are possible! From making high-quality media accessible to all to helping creatives focus on the essential parts of their roles, we’ll use real examples of how creativity + tech play together at soona. We’ll walk through what’s possible with the combination of these two arts and give you tips on how to incorporate them into your work.

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

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.

As a business leader, your job is to make tough decisions quickly and accurately. How can you make better, faster, more informed decisions to stay ahead of the competition? By aligning real-time data, scalable technology, and efficient processes.

In this session, we'll discuss the importance of investing in better technology, faster digital alignment, and more informed processes so that you can stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Getting found in search is something every business should be thinking about from day one. SEO is a long game and the sooner you can implement good strategies, the sooner you will start seeing results. Come learn about the simple tactics you can implement now to make sure your business is getting found as quickly as possible. 

Twin Cities Startup Week is thrilled to invite last year's Twin Cities Startup Week Impact Award winner back to headline this year’s Sales + Marketing track day.

From the team that brought you Coffee&Closers, comes the debut of their brand new show Cocktails&Closers ::

A [live], libations fueled, happy hour conversation between a few of today’s top Sales + Marketing minds as they tackle the challenge of how to successfully work collaboratively to drive revenue.

Expect to learn in between laughs how these related, yet often disparate groups can achieve greatness when their superpowers align.

Founders, solo ‘treps, sales/marketing leaders, and more… this show is for you, join us.

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

Mix up your favorite cocktail and join the speakers of Closers Media presents :: Cocktails&Closers for Q&A!

"Experience Money Differently." will be a founder presentation followed by a panel event featuring four diverse individuals from our company. This event will focus on storytelling and sharing experiences around money. Money is generally seen as taboo — we don’t talk about it at all, and are never taught about money management in school. This leaves us feeling like other people don’t go through the same things we do when it comes to money, when in reality we as a community share a lot of similarities when it comes to our experiences with money. We’ll talk about these experiences, as well as ways we can all go about practicing getting rich. Changing our financial situations comes form relating to one another and practicing for the real world, not just “learning” financial literacy.

On research and best practices for instilling diversity in startups

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

Finding an office is a huge step for a startup. We’ll provide you with a road map and necessary tools to make finding your startup’s dedicated office space an easy and informed process. In our session, we’ll show you the best ways to calculate how much space you actually need, finding space through online tools, what to look for when touring spaces, negotiating lease terms, and ultimately moving into your new space. And, at the end of our session, you’ll walk away with all of these tools at your fingertips so that you can manage the process with confidence.

Join us to have an engaging, fun and frank conversation that pushes beyond the platitudes and cliched catchphrases and dares to take a look at the honest role that failure plays in our personal and professional growth and development.

Join us in the tech.mn Live Podcast Booth channel to see some of Minnesota's best podcasters interviewing each other. Moderator, Alex Skjong, will be matching up show hosts to talk all things Minnesota, podcasting, business, and more.

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.

During these rapidly changing times, as much as ever we need tangible, proven practices to help us operate from an optimal brain state. In this workshop, you will learn a simple but cutting-edge framework from the field of neurobiology that will help you thrive in the midst of uncertainty. Join this session to learn how to expand your capacity to:

- Act from intention rather than reaction with increased self-awareness.

- Maintain a growth mindset to remain both aware & agile in the midst of change.

- Make clear and rational decisions without feeling overwhelmed or withdrawn.

- Effectively communicate with colleagues and clients in the midst of crucial conversations, maintaining both honesty and respect.

- Identify and being to overcome internal barriers and limiting mindsets.

This is truly a transformative framework that will positively impact every area of your life even beyond succeeding at work.

We’re all trying to stay afloat during the COVID-19. Why not swap some stories and learn from each others’ experiences while we’re in the same boat? Three panelists from very different industries will share honest accounts of creative problem solving, a misstep or two, and surprising discoveries that will inspire you to find and capitalize on the silver linings of the COVID-19 crisis.

From startups to Fortune 500 companies --  every business needs to build a leadership team that is public policy literate for both compliance and delivering on their growth strategy. Join Shawntera M. Hardy, Cofounder + Chief Strategy Officer at Civic Eagle, in a discussion about the core principles to building a public policy engagement strategy that empowers businesses to track, analyze and influence the policies that matter most to their bottom line. No matter if it’s people, profit and/or planet.

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

The rise of no-code tools like Airtable, Zapier, Webflow, Bubble, Glide and Adalo has made it easier than ever to launch your startup and start generating revenue. This session will feature an overview of the no-code landscape and a behind the scenes look at apps built by presenters Alex Rodriguez (Electrician Path) and Zack Steven (George Floyd Mural Map app). There will also be time for Q&A.

Brought to you by Graveti, a community focused on building businesses, creating wealth and developing the Tech ecosystem for people of color in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Area, and Cloudburst, SBC a Minneapolis based Startup Studio.

After investing in 100 companies, these are the 7 most important things you can do to increase your odds of success.

Share your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend in the Community Lounge from 12-12:30pm during every TCSW track day. Join in the fun and meet and network with others and their pets!

An interactive jeopardy-style game show hosted by Nels Pederson, featuring Sean Higgins, CEO of BetterYou. Players will be challenged on their knowledge MN startup trivia for a chance to win some fabulous MN themed prizes!

MN-DEED Supports Startups: Funding, Programs, and Resources

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

As busy entrepreneurs, our health or relationships can take a backseat to our business. This interactive workshop will help you clarify your values and priorities to create purposeful productivity and meaningful time.

So you have a solid MVP. Your customers are thrilled, and you're ready to move to the next level. Now what? While everyone talks about the importance of an MVP, there's not a lot of talk about preparing for the next step. Does your product need a redesign to support more users? What might VCs be looking for beyond your MVP? This talk will help you identify potential bottlenecks from a technical standpoint in preparing to scale your MVP.

Join members of Target's Supplier Diversity team as they provide details of their team’s mission at Target and share an overview of what certification is and why it is important for diverse-owned companies to consider investing in. Following their can't-miss presentation, Karen Goldner, Managing Director at Women's Business Development Center, and Heather Olson, President & CEO at North Central Minority Supplier Development Council will join in on the conversation to offer expert perspective and additional guidance for founders.

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

Learn how some of the most successful and creative Twin Cities businesses got their start and what they did to survive 2020.

Woman-owned businesses generate 34 percent less revenues on average than male-owned businesses. Value-based pricing helps women founders set profitable pricing while developing the value-driven messaging to confidently ask for and get that price. Value-based pricing can help woman-owned businesses capture up to half that revenue discrepancy, or up to 17 percent.

As a founder or leader of a startup, you know who you have on your team matters. It's never too early to start to intentionally develop an organization culture and talent strategies that will differentiate you and create competitive advantage. Learn the building blocks you need to create excellence and advantage through talent and culture. Define the values that guide how you operate and make business and talent decisions. Learn how to attract and retain the best diverse talent for your organization to position you for successful growth.

Jen Labanowski, LMFT and Shelly Smith, LMFT are the co-founders of United Counseling and Wellness (ucwtherapy.com). As licensed systemic therapists, Jen and Shelly have an extensive background in helping individuals and systems increase their emotional and relational health. As co-founders themselves, Jen and Shelly know firsthand that "achieving wellness" is easier said than done when you're also trying to navigate the countless demands and stressors of scaling a business and leading a team. Jen and Shelly know that the health of a company is a direct reflection of the health of the founder and they are passionate about helping their fellow founders find increased balance and calm. This presentation will help founders learn strategies to improve communication, avoid burnout and lead from a place of emotional health.

Real companies. Real investors. Real feedback. Minnesota founders will pitch their startups for experienced investors, including Brett Brohl and Mary Grove, from Bread and Butter Ventures. The investors will give feedback and provide insight into what investors are thinking when listening to a pitch.

Join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge at 4:30 for a 30 minute Q&A.

Tired of working at a big company? Looking to create your own startup? Managing smaller teams, budgets and timelines are much different than when you had levels of management or a large company behind you. You will need to take a completely different approach when creating your own team.

 - Seal Team 6 vs the Fab 5 

- Right people, Right role 

- Who’s in charge? 

- Who is your cheerleader?

- We don’t need a stinking Project Manager  (Yes you do) 

- Communication is even more important for a smaller team 

- You will need a better firing policy than hiring policy

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.

As a startup founder, a large portion of your success depends on your ability to move quickly, wear many hats, and be nimble. But being nimble doesn’t have to mean disorganized. In this session, we will show how taking a structured approach to the day-to-day operations of your business can minimize growing pains, improve efficiency, and lead to sustainable growth. We will cover the key principles of structured operations, why they are important, and what structured operations looks like for different business sizes and stages of growth.

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.

Mix up your favorite cocktail and join the speakers of The Real Pitch MN and Fundraising During COVID-19 for Q&A!

New to Minnesota, or hoping to be? Join this event to learn more about our school systems, housing market, and the MN cultural scene. Additionally, don't miss your chance to meet companies looking for top talent to add to their teams! From Hotdish, to the cherry in the spoon, this fair will give you the run down on all things Minnesota.

Out-of-school time programming has been consistently underfunded in Minnesota, and disparities in access to these activities is one of the leading drivers of the achievement gap. Learn how Youthprise and Venn Foundation, two local nonprofits, combined their expertise to leverage two underutilized tools—program-related investments (PRIs) and the K-12 Education Tax Credit—to pilot and implement an innovative financing model to help low-income families pay for afterschool and summer activities. But the innovation didn’t stop there. Hear how the organizations pivoted in the midst of a global pandemic to use their model to rapidly respond to the distance learning needs of low-income students as well.

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

The Launch MN Network is working together to help startups save time accessing needed talent and resources. The goal is to improve coordination and capacity across the state’s innovation ecosystem.

Practice your presentation skills by applying them to the Hero’s Journey. Leverage basic design principles of hierarchy, contrast, and rhythm to communicate the key components of this common narrative framework (Star Wars anyone?) to your audience. Create and share your digital storyboard to see how you and others tackle the same problem in different ways!

Understand the challenges facing local school districts and the various strategies that have been used to continue teaching and learning in these unprecedented times. Learn how a panel of district tech leaders have focused on equity and access and how technology needs fluctuate between remote to hybrid instruction. What are districts’ greatest priorities for the upcoming school year, and how can solution providers ease the burden to better ensure equity and access for all families? Listen to their shared advice for vendor partners and solution providers. Ask questions to better grasp the complexities in K12 during these COVID-19 times.

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

What’s your business’ story? Who is your story for? Why do you need a story? Having worked in children’s publishing for almost fifteen years, I understand the importance of a good story, and the ways in which a story can connect with its audience. I also know the many ways a story can stray from its purpose and lose a reader. In this session we'll explore why it’s important for your business to have a coherent story, and set you on your path to find your story.

Learn about how virtual reality and immersive technology is being used in education today and where the industry is headed in the future. REM5 is enabling thousands of local students to experience VR for the first time and the pandemic has been an opportunity to help educators explore new ways to accelerate their move the virtual learning.

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

Join us for an AMA with Nibir Sarma - the winner of the 2020 Jeopardy! College Championship from the University of Minnesota.

Hear from the founders of education startup Schoolz as they merge tech, art, and media to bring culture to Google Classroom, in an effort to drive student engagement and support teachers

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

User voice is imperative in all businesses. In education, it is critical for companies to understand the impact their product or service will have on all stakeholders - students, parents, teachers, and administrators. What does listening to the user voice in education really look like? How can our strategies impact our ability to scale? Through a combination of panel discussions and small group activities, participants will have the opportunity to hear from companies focused on building directly off of student/teacher/administrator voice, evaluate their own company's practices in listening to user voices, and finally, identify a concrete next step to increasing their company's listening skills.

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.

Your goal is to provide value for the people who use your product or service. But it can be hard to recognize our own biases about who users are and what they want — not to mention people indirectly affected by your business. Learn how empathy-driven research and design can help you see past biased thinking, understand diverse viewpoints, and create successful products with a positive impact.

Share your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend in the Community Lounge from 12-12:30pm during every TCSW track day. Join in the fun and meet and network with others and their pets!

Here at REM5, we are big believers in immersive technology as the next computing platform - like its predecessors PC and mobile - it will change the way we work, play, learn and socialize. And COVID-19 has only accelerated the need and adoption of immersive tech across industries. In this session, we will cover the basic technologies including virtual reality, augmented reality and WebXR, and hopefully make sense of all those confusing XR acronyms. From there we will take a deeper dive into real world case studies for these platforms ranging from k-12 education, social engagement and cultural competence training. Post session, we will offer a social hour in a REM5 virtual space that can be accessed through PC - No VR or experience required.

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.

To get the best thinking while relaunching our product with limited resources, we engaged The E1 Collaborative in Southeast MN to attract superstar interns from renown higher-ed institutions. COVID-19 caused corporate internship programs to tank, leaving top talent in the lurch to seek alternative opportunities. We engaged entrepreneurship programs at St. Olaf, St. Mary’s and Winona State to identify students who aligned with our needs. We then linked each intern with a seasoned leader on our team as a mentor, but also to gather valuable knowledge about our target market, audience and product roadmap. Our aim was to marry the wisdom of seasoned leaders with the fresh ideas and insights from emerging leaders, who also represent a segment of our target audience. Our session would include a virtual panel comprised of school representatives, interns and LGS leaders. The goal would be to share the experience of this intergenerational leadership model.

Learn how educators, specifically African-American male educators are experiencing distance learning with their students and families, what tools they are using, and what their thoughts are on the sustainability.

Each founder will have a few minutes to showcase their education startup and tell us about their personal background and entrepreneurial journey. Then, we'll talk about adjustments and pivots we've been making in light of COVID-19.

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

Hear two recent college grads share their experience starting a for-profit, collaborative based, eLearning company. And how their passions for social justice inspired a new form of business accountability and structure.

Each year, Technovation Girls challenges teams of girls to identify a community problem, build a mobile app, develop a business plan, and pitch it to local experts. We’re looking for 200 mentors who can commit to 12 weekly sessions with a team -- a relatively small commitment for a HUGE impact for bringing more girls into STEM fields. Join us during this presentation to meet past mentors and learn more about the program.

Panel on getting started with AI for your organizations and ways to learn what you need to know about AI.  How Can AI be your virtual research assistant and help get more accomplished in your team and organization.  Learn the differences between humanized and replacement AI.  Learn about ML and AI and some of the commonly used "buzz" words that float around.  Ask questions of AI/ML engineers that you always wanted answered.

Your Business Success Depends on Customer Trust and Confidence

What is a “cap table”? What agreements should be in place with your co-founders, employees and independent contractors? How do you prepare a slide deck?  What does a typical financing term sheet look like? Hear from a panel of experienced lawyers, as well as a veteran angel investor, about what you need to do to prepare your startup for fundraising.

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

In this presentation we will be discussing pillars of building a successful foundation in your Operation Departments. We will dive into Accounting, Operations, and IT processes with a focus on Lean Thinking.

Accounting
-Do you know your Unit Cost?

Operations
-How long does it take to produce your product?

IT
-Are you using software that integrates with your core business and gives you the data you need?

COVID-19 has accelerated the evolution of human interaction and information consumption towards digital platforms. From social media, to video chats, to virtual reality, these digital platforms are now clearly front and center. Now add a global social justice movement. Are digital platforms good for social justice? Are they bad? What challenges do they create? And what opportunities? 

Both RFTP and REM5 are rooted in leveraging technology and data to reimagine cultural competence education in the fight for social justice. In this session, we will cover how RFTP is innovating their powerful model to go virtual, how REM5 is using high-end virtual reality to democratize learning experiences, and how the two organizations are collaborating to create cutting-edge, digital learning experiences. Post session, we will offer a social hour in a virtual exhibition space that can be accessed through PC - No VR or experience required.  

Today’s technology teams thrive on collaboration and agile processes to deliver innovative solutions. Managing a mix of on-site and remote professionals was easy, but what happened when everyone suddenly was remote. How did management change? What was easier? And harder? Hear from local technology executives about their highs, lows and learnings during this time and what changes they predict are here to stay. They’ll address how they hired, onboarded, trained, and promoted individuals, as well as how their solutions stayed on course and how they spurred innovation.

As a founder your business will require new technology. Needs range from simple, such as web sites, to complex things like mobile apps, or even new kinds of hardware devices. Staffing a full time engineering organization is expensive. Individual contractors are more affordable. And consulting teams offer a wide range of supporting services. We discuss what to expect from those kinds of relationships. How do you go about communicating what needs to be built? What is “lean methodology” and is it right for your business? How often will you be updated on progress? Who is responsible for making sure the deliverables are met? How are inevitable setbacks communicated and resolved? How long does it take to build various kinds of new technologies? What is the final outcome, and how can you have confidence that the technology will live on and power your business instead of immediately becoming a liability? How does hiring a contract development agency compare with hiring an individual contract developer? What about versus hiring a full-time engineering team?

Learn about the new OnRamp Education & Workforce Innovation presented by ECMC Group and gener8tor

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

When companies are small, customers often receive personal attention support. But what happens as a company grows? How can a business continue to serve and support their customers in a personal, but scalable, manner? Hear from some of today’s leading customer success executives on how their businesses are serving thousands of customers using data analytics, segmentation and specialists to deliver customer value.

Breaking into the tech field can feel like trying every single 4-digit combination you can think of until magically, the large heavy gates suddenly swing open. As a first-generation student of color, it feels more like you entering two-digit combinations until someone finally tells you that it’s actually four. How does a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants break the code and find herself at one of the most innovative startups in Minnesota of all places? With some resilience, an ongoing journey of self-worth, and the magic of vulnerability, anyone can do it.

An Immersive STEM program that wildly engages students, adapts to our COVID-19 world, and re-imagines what learning can be today. Featuring a live online demonstration of drone racing and a conversation about the future of competitive STEM.

Marty Wetherall with Anne Dougherty, Dr. Michael Wulf, Dan Atkins, Jen Nowlin, and David Roberts.

Showcase is one of Minnesota's most beloved startup events. The event runs a bit like a science fair, but for startups, where reporters, potential employees, investors, tech enthusiasts, and customers discover and celebrate Minnesota-made innovation.

The purpose of the event is to provide founders of emerging companies with a launching point to introduce themselves to the people that can positively impact their business.

Register here

PARTNER BREWERIES: 

Minneapolis Cider Company - Visit Minneapolis Cider Company anytime on 9/16 and mention BETA Showcase. BETA will receive a $1 donation from each purchase by a BETA customer. [In-store order and pickup - 701 SE 9th St, Minneapolis, MN 55414]

BevSource’s THE LAB - Visit THE LAB’s website here and use promo code “BETA” from 9/16-9/22 to receive one free Crowler. [Online order and in-store pickup - 767 N Eustis St. #115St. Paul, MN 55114]

Learn how to Achieve HIPAA Compliance for your Software Company Using Tools Provided by Major Cloud Platforms like AWS, Azure and GCP. We will briefly define the challenges you face to be HIPAA Compliant as well as the tools made available by common cloud providers. This is also relevant if you have other forms of compliance requirements, such as PCI or SOC 2.

While early stage healthcare companies may seek resources from established healthcare companies, they often want to remain independent while they pursue their healthcare-related vision and build value. 

Established healthcare companies expand and enhance existing product portfolios by acquiring early-stage technologies. They also want certainty that, if they help nurture an early-stage company, they will be able to acquire it once it is ready to exit without risk of being outbid by a competitor. 

To balance these issues, companies often use a structured acquisition, in which the established healthcare company invests in the early-stage company, often obtains some degree of commercial rights and negotiates an option to acquire the company at a pre-agreed price. Join attorneys from Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. as they explain the rationale for, structure of, and pros and cons of a structured acquisition.

80 hour work weeks. Double-booked meetings. Late night phone calls. More than ever, it seems like the norm is to be working out of a space of busyness and overwhelm. Being under constant stress not only makes us less productive, effective and creative, but it can also lead to burnout. In this workshop, you'll learn about what burnout is and what causes it. More importantly, you'll walk away knowing that you don't need to sacrifice your health and run yourself ragged in order to achieve professional success. It's not only possible to integrate your work with self-care, but it's essential in order to be at your best every day.

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.

Join us in the tech.mn Live Podcast Booth channel to see some of Minnesota's best podcasters interviewing each other. Moderator, Alex Skjong, will be matching up show hosts to talk all things Minnesota, podcasting, business, and more.

We will cover important topics such as entity structure, options and equity compensation, pre-transaction (acquisition or IPO) planning, and more! Whether you are just starting to form your company, looking to optimize equity awards, attract and retain talent, or have your eye on a potential exit, this session is for you!

Kendall Qualls will discuss his early life in poverty and a broken home, career in the healthcare industry, and experience launching a data analytics and artificial intelligence startup to help cancer patients. Kendall will also discuss how we can promote entrepreneurship through our regulatory environment, cultural values, and education system. 

To all the parents out there who are working and teaching at home in a pandemic: you are not alone. This. is. so. hard.

Even though we haven't found one magic solution to make parenting in a pandemic easy, some psychologist colleagues and I have gathered some ideas about what might make parenting just a tiny bit easier for you. Join me to review some bigger goals and some specific strategies to help with parenting--with a focus on elementary school age kids--during this challenging time.

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. 

Join Michael Gietl, Industry Executive - Healthcare, J.P. Morgan Securities and Shaye Mandle, President and CEO of Medical Alley, as they discuss trends in medtech and healthcare — plus, how to fundraise during COVID-19.

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

We all need to escape, let off stream, reset. Coping strategies vary widely, but data shows that during this pandemic, we are turning to alcohol in large numbers to alleviate our stress. In fact, over 1 in 3 individuals say they are likely to drink more alcohol in isolation, compared to their typical workspace. We’ll take a closer look at the why behind this behavior, and how it may be putting the health, innovation and productivity of ourselves and our organizations at risk. Questioning your own use or that of others around you? Looking for more insight or resources on this topic? This is a safe space for discussion and a forum for people to bring their questions to the virtual table.

Designing  your new medical device or system is challenging all by itself. In today's rapidly changing world, connecting that device to the larger medical infrastructure may be a critical part of your success. We will discuss the importance of developing and implementing an integrated connectivity strategy as part of your start-up plan.

Share your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend in the Community Lounge from 12-12:30pm during every TCSW track day. Join in the fun and meet and network with others and their pets!

For many entrepreneurs, independence is more valuable than anything. There are new models emerging that enable founders to get started more efficiently than ever and get funded while preserving options and control. This session will be an overview of some of the new models (indie.vc, Earnest Capital, Tiny Seed), tools (Zapier, Airtable, Glide) and examples of entrepreneurs who are charting a different path.

Making money with a content-driven site is possible. Here's how I did it.

Digital health solutions enable physicians to monitor chronic conditions remotely, increase patient compliance, and enable us to move healthcare out of the clinic and into the home. A panel of digital health investors and entrepreneurs will gather to discuss the challenges and the opportunities with digital health and what is next for healthcare. Hosted by Nextern.

A chance visit to a relative in the hospital left Chloe Alpert fascinated by the amount of medical supplies wasted. At this session, join Chloe, Founder of Medinas Health, and Charles Hudson, Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures as they discuss how she used her skills as a serial entrepreneur to launch Medinas Health and disrupt the $250B medical supply industry.

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

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.

The microscope on the structural and systemic issues that have been laid bare and/or exacerbated by the realities of COVID and racial inequity have never been more important in our communities or in our healthcare system. Join us for a panel discussion to hear about strategies, challenges and innovations from policy, payor, provider, and community perspectives. Opportunities for entrepreneurs exist as vendors and service providers, changemakers, and community supporters. Connecting entrepreneurs to the accelerator and investment community will be critical to driving change, increasing equity and expanding opportunity along the way.

Accountability is WORK. As leaders and visionaries, it’s our job hold people accountable, including ourselves. Accountability is different than shaming and blaming. Shame is a tool of oppression — It's "you're a bad person” vs. "you're not doing your job.”  When leaders shame themselves or their teammates, they kill empathy — the foundation of love and justice. When we are fully immersed in empathy, we are focused and invested on understanding the other person’s experience. In a time of blaming and shaming, Ellen Melon is going to teach leaders the art of holding yourself and others accountable.

Join Dick Schulze, Founder of Best Buy, and Grace Northamer, University of St. Thomas Schulze Innovation Scholar, for a conversation about Dick Schulze's journey in building today's Best Buy.

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

Can your startup make it with 20% worker disengagement?  The global average is 65% according to a 2019 Gallup report.  You're way ahead of the curve at only 20%.. What would it take to get to 100%. Can you scale that?

Join us for an exhilarating session of actionable insights and rejuvenating encounters of the human kind. In only 30 minutes, you'll take away a treasure trove of transformative ideas about the central role of human connection in personal wellness, employee engagement, and team performance.

The research is in: Books like Social Physics, and The Trust Factor, and The Happiness Advantage, and Team of teams are chock full of scientific evidence of what makes great teams great. It's not top talent: Top pro sports teams and mediocre ones all have million-dollar talent. It's not rocket science either: Almost any 5th grader can see the difference between top teams and the ones that envy them. A common vision or sense of purpose and human connection.
We're excited to help startup leaders level up their understanding of how greater human connection is the key to greater employee engagement and wellness, superior business results, and a better world, not just for your team, but for everyone your team knows, and for everyone who knows someone who knows your team. That may sound crazy, but we all know how hard it can be your best, when you've had a bad day at work..

Celebrating Minority Owned Businesses in Minnesota

We live in a rapidly changing world and cannot rely on things being the same tomorrow as they were yesterday. We have our tools ready to aid us. However, unfamiliar situations will come up, and to survive we will need to drop our familiar tools.

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

Being a leader is hard and even harder when you don't feel like you can be yourself. Learn how to lean into your own style so the best leader can come through. 

Are you an early stage startup? Have you started the hiring process but feel like you're going in circles and not attracting the right type of person? Or maybe you know you'll need an additional employee or contractor soon and are looking for how to streamline the hiring process. Then this is the event for you! We will discuss how to create a job description to attract the best candidates, where and how to find candidates, what types of interview questions to ask, and making an offer. After the presentation, we'll open it up to questions and brainstorm together how to apply the techniques to our own businesses.  

Victor Hugo, the renowned French writer, famously said: "There Is one thing stronger than all the armies In the world, and that Is an Idea whose time has come.”  

This is a rapid fire, engaging session to bring intellectual property (IP) principles out of the legal stratosphere down to the level of the fired up entrepreneur looking to blaze a trail into the future.

We'll explore at least 5 insider secrets about IP law that can fuel greater enthusiasm of your investors, team members, and customers as you build lasting businesses with greater differentiation, profit margins, and exit potential.

Learn how patents actually do encourage innovation from you and your team.

Learn how the classic boy-meets-girl romance can improve your understanding of patent law.

Learn how to go from patent filing to patenthood in 6 months or less.

These and other insights will leave you with a new sense of possibility for leveraging IP to supercharge your business results.

This conversation will focus on the founder experience, trends in FemTech, funding challenges and the future of this space. Interested in launching a FemTech startup? Get advice!

Following this session join the speaker(s) in the Community Lounge for a Happy HALF Hour of Q&A.

Join the speakers of FemTech, Female Founders, and the Future for a Happy HALF Hour of Q&A.

Mix up your favorite cocktail and join the speakers of the FemTech Panel for Q&A!

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.

Whether targeting impact investments or growing new revenue streams, organizations need to think differently about partnerships, finances, and change. It can be difficult for mission-driven leaders to know where to start. 

Join this workshop as experts from 20 Degrees, provide a systematized approach to growing revenue and acquiring new impact capital. The team from 20 Degrees helps nonprofits and social enterprises add complementary revenue streams to their existing income, enabling organizations to test holistic revenue models and bring more predictability to income. 

Together we will walk through the key steps to unlocking how an organization can blend charitable and non-charitable dollars into one cohesive approach. Walk away with tangible ideas that can ensure that your mission is driving the budget, not the other way around.

BETA and Matchstick Ventures both recently made public, measurable pledges to support Black founders. During this sessions we'll discuss how we decided on these actions, how we're doing so far and how you and your organization can follow suit. 

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.

In order to get your company off the ground, you have to be agile and make sacrifices. But once you make it to product/market fit and beyond, how do you scale your engineering, product, platform? I've been on this journey and want to share what has worked for us.
- How to scale the team
- How to scale the product
- How to scale the platform
- How to get your tech ready for the next level

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.

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 

Share your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend in the Community Lounge from 12-12:30pm during every TCSW track day. Join in the fun and meet and network with others and their pets!

Power-up company growth with key insights for digital transformation. Engage the value of brand storytelling, content strategy and marketing, with tactics to expand digital presence. Live assessment during the session! 

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.