2019 is here! Since Great North Labs is a proponent of iterating based on data-driven feedback, it’s time for a look at the best-performing content from 2018. What captured people’s interest? What is the Great North community interested in?
The Posts
- Facebook controversy. Rob Weber’s post about Sheryl Sandberg and the importance of “integrators” titled, of course, “Sheryl Sandberg and the Importance of Integrators“,is the top post of the year. The Facebook COO faced a lot of criticism in the past year, and Mark Zuckerberg, the Woz to Sandberg’s Jobs, found himself testifying before Congress this past April for 10 hours. Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of data breaches and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and public interest remains high as the 68% of Americans who use Facebook grapple with the implications of data insecurity.
- The Internet of Things. Pradip Madan’s white paper on the third generation of IoT and the industrial internet is well-researched and thought-provoking, with input by Great North Labs advisors at Protolabs and Misty Robotics. Pradip makes the case that we are uniquely situated in the upper Midwest to originate the next wave of tech-enabled disruption in IoT in “IoT 3.0“.
- Venture capital investing. Pradip Madan writes about VC as an investment class is his white paper, “Where to Invest in the Midwest: Venture Across Asset Classes“. He examines the benefits of venture investing as an asset class even during a down cycle, and how funds can provide protection from multi-year downturns. Pradip also enumerates the unique advantages that Midwest venture funds offer.
- The Midwest tech ecosystem. “Putting the ‘Silicon’ in Silicon Lakes”, by Great North Labs Managing Partners, Rob Weber, Ryan Weber, and Pradip Madan, enumerates the key ingredients required to create an innovation hub like Silicon Valley that fosters growth and startups. It is part mission statement, part love letter, and all about the opportunity present in the upper Midwest.
For more content, click below to browse all of our articles. You can also sign up below to receive our newsletter, which has job links, portfolio news and events in addition to articles; or follow the links to social media and video content on Youtube.

Great North Ventures
Demystifying Startup HR

Great North Ventures
3 Portfolio Companies Make Inc. 5000 + Quicklly & Instacart Expand

Great North Ventures
3 Portfolio Companies Ranked on The Inc. 5000 List

Great North Ventures
iraLogix closes $22M + Branch expands with Uber

Great North Ventures
iraLogix closes $22M Series C

Great North Ventures
Flywheel lands Gates Foundation grant

Great North Ventures
Venture Capital Analyst

Great North Ventures
Executive Assistant – Venture Capital Firm

Great North Ventures
Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda – on Episode 13, “Execution is King”

Great North Ventures
$40M Fund II Raised!

Great North Ventures
Eric Martell, Founder of Pear Commerce: Episode 13, Execution is King

Great North Ventures
Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II

Great North Ventures
Investment Thesis: Fund II Strategy

Great North Ventures
Investment Theme: Community-Driven Applications

Great North Ventures
Investment Theme: Digital Transformation Through AI

Great North Ventures
Investment Theme: Solving Labor Problems

Great North Ventures
Trends in the Gig Economy + Work in the Metaverse

Great North Ventures
Portfolio raises $125M + talking fundraising with Branch CEO

Great North Ventures
Omnia Fishing closes $4M round, joins Great North portfolio!

Great North Ventures
Atif Siddiqi, Founder/CEO of Branch: Episode 11, Execution is King

Great North Ventures
Michael Martocci, CEO and Founder of SwagUp: Episode 10, Execution is King

Great North Ventures
Yardstik new to portfolio, closes $8M Series A

Josef Siebert
First venture studio startup comes out of stealth!

Josef Siebert
Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King

Rob Weber
Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website

Josef Siebert
Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King

Josef Siebert
2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF

Josef Siebert
Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes?

Josef Siebert
Anna Mason, Revolution: Episode 5, Execution is King

Josef Siebert
Mynul Khan, FieldNation: Episode 4, Execution is King

Josef Siebert
Newsletter: “Podcast Launched: Execution is King!”

Josef Siebert
“Execution is King” – the Great North Ventures Podcast

Great North Ventures
Newsletter: Fund II is open for business!

Great North Ventures
Unlocking the Potential of Anonymized Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Data

Josef Siebert
Fund II is open for Business!

Josef Siebert
Mike Schulte Promoted to Venture Partner

Josef Siebert
New Name + New Venture Studio

Josef Siebert
Great North Launches Startup Studio

Josef Siebert
We Don’t Need No [full-time MBA] Education

Josef Siebert
Building Capacity for Innovation

Rob Weber
Minnesota's Resilient Startups

Josef Siebert
Jumpstart, the Startup School, and Branch Wins a Webby!

Josef Siebert
Giving in the Time of Coronavirus

Josef Siebert
COVID-19 Resources for Startups, State-by-State

Josef Siebert
COVID-19, the CARES Act, and startups stepping up

Josef Siebert
New Business Preservation Act

Josef Siebert
Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020

Josef Siebert
Great North Labs's Startup Summit 2020

Josef Siebert
Top 5 Stories of 2019

Josef Siebert
7 Places to Spot Us at Startup Week

Josef Siebert
Talking VC, tech kids, and Forge North’s Horizon

Josef Siebert
June: Great North Labs’s first fund raised!

Josef Siebert
MinneBar 14 Recap

Josef Siebert
Dispatch and 2ndKitchen claim Tech Madness titles

Josef Siebert
Minnesota Innovation Collaborative

Josef Siebert
Great North Labs at CES

Josef Siebert
Carried Interest: Top Posts from 2018

Josef Siebert
Digital Transformation Summit, July 25th in Minneapolis

Josef Siebert
Putting the “Silicon” in Silicon Lakes

Pradip Madan
Digital Manufacturing and Logistics

Josef Siebert
May: Team Genius, IoT, and the Future of Everything

Pradip Madan
IoT 3.0

Great North Ventures
Healthcare Innovation

James DonFrancesco
Great North Labs Newsletter – December 2017

Rob Weber
A Letter To My Younger Self

James DonFrancesco
Great North Labs Newsletter

Ryan Weber
Great North Labs Featured on Tech.mn

James DonFrancesco
Great North Labs Featured in St Cloud Times

James DonFrancesco
Great North Labs – Featured on BizJournals.com

Ryan Weber