Welcome to our last newsletter of 2020. It’s been a challenging year. We feel fortunate that the local early-stage startup scene has remained strong, and believe that investment in innovation and digital transformation will help fuel the post-pandemic economic recovery.
In 2020 Great North Labs invested a total of $5.8M, adding 14 startups to our portfolio for a total of 23. Most of the remaining capital in Fund I is allocated for follow on investing. That won’t slow us down with backing new startups as we intend to continue investing in new companies out of new funds.
Before we look forward to new investing and ring the new year, let’s take a look at the top stories of 2020 for Great North Labs. These are the topics we wrote about that resonated the most with our audience.
Top 5 Stories of 2020
1. COVID-19
The pandemic has forced sweeping changes around the world. We wrote about legislation that can spurn the economy to recovery and the increasing speed of digital transformation driving value creation in tech companies and the Midwest. We also tracked trends, curated startup resources for entrepreneurs, and encouraged giving to support local nonprofits in the tech and startup community.
2. Capacity Building
As the startup ecosystem grows, with it grows the capacity to produce breakout startups. Those startups drive economic value creation, economic activity, and job creation. This year we laid out the cash and equity, time and effort donated, re-affirming the commitment laid out in our Founders Pledge and our give-first mentality.
3. Resilient Startups
Startups have to be capital efficient and nimble to survive a downturn. The Midwest in general is know for capital efficiency and the grit required. We dug up a list of resilient startups in Minnesota that not only survived, but thrived after coming through a recession. We also pointed out how to spot a good consumer app startup, and paired with CliftonLarsonAllen to explain how investors may be able to get 100% capital gains exclusion by investing in these startups as angels or through venture funds.
4. George Floyd
The American Dream is one of a meritocracy, where those who work hard and well are rewarded. This dream is still not a reality for many Americans who face systemic inequities. BIPOC individuals face economic deprivation due to these inequities, which have profound and compounding effects. The events surrounding the death of George Floyd drove home the fact that we need to continue to work to provide equitable opportunities for success through charitable giving, training, and mentorship, and track progress in the number of founders we see.
5. 2020 World Economic Forum
Great North Labs was honored to be invited to the 50th Anniversary World Economic Forum in Davos back in January of 2020. Managing Partner Pradip Madan spoke about our investment thesis, digital transformation, and increasing innovation in the private and public sector in front of leaders from around the world and appeared on CNN Money in Switzerland. Pradip also hosted roundtable discussions on “Business models and strategies that will hallmark the next phase of global economic transformation” with The Digital Economist, and participated as a sponsor for the International Women Business Leaders Reception.
Launch MN Expert Exchange
Launch Minnesota has put out a call for mentors and experts to join their Expert Exchange. “The Minnesota Expert Network is a statewide program to help entrepreneurs find the right support and bring avenues for engagement, networking, and project development for startups at different stages of growth.”
Interested subject matter experts, project supporters, and business mentors can find more information here.
Events
Here is a mix of upcoming events for investors, founders, and/or ecosystem supporters. All events listed are virtual.
- Jan. 12th, the BETA Spring Cohort application opens.
- Jan. 22nd, application deadline for Developing Your Lean Startup. This is the Lean Startup School cohort with Red Wing Ignite and ILT Academy from Feb. 6th through April 1st.
- Jan. 22nd, LaunchMN Friday Forum.
- Deadline TBD, gBeta Greater MN-St. Cloud Spring Cohort. The application is now open for the accelerator program, which will run from Mar. 4th through April 23rd.
- Feb. 25th, BETA State of the State. The event is “a tight, informative download on Minnesota’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Brief updates will be shared by founders, community leaders, and regional thought leaders to provide a comprehensive overview of the area’s most exciting activities.”
Portfolio News
iraLogix is new to the Great North Labs portfolio! iraLogix is an advanced, institutional IRA record-keeping and trading technology offering web-based institutional IRA record-keeping services. We led a $7.5M round that included Circadian Ventures, Trog Hawley Capital, and Riverfront Ventures.
“We needed a Plan B.” PartySlate, the visual platform for event planning, has moved into virtual events.
“Plyo App Inspires Active Lifestyles.” Plyo is partnering with Big Ten Schools to promote active lifestyles.
“Study: Work From Home Transitioning Resident Amenity Needs at Apartment Communities.” PrintWithMe has expanded their self-service printer service to 49 states, while a study confirms that their service is an in-demand amenity for those who work from home in an apartment building.
Job Board
Dispatch is hiring a Product Marketing Content Creator, and a Senior Ruby on Rails Developer for Remote work.
FactoryFix is hiring a Team Lead – Full Stack Developer, Full Stack Developer, and Infrastructure Developer- DevOps in Madison, WI; and a Sales Development Representative in Chicago, IL, Indianapolis, IN, or Madison, WI.
TeamGenius is hiring a Customer Success Manager, and Lead Engineer-Mobile Development based in Minneapolis, MN.
PrintWithMe is hiring Customer Support Reps in Houston, TX and Washington, D.C. Regional Sales Directors for East Coast, South Central, and South East regions; Director, Demand Generation, Operations Lead, and a Winter 2021 MBA Strategy Intern in Chicago, IL.
Parallax is hiring an Experienced Product Designer in Edina, MN.
Branch is hiring a Senior iOS Engineer and Android Engineer for remote work. Also a Consumer Marketing Manager, Account Executive (Mid-Market), and Channel Sales Manager in Minneapolis, MN.
Inhabitr is hiring a Chief Growth Officer/Head of B2C Growth, Digital Marketing Lead, Operations and technology Associate, Operations Manager – B2B, and a Sales and Customer Experience Associate in Chicago, IL. Also, Product and Technology Associates in Miami, FL, Los Angeles, CA, Austin, TX, Dallas, TX, and Phoenix, AZ; a Junior Interior Designer in Los Angeles, CA, and a Product Manager in Alpharetta, GA.
Clinician Nexus is hiring a Customer Success Manager in Minneapolis, MN.
NoiseAware is hiring a VP of Marketing, a QA Technician (independent contractor), Senior Director of Software Engineering, People Operations Generalist, Account Manager, and a Customer Advocate in Dallas, TX.
Last month we wrote about the history of local startups that were formed during a recession and went on to success, including local unicorn Jamf. The conversation quickly turned to what that means for founders and investors.
Starting Up in a Downturn
The idea is that while many startups are beat down by strong headwinds, those that are resilient and adapt to stay aloft are better-positioned to take off post-recession. The local, successful startups that have come out of downturns offer compelling evidence to support this idea proposed by Rob Weber.
Lee Schafer delved into the topic in his Star Tribune article, “Can a downturn actually be the right time to start a business?” and spoke with Scott Burns, CEO of Structural and former CEO of GovDelivery.
Scott agrees that it’s probably true that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, but he doesn’t think that it’s better to start in a recession. Specifically, he laments the opportunities lost that he didn’t pursue when they presented themselves.
“When CEO of GovDelivery during trying times, he said, ‘we were so beat up we lost our ability to move fast when the opportunities did arrive.’”
Investing During a Downturn
Few people would disagree with Scott that running a startup during a recession is a difficult position. Being a startup founder is incredibly tough even in easy times. But if founders can run lean and stay agile, they might come out of the pressure cooker with a proven, capital-efficient business.
In the Midwest, capital efficiency is already a necessity for startups. We have 10% of US venture-backed startups, but only 5% of funding. For investors, this can mean attractive returns on investments. Specifically, a 5.17x median MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital).
There is opportunity to be found in a recession. The next GovDelivery, NativeX, and Jamf could be out there right now.
The trick is to keep yourself willing and able to move on those opportunities when they arrive.
Events
Here are some interesting upcoming events. They are all virtual.
- Sept. 7-25th is Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW). The biggest annual tech startup event in Minnesota is spread over a month with sessions, networking, and education for founders, investors, and innovation-minded professionals.This is a can’t-miss!
- Sept. 12th- Nov. 17th is Course 03: The Lean Startup. This is Course 3 in the Startup School offering from Great North Labs, ILT Studios, LaunchMN, and Red Wing Ignite. MN Founders, apply by Sept. 2nd to the Southeast MN cohort or the Central MN cohort.
- Sept. 16th is BETA Showcase. The Showcase is a highlight of Twin Cities Startup Week, featuring tech startups from the Fall BETA Cohort as well as Greater Minnesota.
- Sept. 23rd is BETA Backers. Part of Twin Cities Startup Week, BETA Backers is a matchmaking event between Minnesota based startups that are currently fundraising and investors that are looking for companies to invest in.
- Sept. 24th is the Minnesota Startup Awards. Capping off Twin Cities Startup Week is the Minnesota Startup Awards ceremony, co-hosted by TCSW and Tech.MN.
- Oct. 1st, Flyover Tech Fest. This is a Midwest-centric event for tech startups seeking support, development, and funding.
Portfolio News
Allergy Amulet is new to the Great North Labs portfolio! Allergy Amulet is a fast & portable food allergen & ingredient sensor. The wearable device is paired with test strips, and is the world’s smallest & fastest consumer food allergen sensor. Read more at Crunchbase.
“Indeed acquires recruiting process automation platform ZapInfo”. Jobs site Indeed has acquired ZapInfo!
“Misty the robot graces Fierce AI Week in engineering”. Misty demonstrated it’s use as a temperature screening assistant for COVID-19.
“PrintWithMe Announces National Partnership With RangeWater Real Estate”. PrinWithMe has partnered with a manager of 50,000+ multifamily housing units.
“Pitchly completes $2.5 million investment round”. Pitchly has completed a $2.5M capital raise.
Job Board
Dispatch is hiring a Business Development Representative, Data Engineer, and Quality Assurance Engineer in Bloomington, MN; a remote Ruby Developer. They are also hiring Territory Sales Managers in Albuquerque,NM; Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; and Tucson, AZ.
FactoryFix is hiring a Team Lead – Full Stack Developer, Full Stack Developer, and Infrastructure Developer- DevOps in Madison, WI; and a Sales Development Representative in Chicago, IL, Indianapolis, IN, or Madison, WI.
PrintWithMe is hiring a Regional Sales Director on the East Coast; AR/AP Specialist, Inside Sales Executive in Chicago, IL; Customer Service Representative, Marketing Director, and a Fall 2020 Strategy Intern (MBA) for Remote work.
Parallax is hiring a Growth/Experienced Business Development Representative in Minneapolis, MN; Experienced Product Designer, and Head of Customer Success & Product Ownership in Edina, MN.
Branch is hiring a Data Platform Manager, Senior Backend Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Customer Success Manager, Customer Support Rep, and Fraud Agent in Minneapolis, MN.
Inhabitr is hiring a Chief Growth Officer/Head of B2C Growth, and a Sales and Customer Experience Associate in Chicago, IL.
Clinician Nexus is hiring for Customer Support I in Minneapolis, MN.
NoiseAware is hiring a COO, VP of Global Sales & Account Management, Embedded Developer, QA Technician (independent contractor), Account Manager, and a Customer Advocate in Dallas, TX.
Today it was announced that last quarter’s drop in GDP was the second largest ever recorded. Overall US economic output fell by 9.5%. This dire news comes on the heels of fantastic news for the MN tech startup community: the largest IPO from a Minnesota company ever, Jamf’s $468M IPO and $4.7B market cap.
Minnesota’s Resilient Startups
In good times, founding a startup is hard. Being a successful operator is even harder. Add in the challenging times and limited resources of a recession, and you wind up with a pressure cooker that will test teams, products, and people to their limits.
There is a history of successful companies weathering recessions, however. While some startups crumble under the pressure, others become diamonds. We compiled a list of Minnesota’s Resilient Startups to showcase some of our state’s startup successes that not only weathered tough times, but were formed during recessions.
Leveraging Resilient Founders
It’s no coincidence that many of our operating partners appear on that list. We believe that successful founders and operators make the best early stage investors because they’ve had to scale an emerging technology company before. Leveraging that experience to identify, invest in, and support startups is what makes Great North Labs unique compared to most seed funds.
Tech.MN recently interviewed Managing Partner Rob Weber about his own experience as a founder of a NativeX, which was founded in the wake of the dot-com bust. Rob also talks about what led him and Ryan Weber to found Great North Labs.
“For us, I have gotten to know a lot of other founders in Minnesota and the surrounding region and many of them, either through their business model or whatever, required more early-stage capital than we did. And I heard about how terrible it was for them to raise money the last 10-20 years.
I just thought, ‘We can do this. We can invest in these companies and we can make money doing so.’
And that’s what compelled me to write checks. It was almost a feeling of obligation. We got a little bit of capital, and great mentorship, from these guys from Silicon Valley and I just thought, ‘We could do this here.’” – Rob Weber
Even with the challenges of a recession, we are positioned to continue contributing to a cycle of growth. We continue to build capacity in the innovation ecosystem by cultivating, capitalizing, and contributing to startup successes in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Events
Here are some interesting events rounding out the summer lineup.
- Aug. 5th is the 2nd workshop for the Startup Course 01 – St. Cloud Location series. This is a reminder for all students who began the series on July 29th!
- Aug. 6th, 2020 Drive-in Double Feature: Minnedemo34 + OnRamp Insurance Accelerator Premiere Night. Attend this event at the MN State Fairgounds, Pizza Luce, or virtually. Featuring the OnRamp Insurance Accelerator’s 5-company pitch event, plus Minnedemo presentations, and music.
- Aug. 12th is the virtual OnRamp Healthcare Conference. “The conference highlights innovations disrupting health care and the future of medicine, the health care leaders making such innovations possible and how new technologies and business models will reinvent the industry.”
- Aug. 13-20th is ForwardFest in Madison, WI. This year’s event is virtual and free.“Join fellow entrepreneurs, nerds, geeks, hackers, foodies, and creatives from the Midwest in an 8-day celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
- Sept. 7 – 25, 2020 is Twin Cities Startup Week. This is the biggest annual tech startup event in Minnesota. 2020’s event is virtual, and will be spread over a month with sessions, networking, and education for founders, investors, and innovation-minded professionals.
Portfolio News
“CCRCs to participate in $3 million test of robots to curb resident loneliness, apathy”– Misty is encouraging social interaction in retirement homes in this study with Misty Robotics.
“The Lowdown on Discounts”– OSU campus publication featuring discounts from Plyo.
“PrintWithMe Announces National Partnership With Invesco Real Estate”– PrintWithMe agreement with 28th largest apartment owner in the US.
“Property risk increases as booking behaviour changes” – Problem trend, with success stories from NoiseAware.
Job Board
Dispatch is hiring a Business Development Representative, Driver Engagement Agent, Inbound Marketing Specialist, Cloud Engineer, Data Engineer, Manager-Software Engineering, Quality Assurance Engineer, Software Engineer, and Support Engineer in Bloomington, MN.
FactoryFix is hiring a Team Lead – Full Stack Developer, Full Stack Developer, and Infrastructure Developer- DevOps in Madison, WI; a Recruiter, Sales Development Representative, and Account Executive in Chicago, IL.
PrintWithMe is hiring a Regional Sales Director on the East Coast; AR/AP Specialist, Inside Sales Executive in Chicago, IL; ; a Software Engineer, Account Manager, and Marketing Director for Remote work.
Parallax is hiring a Growth/Experienced Business Development Representative in Minneapolis, MN.
Branch is hiring a Data Platform Manager, Senior Backend Engineer, and Solutions Engineer in Minneapolis, MN or Remote; and a Customer Success Manager in Minneapolis, MN.
Inhabitr is hiring a Chief Growth Officer/Head of B2C Growth, a Chief Growth Officer/Head of Growth, and a Sales and Customer Experience Associate in Chicago, IL.
NoiseAware is hiring a COO, VP of Global Sales & Account Management, Back-end Developer, QA Technician (independent contractor), Account Manager, and Customer Advocate in Dallas, TX.
There is a history of successful tech companies in Minnesota founded during recessions. These resilient startups didn’t just survive- they proliferated under pressure. Jamf, which recently raised $468M in an IPO, is the largest, latest, and highest-profile example. Jamf was founded in 2002 out of UW-Eau Claire, and is headquartered in Minneapolis. Jamf is now valued at $4.7B.
Looking into startups that were founded during recessions, you wouldn’t expect to find a list of successes. But by digging into public data on Crunchbase and in local publications, a surprising number of successful companies emerged that were started up in during the dot-com bust (2000-01), or the Great Recession (2007-2009).
Here are examples of startups founded during recessions in Minnesota, that found success.
| Company Name | Description | Year Founded, Names of Founders | Exit/Valuation/Funding Raised* |
| ProtoLabs | Automated quoting and manufacturing systems to produce commercial-grade plastic, metal, and liquid silicone rubber parts | 1999 (significant growth in 2000-2001), Larry Lukis | Successful ~$70M IPO in Feb 2012 with a current Market cap of $3.2B |
| Modern Survey | Provider of employee survey services. The company provides employee survey and talent analytics service that enables companies to understand their workforce and drive business performance by creating an aggregated, holistic view of the employee lifecycle— from the candidate experience, new employee onboarding to engagement, and exit interviews. | 1999 (significant growth in 2000-2001), Don MacPherson and Patrick Riley | Acquired by Aon Hewitt in Feb 2016. Terms were not disclosed. |
| NativeX (aka W3i and Freeze.com) | PC publishing platform and mobile content and app delivery | 2000, Ryan and Rob Weber | We peaked in 2012 at $70 million in revenue and $10 million in EBITDA, with 170+ total employees. |
| Inbox Dollars | Online rewards club that pays members cash for their online and mobile activities. They reward members for their everyday activities such as reading emails, taking surveys, playing games, and signing up for offers. | 2000, Daren Cotter | Acquired by Prodege in May 2019 for an undisclosed amount |
| Ability Network | Connecting thousands of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, clinics, and tens of thousands of physicians across the country with each other, and with the nation’s largest payer: Medicare. | 2000, Amy Coulter | ABILITY Network was acquired by Inovalon for $1.2B on Mar 7, 2018 |
| GovDelivery | As the number one referrer of traffic to hundreds of government websites, GovDelivery enables public sector organizations to connect with more people and to get those people to take action. | 2000, Scott Burns | GovDelivery was sold to Vista Equity Partners in a $153 million deal in Oct 2016 |
| Code42 | Code42 provides data loss protection, visibility, and recovery solutions. | 2001, Brian Bispala, Matthew Dornquast, Mitch Coopet | Code42 has raised $138M total, through their Series B round in October of 2015 |
| CVRX | Medical device company that develops implantable technology for the treatment of high blood pressure | 2001, Robert Kieval | $340.6M total raised in 8 rounds Most recently raised $93M in a Series G in 2019 |
| Jamf | World leader in macOS and iOS management with offices around the world. They deliver, support and service the solution for Apple management needs in education and business. | 2002, Zach Halmstad | Raised $468M in 2020 IPO. Current Market cap of $4.7B |
| Compellent | Develops and provides enterprise storage software and hardware solutions that automate the movement and management of data | 2002, Phil Soran | Acquired by Dell in 2010 for $820M cash |
| DoApp | Mobile ad network and consumer and business app developer for websites, desktops and mobile devices | 2007, Joe Sriver | Acquired by Newscycle Solutions (Now Naviga) in 2016 for undisclosed amount |
| ZipNosis | Hospital and healthcare company that specializes in online diagnosis and triage, telehealth, and virtual care | 2008, Jon Pearce | Zipnosis has raised $25M in funding total through a Series B round |
| Calabrio | Delivers workforce optimization (WFO) and analytics solutions that elevate the customer experience and drive strategic business growth | 2008, Brett Shockley | Calabrio was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 2016 for $200M |
| SportsEngine | The leading provider of web software and mobile applications for youth, amateur and professional sports | 2008, Carson Kipfer, Greg Blasko, Justin Kaufenberg | Acquired by NBC Sports in 2016 for an undisclosed amount |
| Field Nation | World’s most active Freelancer Management System (FMS) ensuring successful collaborations in today’s rapidly changing world of work. Field Nation enables companies to find, hire and pay contractors anywhere and easily manage their workforce. | 2008, Mynul Khan | Raised a total of $30.2M |
| HomeSpotter (aka Mobile Realty Apps) | Helps brokerages, agents, and MLSs build relationships amongst one another and with clients. Allow agents to collaborate with ease, work on the go, and increase their productivity. Brokerages and MLSs are better equipped to support and retain agents and help grow their businesses. | 2009, Aaron Kardell | HomeSpotter has raised $3.9M in funding |
You can see that I’m on this list with my brother, Ryan Weber, with our former company NativeX. Several other founders from this list are people we have recruited as operating partners for Great North Labs, such as Joe Sriver, Carson Kipfer, Mitch Coopet, Brian Bispala, Patrick Riley, and Daren Cotter.
Capital Efficiency and Resilience
Resilient startups and founders find ways to adapt, persist, and succeed in spite of the challenges they face. The startups on this list found success coming out of challenging times with limited capital availability.
Across the entire Midwest, both the quantity and value of early-stage deals went down during the past two recessions. You can see in the chart below that the dot-com bust in the late 90s led funding to drop off a cliff, with a long climb back up hindered by the Great Recession in 2008-2009.
We live in a region where startups have to be capital efficient. We simply don’t have the amount of early-stage capital other regions get. This leads to more competition for capital, and to higher capital-efficiency among startups.
“This is good news for investors, as the returns in the Midwest are more favorable for investors compared to investing in VC in other regions.”
While that means the Midwest’s 10% of VC-backed startups receive under 5% of funding, it also means that the Midwest startups that make it to exit return the highest median multiple on investment (5.17x). This is good news for investors, as the returns in the Midwest are more favorable for investors compared to investing in VC in other regions. But, it puts greater demands on early-stage startup operators, who need to operate in a way where they can maximize their chances of success with the capital available.
How do you Scale Resilience?
Great North Labs’s approach to early-stage investing includes cultivating resilience in the regional startup ecosystem, identifying it in opportunities, and developing it into our portfolio startups.
We cultivate resilience in the startup ecosystem by supporting important organizations with our Founder’s Pledge, and teaching disciplined startup methods through our startup school initiative.
When identifying opportunities and developing resilience in portfolio companies, in addition to our own experience, we include resilient founders with startup success in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest as operating partners. We believe that successful founders and operators make the best early stage investors because they’ve had to scale an emerging technology company before. We also believe that the best way for founders to grow is to learn from the experience of others who have been in their shoes.
By having startup operators who have not only been there before with a startup, but have found a way to thrive coming out of tough times, and have done it all in our region, facing the same regional capital availability issues that persist today, are invaluable when it comes to providing guidance for other early-stage founders in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Using this approach Great North Labs is:
- Building capacity in Minnesota for developing breakout startup opportunities
- Identifying and investing in breakout startups opportunities early on, in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest
- Guiding portfolio companies to success using our operating experience and networks, and the operating experience and networks of our operating partners
Our plan and hope is that after the current recessionary period, we will be able to look back over our portfolio companies and at other Minnesota startups fighting through these times, and add many more to this list of successes.
June Newsletter
Demystifying Startup HR
Head of Finance & Fund Administration- Venture Capital Firm (Remote)
Demystifying Startup HR
3 Portfolio Companies Make Inc. 5000 + Quicklly & Instacart Expand
3 Portfolio Companies Ranked on The Inc. 5000 List
iraLogix closes $22M + Branch expands with Uber
iraLogix closes $22M Series C
Flywheel lands Gates Foundation grant
Venture Capital Analyst
Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda – on Episode 13, “Execution is King”
$40M Fund II Raised!
Eric Martell, Founder of Pear Commerce: Episode 13, Execution is King
Great North Ventures Raises $40 Million Fund II
Investment Thesis: Fund II Strategy
Investment Theme: Community-Driven Applications
Investment Theme: Digital Transformation Through AI
Investment Theme: Solving Labor Problems
Trends in the Gig Economy + Work in the Metaverse
Portfolio raises $125M + talking fundraising with Branch CEO
Omnia Fishing closes $4M round, joins Great North portfolio!
Atif Siddiqi, Founder/CEO of Branch: Episode 11, Execution is King
Michael Martocci, CEO and Founder of SwagUp: Episode 10, Execution is King
Yardstik new to portfolio, closes $8M Series A
First venture studio startup comes out of stealth!
Insights for founders from a data guru, + FactoryFix raises a Series A!
Una Fox: Episode 9, Execution is King
Start With a Mobile App, Not a Website
2ndKitchen acquired by SoftBank-backed REEF + advice from an early Googler
Joe Sriver, 4giving: Episode 8, Execution is King
2ndKitchen Acquired by REEF
Venture studio startup jobs + advice for founders from founders
Best Advice from the Great North Annual Event: Episode 7, Execution is King
Newsletter: Do you fit our investing themes?
Jonathan Treble, PrintWithMe: Episode 6, Execution is King
Anna Mason, Revolution: Episode 5, Execution is King
Mynul Khan, FieldNation: Episode 4, Execution is King
Nick Moran, New Stack Ventures: Episode 3, Execution is King
Molly Pyle, Center on Rural Innovation (CORI): Episode 2, Execution is King
Justin Kaufenberg, Rally Ventures: Execution is King Episode 1
Newsletter: “Podcast Launched: Execution is King!”
“Execution is King” – the Great North Ventures Podcast
Newsletter: Fund II is open for business!
Unlocking the Potential of Anonymized Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Data
Fund II is open for Business!
Mike Schulte Promoted to Venture Partner
New Name + New Venture Studio
Great North Launches Startup Studio
We Don’t Need No [full-time MBA] Education
How the University of Minnesota is Embracing Startup Culture
Top Stories of 2020, iraLogix, and LaunchMN Calls for Mentors
Building Capacity for Innovation
Seizing Opportunity in a Recession, Allergy Amulet, and Twin Cities Startup Week
Recessionary times, a record-setting IPO, and Minnesota’s Resilient Startups
Minnesota's Resilient Startups
July 4th, Equitable American Dream-ing, and Robots Diagnosing COVID
Jumpstart, the Startup School, and Branch Wins a Webby!
COVID-19 Trends, the Great North response, and our Founders Survey
Giving in the Time of Coronavirus
COVID-19 Resources for Startups, State-by-State
COVID-19, the CARES Act, and startups stepping up
New Business Preservation Act
Digital Future Boardroom, PartySlate, and The Lean Startup School
Great North Labs’s Startup Summit 2020
Great North Labs's Startup Summit 2020
World Economic Forum, NoiseAware, and the Startup School reboot
Great North Labs at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos
Top 5 Stories of 2019
Taking the Founders Pledge, Inhabitr, and gBETA Pitch Night
Founders Pledge: Support the Organizations that Support You
BETA Showcase, Greater MN, and Launch MN comes to St. Cloud
7 Places to Spot Us at Startup Week
The Greater MN Meetup, Parallax, and Exponential Medicine
Greater MN at the big show, Neela Mollgaard heads Launch MN, and Misty’s roadtrip.
Talking VC, tech kids, and Forge North’s Horizon
June: Great North Labs’s first fund raised!
May: Innovation Ecosystems, SingularityU Kickoff, and PrintWithMe
April: Minnebar Recap, ZenLord Pro, and Supporting Entrepreneurs
MinneBar 14 Recap
Dispatch and 2ndKitchen claim Tech Madness titles
Minnesota Innovation Collaborative
March: Minnebar, Hockey + Hustlers, and Innovation Workshops
Great North Labs at CES
Dec.-Jan.: Top Posts from 2018, pepr, Glowe, and Misty Robotics
Carried Interest: Top Posts from 2018
Oct.-Nov.: Singularity University, Exponential Tech, and the State of Innovation
July: Pitchly, ForwardFest, and Where to Invest in the Midwest
Digital Transformation Summit, July 25th in Minneapolis
June: Silicon Lakes, FactoryFix, and the Digital Transformation Summit
Putting the “Silicon” in Silicon Lakes
Digital Manufacturing and Logistics
May: Team Genius, IoT, and the Future of Everything
IoT 3.0
Healthcare Innovation
March: Exponential Tech, the “Goldilocks Zone”, and Minnebar 13
February: Team Expansion, Dispatch, and Startup School Events
Great North Labs Newsletter – December 2017
A Letter To My Younger Self
Great North Labs Newsletter
Great North Labs Featured on Tech.mn
Great North Labs Featured in St Cloud Times
Great North Labs – Featured on BizJournals.com
