Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Towards a New Beer City

“I think it’s very real, it’s here to stay. We’re on the cusp of a movement here and I think we’ll probably replicate what Portland or Denver have in terms of 80 or 90 craft breweries.” – Peter Remes, president First & First.

Last week Tom Elko and I went to Stouts Pub for beers. We did a tasting tour of Minnesota craft breweries:

Congrats to Minneapolis and Minnesota for having a so many delicious beer options that aren’t Summit – or even Surly. What a difference a few years and a few legislative changes can make.

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Thursday, 19 May 2011

First Crack #127. A Guitar, Bass, Electric Trumpet, and Bryan Schumann

Bryan Schumann and I talk about composing music, improvising music, and whether the classical guitar pairs better with an upright bass or an electric trumpet.

Bryan Schumann’s links:
Beznau Music Shop
http://www.beznau.com/bddschumann
http://www.myspace.com/bddschumann
DeSchuVoemann

Listen to A Guitar, Bass, Electric Trumpet, and Bryan Schumann. [27 min]

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Minnebar to the Stone Arch .5k

On Saturday, I ran down to Best Buy Corporate HQ to present a session on ‘Do Not Track’ and one on Font Pairings at Minnebar 6

Then after grabbing a quick slice of pizza, I caught the first annual Stone Arch .5k race.

Yes – .5k. From the north end of the Stone Arch bridge to the front door of the Aster cafe.

Both events were not to be missed – and I’m glad I was able to make both. I spent the whole day smiling and laughing harder and longer than I have in quite some time.

For the goofy enthusiasm and community-building nature of both are why I love Minneapolis so much.

Additionally – I didn’t even need to change my clothes in-between.

Here’s me attempting to make font pairings interesting:

Here’s me attempting to make the .5k interesting:

Monday, 11 April 2011

First Crack #126. Hardware Startups with Matt Bauer

PedalBrain‘s Matt Bauer and I talk about the challenges, capital requirements, and multi-year timelines inherent in bringing a retail hardware product to market.

He talks about the recent epiphany he had with PedalBrain and how that enlightenment has helped him through these challenges.

Listen to Hardware Startups with Matt Bauer. [31 min]

Friday, 8 January 2010

Friday, 18 December 2009

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Thursday, 12 November 2009

New$$

I grabbed a coffee with Matt Thompson last week to catch up.

Since then – something he said about the challenges of financing news organizations kept rolling through my head. I’m paraphrasing: ‘pick the website of a major news organization – look at the headlines and stories – which ones will you pay for?’

That’s the problem.

He expands on the idea in this transcript from his talk at the Twin Cities Media Alliance.

“…of course people pay four bucks for a cup of coffee. They can’t imagine getting through a day without it. The product is that valuable to them. When [news organizations are] producing something so consistently valuable our communities can’t imagine going a day without it, I suspect we’ll be able to feed ourselves.” – Matt Thompson

Thursday, 12 March 2009

Twin Cities Co-Working Conversation Re-Ignited


UPDATE 27 May 2009
New url for this effort: TwinCitiesCoWorking.org

Earlier this week, I had a fairly thorough conversation with a St. Paul-based serial entrepreneur exploring starting a co-working business.

I’ve been writing about the “co-working” / “work club” concept off and on for a while now (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Bonus) and there hasn’t been any blips on my radar for more than a year. So, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him.

The notion of having access a low-cost office-y space with some of the amenities of ‘bigger’ offices is attractive. Unfortunately – like flying cars and carbon trading markets – there are a number of reasons why it hasn’t caught on. Some of those reasons are obvious (Herman Miller decor) others are less so (How is it different than Kopplin’s?).

In one of my earlier posts, I talked about these third places as transitional places.

“The third workplace is inherently a transitional place – a place to go until. Until the home office is renovated. Until the go-to-the-office habit is kicked.”

I predict 2009 and 2010 will be banner years for small business starts and a transitional space is exactly what these new entrepreneurs need.

If you’ve got interest in or experience with a temporary, shared office space, leave a comment or drop me a line.