First Crack 84. Rich Huelskamp on Making an Energy Efficient Home

Rich Huelskamp built a 100% off-grid, renewable-energy home down in Red Wing, MN. He and I talk about how he got his home down from the average 25kWh/day to 6. Along the way, he goes through the steps to making a urban/suburban home more efficient. If you’re looking to replace your home’s appliances, Rich recommends …

First Crack 83. Chris Dykstra, Zanby, and Social Networking

As part of my ongoing effort to highlight Minnesota-based internet startups, Chris Dykstra and I talk about the strengths and weakness of various social networks (evite, yahoo groups, meetup, linkedin), and how his Zanby is aiming to solve them. Namely – how a single person easily manage dozen of disparate and related groups. Listen to …

PodcastMN Live to Hard Drive June 2006

Tonight, PodcastMN was at the Acadia Cafe for the inaugural PodcastMN Live to Hard Drive event. The line up included: Mostly Trivial with Johnee Bee Winecast with Tim Elliott (Winecast 66) Klingon Word from the Word with Joel Anderson (‘Amen’ – Live) Creot Radio with Alissa Barthel Cinema Playground with James Gagliardi (Cinema Rant Screen …

First Crack 81. Omar Ansari Talks Surly Beer

Fewer than 6 months after seling the first keg of Surly Beer, Omar Ansari and I talk about starting a microbrewery in Minnesota. He shares the challenges of finding brewing equipment, zoning, and getting Surly into local bars and restaurants. We also do a live tasting of Surly’s new Belgian Saison-esque CynicAle Listen to Omar …

First Crack 78. The Trouble with Business Models

As I promised, here’s the second half of my conversation with J Wynia on geeky stuff. (The first half is at GlassTooBig.com) Here, we talk about making money, keeping overhead low, income diversification, and making sure an idea needs a business model. Inspiring our Conversation Gillmor Gang Hugh MacLeod Jonathan Coulton’s Thing a Week 37Signals’ …