We’re enjoying a boost of youthful entrepreneurial energy at CoCo this week thanks to students from AchieveMpls and the Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) team, including special guest Evan Rowe (a STEP-UP graduate).

75 high school students from the STEP-UP Program packed the coworking deck Saturday to use technology to solve real world problems.

A beautiful breakfast spread from Chowgirls catering greeted the students, while the GFE team kicked things off with a game of “human bingo.” But the games didn’t last long. Participants broke into groups to pick an issue to tackle in the afternoon break-out session. Challenges du jour: obesity, gang violence and bullying. Group members sparred with personal stories and observations from their neighborhoods before casting votes.

The GFE team shared insights from their driverless car and glasses to kick-start a conversation about innovation before leading a panel of local business leaders for a Q&A lighting round.

The breakout strategy sessions were just as lively. CoCo members donated their time and expertise facilitating small groups competing in a battle royale for the entrepreneurs-in-training title belt.

“The quiet students had some of the best ideas,” one member volunteer told me. “Holding space at the table for everyone was a big challenge.” Meanwhile the students seemed right at home in front of a whiteboard or on stage presenting their strategies to the panel of judges.

You never know if it’s your turn to learn or lead around here. These students reminded us to do both at the same time!

More event photos

Wednesday, May 1st: Google Developers Group Twin Cities // An Introduction to Angular JS // Presenter: Richard Johnson, Co-Founder and President, Goal Designs Inc
AngularJS is an open-source JavaScript MVC framework developed by Google. Why are web developers clamoring to learn about this powerful framework that reduces the burden of server-side services and produces lighter client-side apps? This presentation will introduce Angular, its design implications as it relates to enabling better UI and business logic design, modular client-side code development and improved testability.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Thursday, May 2nd: House of Genius
The goal of House of Genius is to assemble brilliant, diverse groups of people to focus their collective creativity and experience to explore, discuss and solve important problems. We hold evening sessions once a month in cities around the world. We bring together a group of 15-18 wide-ranging minds and three business presenters.  The three presenters share their business and a key problem they are facing in rapid-fire fashion. Next, each attendee offers questions, insights, suggestions, or introductions that may assist the presenter. The true “genius” is in the collaboration – you’ll be amazed at the power of thinking that is evoked from the structure of the sessions and the synergetic format.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Friday, May 3rd: GFE HAPPY HOUR
Google for Entrepreneurs is hosting a happy hour at CoCo and you’re invited. Come celebrate the Twin Cities startup and tech scene with us! Steve Grove (G+) and Mary Grove (GFE) will be on hand, as well as some Googlers who are flying in for Saturday’s STEP-UP Entrepreneurs Training Day. Drinks and light appetizers will be provided.
RSVP HERE

Saturday, May 4th: GFE StepUp Achieve Event
CoCo, STEP-UP AchieveMpls, and Google are teaming up! Join us for a one-day Google for Entrepreneurs “entrepreneur-in-training” program for students participating in the Minneapolis Step-Up Program. The purpose of the day is to prepare students for their summer employment at small businesses in Minneapolis by equipping students with the knowledge and tools necessary to help them effectively think through problems, and create a business plan from scratch to solve real world challenges. CoCo members are cordially invited to the “PITCH COMPETITION” portion of the day from 2PM – 4PM at CoCo Minneapolis.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ACHIEVEMPLS 

Monday, May 6th: HealthcareMN // Startup Traction with Med. Professionals & Tech Opportunities from Health Reform
This month, Justin Anderson will be talking about how he successfully gained user traction with G9MD.net, a Minnesota based social business platform for medical professionals, healthcare systems, and the healthcare industry. For the second half of our event, Steve Parente will be giving us an overview of the changing healthcare legislation, and what that means for health tech entrepreneurs.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Monday, May 13th: RailsMN // Building OpenCamp (a project management tool) Learning Series
Monthly sessions to help you get started building a real Ruby on Rails web application while learning best practices and fundamental web development concepts. Each session in the series will build on the previous session.
Each session will take place in three parts: an introductory lesson, a group coding workshop and an ‘advanced topics’ presentation. We’ll aim to provide documentation and tutorials to go along with our sessions, so newcomers can catch up and dive right in.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Tuesday, May 14th: Gray Plant Mooty’s Wise Counsel Series // Don’t Be Bored About Your Board
Effective use of Boards (Board of Governors, Board of Directors, Advisory Boards) is one of the most important ways to increase your likelihood of success in business.  At this session, some veteran entrepreneurial attorneys from Gray Plant Mooty plan to discuss: Types of Boards, Importance of Boards, Board composition, Compensation of Board members, and Ways to attract Board members. This is event is FREE for CoCo members and $25.00 for non-members.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Monday, May 20th: Black Box Event // UX, SEO, and Design Integration Best Practices Workshop
Since the Penguin and Panda algorithms have created a stir in the development and marketing of websites, UX, SEO, and Front-End Development are more interconnected than ever. This round-table is to help individual entrepreneurs and web development and marketing firms ideate for integrated development plans. Since this is a round-table, the goal will be to create dialog to break down barriers between the UX/UI/IA Designers, SEO Specialists, Marketing Specialists, Visual Designers, Copywriters, and Front End Web Developers to understand and discuss Best Practices involving Design Thinking.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Thursday, May 23rd: Tech(dot)MN’s Capital Call Monthly #7 with Andrew Kamin-Lyndgaard & David Dalvey
Join TECHdotMN, tech entrepreneur Andrew Kamin-Lyndgaard and venture capitalist David Dalvey for the seventh Capital Call on Thursday, May 23rd, from 6-8pm at CoCo Minneapolis. Created specifically for Minnesota tech entrepreneurs actively fundraising this gathering will be an intimate experience focused on one thing: money.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Thursday, May 30th: Pine & Gilmore’s “How to Mass Customize Your Offerings” hosted by Joe Pine
Did you know mass customizing a good automatically turns it into service? And mass customizing a service automatically turns it into an experience? It is the great antidote to the forces of commoditization that drag you down year after year. When you design an offering that is customized to each particular consumer (or business customer), it cannot help but differentiate yourself, making your offering – and your customer relationship – unique. Drawing from over twenty years of research, consulting, and writing, Joe Pine will show you how to determine where to best customize by mapping where your customers most sacrifice – settle for something other than what they want exactly.  You will also learn the power of modularity for efficiently serving customers uniquely, how to deploy four different kinds of customization, and  how to keep your customers coming back to you whenever they are in the market for what you offer. If you’re worried about commoditization or simply seek to provide greater customer value – and therefore greater economic value to your company – participate in this final How-To workshop.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

CoCo is working with the Carlson Ventures Enterprise (CVE) at the University of Minnesota to 

The Carlson Resource Desk will be staffed by full-time MBA students from Carlson School of Management, who will offer a wide variety of services in-person and via email to CoCo members , with a turnaround time of approximately one week. Some examples of services include:

• Market sizing
• Demographic information
• Consumer insights
• Market segmentation
• Competitor analysis
• Assistance with financial models
• Assessment of tax incentives and policy influences on business

The Carlson Resource Desk Associates will hold roundtable conversations at CoCo Minneapolis to field questions regarding projects and learn more about what services CoCo members will need. Roundtable dates/times:

• Tuesday, April 9: 12 – 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, April 10: 9 – 11 a.m.

A four-week long pilot program will begin on April 9, in which services will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis for a limited number of projects. During this launch period, each CoCo member will have access to three hours, sponsored by Carlson and CoCo, after which members will be charged $20/hour.

Carlson Resource Desk hours of operation:

• Tuesdays  12 – 3 p.m.
• Wednesdays  9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Fridays  9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

> Request project services online

Email questions and project request forms to: uofm@cocomsp.com

Sat., April 27
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
CoCo Minneapolis

How’s business? Got all the clients you want? Making as much money as you need? How’s your work life/balance?

If you’re not satisfied with your solo practice (guess what: you’re not alone!), then have we got an event for you!

SoloCamp is a one-day conference focused on improving business skills and learning new tools. Think of it as a shot of adrenalin for your solo practice, whether you’re a designer, programmer, writer or consultant.

Like a regular conference, there are some pre-planned sessions on a variety of important topics, taught by seasoned freelancers and business owners. But it’s also an unconference, which means we’ve got room for sessions that can be suggested and even run by you! (We’ll tell you more about that after you register.)

Pre-planned sessions include:

• The basics (and not-so basics) of marketing yourself  How and where to tell your story
• Using social media to promote your business
• Online marketing 101  An overview of what’s possible with SEO, PPC, Re-marketing, Authorship Pages, Video and Conversion Optimization (applicable to yours or your clients’ business)
• Stop leaving money on the table!  Ideas on how to earn more from your projects and client relationships.
• Business 101 for freelancers  Tons of practical advice on incorporation, taxes, banking, insurance, partnerships, positioning, etc.
• Portfolio sites  Comparing portfolio platforms, with input from other freelancers
• Designer tech  A review of essential tools
• Working alone sucks!  An intro to more collaborative ways of working

Schedule:

• 9 – 10 a.m. – Coffee/rolls, socializing, orientation to unconference format
• 10 – 11 a.m. – Sessions
• 11 a.m. – Noon – Sessions
• Noon – 1 p.m. – Lunch (included)
• 1 – 2 p.m. – Sessions
• 2 – 3 p.m. – Sessions
• 3 p.m. – Optional tours of CoCo & Design Works

Brought to you by:

• AIGA Minnesota
• Navitor
• CoCo

UPCOMING APRIL EVENTS:

Monday, April 1st: HealthcareMN
How Healthcare Startups can Pilot w/Large Health Systems” Panel
One of the biggest challenges that healthcare entrepreneurs face is finding customers to pilot their product with. At our last meetup we established the need for our health systems to be more tech-startup friendly. To continue the conversation, Jon Pearce will be talking about how you can connect with large healthcare providers in the Twin Cities to test your product.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Tuesday, April 2nd: Android Users Group
We’ve got a great night of content lined up starting with +Adam Grocholski  from Microsoft who will introduce us to the new Azure Mobile Services and their Android SDK. Learn how this turnkey backend solution can easily give you a scalable and secure hosted backend with structured storage, user authentication and push notifications within minutes.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Thursday, April 4th: Pine & Gilmore’s How-To Workshop Series
How to Create a Sense of Place // Hosted by Joe Pine
How does Starbucks get away with charging over $3 for less than 3¢ worth of coffee beans? It’s the primacy of place. How did Apple become the #1 retailer in the world? It’s the power of place. How do ING Direct Cafes generate infinite ROI? It’s the profitability of place. In this session Joe Pine shows you how to create places where guests can experience who you are – and thereby have them perceive you as authentic – and where you can also generate great demand for your core offerings, whatever they might be.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Monday, April 8th: RailsMN
Building Freecamp (a project management tool) – A Learning Series
As we kick off our first meetup as part of the Google for Entrepreneurs at CoCo program we will have monthly sessions to help you get started building a real Rails app and learn best practices and fundamental web development concepts. Each session in the series will build on the previous session.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Monday, April 15th: PR For Startups
You’ve been hard at work building your business and want to get the word out, but how do you actually get media attention? Learn how you can build some buzz without hiring a PR firm–or making the same mistakes they do. We’ll discuss some unconventional ways to get your name in print, build relationships with writers and editors, create an individualized media strategy, and save a whole lot of time in the process. We’ll also bust some myths about what you can expect as a result of media coverage.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION 

Monday, April 15th: Black Box Monday event — THIS SLOT STILL OPEN!
In theater, a black box is a space that can be transformed to suit the needs of different types of productions. We’ve used the black box idea to describe what will be happening on Monday nights at CoCo. As part of the Google for Entrepreneurs event series, we’re opening up our Classroom at CoCo Minenapolis for…whatever the tech startup community wants. Classes, meetups, demos, lightning talks  – it’s all fair game.
SUBMIT YOUR IDEA 

Monday, April 22nd: Black Box Monday event: Minneapolis Quantified Self Meetup
Minneapolis Quantified Self is the local branch for the rapidly growing, global Quantified Self movement (quantifiedself.com)! Quantified Self is a collaboration of users and tool makers who share an interest in self knowledge through self-tracking. We exchange information about our personal projects, the tools we use, tips we’ve gleaned, lessons we’ve learned. We blog, meet face to face, and collaborate online.” Our local Minneapolis group is starting-up again with monthly meetups to share experiences with devices and tools, present interesting ideas or results, demo new products, and just network with other QSers.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

 Saturday, April 27th: Solocamp
Want to improve business skills and learn new tools? Since designers already have resources for creative ideas, your host Navitor—in partnership with CoCo, the coworking business center—is offering a focus on the business, tech, and tool aspect of design. We want designers to walk away with lots of ideas on how to be smarter about the business side of things: marketing, legal, accounting/billing, technology use, etc. Four topic areas and presenters to be announced. Includes lunch and networking opportunities.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Tuesday, April 30th: Fall in Love With Sales April Edition: SALES PROCESSES
No matter what you are selling, you will be more efficient and effective if you have a process. Plus, following a process will provide you with insights about your customers, your product or your pricing that might not be apparent to you. So come prepared to listen and share your experience with effective &/or ineffective sales processes that you have used.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION

In theater, a black box is a space that can be transformed to suit the needs of different types of productions.

We’ve used the black box idea to describe what will be happening on Monday nights at CoCo.

As part of the Google for Entrepreneurs event series, we’re opening up our Classroom at CoCo Minenapolis for…whatever the tech startup community wants.

Classes, meetups, demos, lightning talks  – it’s all fair game. Some of the ideas that have been proposed so far include:

• Investor education
• How *not* to love your startup
• Entrepreneurship & economic development for the rest of MN (Hangout?)
• How and when to pivot
• Coders & Makers meetup
• Google Apps for mere mortals
• “For startups” series
• UI design for startups
• PR for startups
• SEO for startups
• Content marketing for startups
• Finance & accounting for startups
• Strategic partnerships for startups
• Tech marketing for startups

To keep things simple, we’ve set some program parameters:

• Events can happen between 5:30 and 9 p.m.
• Events must be offered to the public for free (this means members and non-members are invited!)
• Registration is required. If you don’t have an existing registration page, we will create one for you via Eventbrite
• Maximum number of attendees is 50 (the room seats 30 with tables and 50 auditorium style)
• Organizers will need to work with CoCo on event logistics prior to the event being posted (you don’t need to be a CoCo member to host a Black Box)

See which Mondays are available: GFE 2013 Event Calendar

FYI, Monday nights will also feature evening coworking (membership required), which will add to the vibe and possibly boost attendance.

So, what do you have in mind?
Submit your idea! We will say yes to most ideas, especially if they have a focus on tech, entrepreneurship, business skills, innovation or community building.

Photo Credit: eschipul via Compfight cc

The big announcement that day was the launch of a Google-sponsored, two-year run of events at CoCo – all geared toward startups and tech. These events will take several forms. You can see them all plotted on one page…or read on.

Big events

The backbone of the year will be several larger scale events, where we can invite lots of people in to share ideas, socialize and develop new ideas and businesses:

• Google for Entrepreneurs Happy Hour (Fri. May 3rd, 2013)  Word on the street is that Google+ will be a hot topic!
• Startup Weekend Twin Cities (Spring & Fall) Already a successful semi-annual event, SWTC will be bringing the party to CoCo.
• Fail Fest (July) A suggestion from one of our members, this evening event will encourage attendees to tell their failure stories and talk about the role of failure in developing character and entrepreneurial skills.
• Google for Entrepreneurs Pitch Event (December) The culmination of the year’s events, in which startups can practice their pitches and vie for special prizes.

So, while we’re waiting for the contractor bids on the sauna, we’d like to roll out the next best thing. 

Starting March 18th, CoCo will be open for evening coworking every Monday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at CoCo Minneapolis.

If you’re already a CoCo member, you’re free to show up or stick around on Mondays.

If you’re not yet a member, say, because you work a day job, all you have to do is get one of our Uno memberships (1 day a week access for $50/mo.) and you can be a Monday night coworking warrior!

Photo Credit: wstryder via Compfight cc

Update 3/5: We’ve posted the 2013 Google For Entrepreneurs at CoCo event calendar. Caveat: it’s not pretty (working on that!), and we’ll do a proper post about the events themselves in the next day or so…

Big ups to our friends and members for offering some great ideas for how we can use the Google for Entrepreneurs program to help boost the number and success rates of local startups. Below are most* of the ideas that have submitted as potential events that could be included in the Google for Entrepreneurs program at CoCo. We’re still taking contributions, so feel free to chip in!

Failure Fest
“Have a failure fest event. My clients have always learned more from other startup stories of failure (what not to do ) than success! Have folks of all industries discuss failures and what they learned. “

Mobile Camp
“A weekend long event to help small businesses and organizations to onto and innovate within mobile.”

The Language of Programming
“Host an event that explores how dynamic this workforce development tool can be. Connect with High Schools and Colleges and administration to re-brand the language of programming. That it is an actual language and will prepare you for so many opportunities.”

Investor education
“Educate our angel investors or wannabe angel investors on what it takes to be successful investing in consumer web companies. ALSO, I want our big companies like Best Buy, Target, General Mills, Wells Fargo, etc. to help the ecosystem with investments in startups, and to help themselves innovate.

The biggest wall to the tech startup ecosystem in Minnesota is our Scandinavian DNA. An incredible risk aversion wrapped into nice time capsule and buried by the dotcom bust back in 2000. Those with means in Minnesota made it via med-tech, working for a corporation, or a mom & pop lifestyle business. This is slowly changing, but even our angel groups still require a 40 page business plan, and the first questions to entrepreneurs will be how we arrived at our five year projections.

I want these angel investors to know what makes a consumer web company successful. Just as importantly, I want them to know and build confidence in the PROCESS of building a tech startup ala Steve Blank as adopted by the Valley is a search for a business model. Lastly, I want them to understand that over zealous deal terms hurt the prospects of success and follow on financing just as much if not more than any weakness in the business plan. They don’t understand the financing series.

Moreover, companies in Silicon Valley actively seek out startups to help them innovate. And while there are exceptions, most understand that nurturing a startup and potentially buying them out once they have found a model is infinitely more valuable than stealing the idea for themselves and executing on it poorly. So, I want to bring big Minnesota companies in to the mix as well.”

Service design day
“Innovation in service design if often missed as a big area of need and opportunity. Many of Minnesota’s most interesting companies and startups often have more to do with service design innovation than product design – Optum health or W3i.com for example.”

Startup failures
“I really enjoyed the idea of having a conference exclusively focused on failing in startups. Failure, while regularly discussed in silicon valley is not often discussed in Minnesota. I believe part of this has to being ‘MN nice,’ making a lot of people refrain from discussing their hardships.

Startups fail all the time in MN, it should be discussed so it is no longer stigmatized and we learn. As well as empower people to not be afraid of failure.”

Using Google tools for working in the Cloud
“My business helps people to use the tools that Google provides to work in the Cloud. Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, etc. I’d be happy to share about how to use Google Apps to work in the cloud.”

JavaScript
“JavaScript tutors or discussions because there is alot of books and tutorial resources but no humans helping this trivial cause.”

Entrepreneurs & Hackers
“I think there should be weekly meetups focused on hacking and having these entreprenuers see how developers work. There needs to be more intermingling of developers and entreprenuers with ideas!”

Ruby on Rails
“I want to teach people Ruby on Rails and build a strong community of technologists that can support our budding entrepreneurial ecosystem build awesome businesses. There is a trend of technologists in Minneapolis being strong in technologies like Java and .NET but not a lot of talent in web development. From what I understand, entrepreneurs in Minneapolis have been contracting out web development to talent outside of the cities and this is unfortunate. I would like to host meetups, bootcamps, etc in order to teach, mentor and build a community of Ruby on Rails developers that can support our budding entrepreneurial ecosystem. I’ve already started with some partners (www.rails.mn), but support from both CoCo and others would be more than beneficial.“ 

How not to LOVE your startup
“Over the past couple years of my career I have owned, consulted, mentored, and advise small business and startups. I have seen business leaders succeed, stumble, and fail.

Infatuated with why startups and small business stumble and fail I started to look for the patterns. Finding the relevance that most startups and small business owners are drunk love with their business. So drunk love that they are unable to hear, see, and listen to mentors, facts, and results. Sometimes the best thing for a startup business owner to do is to realize that they are not married to their business but they are working for it.

Take a session to explain what successful patterns of a smart startup culture looks like. Review successful patterns of owners that hold them accountable to their goals and company standards they have set. Show the importance developing and building your health structure in your startup. Show how not falling in love and remaining in fatuated made be the best thing you can do for success.”

Entrepreneurship & economic development for the rest of MN
“Reach out to those of us outside of the metro area that are working with entrepreneurs or are helping to create a culture of entrepreneurship. Oh, that might be another good one- how in the world can we help those leaders that are still tied to “traditional’ economic development tools understand how entrepreneurship is way better.”

Best of Community Innovation Tools - A Continuing Series Highlighting Entrepreneurial Tools
“In order to boost entrepreneurship in Minnesota by leveraging technology and startups, I think we should have a resource highlighting the ‘best of innovation tools.’

REASON: Short-Term and Long-Term Sustainability of Community Entrepreneurship/Innovation. In order to ensure that Minnesota is able to develop the short-term and long-term capacity of our communities for innovation, use of technologies, and start-up growth, we need to support creative thinkers and doers to become impactful innovation leaders. We must do this through peer-mentoring, coaching, networking, facilitating problem-solving and resource sharing, educational opportunities (e.g. seminars, workshops, conferences, courses), plus celebrating successes. We must be a community for innovation that is made up of 1) new creative thinkers and doers with passion for change; 2) coaches (i.e. successful entrepreneurs/innovators with demonstrated passion and action for change); 3) educational providers (e.g. personal and professional development, universities, colleges, high schools); 4) community institutions (e.g. educational, civic, commercial, entrepreneurial, public policy); and, 5) the community at large. We need opportunities to support and learn from each other through peer-mentoring; support and learn from successful entrepreneurs/innovators through coaching; address our problems by gaining awareness and receiving support from others in our community (e.g. potential partners/collaborators; vendors/solution providers; angels and venture capitalists; public policy makers; clients/customers; etc.); plus learn about best practices, emerging trends, and personal/professional development from educational providers.”

Creative content collaborative
“Content marketing is an effective way to build an audience around any cause, from startup companies to non-profit initiatives. It is also challenging, time consumer, and often times requires a lot of resources.

Let’s get together and share ideas on how to create cool engaging content that builds an audience. More importantly, we would actually collaborate on creating the content. I propose that this group meet once a quarter to set the agenda, share outcomes, and organize small groups around individual needs, industries, topics, type of content, etc. These small groups would then create their own plans on how they want to work together and collaborate on creating content.

The goal would be to share resources with each other and assist in the actual creation of cool content like videos, guest blog posts, presentations, webinars, podcasts, etc.  Each person involved would finish the quarter with something either created, started, or planned.”

How and when to pivot
“Once a business gets moving the number of voices with input on what you should be doing as a business explode. It can become difficult to filter through the noise, correctly understand your own business, and be able to understand the opportunities infront of you.

To pivot or not to pivot is a heavy question with substancial consequences. It might mean declining a substancial opportunity or revenue stream, or it could mean throwing away 6+ months of work. Yet nearly every startup will pivot multiple times before gaining traction their sweet spot.”

UX, SEO, and Design Integration Best Practice Workshops:
“Since the Penguin and Panda updates have created a stir in the development and marketing of websites, the three concepts are more interconnected than ever. Help individual entrepreneurs and web development and marketing firms create integrated development plans. Create dialog to break down barriers between the UX/IA Designers, SEO Specialists and Copywriters, Front End Web Developers, and Marketing Departments through integrated strategies involving Holistic and Design Thinking.”

More ideas are welcome and will be added to this page.

*Some submissions were either indecipherable or outright solicitations.

Cover photo Credit: anieto2k via Compfightcc