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Tag: Minnesota (Page 2 of 11)

Exclusive: Robert Stephens Talks About His New Role as CTO of Best Buy

Earlier this week, I sat down for coffee with Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad, to chat about a number of things, and we decided to do an impromptu audio interview.  I realized later it was almost three years to the day when I'd first met Robert, at an event where he was honored as Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2007 Minnesota Cup reception at the University of Minnesota — and I blogged about that, quoting from his great talk. RobertStephens-BestBuyCTO I'd also heard him speak before at other local events, where he's always a favorite. I have much admiration for the man, not just because he's the spiritual leader of 25,000 geeks and has a real passion for technology, but because he's a marketing genius. What's more, he's really funny and entertaining. GeekSquad-logo I also find it fascinating that he began college as an art student, then switched to computer science (coming to the U of M for that, from his native Chicago). I've since seen Robert at many of our local tech "barcamp" events, MInneBar and MinneDemo, for which he and his employer of the last eight years, Best Buy, have provided much support. Hats off to them for that. (As Robert likes to tell it, "Geek Squad acquired Best Buy in 2002.")  

But, this day, I thought it would be a great opportunity to let Robert tell us about the new role I knew he'd recently been promoted to — that of Chief Technology Officer, reporting the CEO of Best Buy.  I knew something was coming, because he hinted so in a meeting with me and my colleague Steve Borsch during the summer.  BestBuy-logo-onstore_300w There was no Best Buy press release announcing his appointment, which I guess is common for them, but I actually confirmed it a few weeks ago when I hit Robert's LinkedIn page. (He told me he didn't want any hoopla around being named to his new role, that he'll be happy to get recognition when he has some results to talk about.)

We recorded a 21-minute interview, where Robert touched on an array of topics.  He talked about technology trends, and how his job is translating those into actionable intelligence for Best Buy.  He spoke about his developing relationships and partnerships with companies like Google and Facebook, and how he really finds Best Buy a dynamic place to work, giving him a "palette, and a canvas." He also tells the inside story about how was first asked to be CTO, involving a trip to New York with CEO Brian Dunn on the company jet to meet with Eric Schmidt of Google. Robert also talks about what motivates him, how he thinks more like a startup guy, but has the unique advantage of such big resources at Best Buy — and the abilily to open doors anywhere. "I have the best job," he says. "I get to travel the world and visit all these companies." He said over the next five to ten years, "we'll be exploiting the four screens." In that regard, he talks in particular about how one of those, TV, is coming into an new exciting phase. "I like sitting on the main chess board," he said.

But let's get to it… 

Download or listen to my complete, unedited interview of Robert Stephens, CTO of Best Buy… (MP3)"

 

How to Run Windows Apps on a Mac – the Easy Way

They say the best blogging is about story-telling. So, let me tell you one of mine — how I came to write this post. First, some background: I run a Windows-free environment, and have for a long time. I put in my time with "Windoz" many years ago, and quickly left it behind. I can't even remember what version of the Mac OS I was using when that happened, but it was several iterations ago, and I upgraded through all those OS upgrades, loving the enhancements every step of the way.  Apple.pngndows_dropshadow There are many reasons I became an Apple fanboy, and have happily stayed that way — but the biggest of them all was simply ease of use, across the whole Mac experience, and the much lower hassle factor all around. I value my time. I don't want to be a computer geek. I just want to get stuff done. Mac fits the bill.

Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I don't have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do — they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just don't (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. I've been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I can't say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there's another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We're not talking a work reason here (I don't think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac — though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS — that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new "GameCenter" in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I don't have a need myself, and I'm certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about "CrossOver Mac," here's why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter.  She's also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I'd help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called "Parallels" and "VMware Fusion," either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think).  And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn't like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month — plus a friend told me Windows doesn't really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another friend said, "Wait, what about Boot Camp? That won't cost you anything." Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk — and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry's here in MN). You can't even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter's Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1 Gig to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2 Gig. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didn't want to do. I thought, wait a minute, we're getting close to $200 here — for something we really don't want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend's tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her I'd gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldn't have to invest any time at all if we went with this option.  Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, we're both happy.

CrossOver-logo Which brings me to the subject of my post: there's a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac — and it might just work for you.  I wish I'd have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money).  It's a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

CrossOver Mac integrates seamlessly with Mac OSX. There's no need to boot a separate Windows partition, or move files back and forth between two separate environments. It lets you work natively in Mac OSX — you run your Windows apps directly in OSX and save all your work files there as well. And here's a key point: running just one operating system means faster performance as well. (Yes, that means better than Parallels and VMware Fusion.) Running on OSX also means that even if you're running virus-prone applications like Outlook and Internet Explorer, you're completely protected. But here's the best thing of all, you need no Windows OS license!  That's right: you don't need spend that additional money; you just pay for the very reasonably priced CrossOver program.

It comes in two versions: Standard at $39.95 and Pro at $69.95, and both are of course downloadable. And, yes, there's a free trial. The system requirements to run CrossOver are really pretty simple.  And check out the list of supported Windows apps near the bottom of the product page — all the major ones you would expect.  But what if you want to use a Windows app that isn't listed in their database? Does that mean that it won't run under CrossOver? Here's what CodeWeavers says: "Not necessarily. Many applications work perfectly under CrossOver without any modification whatsoever. However, we may simply not be aware of them. So, just because an application isn't in our database doesn't mean that your application won't run. You might consider downloading the trial version of CrossOver to see if your application works. And if it does, please consider submitting it so that it makes it into the database." 

For more resources and links on CrossOver Mac, check out this nice video, and the company's online  Support Forums are quite active.  You can also follow CodeWeavers on Facebook or on Twitter.

CodeWeavers-logo I learned at a recent business seminar at my local Apple Store that CrossOver Mac is available in pretty much every one of Apple's stores. You may have to ask a staff member for it, since they may store it in the back room, but it's there, according to James Ramey, the company's head of sales, who gave a talk at the seminar. The title on his business card:  "Minister of Greed"… 🙂 You have to admire a company with some seriously good products, but also a sense of humor — and not afraid to put it out there. Check out this news release they put out a few weeks ago:

CodeWeavers CEO Names Himself "Employee of the Month" for 175th Consecutive Month
Software Developer CodeWeavers Leader Calls Feat "Jack Welchian" as He Awards Himself Honorary Plaque

The only Codeweavers press release funnier than this one was from July of 2009:

Codeweavers to Overtake Microsoft by 2018
Current Sales Trend Indicates Gadfly Open Source Developers Will Be Nation's Largest Provider of Windows Technology; Microsoft Imperiled CodeWeavers Offers to Buy Microsoft Campus "On Credit"

The company manages this unique approach to publicity under the guidance of Minneapolis PR firm Haberman & Associates, one of the best (and most unsung) here in the Twin Cities. As a marketing advisor to tech firms, I take my hat off to them.

And I thank CodeWeavers for helping massive numbers of people (me included) to avoid buying Windows.

(Update:  I neglected to mention that CrossOver Mac is based on the Wine Project. Thank your local Linux geek for that!  Also note that CodeWeavers has two other very popular products: "CrossOver Games" and "CrossOver Linux.")

 

 

Minnesota Mobile Developers Clocking Millions of Downloads

(Note: This post first appeared at Minnov8.com, on May 2, 2010.)

CrowdOfPeople-circle Local developers of apps for mobile devices, especially those
designed for Apple’s platform, are quietly amassing large numbers of
users for their creations, I’ve been learning.

This past week, I thought it would be an interesting little project
for me to do a survey of sorts as the basis for this blog post. What I
did (totally unscientific, I admit) was ask all the Twin Cities-area
mobile developers I happened to know just how many apps they have on the
two major platforms, Apple and Android, and how many users have
downloaded their apps to date.  It turned into a bigger project than I
thought!  It required a lot of back-and-forth emails to clarify all
their current offerings.  But I’ve sorted it all out as best I can, and
you’ll see the results of that survey in the second half of this post.

The two most-experienced mobile app development firms in Minnesota I
have known quite well for some time, having been a consultant to both in
the past: DoApp and CodeMorphic
These two firms began developing for the iPhone platform as soon as
Apple released the SDK in March 2008, and had their first creations in
the App Store from the get-go, in the case of DoApp (July 2008), and
CodeMorphic soon after. So, it was no surprise to me, then, that these
two have the largest numbers of downloads locally. But many more
Minnesota developers jumped in after them, and still are jumping in. In
fact, I learn about a new one almost weekly. Some publish apps in their
own name, some only for clients, and some do both. (For apps developed
for-hire for client companies, developers cannot track ongoing download
numbers in real time — only their clients know, unless they tell them or
otherwise publicize the numbers. But the developers can certainly make
educated guesses, which some of them did for me for my survey.) What
triggered this idea for a post was a news announcement one of the two
big local development firms just put out …

DoApp Inc. Announces One Million Downloads of Its “Mobile
Local News” App

Actually, it’s not one app; there are more than 100 of these DoApp “MLN”
apps out there, because that’s how many customers (media outlets) have
signed up with DoApp to date to use what is really an “app platform.” 
DoApp-Mgmt-250w
It allows DoApp’s customers — TV news stations, newspapers, online
publications, and radio stations — to easily brand the app for
themselves and deliver their content via smart phones and other mobile
devices, including the Apple iPad.  (DoApp has not yet submitted to
Apple an app designed specifically for the iPad, though its many iPhone
apps do work on that new device.)  In its recent announcement, DoApp
counted downloads for all its locally-branded Mobile Local News apps,
including both Apple and Android downloads, in saying they have
surpassed the one million number. The company first made the Mobile Local News
app available in April 2009. For more about all of DoApp’s products,
see the company’s web site.
  (In the photo: Joe Sriver, center, Founder; Wade Beavers, left,
CEO; and Dave Borrillo, VP-Software Development.)
I conducted an
email interview with DoApp founder Joe Sriver to learn more about the
current status of his company’s Mobile Local News app business.

First, here’s a map showing U.S. coverage of DoApp Mobile Local News
apps. For a list of all the
media properties that have the company’s app, see the lower portion of this page.


MobileLocalNews-map Minnov8:
Just out of curiosity, Joe, what percentage
of the one million downloads you’re announcing for Mobile Local News
are iPhone vs. Android?
Sriver: “Currently, the breakdown is about 60/40 in
favor of the iPhone. Android has really been gaining a lot of ground in
the last year. 2010 is a big year for Android.  We are seeing over 49
different brands of Android phones that are tapping our MLN app — a
challenge to maintain.”

Minnov8: How many of your existing customers for
this app offer both iPhone and Android versions? Does our local WCCO-TV,
your first customer, offer both?
Sriver: “Our platform offers the native iPhone and
Android versions for all our media outlet customers — WCCO included. We
will also have a Blackberry WAP version debuting in the next month. 
We’re seeing a new influx of iPad users accessing the news, too, so
let’s just say we will have an iPad solution soon.”

Minnov8: Most all your customers for this app
appear to be TV stations. Are any radio stations or newspapers signed up
yet? Do you expect more of the latter two?
Sriver: “We have been signing newspapers as well.  In
the last few months, we signed Journal Communications, which includes
Milwaukee’s Journal-Sentinel, and the Los Angeles News Group, which
includes several newspapers in the LA area. Our SBT News app serves the
newspaper in South Bend, Indiana.  We have also signed Swift
Communications, whose properties include many newspapers in the western
and northwestern U.S.  With our recent announcements, a flurry of radio
stations are contacting us, and our first radio station app will be out
in the first week of May.”

Minnov8: How much are you seeing media outlets
developing their own custom, native apps for mobile devices — as opposed
to simply skinning your app and configuring it for use with their local
audiences?  What’s the difference in time and money with your approach?
Sriver: “We’ve talked to many media outlets. A few of
them have decided to do development in-house. Many of them call us back a
few months later after they realize all the development requirements
for iPhone and Android. They tell us our Mobile Local News solution is
the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient method to bring their content
to mobile. The money difference is huge for them because its the support
that kills them, and we have a solution that fits to scale.  We’ve done
nine major enhancements in 12 months already, and for a property to do
so is a huge resource drain.  It’s just tough to keep up with
technology.”

Minnov8: How does DoApp Inc. make money from this
app — licensing?  Revenue share? Where does your “Adagogo” ad platform
fit in here?  What portion of your customers for this app have ads
appearing on it?  What revenue do you make from ads that appear on the
app?
Sriver: “We offer a subscription model where stations
can receive 100% of revenue from advertisements, or an advertising
revenue share model, where news organizations pay a small set up fee and
then share advertising revenue with DoApp.”

Minnov8: Are all current customers for the app in
the U.S.? If so, any plans to pursue business in other countries?
Sriver: “Yes, all current news entities who use Mobile
Local News are in the U.S.  We do have plans for news organizations in
other countries. We can support translations right now, and we are
working to reach out to the growing Spanish-speaking consumer market.”

Minnov8: Your original partner for the Mobile Local
News platform was Inergize Digital Media of Minneapolis — and I remember
having the initial discussion with them on your behalf in the fall of
2008. What role do they play? What percentage of the media outlets that
have signed up to use your app were existing customers of theirs?  And
what revenue split does Inergize get from this partnership?
Sriver: “Inergize brought many of their existing
stations who used their web solution to the mobile platform via DoApp’s
Mobile Local News. We’re working to establish other relationships and
also extending our direct model to TV news/radio/newspaper properties. 
The relationship works like this: DoApp provides Inergize’s partner
stations with the DoApp Mobile Local News mobile publishing solution. A
percentage of ad revenue goes to the station or newspaper, Inergize, and
DoApp.”

Minnov8: What does 2010 hold for DoApp? What portion
of your overall revenues do you expect will come from the Mobile Local
News and Adagogo combined?
Sriver: “We will continue to build our base of news
entities who use Mobile Local News.  MLN is the most popular platform
for mobile news delivery in the U.S.  Our Adagogo ad platform is
currently being used on all Mobile Local News apps. We will continue to
grow Adagogo as well. DoApp is also focusing on mobile real estate. We
have created what is arguably the most advanced real estate solution,
combining cost savings capabilities for agents with simplicity for their
clients — allowing mobile access anytime, anywhere via smart phones and
other mobile devices.”

So, what about DoApp’s total stats, for all their apps?  Here are the
numbers I got from Joe:

What is the total number of apps DoApp has had accepted into the
App Store?
iPhone: 125 (all but about 15 are Mobile Local News
apps). Android: 110.
Paid vs. Free? iPhone: 4 are paid apps, the rest are free.
Android: all are free.
What is the total number of downloads of all your apps?
iPhone: 4.5 million. Android: 600,000.  Total= 5.1 million.

So, where do other Minnesota developers stand as far as downloads? 
Well, here’s that unofficial survey of mine, with respondents in
alphabetical order, by company name.  The first happens to be the other
large player in the iPhone market I referred to earlier, who may in fact
have the largest number of downloads of all, although that cannot be
verified:

CodeMorphic
– Bill Heyman, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
50. (All under the names of clients.)
Paid vs. Free? 20 paid, 30 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
CodeMorphic provided a conservative estimate (because its clients have
the download figures): 3-5 million.  The most popular of CodeMorphic’s
apps has been the NPR Public Radio Player, which the firm said had 2.5M
downloads as of two months ago. It also did MPR’s app. Its other popular
apps include the “Smarter Agent” real-estate app. Some national brands
CodeMophic has done apps for do not allow the firm to publicly disclose
them as clients, but these apps have broad reach, too. To see a
selection of some of  CodeMorphic’s apps, see the firm’s portfolio page.)
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None
yet.

Mentormate
– Bjorn Stansvik, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
1 (“MigraineMate”).
Paid vs. Free? Free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
858.
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None
yet. (“LocationMate app to be launched, for both iPhone and Android.”)

Mobile On Services Inc. (BuildAnApp.com) – Scott Pearson, VP-Business
Development

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
22. (“We’re still in beta.”)
Paid vs. Free? All free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
4,000 iPhone, 500 Android. (“Will be a much different story in a couple
of months.”)
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? Yes, 12.

MobileRealtyApps.com,
and Performant Design LLC – Aaron Kardell, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
4. (“Soon to be 5.”)
Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 2 free. (“Soon to be 2 paid, 3 free.”)
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
20,000.
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? No.
(“But coming soon.”)

Mobile
Roots
– Lynn Smith, CEO/Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
5. (Three are under Lynn’s name; two apps were developed by
Mobile Roots for clients: “Margaret for Governor” and “Brazelton for
House.” Two more apps are in development for political candidates.)
Paid vs. Free? 1 paid (“What the Funkytown!” – $0.99), 4 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
3,270.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (“But
releasing our first next week.”)

Recursive
Awesome
– Justin Grammens, Cofounder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
7 public apps in the App Store; also 5 private apps for one
client, which are installed using the limited “AdHoc” distribution
method, whereby each app is manually installed on individual Apple
devices.
Paid vs. Free? 1 paid, 7 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
Estimate provided: 850,000.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Yes, 6 — 1
paid, 5 free, and 1 in private development. Estimated total downloads
for these: 60,000.

Refactr
Ben Edwards, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
2. (“And 2 more submitted.”)
Paid vs. Free? All free to date.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
One app built for Mayo Clinic: download number not known. The firm says
its own app, “Flashbang,” has been downloaded about 20,000 times.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? None yet.

Tiny
Mission
– Bekki Freeman, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
3.
Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 1 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps
to date?
1600.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (But
“working on it as fast as we can type!”).

One thing that occurred to me as I was working on this survey over
the past few days: it isn’t just software development firms that doing
mobile apps — many of those being firms that do development-for-hire,
and some of which are doing self-publishing of their own apps.  But
there are also other types of local firms that are developing their own
apps, some in-house, including startups whose initial product is a
mobile offering, or has a mobile version. One such startup I just
learned about is this one, based in Stillwater:

Nibi
Software
– Troy Peterson, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
1. (“An educational app called Nibipedia, which mashes all
the educational Youtube channels with Wikipedia articles — so that, when
reading an article, the app recommends relevant videos. It also tracks
your research path for you so you can review later. We have several
other apps in the queue. Apple makes taking an idea from conception to
market so much easier than with traditional web apps. We’re stoked.”)
Paid vs. Free? Paid – $1.99. (“But we’re offering it to
teachers in our Facebook Group for free.” Presumably, that would be via
the AdHoc distribution method.)
What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? No
specific number reported. (“It was just released, and has not been
promoted. But we’ve had several hundred downloads already from people
who became aware of it in the educational marketplace. It’s really
designed for the larger display screen of the iPad, so we are setting to
work to promote that in the next few weeks.” Presumably, that would
mean an iPad-specific version of the app is coming.)
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Not yet.
(“But we’re going to, for sure.”)

A footnote: I only contacted firms that I
know to be developing for the Apple or Android platforms, but I make no
claims that this is a complete list. One firm I contacted that chose not
to report its numbers at this time was Handcast Media Labs, creators of
the “SparkRadio” app (one of my personal favs), which is available for
both the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad platforms. Another developer I
contacted did not respond: Dan Grigsby, who was head of
MobileOrchard.com, a company he announced recently he was shutting down.

Now we want your input: Who have we missed?
Are you a developer doing mobile apps? Do you know of a Minnesota
company that has released iPhone or Android apps?  Is your mother doing
iPhone apps? How about firms based outside the Twin Cities? If so,
please tell us in the comments!  Also tell us what apps you like.  And,
lastly… is the iPad better than sex?

Note: See the comments to this post where it originally appeared (Minnov8.com) here.

Podcast: Fine-Art Site Socurio Makes the Community the Curator

Socurio-logo At a recent Club Entrepreneur lunch downtown, which is held at the wonderful, old Minneapolis Club, I had the opportunity to meet one of the cofounders of a unique startup. [Club Entrepreneur is a monthly lunch event run by my longtime colleague Rick Brimacomb. I wrote a post about the event here. For more info, email: rick at brimacomb dot com.]  The name of that cofounder was Ion Skillrud, shown at right in the photo. (And, yes, I said at the time I'd never seen that first name of his spelled that way!) The name of his startup is Socurio, which is a new kind of "creative marketplace and community for fine art." Sasha+Ion I learned his cofounder, Sasha Koehn (left in the photo), was based in LA.  I thought there must be an interesting story here, and I was right — with both a Minnesota and Wisconsin connection.  So, when Ion followed up with me, I suggested the three of us record a podcast sometime — which we were able to do yesterday, via Skype conference call.

What's really different about this online art marketplace is that it bridges a real gap the founders see between art and the consumer. The latter being you and me: admirers of art, but not artists ourselves. The vision for Socurio — its differentiation, they say — is that it's a "refined" art marketplace, where the art is already filtered by the community. 

Socurio-homepage

Other art sites are loaded up with all kinds of clutter.  Here, the big idea is this: the community is the curator.  Art buyers are obviously a key target for the  site, but even those with just an appreciation and no big budget play a key role.  Because the really cool feature, the founders say, is that you don't just buy art on Socurio — you collect ("celebrate") art, on your own page on the site, viewable by all visitors to the site. Anyone can join the site for free, and we also talked about the site's revenue streams, which include a share of transactions, as well as advertising.

So, take a listen to the interesting startup story of Socurio. And also hear about the first "ARTintended" event they held, which was their launch event in LA last week. The podcast is about a 20-25 minutes long. Here's the MP3 file:

Download or listen to Graeme's interview with the founders of Socurio (MP3)"

Show notes:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Socurio/35785193539
Twitter: www.twitter.com/socurio
Blog: http://blog.socurio.com
Flickr pix from launch event: www.flickr.com/photos/39330436@N06/sets/72157623634964200/
More about the "ARTintended" events: http://blog.socurio.com/p/artintended.html

Art-intended-logo


Podcast: A Chat with the Founders of MN Startup Lawyerist.com

Lawyerist-logo I had the pleasure today to sit down over coffee with the founders of a content site for attorneys called Lawyerist, based in downtown Minneapolis: Sam Glover (left in the photo) and Aaron Street. I met Aaron at a recent monthly lunch meeting of Club Entrepreneur, which is run by my colleague Rick Brimacomb. Lawyerist-founders And, today, I had the opportunity to meet Sam, whom I learned continues as a practicing attorney as well. What I find so interesting about this content site, in addition to it being founded by attorneys (whom you’d not normally think of as having a bent for publishing or content), is that it actually has a business model, with real revenues, based on a subscription offering it launched in January. It’s attracting some leading contributing writers, as well as a significant amount of traffic for such a early-stage business.

Listen in — it’s about a 20-25 minute conversation. Here’s the MP3 file:

Download or listen to Graeme’s interview with the founders of Lawyerist.com(MP3)”.

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