

Ask YC: Minneapolis startups? Or, non-"startup hub" startups? - philcrissman

Does anyone know of (or is involved in) startups in Minneapolis/St. Paul? I'm interested to hear how that's working. <p>Or, <i>any</i> startup that is not in a more well-known "startup hub", for that matter.
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akardell
I am located in Minneapolis and co-founded a startup in 2001 that was acquired
in 2004. We had a less traditional funding route -- a single private investor
/ angel who helped get everything going. We pulled most of our engineering
talent from a local college and I used connections with a past professor to
cherry pick the best of a couple of soon to be graduating classes.

I'm still living in Minneapolis, but having since worked with a number of
people in the Bay area and having traveled there frequently, I can say that
the environment does seem quite a bit different.

There are a lot of advantages to being in a "startup hub"... More talent
that's easier to find, more people to bounce ideas off of, more access to
traditional and non-traditional funding sources, etc.

One advantage to starting out in Minneapolis that we found was that salaries
for our first employees were significantly cheaper than what we've heard from
friends in the Bay area. In addition, the work ethic here is quite high -- it
seems easy to find committed, dedicated employees.

Here's a recent article about Minneapolis being rated the top metro center for
business (in general, not startups or technology specific).

[http://news.morningstar.com/news/ViewNews.asp?article=/DJ/20...](http://news.morningstar.com/news/ViewNews.asp?article=/DJ/200709211031DOWJONESDJONLINE000534_univ.xml&t1=1191628462)

Here's a startup that I recently found out is in the Minneapolis area --
<http://www.yugma.com/> \-- I'm at times surprised to learn of all the
startups that are more or less under the radar here.

If you have the engineering talent and the funding sources, I think you can
absolutely get started in a non-"startup hub". Having said that, there are
definite advantages to being in a startup hub.

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bmaier
Well I think that one of the problems is that there just isn't enough
information and coverage out there.

I just launched it but I'm gonna start using <http://GeekHeartland.com> to
cover technology and entrepreneurial activity thats happening away from the
hubs on the coasts.

It rose out of the geek.windylabs.com and www.chicagobeta.com

Soon it will have news coverage along with geek guides to a lot of the non-hub
startup areas.

I encourage everyone to subscribe to the feed and keep checking back. Its
about time startups in "flyover country" got more press.

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damon
There is growing startup interest in Minneapolis. There is a group of folks
(10 or 15 I believe) that are meeting bi-weekly to talk shop. Some have
started, others starting. Take a look at the following links.

I hope the trend continues, I think Minneapolis has a lot to offer alpha geeks
and entrepreneurs.

<http://barcamp.org/MinneDemo> <http://groups.google.com/group/startupcamp>

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ALee
I don't know if Washington DC is a startup hub (it generally doesn't feel like
it). Even though we're close to northern VA, we just don't get the same vibe
of internet culture. It took the community quite a long time to host a Barcamp
here. My complaints have been: It's tough because it's sometimes lonely
because we can't share that experience with many others because there just
aren't as many web startups. 1) East Coast is oddly dominated by families with
control over media empires. So talking about equity is just weird with them
because they don't want to give any up (no matter how much their website looks
like Geocities). 2) I hate having to explain the "long tail" over and over
when I'm trying to explain a wholly different concept. The buzz takes time to
reach the East. 3) Although accessibility to capital is generally based on
good referrals, it's more difficult in the East because those circles are much
tighter. 4) We heard from a good advisor that just being in the Silicon Valley
will always improve your chances of success, but we moved out to DC because
we're working in the "political sphere." I don't have any reference for
comparison, so I don't exactly know what to say about that. 5) That said,
since we spend a lot of time inside programming, it probably isn't as
different if we were somewhere else. I think as a result of the internet, you
can still make quite an impact, but closing a business deal is so much easier
when it's in person.

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bmaier
Also, if you have an inland startup (the midwest, the great lakes, texas,
colorado, elsewhere...) that you'd like me to cover, send me a note through
the contact form on <http://GeekHeartland.com>.

I have some free advertising slots for early stage companies as well if anyone
is interested.

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davedash
I worked for a startup in Minneapolis. They are quite different than at the
hubs. There's not as much support as you'd get out on the West Coast.

Also the talent pool isn't as easy to tap into here. There are quality
developers but its hard to find em.

~~~
damon
need a ruby hacker? :)

~~~
bmaier
where are you located?

~~~
damon
Minneapolis. feel free to contact me

damon at damonallison dot com

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jdavid
I am located in Milwaukee, WI

you can meet all of our alpha geeks at <http://barcampMilwaukee.com> which is
happening on october 12th-14th

We are a sponsor of it with <http://socialhelix.com>

and I know a few people in the st.paul area that i meet at the last minnebar,
and minnedemo that i attended.

out of the ones i remember, a few were web2, one was into music social
publishing, another was a startup within the local newspaper "vitamin," and
then there were a lot of ruby shops up there.

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carpal
I'm in mid-stage development for a startup in Atlanta.

It is not going well. There aren't many people here that are available,
willing, and smart. I'm finding that the biggest advantage to the "startup
hubs" is that there are more people nearby with a similar mentality. Be it
employees, cofounders or investors. In Atlanta, there's hardly anybody whose
brain is wired the same way mine is.

The solution for me is to move out to the west coast as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it out there for at least
another year.

~~~
mattculbreth
Are you participating in any of the local groups? I know the Ruby and Python
groups are well attended, and the web entrepreneurs group gets good marks.
There's also Barcamp and Startup Weekend coming up soon.

~~~
carpal
I didn't find out about either Barcamp or Startup Weekend before they were
sold out.

I go to the Atlanta Ruby User's Group meetings and AtlHack
(<http://www.atlhack.org/>).

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projectileboy
I live in St. Paul (just to the east of Minneapolis, for you non-Minnesotans).
I love the area, but it really is a harder environment for a startup. My buddy
and I had a fun startup back in 1996. We had an OK run for about a year, but
we just felt like we were living on a deserted island.

I'm married now with three kids, and if I were to start something again, I
would _still_ seriously consider relocating to Boston or San Francisco.

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samb
chicago's kicking. but we're b2b.

