Metals Here, Metals There, Metals Everywhere

What do most environmentalists and techies have in common? Metals. Whether you are trying to save the planet from greenhouse gases or just really like to have the latest phone from that certain fruit-named company and a self-driving electric car from that one car company whose CEO also likes to shoot stuff into space, you are likely a consumer of a lot of metals, many of which you may never have even heard. So, you are a consumer of metals, so what?

From Flats to Bags, Rothy’s Innovates with Sustainable Styles

By now, you’ve probably heard of Rothy’s, the footwear startup famous for creating stylish, comfortable, washable flats out of recycled water bottles.

The brand is beloved by commuters from coast to coast, as well as celebrities, including Meghan Markle, who is often spotted wearing a pair of Rothy’s pointed flats. Even Vogue Magazine, fashion’s ultimate arbiter, declared: “not only are these among the most politically correct shoes on our beleaguered planet, they are also adorable.”

Founded in 2016, Rothy’s is one of the world’s fastest growing brands. In 2018, they sold more than 1 million pairs of shoes, generating revenue of more than $140 million and securing a $35 million investment from Goldman Sachs. Time Magazine included Rothy’s recycled shoes on its list of Best Inventions of 2019. 

BEWARE THE SHINY NEW OBJECT

I often suspect that I was born in the wrong generation, and those who know me well would probably agree. Here are some cold hard facts: even though I’m under 40, I generally don’t know any music written after 1950, I only use my smartphone if I have to (and I also leave it at home sometimes), I still text with only one index finger (as opposed to dual thumbs), and I like to print documents out in order to read them. I know. I’m the worst.

But I would just like to point out that, at least as far as the last item on my list goes, there may be some evidence that I’m not destroying the planet by my profligate printing ways.  We are often exhorted to go paperless in order to be more environmentally friendly. (I would also like to interject here that, due solely to my husband’s efforts, I live in a largely “paperless” household.)  As a result, whenever I print something that isn’t absolutely necessary, I’m plagued by mild guilt accompanied by a mental image of clear-cut expanses and little forest animals without homes.

10th Year of Minnesota Cup Another Success

This past Wednesday, I had the privilege of attending the final awards event for the Minnesota Cup. The awards event concluded the 10th year of the Minnesota Cup, which is a statewide competition for early stage businesses in Minnesota. Gray Plant Mooty has been a sponsor of the Minnesota Cup for most of those 10 years, as we’ve found it to be an excellent supporter of Minnesota’s entrepreneurs and start-up community.

At the event, which I thought was the best yet, they provided some interesting statistics. During the 10 years of the event:

• Over 9,000 businesses have participated.
• Greater than $1,000,000 in prize money has been awarded.
• Division winners have raised in excess of $160 million in private capital!

This year’s event, like the last few years, was hosted at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota campus. The room was filled with past participants and winners, entrepreneurs, students, business and political leaders, and others interested in Minnesota’s entrepreneurial community. Even our state’s two US senators sent video congratulations to the winners and participants.

Each of the seven division winners and runners-up gave one minute “elevator” pitches of their businesses.  The pitches were great, and displayed a variety of interesting business ideas. Among the elevator pitches by the division winners, the audience liked the presentation from Jonny Pops the best, and voted for them to win an extra $1,000.  Jonny Pops, which makes all natural smoothie-sicles on a stick, was also handing out samples of their product at the event. I thought they were quite good and will plan to buy a box soon for my kids to try.

At the end of the evening, the judges selected 75 Fahrenheit (75F) as the grand prize winner of this year’s Minnesota Cup. In addition to receiving $50,000 for being the grand prize winner, 75F also won $30,000 as the clean tech/water division winner, and received a $25,000 grant from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation – total prize money of $105,000! 75F has developed an interesting technology that allows users to regulate building temperatures in an environmentally friendly way by using wireless zone controllers to monitor airflow temperatures in building zones.  

The other division winners were equally as impressive as 75F. I imagine the judges had a very difficult decision in picking a winner.  

For any aspiring entrepreneurs who were not able to participate this year, I suggest that you give strong consideration to participating in next year’s competition. Just by submitting an application, you are forced to think through some issues in your business plan that you might not otherwise consider. If you are chosen to be a semi-finalist in the competition, you will have access to mentors, advisors, investors, and others in the entrepreneurial community who can help you further refine your business strategy.  Even if you don’t win any of the prize money, the Minnesota Cup provides a great opportunity to make valuable connections for your business that you might not otherwise have. 

Congratulations to all of this year’s participants, and especially to the winners.  We’ll be looking forward to next year’s competition.

Cleantech Alive and Well in the Midwest

A few weeks ago, I attended the Innovation Expo & Awards event for the North Central region of the Cleantech Open. The awards event was the culmination of 3 days of networking, investor meetings and a trade expo for Midwest-based cleantech start-ups. The companies participating in the event had each completed several months of training through the Cleantech Open, a national accelerator for cleantech companies, which I have written about before.

The awards event featured short elevator-pitch style presentations from each of the 20 semi-finalist companies in the regional Cleantech Open competition. After the presentations, the crowd got to vote for their favorites, like American Idol, except without the mean-spirited judges. 

Before the awards event, the semi-finalist companies each gave investor presentations to a panel of judges, who selected the three finalists for the North Central region: HEVT, based in Chicago, Illinois, IrriGreen , based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and SiNode, based in Chicago, Illinois; as well as the regional sustainability winner: Barasa, based in Wheaton, Illinois.

The three finalists and the regional sustainability winner were invited to present at the Cleantech Open’s Global Forum on November 8th and 9th in San Jose, California. At the Global Forum, HEVT was named the Grand Prize Winner and Cleantech Entrepreneur of the Year. This is the second consecutive year in which a company from the North Central region has been named the Grand Prize Winner and Cleantech Entrepreneur of the Year.

When most people think of cleantech, they think of wind, solar, hydro power, biofuels and other sources of power generation based on renewable resources. However, the cleantech sector is much broader and diverse than that. It includes power storage, resource conservation, efficient space design, repurposing of used components, and other similar technologies. 

• IrriGreen, for example, has developed a patented landscape irrigation system that significantly reduces water usage and installation cost;
• HEVT has developed a technology that optimizes performance and reduces the cost of electric motors.

The Cleantech Open provides a good showcase for talented cleantech entrepreneurs throughout the country, but especially in the Midwest. With back-to-back winners in the national competition, it shows that the cleantech sector is alive and well in the Midwest. There is no shortage of good “cleantech” ideas and technologies being developed—there are many good entrepreneurs and executives in the space trying to polish and commercialize these ideas and technologies. 

Even with all the interesting technologies being developed, many companies in this space continue to struggle to find capital. Without necessary capital, they won’t be able to achieve the scale necessary to succeed. Hopefully, events like the Cleantech Open will connect enough investors with these companies to help get them to the next level.

Time to Get Your Business Plans Ready for Start-Up Company Competitions

As we approach springtime in Minnesota (or is it summer?), it’s time to prepare for the annual spring rituals—putting away the winter coats, starting the spring yard work, cleaning out the garage, and tossing your broken NCAA basketball tournament pool sheets. For entrepreneurs, it’s also time to get ready for two prestigious business plan competitions: the Minnesota Cup and the Cleantech Open.

The Minnesota Cup will soon begin its seventh annual competition to identify the best entrepreneurial companies in Minnesota. The Minnesota Cup is a business plan competition that identifies the top Minnesota-based start-up businesses in each of six different divisions: Clean Technology and Renewable Energy, High Tech, BioScience and Health IT, General, Social Entrepreneur, and Student. You can submit your application to be named a top Minnesota start-up company beginning on March 26th and continuing through May 18th. For more information about the Minnesota Cup and this year’s event details, visit the competition’s website. 

I wrote about the Minnesota Cup last year as the application period was kicking off. As I mentioned in my prior post, there are lots of good reasons to compete in the Minnesota Cup, including the prize money—which is $25,000 this year for winners of each of the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy, High Tech, BioScience and Health IT, and General divisions; $20,000 for the Social Entrepreneur division; and $10,000 for the Student division. Winners also are allotted free services from some of the state’s top legal, accounting, and other professional service providers. More significant than these tangible rewards is that the participants in the Minnesota Cup have the opportunity to fine-tune their business plans and connect with some of the state’s most successful entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, professional service providers, and others. One measure of the impact that the Minnesota Cup has had on its contestants is that the 2009 and 2010 Minnesota Cup finalists have already secured more than $15 million in external investments.

In addition to the Minnesota Cup, businesses in the Cleantech space should also consider applying for the Cleantech Open, which is accepting applications now for its accelerator program. The Cleantech Open is a national business plan competition and accelerator that seeks to “find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges.” The Cleantech Open is accepting applications through May 8th, and if you apply by April 3rd you can take advantage of the early bird entry fee of $90. You can learn more about the application specifics and the various Cleantech Open events throughout the remainder of the year by visiting the competition’s website.

I also wrote about the Cleantech Open last year, which you can read here if you’re interested. As you’ll note on the Cleantech Open website, and in my prior blog entry, the Cleantech Open divides the nation into several different regions, including the North Central Region (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Wisconsin). Last year’s national winner (a Minnesota-based company), and a national finalist (from Wisconsin), came from the North Central Region. So, there are lots of interesting and successful cleantech businesses in the Midwest, and in Minnesota in particular. 

There are lots of good reasons for participating in the Cleantech Open, similar to those for the Minnesota Cup. In addition to the prize money and professional services you could win (up to $250,000 for the winners), contestants will have the opportunity to network with key entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, and leaders in the Cleantech space. Since its inception in 2006, the Cleantech Open has added tremendous value to its graduating alumni—the 581 participating companies in the Cleantech Open’s accelerator programs have raised more than $660 million in external capital.

So, among the other tasks you have planned for this spring, if you are an entrepreneur with an exciting business opportunity, you should consider applying for either or both of the Minnesota Cup and the Cleantech Open.

Cleantech Open Offers Great Opportunity for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

The Cleantech Open just recently announced its semi-finalists for this year’s competition. I was honored to be able to participate as a judge for the North Central region, and can report that there are several intriguing companies vying for this year’s prizes.

For those of you who don’t know, the Cleantech Open, founded in 2006, is a national business plan competition for aspiring entrepreneurs in the clean technology space. The Open’s mission is “to find, fund, and foster the big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges.” Almost 400 teams have come through the Open’s programs, with approximately 80% remaining viable today. Cleantech alumni have raised over $280 million in private capital and created over 2,000 new cleantech jobs.

The competition is currently divided by seven regions, including the North Central region (which consists of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). Contestants submit their applications by region and into one of six categories: (1) air, water, and waste, (2) energy efficiency, (3) green building, (4) renewable energy, (5) smart power, green grid, and energy storage, and (6) transportation. Initial applications were due by May 27th, and semi-finalists were announced on June 15th. Twenty teams from the North Central region—five of which are from Minnesota—were named semi-finalists.

The semi-finalists will compete at regional competitions in early October, with opportunities to win in excess of $20,000 in cash and professional services. The regional winners will then compete at the national final in November, with an opportunity to win up to $250,000 in cash and professional services. In addition to these prizes, the Cleantech Open also provides mentors to its applicants, focused business clinics on important topics (angel investing, intellectual property protection, finance, marketing, legal, etc.), and excellent networking opportunities with investors and professionals in the cleantech space.

The Cleantech Open is a great opportunity for new and emerging companies in the cleantech sector to get their business plans and ideas in front of experts in this area. Even companies that are not named regional finalists will have had an opportunity to focus on improving their business plans and to receive feedback and advice from investors and other professionals in their unique space. This experience should prove invaluable as these companies seek to gain funding for their business ideas. If you did not have an opportunity to apply this year, I highly recommend that you consider applying next year.

Even among the group of companies that did not advance to the semi-finalist stage in the North Central region, there were several that had interesting ideas and strong teams. The fact that several potentially viable companies did not even make the semi-finalist round in the Cleantech Open is a sign that the cleantech sector is maturing and attracting highly skilled and motivated entrepreneurs. Thanks to the Cleantech Open for bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and other professionals and providing a catalyst for the development of strong cleantech businesses.