Twin Cities Startup Week 2018

Hear from a panel of Minnesota business founders representing new, growing, and established brands. Glean perspectives from entrepreneurs who have been there, done that (and who are still being there, doing that!) as they share brand-building lessons learned through the business evolution lifecycle.

Learn how these business leaders have shaped and reshaped their go-to-market strategies and stories through stages of growth and evolution. Get a founder’s perspective on marketing, brand, and maintaining focus and alignment through change. Come away with real-world insights that will help you activate for today and plan for tomorrow.

Whether you’re starting up or scaling up, this panel conversation is for you. We’ll be diving deep with these entrepreneurial leaders on topics including:

-Startup branding and accidental storytelling
-Iterative branding through growth
-Internal and external message alignment
-Branding pitfalls, disasters and lessons learned
-Knowing your audience and customer-centric storytelling
-The power of authenticity in branding

Parking Instructions
Park in the Gateway Parking Ramp at 400 S 3rd St, Minneapolis (and follow level 3 skyway to Fueled Collective).

In this episode of Coffee & Closers: Women in Sales we will be interviewing two local sales superstars to learn about their successes, failures & how they overcome challenges faced as a woman in sales.

Coffee & Closers is :
If learning how to increase revenue and make more money for your business is a skill you’ve been looking to acquire or fine-tune, please join us for this Q&A series. The goal of this gathering is for attendees to authentically receive process design, tools used, and tips on what works to successfully grow revenue. This is a natural interview style format that will give you a peek into some of the top sales minds that propelled the growth of companies like When I Work, Total Expert, WorkDay, Infor & more.

Join Land O’Lakes marketing leadership and partners from Nina Hale Inc and Colle+McVoy in an intimate, candid discussion of how startup thinking turns from blue-sky theory to pragmatic, proven reality inside ad agencies and in-house marketing teams. This very limited-seating event is designed for agency, sales and marketing leaders challenged with the requirement to innovate and disrupt themselves.

In this session we will take a deep dive into the changing media and marketing landscape. Technology continues to shape our business as we are sure it does for startups and small businesses.  The goal is to discover the most effective ways to communicate your story to consumers.

Dean Peterson, iHeart's VP of Digital Assets, will kick things off with a synopsis of the tools that our company has to link you to consumers.  We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn what a company rooted in radio is doing to incorporate new and emerging technology to help our clients, of all sizes, find success.

Following Dean, our distinguished panelists will each share their own unique “startup stories”, as well as discuss the challenges they faced in marketing to the Twin Cities and beyond.
Featured Panelists include:

• Craig Key: Chief Marketing Officer at Bite Squad
• Mike Jones: Founder and Owner of Alchemy 365 Gyms
• Stephanie Shimp: Owner of Blue Plate Restaurants

There will also be time for a question and answer session with Dean and our entire Panel at the end of the event.
 
And, because iHeart Media understands that startup and small business owners are always looking for that extra edge in spreading the word about their product, iHeart Media will help one lucky entrepreneur, accelerate and further amplify, their current marketing plan, by

GIVING AWAY A CUSTOM ADVERTISING PACKAGE WORTH $5K!
To register for the $5k advertising package contest, please visit our contest page 


 

Your personal brand is a powerful thing! This workshop will take you through a first- hand look at how Red Bull athletes and artists have developed a unique personal advantage to make revolutionary moves within their field. This interactive session will be part workshop, part Q&A discussion - whether you're first positioning yourself or your startup within the market, or eager to lead your venture in new directions, this session is for you.

Meet, network with, and learn from leaders from every stage of the startup journey. From conception to product ideation to R&D to fundraising to marketing to retail launch, your startup has to run the gauntlet to succeed. The Hard Road with The Stable and Gen7 is going to give you the advice you and your brand needs to succeed every step of the way.

The Hard Road with The Stable and Gen7 will feature a sponsored happy hour and two panels featuring founders, investors, marketers, retail strategists, and creatives. Come out to The Stable and Randle’s Restaurant & Bar on Oct. 9, from 3:30pm-5:30pm, and let's hit the ground running.

Panelists and brands represented to be announced.

 In this episode of Coffee & Closers: CEOs that Sell, learn how three of the most recognized startup founders in Minnesota took their concepts (GovDelivery, Code42, Magnet360) from obscurity to $millions by doing the one thing most founders are scared to do... sell.

Coffee & Closers:
If learning how to increase revenue and make more money for your business is a skill you've been looking to acquire or fine-tune, please join us for this Q&A series. The goal of this gathering is for attendees to authentically receive process design, tools used, and tips on what works to successfully grow revenue. This is a natural interview style format that will give you a peek into some of the top sales minds that propelled the growth of companies like When I Work, Total Expert, WorkDay, Infor & more.

Back by popular demand, one of the most talked-about workshops from last year returns to WeWork!

It doesn't take you long in the startup community to find yourself in a conversation about it. That's right, growth hacking.

"What are you testing to lower your CAC (customer acquisition cost)?"

"What have you found that's worked for you to grow your ARR month-over-month (annual recurring revenue)?"

"Oh you've got to try this thing we just did that got us a ton of new app downloads!"

But there's one thing you need to make sure you have before you start working on any type of growth for your startup. Before you scaffold up a bunch of growth hacking tactics, you need the foundation for them to stand on.

And that is a clear and compelling story.

Without a clear and compelling story, odds are very good that any efforts to grow your startup will not succeed. The world gets noisier every day and there is only so much attention that can be won by startups that already face an uphill battle when it comes to awareness and credibility.

Join us for this workshop as Patrick Hodgdon, Minnesota native and co-founder of Story Sprints, will walk you through an exercise to tell your story in a powerful way: by only using 9 words.

Pricing Canvas™ is the best exercise to begin your pricing innovation. It consists of ten sections each representing a structural component of your business, product, and market. Each section will help you to design your pricing and monetization plans using the principles of value-based pricing. The questions on the Pricing Canvas™ will provide you with a pricing process based on the outcomes, benefits, and economic impact of your offering.

For this episode of Coffee & Closers: Bring your sales challenges, stalled deals or unique situation & our panel of sales experts will work with you to solve the problem LIVE on stage.

Coffee & Closers is:
If learning how to increase revenue and make more money for your business is a skill you've been looking to acquire or fine-tune, please join us for this Q&A series. The goal of this gathering is for attendees to authentically receive process design, tools used, and tips on what works to successfully grow revenue. This is a natural interview style format that will give you a peek into some of the top sales minds that propelled the growth of companies like When I Work, Total Expert, WorkDay, Infor & more.

The media landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years and the way consumers find and digest news continues to evolve. Most startups know great press can go a long way, but what is the best way to reach the media and consumers in this new landscape?

This event will convene a media members from a variety of different verticals to share their perspective on what moves the needle as well as the best ways to engage the media in our hyper-connected ecosystem.

If you’re building a start up or starting something new,  you’ll likely need two essential ingredients: employees and customers. For two decades, Augeo has helped companies acquire, engage and retain both! Hear about practical, proven strategies to solving foundational challenges of engaging people in your emerging business. You will learn:

• The essential elements of engagement 
• How to attract customers and find “right fit” employees - How to establish trust, build loyalty and foster advocacy 
• When and where engagement tools have the greatest impact 

Join us in a facilitated interactive workshop where all participants learn from and share with each other. It’s likely to be a meaningful, engaging experience.

Join Co-Founders of The Social Lights, Martha McCarthy Krueger and Emily Pritchard, and TSL’s Strategy Team as we reveal the latest issue of Trend Tap, which will explore culture as it relates to social media. 

In each issue of Trend Tap, we break down a topic of debate in the world of social media, share our point of view, showcase best-in-class brand examples, and explain untapped opportunities for brands. During this event, you will be able to hear directly from our strategists as they present The Culture Issue and ask more specific questions during the interactive breakout sessions. 

• 4-4:15 - Arrive + Get Settled
• 4:15-5 - Presentation of latest issue of Trend Tap: The Culture Issue
• 5-5:30 - Break Out Sessions
• 5:30-6 - Networking + Mingling

VR + MOBILE + BEER - Design Center is experimenting with virtual reality in a new way. By combining users in a virtual space with users on mobile devices, collaborative VR creates an integrated experience that is more inclusive than traditional VR. The connected approach allows for real-time collaboration through shared goals, complimentary skills and tandem exercises that are more engaging and more impactful. Join us for a presentation about how we arrived at this approach to VR and a discussion about how this format could be applied to a variety of business challenges. Local beer and appetizers will be served.

AGENDA:

5:30 - 6:30
Arrive, grab a beer and some food, mingle

6:30 - 7:00
Presentation - Collaborative VR; Making VR Less Lonely

7:00 - 8:30
VR & Mobile App Demos, VR-cade, More Beer & Food, Networking