Dan Haugen

Freelance Journalist ::: Energy : Sustainability : Technology :::

Archive for the ‘Twin Cities Business’ Category

Read my story on water scarcity in Twin Cities Business

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I spent a few months this spring looking into the potential risks and opportunities for Minnesota companies as development, pollution, population growth and climate conspire to strain our planet’s fresh water supply. The risk may seem distant here in the land of 10,000 lakes, but in an age when global supply chains span the globe, few industries will be unaffected. Some are already feeling the effects. Meanwhile, the Twin Cities is home to a promising cluster of companies and technologies that could play a role in addressing the coming global crisis. Read more in the July issue of Twin Cities Business magazine.

Written by Dan

July 1st, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Posted in Business,Cleantech,Energy,Environment,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

W3i: Playing the Game

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In 1998, brothers and St. Cloud State students Rob and Ryan Weber founded Freeze.com, which offered free clip art, screensavers, desktop wallpaper, and other downloads. How’d they make money off of free stuff? Before customers could install these items, they had to click through a pitch to download software that generates revenue by displaying ads on users’ computers. Every time someone clicked “yes,” the Webers got a cut from the advertising software developer. By 2004, Freeze.com’s revenues were more than $20 million. That success with desktop software is helping fund the firm’s ambitious dive into mobile gaming. In December, the company—which rebranded as W3i in 2007—capitalized an investment fund called Recharge Studios. The fund partners with independent developers and publishers to develop and market their games.

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

May 19th, 2011 at 6:36 pm

Posted in Business,Entrepreneurs,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

The Wallet-less Future

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Starbucks introduced a pay-by-iPhone or -BlackBerry option at its shops nationwide in January, and the Twin Cities got a glimpse of what a wallet-less future could look like. Soon, people could be using their smartphones to pay for everything from fast food to utility bills. Both nationally and locally, activity around mobile payments has dialed up a notch. U.S. Bank wrapped up a pilot program in March in which it embedded “wave-and-pay” technology (the technical term is NFC, or near-field communication) in employees’ BlackBerrys and iPhones, asking them to use the devices at retailers with NFC terminals. For now, terminals are most common at convenience stores and fast-food chains, and are used with smart cards issued by credit card companies. U.S. Bank is one of four major banks working with Visa to combine the contactless payment technology with customers’ mobile devices. “This is about being able to provide the option for the customer to do business with us in the way they want to,” says Dominic Venturo, U.S. Bank’s chief innovation officer for payment services.

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

May 19th, 2011 at 6:32 pm

Posted in Business,Minneapolis,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

Mobile Alternatives

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When AgStar Financial Services employees are out in the field (literally, in some cases), they stay connected to headquarters using their company-issued BlackBerries. These days, though, the rural lender is wondering whether its workers might be better off carrying around a new crop of mobile devices instead. Vice President of Information Technology Paul Zyla says that as iPhones and Android devices grow in popularity, he’s seeing more requests from employees who want to check their work e-mail and calendar on these devices. Employee demand, along with major developments in the enterprise mobile market, has Zyla and many of his peers reevaluating the types of mobile devices their departments support. Should the company stick with BlackBerry, or give employees the choice of an iPhone or Android? Should the business own the device, or offer network access from personal devices? Should the IT department continue to manage the devices, or outsource the hassle to someone else? “This is probably one of the most complicated business cases that I’ve been involved in,” Zyla says. As of mid-February, he hadn’t come to a conclusion. The company was testing some of the alternatives, handing out a few iPads, iPhones, and Android devices to various employees to get their feedback on how they work. He’s looking for a long-term solution, but the challenge of that is that “the market is changing so fast,” he says. “When you feel like you have a solid foundation, something new comes along and throws a curve ball at you.”

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

April 18th, 2011 at 8:11 pm

Posted in Business,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

Cem Erdem Hits the Accelerator

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"The East and West coasts, they are eating our lunch,” says Cem (pronounced “gem”) Erdem. Last year’s results from the Kauffman Foundation’s annual state-by-state index of entrepreneurial activity struck a nerve in him. “Minnesota is fifth from the bottom, and that’s killing me.” He exhales. “We are losing ground.” Turkish-born Erdem came to the Twin Cities in 1994 and successfully bootstrapped an Internet software company, Augusoft, which makes online course registration software used by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and hundreds of other schools. Now Erdem, 42, worries that young would-be entrepreneurs in the state are missing both the support infrastructure and the perspective to make it through the missteps and tough times of an early-stage start-up. His answer: Project Skyway, an accelerator program that starts taking applications this April. Named for his own unproductive attempts years ago to drum up business in the Minneapolis skyways, the program will mentor, incubate, and fund tech start-ups.

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

April 15th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Posted in Business,Entrepreneurs,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

Twin Cities craft brewers are on a growth bender

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Surly Brewing Company wants to build a “destination brewery.” That would solve capacity problems at Surly’s Brooklyn Center headquarters. It would also follow what founder Omar Ansari says is a trend of “beer tourism” developing in places like Oregon, Colorado, California, and Wisconsin. Surly’s plans, announced in February, are to build a $20 million, 60,000-square-foot brewery with a bar, 250-seat restaurant, beer garden, and event center. Ansari says the whole package will draw tourists who will eat at other nearby restaurants, stay at area hotels, and give a bump to the local economy. A location is yet to be determined, but Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak has reportedly pitched Ansari on moving to the Minneapolis riverfront.

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

April 1st, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Posted in Beer,Business,Minneapolis,Minnesota,Twin Cities Business

More mid-sized companies embracing cloud computing

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When 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment’s e-mail server reached capacity in late 2007, the company had a choice to make. Its decision: Why buy new when cloud computing will do? The secondhand fitness equipment retailer based in Eden Prairie is among the Twin Cities’ first midsize enterprises to adopt cloud computing for core business applications. Instead of buying a new server, the company signed up for Google Apps, an online software suite that removes many of the hardware and licensing hassles related to managing IT resources. “We [believed] that the cloud options were the up-and-coming alternative,” says 2nd Wind President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Enrico. “And to date, we have not had any problems.” 2nd Wind’s experience suggests cloud providers are starting to resolve the concerns of larger enterprises. Locally, organizations transitioning to cloud computing include Minneapolis-based Dunn Brothers Coffee and the State of Minnesota’s Office of Enterprise Technology. If the trend sticks, it could bring a big shift within local IT departments.

(Continue reading…)

Written by Dan

February 1st, 2011 at 12:00 am

Posted in Business,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

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What Business Thinks: TMI?

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Twitter feeds, blogs, and oh yeah, traditional media—is it too much information, or just enough to create new opportunities? Here’s What Business Thinks™ about the new media landscape.(…continue reading)

Written by Dan

January 10th, 2011 at 2:40 pm

Posted in Business,Minnesota,Social Media,Technology,Twin Cities Business

Bridge to Innovation: Ovative Group

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Ovative Group connects start-ups with large companies seeking innovative digital technologies.(…continue reading)

Written by Dan

January 10th, 2011 at 2:36 pm

Posted in Business,Entrepreneurs,Minneapolis,Minnesota,Technology,Twin Cities Business

What I’m Working On

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In this deadline-free, holiday-bookended week, I have to admit my work-motivation levels have been fairly low. A friend is visiting from out of town and in a few hours I’ll probably pack things up for the year and take tomorrow off. Here’s what I’ll be working on come Monday morning:

The Line: We’ll have a holiday half-issue on Wednesday of next week. I’ll have a report on the Center for Energy and Environment creating green jobs in 2010, as well as a brief about a south Minneapolis beauty shop that’s found an innovative way to streamline its scheduling. And before deadline on Monday morning I’ll be interviewing Tim Kapsner of Aveda about an upcoming green chemistry forum in the Twin Cities.

(Side note: Effective the end of January I’ll be stepping down as The Line’s innovation and jobs editor. It’s been a fun gig, but planning and writing an entire section every week has also scattered my energy/attention in more directions than I would like it to go. I plan to continue my relationship with The Line as a freelance writer, just not quite as regular as it’s been these past several months.)

MedCity Life: Earlier this winter I accepted a position as Twin Cities Editor of MedCity Life, a new city guide site for the medical industry. It’ll be a sibling site to MedCity News and is scheduled to launch on Jan. 15. I’ve spent the past several weeks asking people in the medical industry (hospitals, med-tech, etc.) about where they socialize and network. What are the go-to lunch, coffee, and happy hour spots where they’re likely to bump into their peers? What are the power breakfast spots? Where do people go to impress potential customers/partners or blow their expense accounts? Ideas? Let me know!

Mobile Devices: I’m working on a story for Twin Cities Business about how companies/organizations are making decisions about what mobile devices/platforms to support, and how they’re dealing with the rise in requests from employees who want to be able to check their work e-mail, calendars, etc., on popular consumer mobile devices such as the iPhone or Droid. If you’re a CIO or someone else who makes these kind of decisions, I’ll love to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons and complications related to mobile support.

Insurance & Climate Change: I’m working on my first assignment for Momentum, a great magazine affiliated with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment. The topic is insurance companies and climate change. I’m looking for sources who can help me understand how the insurance industry is responding to or preparing for climate change. If you know anyone who might have some insights in this area, give me a shout.

See you in the new year!

Dan
612-217-1057
dan at danhaugen dot com

P.S. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to blog/share more in this space. We’ll see…

Written by Dan

December 30th, 2010 at 2:46 pm

Posted in Business,Environment,Minnesota,The Line,Twin Cities Business,What I'm Working On

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