Oct. 11, 2012 Collaborative MN Finance & Venture Conference

I always enjoy going to the events organized by The Collaborative, a local business networking and events organization that hosts a number of thought-provoking, interesting events throughout the year.

This fall, I was fortunate to be able to attend the 26th annual MN Finance & Venture Conference in Minneapolis on Oct. 11, 2011 on The Future of Innovation, highlighting Health, Cloud, Clean, Commerce, Finance, and Device topics.  Though my industry interests are primarily in Health and Medtech, I find the parallels going on in IT and sometimes other industries to offer additional insights.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Brad Cleveland, CEO of Proto Labs, shared his wonderful story over lunch.  He applied to a want ad for the CEO position, and it started a fruitful long-term relationship with the engineer/founder of the company and a very successful company.  Proto Labs provides fast prototypes for customers, cheap.  He said that customers really don't want a relationship with you - they want their prototypes fast, cheap!  So don't waste too much energy trying to build relationships.  Figure out what they want and get it to them. I love the story about when he was traveling in Japan with the engineering co-founder, and the engineer designed the next prototyping technology on the bullet train after meeting with a customer.  WOW.  Way to keep your focus on what matters!  (Brad is also near & dear to my heart since he was also a math/physics major at St. Olaf.)
• Ken Paulus, CEO of Allina, shared that there are 10,000 new Medicare patients per day.  A real challenge for our healthcare system.
• Matthew Dornquast, CEO of Code 42 Software for backup in the Cloud (YES, it was named after The Hitchhiker's Guide the Galaxy!!!) was very bright and funny, and so savvy for a midwestern software guy.  So glad we have some great IT talent here in the midwest.
• Tom Erickson, Co-President of First Green Partners, shared his work with Doug Cameron (MIT/Khosla/Piper) with the group.  Chemicals will be made with micro-organisms.  Another St. Olaf grad!
• Dan Sullivan, CEO of superDimension (acquired by Covidien), said MN is in the flyover zone for real innovation in healthcare - we don't see an overall goal out there to shoot for.  He acknowledges the strengths we have as possessing the strongest medtech infrastructure in the world.  Dan't experience in medtech shines through, with SCIMED, Vascular Science, ACIST.
• Buzz Benson, Managing Director of SightLine Partners, a VC firm that invests in later-stage medical device companies, said that "overall VC/LP investments are down, but exits will increase since consolidators have cut back on R&D for new products.  They are willing to pay more with less dilution to increase their growth rates."  Great insight from an expert in the field.

PRESENTING COMPANIES:

• "It is a happy talent to know how to play," Emerson.  Shared by a gaming co CEO.
• Bavia - "spaspital" rooms.  Don't we all need those for good healthcare?  Founded in 2008 by CEO Rachel Swardson.  President/COO Kevin Casey, 30-year UHG executive.
• General Blood, Ben Bowman, CEO.  Full integration of blood bank supply and hospital demand, instead of pockets of inventory management at different prices / creating a market for blood --> INDUSTRIALIZATION EXAMPLE.  Linda Hall Whitman Keller on BOD as well (former CEO of MinuteClinic / executive at Ceridian.).
• Phrazer by GeaCom - Duluth co. run by Mat Johnson.  Patients can communicate in multiple languages with the Phrazer upon entering the hospital, and the information will be automatically input in to the EHR.  GLOBAL HEALTHCARE and competing against traditional methods.  Earl Bakken / Medtronic have invested.
• Mardil Medical - the continuation of the Acorn Cardiovascular heart failure / functional mitral valve regurgitation company.  Jim Buck CEO.  
• Preventice (was BOOST) - utilizes mobile, remote monitoring and the cloud to virtualize clinically validated care plans, enabling continuous connection between patient and healthcare provider.  Mayo.  Dan Schlewitz, EVP of Global Revenue (was DM for MDT when I was in St. Louis; then BioTronik.)
• PreciouStatus - transform care experiences by incentivizing caregivers to provide instant peace of mind to families through mobile technology.  Wayzata, launched in 2012, 5 employees.  Linda Hall Whitman Keller also an expert for this company.
• Zipnosis - yea!  So glad they are now aligned with Fairview.  The provider partnership is key.  Jon Pearce, another St. Olaf grad, presented.

SHOWCASE COMPANIES:

• AUM Cardiovascular - Marie Johnson.  Fast Dx for CAD.
• Awear - neurofeedback for education. Rod Greder.
• CaringShare - online service to help coordinate care for loved ones with chronic and / or complex medical conditions.
• Circle Biologics - POC therapeutic biofluid management.
• Cognific - mental health homework.
• Datuit - cloud-based health data storage.
• Diagnostic Biosensors - POC miniaturized tech.
• Empathic Clinical Suite - practice management technology for behavioral health profession.
• Fitness on Request - fitness programs for wellness facilities.
• Fortiori Design - O2 levels in athletes.
• Mill Creek Life Sciences (Rochester) - cells as drugs.
• On-Point Medical Dx - MRI QA.
• OrthoCor Medical - non-invasive wearable tech to alleviate joint pain, etc.
• Rubigo Therapeutics - transdermal drug delivery.
• Somnatek - snoring solution.
• SpineThera - pharma for back pain.
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