An embarrassment of hidden talent?

Dec 17

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An embarrassment of hidden talent?

The marble man averts his eyes in shame.

At the MiMA holiday party last night, I was impressed with the sheer quantity and quality of creative, technical and synthetic talent in this town. And I'm not just talking about the people who showed up. As Joseph Rueter put it while describing his "Country Club for Tech" idea, there are a ton of talented people laboring in anonymity at companies all over the cities. You may not ever see them at MiMA, Minnebar, UnSummit, SMB or whichever events draw the creative class. But it was his second point that struck me: that it's our Midwestern cultural aversion to risk that inhibits the growth of the entrepreneurial culture here in Minnesota.

If that's the case, we may be leaving a vast reservoir of talent untapped. Joseph added that even though many people stick to their day jobs (for a host of reasons), that doesn't mean they don't have creative, entrepreneurial itches that need scratching.

Do you agree?

Are we so hidebound by our historic Scandanavian culture (or the fact that many of us are only 2 generations away from family farming) that we'll be forever stuck operationalizing and administering, rather than innovating? It's a dark assessment, and perhaps I'm overstating things, but I wonder if there isn't an element of truth to it.

[Ed: this post has been modified slightly to make it clear that it was me, not Joseph, casting aspersions on Scandinavian farmer culture.]

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over 2 years ago Andrew Eklund responded:

Sorry, dear pal, but I need to take issue with this. There are more Fortune 500 cos per capita in MN than anywhere else. Those pacemakers, Post-It notes, SPAM, and other great inventions came about because, well, we're really quite ingenious, especially when the rest of the country is surfing and we're shoveling.

I also don't think we're risk averse. I do think, however, that we underrepresented by investment capital when compared to other parts of the country. Frankly, I don't think investors or VCs want to live in MN, and that's the only reason. Childish but true. A lot of capital goes to "backyard" ideas -- meaning the investments go to ideas that live and breath inside their sphere of reality -- quite literally, their backyards.

over 2 years ago Carlos Eberhardt responded:

I'm risk averse. Have had a few ideas that I thought had legs, but didn't want to step away from the stable job to pursue them. Wasn't sure where to take them beyond "yeah, but I'd have to work on that full time" and that was the end.

over 2 years ago Jon Simpson responded:

I think another contributing factor is that today's job structure demands so much of our resources that for all practical purposes it becomes all-encompassing. To tend one's own stewpot of new ideas, side projects and creative ventures takes time, nurturing, and the energy to feed said ideas.

over 2 years ago Dante Vono responded:

I like to think that I'm fairly talented, but my Scandinavian roots preclude me from boasting! I've been working for 10 years at what's turned into a large corporation, and more than once I've entertained the idea of interviewing at a little start-up company. What stops me, though, is the risk: mortgage, family, and all that.

But I always keep my eyes open for something better. I'm not married to my job; we're just in a long-term relationship.

However, I wouldn't say that I can't innovate while working for a big company—because I think I do—it's just that the innovation isn't seen outside of the office walls. Small companies and start-ups have to get noticed if they want to grow.

over 2 years ago Steve Borsch responded:

Don -- Having spent a lot of time in the Bay area and Austin, TX...I concur that there is a conservatism (and yes, some risk aversion) in MN.

I also concur with Andrew that VC dough -- and CEO talent -- doesn't flock here. When I was at the startup Authorware in the late 1980's, they recruited Bud Colligan (now with Accel Partners) who came here and as soon as possible, brought most of the company to San Francisco (his wife wanted to be there too), eventually merging it with Paracomp and Macromind to become Macromedia.

Primarily taking Authorware there was all about the *volume* of talent that was out in CA, the ability to recruit world-class management and staff who, if the company didn't make it, would be able to land somewhere else in a nanosecond. It was pointed out to me several times that the "musical chairs" behavior of startup talent was one of the reasons startups could scale up and down almost instantly.

Yes, we have the engineering (and certainly creative) talent here as my buddy Doug Olson would attest to (he runs Microsoft's Design Tools group and built a major engineering presence in the Twin Cities recently) but to build a vertically integrated company takes a lot of different people besides engineers, and it's the depth and breadth of the talent pool that's lacking or is comprised of folks unwilling or unable to make a move, or are reluctant to suddenly shift to some form of musical chairs behavior.

Sadly, the current healthcare debacle won't help matters any. Many in Silicon Valley and elsewhere had hoped universal or affordable healthcare would become the gasoline tossed on the fire of innovation since so many of the people currently tied up in companies that provide benefits would be more free to do so.

over 2 years ago Don Ball responded:

@Andrew, You sure you want to keep SPAM in that list of great Minnesota innovations? :-)

@Jon, good point. There's only so much energy and time to spend.

@Steve, the musical chairs analogy is useful. It sounds like you're saying that the Bay Area has lots of chairs, so there's more likely to be a place to sit when the music stops. Maybe we play a different version of musical chairs here in MN? (Just like we play Duck Duck Grey Duck while the rest of the country knows darned well it's a goose. ~sorry, couldn't resist!)

over 2 years ago Daniel Kent responded:

I agree with your point, to an extent. People in MN are clingy with their money. Even more so now with all of our new anti-heros: Petters, Madoff, AIG, etc.

But, I would say money doesn't care about innovation. Money just wants more money. For the most part, investors just want a good, dependable return - with "dependability" trumping the goodness of the return. And dependability requires historical validation, which innovation, by definition, inherently lacks.

Those are my thoughts. By the way, great job with Extendr.com, Joe!

over 2 years ago Nicole de Beaufort responded:

Interesting. Maybe because I'm a non-native I don't feel like the possibilities are limited here. I chose Minnesota because of its culture (really! I did, I promise) and part of that from my perspective is an unpretentious (although, there are some notable exceptions) rugged indie DIY people, especially among the "creative class." I financed my own venture and this is the third time I've done something startup-ish. But hey, I'm not creating the cure to cancer or developing cool inventions like Joseph. I'm following an incurable itch to try things until they work. And to seek excellence (not a cliche) in how I work. I have amazing colleagues who took on great risk to work with me. I think we are only limited by our thinking. Why not finance more startups, Minnesotans? Are you going to let the non-natives like me be the ones all spendy with our risk and stuff? ;)

over 2 years ago Tim Bursch responded:

We have lots of talent and tons of ideas here in MN. I see people taking risk all over the place too. Steve has a good point on funding. Maybe what we need is more collective action. SF and NYC have an advantage of masses of people taking action on their ideas. When you are around people jumping off cliffs, you will probably jump too. Individuals in those hubs find support, encouragement, and positive peer pressure. Seems like some movement in that direction already...

over 2 years ago aberro responded:

This reminds me of some things Dan Grigsby and I have discussed. I often would say that Minnesotan's are risk averse but maybe that is too simplistic of a view.

I like Dan's take from Jan. of 2008:

http://www.unpossible.com/2008/01/10/a-plan-for-minnesota/

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An embarrassment of hidden talent?

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