By All Means

For 8 million K-12 students and their parents, Infinite Campus is as essential to schooling as pencil and paper. The software platform serves as an administrative support tool for more than 2,000 school districts across the country—managing class schedules, tracking grades, collecting lunch money, scheduling conferences—all to minimize paperwork so that teachers can focus on teaching, and parents can get a real-time glimpse at how their students are doing.

Charlie Kratsch started Infinite Campus in 1993—long before kids had their own iPads in the classroom. As his vision evolved, the company grew, and grew. Today, Infinite Campus, based in Blaine, Minn. employs 500 people and continues to perform at the forefront of ed tech—a category that has been growing by leaps and bounds since the onset of the pandemic.

“Prior to the pandemic, it was tough to convince school districts they needed a learning management system,” Kratsch says. “Suddenly, a reluctant marketplace showed up at our door.”

Kratsch talks about what its like to operate as a mission-driven for-profit company, succession planning, the accelerating pace of ed tech innovation, and about how technology has the potential to make good teachers great. He offers this advice to other entrepreneurs:

- If you’re starting something from scratch, find a job in that world to learn everything about it first.

- Find something you're interested in. Because it’s going to be aggravating and you're going to lose money. But passion will pull you through all that.

- Most entrepreneurs are jacks of all trades, not specialists. You don’t have to be great at anything; you need to be good at lots of things. Form the vision, and find people who can specialize in different aspects of the work.

- If you’re not willing to risk your own money on the business, don’t expect other people to put money in.

Following our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Lisa Abendroth, the academic director of business in a digital world, discusses how technology can be used to enhance learning. She says technology is most useful when we think of it as a problem solving tool rather than the focus.

“We can use technology to personalize and democratize learning,” Abendroth says. “To make interactions with teachers more human. To take a whole student approach to learning. There’s so much potential.”

Just a little over a decade ago, Emily Pritchard’s job didn’t exist.

As an undergraduate entrepreneurship student, she noticed that her friends were communicating over social media, but businesses weren’t meeting them there. In 2011, straight out of the University of St. Thomas, she and a partner launched The Social Lights, a social media agency that helps brands with strategy, content, and optimization. Today, the Social Lights works with big brands including General Mills, Pentair, Cargill, and Polaris. In just the past year, the agency has grown its revenue by 87% and its staff by 70%, now up to 43 employees.

Keep in mind, Pritchard has never had a boss. She’s never worked for an advertising agency. The role of social community manager—now commonplace at many companies—did not yet have a name when the The Social Lights launched. Today, the agency offers a training program for corporate social media managers.

“What we’re doing is actually having implications on traditional agencies that have been doing things the same way for a really long time, and now we’re disrupting that,” Pritchard recalls realizing early on in the formation of her own company. “We really wanted to double down on exploring what we could build rather than what we could do for an [ad] agency.”

Pritchard talks about learning to lead on the job, the evolution of social media, and the role it can play in building and supporting businesses today.

After our conversation with Pritchard, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Professor John McVea teaches entrepreneurship. “Emily’s story shows how entrepreneurship… can be molded and directed if people have the skills, talents, and interest. Entrepreneurship is not only a viable career, it’s also a noble one – you do make an impact on people and make things better," McVea says. "Entrepreneurship creates opportunity for outsiders.”

On Indigenous People’s Day 2021, Minnetonka –the 76 year-old non-Native owned company known for its moccasins, publicly apologized for appropriating native culture and promised to make reparations. Guiding that work was Adrienne Benjamin, an artist, community builder, and member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Benjamin was suddenly thrust into the spotlight as news of Minnetonka’s apology and reconciliation work made national headlines. Since then, Minnetonka has released two hat collaborations with Benjamin and beaded moccasins designed by a native artist. The company has also donated money to Native organizations, hired Native workers and continues its journey to own and repair generations of hurt. You can read more about that at tcbmag.com.

In this episode, we discuss what it means to be a reconciliation advisor, including Benjamin’s unexpected path from her childhood on a reservation to channeling her own struggles into art and unexpectedly finding her way into business. We talk about whether or not it’s possible for a brand built on appropriating Native American culture to make reparations, and what that ongoing work entails.

“It takes guts to stand alone in that,” Benjamin says of a company like Minnetonka owning mistakes of the past. “We’re opening that door and that bridge for other organizations to feel safe, to feel like it’s possible. These companies can do the right thing and have an impact where at least some families will feel the economic impact. It’s changing the landscape of what it looks like in business.”

After the conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Christopher Michaelson is a professor and the Academic Director of the Melrose and The Toro Company Center for Principled Leadership. He talks about the challenge in separating art from commerce.

Building on past art and culture can be an artist process, Michaelson says. But, "when it’s done in a way that exploits someone else’s culture, or misrepresents them, that’s when it becomes a problem.

"I don’t think it’s possible strictly to make reparations to those harmed, in many cases, those harms are permanent and the people harmed are no longer here," Michaelson says. "But that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to move forward together in a just and collaborative way.”

What happens when that corporate leadership path leaves you a bit unfulfilled? Amanda LaGrange got involved in the creation of a social enterprise designed to reduce waste and create jobs. Two years later, she exited the Fortune 500 career she thought she wanted to run that new social enterprise. LaGrange is the CEO of Repowered, formerly Tech Dump. Established in 2011, Repowered is now one of the largest collectors of e-waste in Minnesota and has processed more than 35 million pounds of electronic waste while also providing jobs and training for people facing barriers to employment, and building a marketplace for affordable refurbished electronics. That’s what the nonprofit calls a “triple bottom line.”

“Impact work has to be financially stable,” LaGrange says. “Where there’s no margin, there’s no mission.”

LaGrange talks about the role of founder vs scaler. She offers insight on the pros and cons of being a non-profit vs a social enterprise business. She talks about the "pile of denial" lurking in our closets and junk drawers, and the importance of giving those discarded electronics a second life. And she discusses the challenge of serving multiple needs.

A recent rebranding, led by Minneapolis-based Knock Inc., helped Tech Dump become Repowered, and clarify its pillars of people, planet and technology.

“When they presented the phrase ‘powering forward,’ I literally couldn’t speak on the Zoom call," LaGrange recounts. "I felt so seen of the work that we do.”

Following our conversation with LaGrange, we go back to the classroom with Jason Pattit, associate professor of management at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. He lays out the value and challenge of being a missionary driven leader.

Scott Olson is the founder of one of the most iconic lifestyle products to come out of Minnesota in the 20th Century: the Rollerblade. He didn’t invent the inline skate, but he improved on a design that had virtually no market traction and made it an international fitness phenomenon and a product that endures still today.

Launched in 1980, Rollerblade steadily grew into a hot commodity. But by 1986, Olson was out of the company. Just 19 when he started working on the product, he had the vision and drive, but lacked the business know-how to scale the brand. Money problems forced him to sell to Robert Sturgis and Robert Naegele, who soon took over the company and eventually sold it to Nordica, which is now a division of Technica Group and still the parent company to Rollerblade.

"I was bummed out for a day or two," Olson recalls. But I had to regroup. I still had the goal of being successful with this product." And despite the disappointment, he considers his Rollerblade run a success. It's the product that defined his entire career and allowed him to pursue other dream products, including his latest focus, the human powered Skyride, another invention at the intersection of fitness and thrills.

"The entrepreneur and inventor seldom see anything—they can never hold on long enough to see the rewards. I held on to a little piece," Olson says. "I've been lucky enough to keep doing what I love to do: innovating and inventing."

After our conversation with Olson we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Alec Johnson chairs the entrepreneurship department and makes sense of Olson's business journey.

"The transition from idea to running and growing a business is something a lot of founders don't make easily," Johnson says. "It's a bit of the Field of Dreams approach here—if I build it, they will come. My advice to founders: be prepared for the fact that they don't always come. What are you going to do to bring them in?"

“Know what your mission is and what your values are. You can’t engage in everything. If there’s an issue that affects your mission and values, you better speak out. You better be behind it.”

Bill George is the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, and currently a professor at Harvard Business School. He’s the author of several books on leadership. The latest, "True North: Emerging Leader Edition," coauthored by millennial entrepreneur Zach Clayton, calls on executives to lead with their hearts. In a wide-ranging conversation, George recounts his own path to leadership, and what he’s learned about success. Driven by Medtronic’s mission to “alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life,” the company’s market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion during his tenure from 1991 to 2001.

“You’re here on earth for a short time and you want to make a difference. I felt like leaders can make the greatest difference because they have such a powerful impact on people. It can be for good or it can be for ill. And I wanted to be one of those people who had a very positive impact on people I worked with.”

George offers advice on leaders taking a stand on social issues, creating an inclusive workplace, adapting to an employee driven culture. And he shares why he thinks younger generations are well equipped to take charge.

“Leaders today have to understand how to work in a multi-stakeholder environment. Leaders have to male bold moves. You’re going to have people who disagree with you,” George said. “If you stand for something, people will respect you for being who you are. In the end, isn’t that what we all want?”

“We are trying to build a really amazing company founded on principles of equity that makes money…and that delivers a new future for what work can look like.”

Kate Downing Khaled is the founder and CEO of Imagine Deliver, a Minneapolis-based consultancy that specializes in transformation strategy. She takes us inside her process of finding new ways forward by putting people who have experienced a problem in the design chair. “Change is really hard,” Khaled says. “Sometimes an outside perspective can really help leverage what’s new.”

She’s also using technology to solve for the current workplace challenges around recruitment and retention and shares a preview of her new software platform Mailroom, designed to help companies maximize the potential of their own employees.

“The future of our workplaces is going to be determined by the people who work there. We can’t hold tight fisted to the old ways of being,” Khaled says. “There is no going back.”

How does one learn to become a change agent? In Back to the Classroom, University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business marketing professor Gino Giovanelli talks about overcoming imposter syndrome and embracing who you are. “Having a fresh set of eyes is valuable to an organization. Don’t try to be something you’re not,” Giovanelli says. “If you want to be a change agent, you’ve got to have the gusto to just swing for it.”

“I didn’t have a business model. I had an idea. And I refused to give up.”

Former pro athlete Tyrre Burkes is on a mission to make youth sports safer. His Minneapolis based company, Players Health, provides a platform for coach credentialing and training, injury reports, management, and abuse investigations. The company has raised $30 million since its 2016 formation. But Players Health really hit its stride just a couple of years ago when Burkes realized a huge opportunity in becoming an insurance brokerage.

In 2021, Players Health sold $7 million in insurance policies; this year it expects to top $40 million. Already one of the top 10 providers of youth sports insurance, Players Health serves 60% of U.S. youth soccer teams and more than 50,000 teams across sports in North America.

Burkes’ entrepreneurial journey is one of perseverance and pivots. The child of a single mother who grew up on the south side of Chicago, he credits sports with saving his life and taking him all the way to Winona State University and the Canadian Football League. But his career was disrupted by a series of injuries, which got him thinking about what he could do to improve youth sports.

He started in 2012 with a sports communications app and shifted to player safety. He moved his fledgling company from Chicago to Minneapolis to participate in an accelerator program run by another Minnesota-based sports tech company, SportsEngine.

Burke talks candidly about mistakes he made along the way, like hiring a developer who didn’t deliver, raising money too early, and downplaying his mission in the early days. “I was timid in beginning; I didn’t want to be perceived as a heart-led leader who didn’t understand economics. Fundraising got easier when I went all in on mission.” And he lays out his vision for the future of Players Health, to become the largest insurance provider in youth sports, drawing upon its rich data to help teams mitigate injuries and incidents.

In Back to the Classroom, University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship professor John McVea draws comparisons between sports and entrepreneurship while dispelling some cliched metaphors.

Myth 1: It’s all about competition. “You should be judged by how you manage your emotions, not how you play the game.

Myth 2: Winner takes all. “Most of the gains come from participation. It’s more important than winning.”

Myth 3: Chase the scoreboard. “Actually, you’ve got to manage the strategy of the game. If you’re just going for the next cheap point, you’re probably not going to win the game. Strategy matters more than points.”

Myth 4: Sports is a quest for perfection. “This is a very harmful metaphor. Learn from your mistakes.”

Myth 5: Out compete the competition. “Success comes from hitting where they ain’t. Your advantage is providing something no one else can.”

Julie Allinson didn’t just create a company; she invented a new product category in 2000 with the launch of Eyebobs, the eyewear brand that turned reading glasses into a fashion statement. With its bold colors and daring shapes, Eyebobs developed a cult-like following that included celebrities from Elton John to Lauren Hutton. Today, Eyebobs offers both prescription glasses and readers that are sold in hundreds of stores nationwide as well as online and at three company stores in and around Minneapolis, where the company is based. Allinson sold Eyebobs to Northwest Equity Partners in 2015 and is no longer involved in the company. She offers a rare look back at her unexpected entrepreneurial journey from recognizing the opportunity idea, to finding the right audience, to knowing when it was time to step aside.

Allinson started her career in finance at Piper Jaffray. She had moved on to a startup that she was helping to raise money when the numbers on the spreadsheet started to look a bit fuzzy. So Allinson went shopping for readers and was shocked to find the only alternative to $500-plus optical shop frames was cheap drug store readers. She set out to create something in between that would show personality and style. It took two years for Eyebobs to catch on. Allinson shares the fundamental learnings that were key to her success:

1. "Get your feet on the ground and figure things out." Allinson traveled to China to learn eyewear manufacturing before developing her line.

2. "Stay away from the naysayers." Go to the people thinking about a new day; not yesterday. When optical shops couldn’t sell Eyebots, Allinson took the line to a high end men’s store where customers who dressed in designer suits saw the value in accessorizing with distinctive reading glasses.

3. "Know what’s going on in the marketplace, but be true to yourself." When you try to please everyone, you end up with something bland, Allinson says.

After our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship professor John McVea who offers advice on thinking creatively and recognizing a big opportunity. “It’s not what she knows, but how she thinking about it,” McVea says of Allinson. He shares lessons for other entrepreneurs:

1. "There are no wrong answers, but data can prove the things you shouldn’t do."

2. "The answers are unlikely to be found in publicly available information. You need to get out there and find original information and insights that only you know."

3. "Expect plans to fail, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make them. You have to plan."

4. "Remember that you are the world’s leading expert on yourself. Start with what you need, what you want, and what you know is unique. You won’t find that on the internet."

Manny Villafana is responsible for some of the most important breakthroughs in cardiovascular health care in the last five decades starting with Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI), the world’s first lithium-powered pacemaker and St. Jude Medical, which introduced the heart valve that became the industry standard and was sold to Abbott Laboratories in 2016 for $25 billion. He’s now working on his eighth startup, Medical 21, which is developing an artificial artery for bypass surgery. Human clinical trials could start in the next six months.

His career history reads like a playbook on innovation.

“If you don’t take risks, nothing’s going to happen,” says Villafana, who is 81 and shows no interest in slowing down. “I go after things that people say can’t be done. That’s one of the greatest pleasures in life. Just go the opposite direction.”

He charts some key career highs and lows, from being fired by Medtronic and then sued by the company that eventually gave him free access to its patents and bought his second valve company, ATS Medical, for $370 million. Villafana has taken seven companies public in his career, but still, he says, raising money is a grind, and over the course of his career, investors have become even more adverse to risk, he says.

“The work is hard in any startup, but with a medical tech company, you have to be Superman to withstand the regulatory process,” he says. “Make sure you’ve identified a need.”

Back to the Classroom

Innovation at its core is knowing there’s a better way, coupled with the courage to pursue it, even in the face of adversity, says Kjrk Reyerson, executive fellow and adjunct professor of Healthcare Innovation at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.

“There might not always be a playbook,” Ryerson says. “What is your passion? What fuels you?”

Passion is essential to moving a new idea. “What you’re representing is change,” Ryerson says. “Most human beings doing like change. How do we incentivize the way we think about change as something to be celebrated?”