The tech.mn Podcast

Oh, the internship. A professional rite of passage that doesn't always turn out to be the bridge-building experience you're hoping it to be. But Allison Barmann and Genesys Works - Twin Cities are on a mission to change that. In her role as Executive Director, Barmann is helping guide the organization and shaping the futures of high school students from underserved communities in the process.

Host Casey Shultz chats with Barmann about why it's so important for the diversity of companies to reflect their communities, how Genesys Works - Twin Cities helps create meaningful internship experiences for its students, and a lot more.

Building an app, building a website, building, well, anything digital can be a huge pain if you don’t know your code. Thankfully, there have never been more tools for building digital products without the need to tweak thousands of lines of code. That’s great! But when you’re running a business, you don’t always have the time to dig through the digital trenches to create your new app or site.

Ken Krutsch and his digital product design studio KRUTSCH are trying to alleviate that pain. With the studio’s new venture, Think.Code.Go., Krutsch and KRUTSCH (it’s not as confusing as it looks) are looking to fast-track the building process with minimal-code solutions that provide clients with professional and flexible digital products. Here all about Krutsch’s journey to the design world, Think.Code.Go.’s inception, and a lot more in this episode of The tech.mn Podcast.

It’s safe to say the average person has never been more aware of the “supply chain” than they are now, and that’s something Sunny Han, Founder and CEO of Fulcrum, knows well. With a customer-focused goal of smoothing out the manufacturing process, Han has captained Fulcrum since 2015, and it’s safe to say he’s learned a lot along the way. From navigating personnel struggles (a story that was well-documented in his FuckUp Nights presentation), to trying to genuinely care about a customer’s place in the manufacturing sector, to being a part of the number-one ranked raid guild on World of Warcraft, it has been a lot. And he talks about it all in this episode.

Maddy LeClaire has been there and back again in just a few short years. After an impressive and important-to-the-ecosystem run at MinneInno, LeClaire moved to the other side of the journalism/PR aisle as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Medical Alley. Now, she's mixing a bit of journalistic peanut butter with some marketing chocolate as the new Program Specialist for Launch Minnesota. And there are big things in store for the organization in 2022.

Listen to our interview with LeClaire as we cover a wide range of topics from the importance of capital J Journalism, how she took a solutions-based approach to her work at MinneInno, how Launch Minnesota impacts the startup community, and a lot more.

Kelvin Johnson Jr. wasn't born for the public accounting world. With a penchant for storytelling and a passion for honing the art of the pitch, it's only natural that Johnson left the financial world for the looser, more dynamic world of startup to help other founders, well, pitch their asses off. With his company, Brevity Pitch, founders can tap into an AI system to help build the right foundation for any type of pitch. It's an interesting concept, and one that we're sure you'll agree fits Johnson well after hearing this episode of The tech.mn Podcast. Johnson has held the letters "CPA" longer, but CEO seems to fit pretty darn good, too.

After watching Pathfinder land on Mars with the Sojourner rover in tow when he was five years old, Amogha Srirangarajan has spent the better part of his life obsessed with robots. Now, as the CEO of Carbon Origins, Amogha has one goal – make robots commonplace. But while blasting off to Mars is a bit off for the Minneapolis startup, the team is tackling something else closer to home – delivery. With Skippy, the Carbon Origins robot (who was also in love with a butterfly at one point... it's a long story), the company is on a mission to get you your next meal at the perfect temperature, in good time, and by something that's much more Star Wars-esque than your usual pizza delivery guy.

Bharat Pulgam and the rest of the Pikup team are attempting to bring the idea of the milkman to the modern age. The Minneapolis startup is looking to change the way we think about delivery services, eschewing the on-demand, "I want it now!" angle of competitors for a more reliable, scheduled approach. Host Casey Shultz talks about that mission and a lot more on this episode of The tech.mn Podcast.

Well, almost a year later. Casey chats with Kris Eul (Co-founder, Kinetic) and Andrew Verboncouer (Partner & CEO, Headway) about the year that was 2021 and how it shaped Kinetic's path forward. Trying to help people make genuine connections, how to keep people coming back for that connection, ditching comparison for collaboration, raising seed round money... there's a lot to talk about.

Nick VanWagner, CEO of OurFamilyWizard, chats one-on-one with Casey about moving from LinkedIn to When I Work to his latest position, how he's taking a startup approach to a company that's 20 years old, and much more.

Frank Jaskulke, VP of Intelligence and Head of Medical Alley Starts for the Medical Alley Association, joins the podcast for this one-on-one with Casey. Franks talks about the Minnesotan drive to do things that matter, his personal medical journey, and why there's nothing wrong with singing the praises of our ecosystem. Loudly.