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| MATR Newsletter - Tue May 2, 2006 |
MATR
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"The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger.' Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself.' Yes, that's it." -- Linus Torvalds
If you are an Angel Investor or you know someone who is, please consider attending a gathering of those interested in improving the funding environment for startups in Montana. The discussion will include Angel Networks, Venture Capital and legislation that may be introduced in the next session. Hope to see you there. Russ "Montana Capital Investment Action Group - 5/12, Helena, MT" http://www.matr.net/ev ... =1596
Come Home Montana
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Deer Lodge residents describe assets, challenges in new assessment
A complete written report will be available for review before a town meeting on May 24. At that time, the resource team will assist the community in prioritizing projects and will outline resources for funding.
Education
- Entrepreneurs' ideas take shape at UM business seminar. Montana State University grads in a special class of successful entrepreneurs
“The only qualifications are that you are passionate about starting a company, you have an idea but you don't know where to start,”
- Montana Entrepreneur, Blaine Halvorson sells profitable company for $20 million
When he returns to MSU to talk to students, he encourages them to shoot for the moon, even though it's not always easy to turn a big dream into reality. People who succeed have to tolerate the uncomfortable feeling of uncertainly and fear. "You have to put yourself up against the fence," he said.
- New KTEC program aims to raise entrepreneurs
The goal is to create a new generation of tech and life sciences startups in Kansas -- one of only six states that did not attract any venture capital investments last year, according to the Ernst & Young/VentureOne Venture Capital Report.
- Startup School
Kraus proceeded to share stories about the early days of Excite and how his passion for startups led him in 2004 to do it again, this time with JotSpot, the wiki software collaboration company. Throughout his speech, he called upon the aspiring entrepreneurs to remain persistent in the face of obstacles, hire only “A” players and accept minimal funding at first.
Montana Business
- MSU engineering lab receives $600K donation
He recently created a scholarship in honor of his parents, Eric and Boots Asbjornson, which is awarded to needy students from Fergus or Petroleum counties who’ve overcome personal adversity.
- Schlumberger Ltd. donates $3 million in software to Tech
The new software will allow geological and petroleum engineering students to study subsurface geology and geophysics, focusing specifically on petroleum reservoir characterization and visualization.
- Students learning geography the high-tech way
Using digital mapping software, along with data gleaned from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Police Department and even the local board of elections, the Portsmouth juniors and seniors are tackling political, environmental and economic problems.
Montana Economic Development
- Lockwood manufacturer, Crown Parts & Machine Inc. sells mining equipment globally
"One of the first things I do when I get here is to call Chile or Peru, then back out to the eastern United States," Hatzell said. "China I do later in the day because they're sleeping while we're working."
- Neurogenic Technologies®, Inc. of Missoula- Testing weightless muscles on the "Vomit Comet"
“The device was really developed to assess muscle function after a stroke or cerebral palsy or various neurological conditions,” Leonard said. “But now it seems the biggest market has been in sports medicine, orthopedics, that type of thing, and even industrial medicine and workers compensation cases because you can quantify muscle health without any bias or motivational aspects. And you can do it with muscle specificity.”
- Overwatch Systems Purchases Visual Learning Systems of Missoula
Founded in 1999 by Dr. David Opitz and Stuart Blundell, VLS is the worldwide leader in automated feature extraction solutions (AFE) for geographic information systems (GIS).
- Insure Montana providing small businesses low-cost way to provide health insurance
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Grant will partner the Fort Peck Indian tribes, Harvard Medical School to provide behavioral and mental health services for children on the reservation
Computers will be used to provide telemedicine psychiatric counseling for reservation children by postdoctoral Harvard students
Funding and Building your Business
- Angel Investing Needs More Than Just a Few Good Women
The report, Women and Angel Investing: An Untapped Pool of Equity for Entrepreneurs, provides insights and recommendations from leading women angels on how to grow the pool of early stage equity by encouraging more women to be angels.
Legislative Newsletters
- Tips for Winning Those First Sales
How do you gain the trust of first-time customers?
- The Top Ten Lies of Marketers (with bonus)
"How can you tell if a marketer is lying? His lips are moving."
- Goodbye and Good Luck. With employee turnover on the rise, getting the most out of exit interviews is more important than ever.
Nearly all companies conduct some kind of exit interview with employees who leave the fold. But many treat it more as a perfunctory rite of passage than a strategic management tool. That's a mistake.
- Creating a Great Spirit of Service at Southwest Airlines; An Interview with Colleen Barrett, President.
Service. Whether you make a piece of hardware, or deliver a face-to-face service, everything we do to create business success revolves around understanding our customers, creating a product or service that satisfies their needs and delivering that value in a way that builds a lasting relationship with our customers.
Global Telework
- "The Interim" Montana Legislative Branch Newsletter May 2006
The Interim contains articles related to interim committee work, general Legislative Branch news, and other articles of legislative interest in the State of Montana.
Regional Economic Development
- Tech jobs suffer lack of talent, panel says. Trouble ahead: Without an influx of highly skilled workers, some trades could grind to halt
"The conditions are ripe for a 'perfect storm' . . . an economic climate in which all of us [globally] are seeking to recruit" the next crop of highly skilled and educated workers,
Idaho Business
- Teamwork changes small towns' fortunes
How did they do it? Teamwork
Wyoming Business
- The Buck Stopped Here. How Buck Knives got on the road and found happiness in Post Falls, Idaho
If it's true that geography is destiny, then Buck's voyage demonstrates that you can shape your destiny if you're willing to redraw your geography.
University Business Plan Competitions
- Wyoming lures workers from Michigan
And the prospect of making $22 an hour to start in a place with no state income tax played a big role in his decision to move, Purtell said.
University TechTransfer
- Winners named in contest at University of Utah's school of business
More than 500 university and college students competed statewide for more than $100,000 in cash and in-kind services.
- University of Montana School of Business Administration Gears Up for Business Plan Competition May 12
The business school will host the 16th Annual John Ruffatto Business Plan Competition on Thursday, May 11, 2006.
Careers
- Five Universities You Can Do Business With
Entrepreneurs can also use their influence as parents to change minds. If you have a child in college, ask the deans and department heads about the school's record of tech transfer, whether there is a technology incubator or industrial park near campus, and so on. If university administrators are asked the same question over and over, you can bet that, eventually, a few smart Ph.D.'s will be dispatched to come up with the right answers.
Non-Profit News
- The IT job: Its time has come again
The computer jobs with the hottest prospects include network-systems analysts, database administrators and software engineers. Information technology is now seen as sort of a corporate savior giving companies the ability to expand into new markets, identify new customers and cut costs.
Hydrogen News
- MSU to be Awarded over $281,000 for Student Grants
- MSU-Billings to be Awarded over $100,000 for Student Grants
- Rocky Mountain College to be Awarded over $26,000 for Student Grants
- Dawson Community College to be Awarded $13,000 for Student Grants
Connectivity & Communications
- $250 million hydrogen plant proposed for Judith Gap, Montana
According to Faulkner, the plant would receive 55-gallon drums, containing hazardous and non-hazardous materials, via rail and truck. When the plant is up and running it could process 300 tons of materials every day.
City Club Missoula
- Intel to Offer Its Own Plan for Global Internet Access
The moves are intended to bolster Intel's reach into new markets, but may also have an effect on the American market for computers in education.
- City Club Missoula - "What’s Worth Preserving?", 5/12, Missoula
Find out what criteria the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission uses to determine what is worth preserving in Missoula. You will have an opportunity to say what you think is worth preserving with an Architectural Treasure Hunt.
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