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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Dec 11, 2007 |
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While creating more high paying jobs in Montana is an admirable goal, what we really need is the creation of more "Gazelles". Gazelle companies are responsible for an extraordinary number of job creations vs. the jobs created by recruited companies. We are a state of "underemployeed" who are taking whatever job they can to stay here. We need to develop the companies that can utilize their talents and those of the many alumni and expats who'd like to return to Montana to raise their families and contribute to our economic future. Gazelles traditionally will stay in the state while recruited companies can become transient as they seek new incentives from other states every few years. Gazelles become the foundation for increased entrepreneurial activity and spinoffs. Montana needs and deserves a focus on developing and supporting Gazelle companies like Printing For Less and Right Now Technologies. If we do, the challenge will not be developing high paying jobs but finding the talent to fill an ever-increasing demand for highly paid employees. With the newly formed Capital Investment Board http://matr.net/articl ... .html and the eventual availability of $60MM in venture funding, all entrepreneurs should take a look at their business model and figure out how it can become not a $1MM company but a $100MM company. VC's won't fund a small goal company. You need to aim for the moon, not just the local community. The new funds won't be available for some time so you now have the time to reevaluate your business model. How can it be improved? What is its global potential? You won't be able to use the excuse that there isn't money available. Entrepreneurs, it's your decision. If you'd like some help, here are some ideas. http://matr.net/stepst ... phtml Russ
Congratulations to the many Montanan's who've worked on or are working on getting this implemented. This will open a wonderful new aspect of entrepreneurial economic development for Montana. "Montana Capital Investment Board Moving Forward. Montana Fund of Funds Effort Launched" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html -- Congratulations to MAPS on their further success. If you're looking for an organization to support, MAPS is an excellent opportunity to help support the future leaders of Montana. "Media Arts in the Public Schools wins 2007 Award of Excellence in New Communications" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Come Home Montana
Idaho National Laboratory
- Montana Career Opportunity - Executive Director Economic Development - Montana Business Assistance Connection
The Executive Director of MBAC is considered to be a “key” partner in the planning and growth of the communities and counties we serve.
- A down-to-earth town for ski lovers. Big Sky, Montana
"Even though there is luxury here, Big Sky hasn't been hyped up like other places or completely transformed by grandiose tastes, so it retains its down-to-earth feel," Moore said. "This is about as friendly and anti-snooty as ski towns come, and I can easily see myself coming here for the next 30 years."
- Shelby, Montana: Little town thinks big
Shelby Mayor Larry Bonderud credits the town's success to the fact that between 1973 and 1977 more than 100 Shelby High School graduates returned to the town. They came back educated and took jobs as doctors, lawyers, bankers and farmers.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Project Manager - Edulog
Needed: experienced project manager for large software implementation contracts.
- Livingston, Montana named top outdoor town. Looking for a big city career in Big Sky Country?
“These towns have not only back doors to some of the country’s best adventure terrain, but also lively, livable communities that are dedicated to playing in and preserving the great American playgrounds,” the article states.
MAPS™ : Media Arts in the Public Schools
- Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls Honors 86 Inventors at Awards Banquet
Among the 40 patents recognized this year, several addressed environmental challenges with new technologies, processes and materials in energy research, national security, nuclear medicine, nano-materials, improved battery composites, plus science and industrial processing.
- Idaho National laboratory unveils big brain. Site's computing center is 'new laboratory'
The new computer at the heart of the center, called Icestorm, can make as many calculations in one day as an ordinary home computer could make in five years (assuming a home computer could be operated without interruption for that long).
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Media Arts in the Public Schools wins 2007 Award of Excellence in New Communications
MAPS' program goal and objective is to educate and create quality jobs for youth. To achieve this goal they encourage and develop a student's creative voice, communication ability and confidence. And by combining these skills with character building tools - teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving – they are able to deliver a measurable return on human and capital investment.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Reasons women want to start a business
If I want to have a child and work part time or work at 2 in the morning, I have that option.
- Hooked on rods: 17-year-old Montanan catches custom rod-building bug, starts business. Shields River Rods
So far, he's sold about 100 rods ranging in price from $290 to $475.
Funding and Building your Business
- Insitu raises $25 million for new craft. Spy plane maker anticipates profits this year
Sliwa anticipates ending the year at 260 employees, boasting that Bingen, Washington probably now has more Ph.D.s per capita than anyplace in the world.
Education
- AlwaysOn Venture Summit: Pride causes many entrepreneurs to fail
"Many of these companies do not go out for M&A soon enough."
- Draper & Conway: What Angels Want
The falling cost of starting consumer internet companies means there's a huge untapped market for more angel investors.
- Dynamic nature of patent law
What's the prognosis for copyrights on the Internet? Are the two even compatible?
- Guy Kawasaki interviews the guys who don’t need no stinkin’ venture capital
It’s the people everybody loves to hate because they make the rest of us look so bad and unlucky.
- Getting the Gang Back Together
But even when the last go-round was a mild success or even a tremendous failure, there is signal value in the fact that these individuals deliberately choose to work together another time.
- Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Marketing
Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills.
- Venture Capital Term Sheet
For those budding entrepreneurs who've never seen a VC term sheet, here's a representative example.
- Here's your chance to nominate a company for the Red Herring Top 100 Awards
Companies that apply must be headquartered in North America, must be privately held and not listed on any exchanges anywhere in the world.
Montana Meth Project
- Feds to loosen No Child Left Behind requirements
The new way of measuring achievement, known as a "growth model," requires schools to measure the progress of individual students over time. To do that, states have to have systems for tracking student scores that also protect the students' privacy.
- Fame & Fortune: Danica McKellar (Winnie in "The Wonder Years"). "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail,"
"What's a pretty girl like you studying math for?"
- Kindergartners see new approach to learning ABCs
This is Hip-Hop Scholastics.
- BYU Marriott School Duo Win National Ethics Competition
BYU has taken first place two out of the three years it has participated in the competition.
- More time in class equals better math skills
The study finds adding 10 minutes of math instruction to an eighth-grader's day translates into a jump in math skills.
Connectivity & Communications
- Indian students' use of meth drops sharply
"I think it's very positive," she said. "I think it says a lot out about our students paying attention to information they get in school, information they get with the Montana Meth Project campaign and on our reservations."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Anaconda ‘blog’ encourages community to discuss issues
The blog is intended to foster discussions to identify community issues and work toward solutions.
- Architect of Web seeks to enhance it. Tim Berners-Lee
He and many other forward thinkers are working on the "semantic Web," an enhancement that would provide a universal exchange of data.
- Get ready for your close-up. Google's acclaimed, criticized Street View bears down on Boston
The feature, which already captures street scenes in 15 cities across the country, has become popular among people planning vacations, searching for shops or restaurants, or checking out landmarks such as Wrigley Field in Chicago or the Empire State Building in New York.
Incubators and R&D
- The Robots Among Us
If robotics technology now stands where computing did in the '70s, what can we expect in the future?
- Free software brings affordability, transparency to mathematics. SAGE: Open Source Mathematics Software - "Building the Car Instead of Reinventing the Wheel"
Sage can take the place of commercial software commonly used in mathematics education, in large government laboratories and in math-intensive research. The program can do anything from mapping a 12-dimensional object to calculating rainfall patterns under global warming.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Hackers Launch Major Attack on US Military Labs
In what a spokesperson for the Oak Ridge facility described as a "sophisticated cyber attack," it appears that intruders accessed a database of visitors to the Tennessee lab between 1990 and 2004, which included their social security numbers and dates of birth.
- Lab-grown human organs: Companies lack funding to meet expectations
Although investors have pumped more than $4.5 billion into so-called tissue engineering companies since 1990, according to federal estimates, only a smattering of lab-made skin and cartilage products have been approved for sale.
Montana Business
- Montana Capital Investment Board Moving Forward. Montana Fund of Funds Effort Launched
Montana is moving in a direction so it won't be a "flyover" state for those who can help entrepreneurial businesses succeed. The ironic thing is that many of these VC's and Angels have 2nd or 3rd homes here but they've never been invited to get involved with MT businesses. The Montana Fund of Funds effort will help bring new funding expertise to the state and hopefully help those funding professionals who have a love of Montana get more involved in its economic future.
Montana Economic Development
- Carbon offsets: Landowners’ wave of the future?
“At this point carbon markets themselves are emerging,” Dodge said. “There’s an increasing interest and it’s beginning to appeal in terms of value to a farmer or rancher.” So what exactly are carbon offsets?
- The Bitterroot Composite Lumber Company selling shares in Montana
“We think it’s a good investment,” Schneeberger said. “It is a start-up company, and start-up companies have a lot of risk, but we think we’ve gone the extra mile to mitigate the risk as much as we possibly can.”
Regional Economic Development
- Officials from the City of Helena and Lewis and Clark County, Montana work to lure United Express flights
“”I think it’s reasonable,” said Mayor Jim Smith. “What we’d like to do is prime the pump for private contributions, and I think that’s a proper role for government from time to time.”
- Factory could bring hundreds of jobs to Blackfeet Reservation
"It will manufacture adaptive lightweight materials for missile defense," tribal Chairman Earl Old Person said. "It will start small, but it could grow to 300 or 400 employees."
- Tribal, business leaders focus on regional economic development
Regional Indian tribal leaders will meet with Great Falls business leaders Thursday and Friday to talk about economic development.
Utah Business
- The Tough Business of Growing Old in Rural Areas
Rural areas have a higher percentage of elderly residents. Their quality of life depends on what local governments can scrounge and what local volunteers can give.
- Small Towns Look To Keep Young Professionals By Increasing Affordable Housing
Inclusionary zoning would make it easier for local governments to resist opposition and approve projects providing affordable housing, Mr. Crosson points out. “It’s not high-minded,” he said. “It allows local officials to deflect some of the heat. They can say that they are not choosing to do it, the law is making them do it.”
Government Technology
- Zinch.com: Facebook-like Web site helps add personality to the recruiting process and help recruiting officers
Zinch is a Facebook-like Web site that allows aspiring college students to post profiles that reveal far more about themselves than a standardized test score will, while aiding college admissions officers to recruit students more effectively.
Idaho Business
- Montana Launches E-Records Committee
"Montana has a rich tradition of open government," Johnson said. "This committee will help us preserve documents for the future, so the public can always have access."
Washington State Business
- Energy efficient building panel plant relocates to Post Falls, Idaho from Virginia
After looking at Arizona, Utah and other states, Acsys decided to move into an empty building near Buck Knives in the Riverbend Commerce Park.
- Tourism chief sees shift in perception of Idaho as destination
"People are starting to place us in the mountains, which is where we belong, versus we grow potatoes and we're somewhere in the Midwest, one of those 'I' states."
- It's vodka-rific; Caldwell, Idaho based Koenig Distillery cracks Top 50 list
"Having Koenig Potato Vodka ranked among this elite group is a huge statement about Idaho quality, products and the people who make them," said Larry Maneely, deputy superintendent at the Idaho State Liquor Dispensary.
Government
- Brothers net $2 million. Pharmitas, Fyreball enjoy good week
ComplyScan, the name of Pharmitas' first product, automates the drug-logging process by reading demographic information off the back of driver's licenses and then correlating that with the universal product code from the cold medicine. If a person is found to have exceeded a monthly limit, the retailer is notified. The technology also archives the sales information to meet the requirements of the new law.
- CellCyte shares ride a wave of hype
The barrage of hype has been bankrolled, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, by an outside stockholder — a man whom British Columbia securities regulators have barred from their industry for 15 years.
- RealNetworks lays off 100, about 35 of them in Seattle
RealNetworks had about 1,800 workers worldwide before the cuts, Hankes said, adding that no further layoffs are planned.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Many state officials find themselves explaining investments. Montana's SIV investments called into question
Maine and others like Connecticut, Florida, Montana and King County in Washington n were drawn to the highly rated commercial paper issued by an SIV called Mainsail II that was operated by British hedge fund Solent Capital Partners.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- The 7th Annual Year in Ideas from the New York Times Magazine
Editors and writers trawl the oceans of ingenuity, hoping to snag in our nets the many curious, inspired, perplexing and sometimes outright illegal innovations of the past 12 months.
- Yellowstone’s Giant Geyser erupts back to life with style
When it erupts, it shoots a roaring, splashing column of water and steam, often higher than its more predictable and famous cousin, Old Faithful.
Careers
- Great Falls leaders look to coordinate work force education efforts
Joe Unterreiner, president of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said the program "more fully integrates business and education, so that students have a real context for what they're learning, which will make school more challenging and meaningful for the vast majority of students who neither excel nor are struggling."
- Cisco classes give Montana students an edge when pursuing careers in computer technology
Students who enjoy the abstract computer work and persist eventually can end up with lucrative jobs running computer systems for big companies.
Non-Profit News
- MBA is fine, but experience is a wonderful teacher
My psych adviser was right: He said the biz school would corrupt me and that I'd never be taken seriously as a psychologist. Whoop-de-doo.
- Jobs in demand. Network Systems and Data Communications Analysis.
It may not be the sexiest-sounding career, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it's expected to be the fastest-growing occupation in the country over the next decade.
- Nike manager, Sam McCracken an example of Native American success
Sam McCracken holds a rare job in corporate America as the leader of a marketing program specifically targeting American Indians.
- How to Not Choke
Here’s what you can do to avoid choking:
Energy
- The Bridge Newsletter December 2007- The Montana Advocacy Program - Supporting People with Disabilities To Ensure Their Civil Rights.
People with disabilities are complete people and when we use the "R" word to mock, we devalue many people.
Transportation
- Former 'No Nukes' Protester, Gwyneth Cravens: "Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Power"
Her conclusion? Every day spent burning coal for power translates into damaged lungs and ecosystem destruction.
- The Last Row of the Plane
"We look at the air like it is infinite, rather than what it really is — a limited resource."
- Britain seeks to build enough wind turbines to power all its homes by 2020
Britain's wind-swept coasts and shallow waters are ideal for offshore turbines, but wind generated power currently accounts for less than 2 percent of its energy generation.
Montana Education Excellence
- Mayor To Employees: Get On The Bus. Trading In The Car For A Metro Pass
"This is a great incentive to get people out of their cars and using public transit,"
Leadership Montana
- Med tech students can now stay in Montana to complete training
Starting in May, Montana students can take all of their training without leaving the state. After taking three or four years of required courses at universities in Billings, Bozeman or Missoula, students can enroll in the 14-week Montana Medical Laboratory Science Training Program at Montana State University in Bozeman.
- Montana State University president, Geoffrey Gamble ushers in new era for Indian relations
"The only thing of importance that leaders can do is create and manage change." - Edgar Schein
- Top leaders share certain crafty talents
Every day is judgment day for the best leaders.
- Ways 'Authentic' Leaders Acquire Management Skills
What defines an authentic leader, and how do you become one?
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