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| MATR Newsletter - Fri May 7, 2010 |
"There is no real creativity in agreeing. In healthy, robust disagreement, there is newness and discovery." Chris Girrell Master the art of the argument http://matr.net/articl ... .html
"33rd International Wildlife Film Festival , 05/8-15, Missoula" http://matr.net/articl ... .html
"Montana's Race To The Top - The State with the Best Education Wins!"
Glacier Raft and Outdoor Center
- Can a high-school dropout save education by developing entrepreneurs?
Ecko's Sweat Equity Enterprises gets kids out of the classroom and into companies where they can design such things as sneakers and skateboards -- then sell their products to learn the value of entrepreneurship. "I'm putting some skin into making this a model that works," Ecko says of his goal to enroll 50,000 students.
- Saying it is sure to lose, Oregon quits "Race To The Top" contest for federal school innovation money
Oregon needs to go back to the drawing board on basics such as how to turn around chronically low-performing schools and how to include student achievement growth when evaluating teachers and principals, he said.
- 104 High School Seniors Awarded 'Youth Serve Montana' Scholarships http://www.serve.mt.gov
"The 'Youth Serve Montana' Scholarships are a great way to honor Montana's High School Seniors who've dedicated their time to make a difference in their communities," said Governor Brian Schweitzer.
Idaho National Laboratory
- Happy Birthday, Glacier Park, Monday May 10!!!!
NEXT MONDAY, May 10th, is GLACIER NATIONAL PARK'S ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY, and it is imperative the long time "Trailwatcher" recognizes that event.
PrintingForLess
- Idaho National Laboratory honors Idaho schools with $60,000 in grants to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in grades K-12
In 2009, INL contributed a total of $473,000 to local and regional K-12 programs that promote STEM education and encourage students to pursue careers in these areas. Over the past four years, INL's Education Programs office has contributed nearly $1.7 million to enhance STEM education. That includes 166 grants totaling more than $330,000.
Highway 12 Ventures
- 5 Tips For Saving $ on Print
Consider the following tips to help you get the most bang for your marketing buck.
Montana SBA
- Highway 12 Ventures Portfolio News - April 2010
This is the first installment of monthly portfolio news in blog format. Click on the links to read the whole story.
- Introducing Our New Associate: Derek Keller - Highway 12 Ventures
Two years ago, I received an email from a young man named Derek Keller asking me about the possibility of interning at Highway 12 Ventures for the summer.
- Great Products Don’t Require Education
To ultimately win in the market, you have to be obsessed with getting it right and making it something a customer doesn’t want to live without.
- How To Communicate with your Investors between Board Meetings
This post is about what happens BETWEEN board meetings.
MSU Leadership Institute
- Native American Development Council Economic Development And Procurement Conference, 5/19-20, Billings, Montana
This conference will provide an opportunity for conference attendees to learn how to form strategic partnerships, obtain government contracts & develop financial resources.
- Google and SBA Launch "Tools for Online Success" Partnership to Boost Small Businesses
"As the web evolves and consumers adapt accordingly, we know that more customers are finding traditional 'Main Street' businesses online. With these tools for online success, we can ensure these small businesses reach new markets and customers so they can continue to create jobs."
- The Small Business Advocate Advocacy: the voice of small business in government
Stories include: Affordable Broadband: The Catalyst for Small Business Growth
Visit Montana
- “Carpe diem” could be a good motto for Montana State University’s graduating class of 2010. Among this year’s graduating seniors are many students who have seized the day in remarkable ways.
“My sense is MSU students are thinking deeply about serving others — and they want to do so now, not later.” said Carmen McSpadden. Here are three graduating seniors who have seized the day at MSU, served others and made a positive difference.
Come Home Montana
- Alaska Airlines puts Montana on sale
Offering everything from luxury lodges to family dude ranches to camping under the stars, it's seems there's a Montana for every budget, and thanks to Alaska Airlines, it's now cheaper to get there.
Come Home Washington
- Jeff Foxworthy on Montana - You might live in Montana if....
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, You might live in Montana .
Warren Miller Freedom Foundation
- Washington State Career Opportunities - Facebook to open engineering office in Seattle
For job opportunities in Seattle, visit our Seattle jobs
Montana Business
- Warren Miller's World - Too Old to be of Value!
It is a tossup who is having the most fun on a bluebird day in Montana in powder snow.
Montana Economic Development
- Butte, Montana employers report improved business climate
Butte's major employers are reporting a stable business economy and have little or no complaints in wake of the recent economic downturn.
- Kodak Easyshare Gallery Uses Rightnow Technologies of Bozeman, Montana To Control Costs, Manage Demand Spikes, And Optimize The Customer Experience
“RightNow has become an indispensable component of our total contact center environment,” says John Allum-Poon, director of customer support for Kodak EasyShare Gallery.
- The Natural Baby Company of Bozeman, Montana to Rebrand as GroVia
Premium Natural Diapering and Parenting Company Approaches Future with Name Change and First Ever BioDiaper
Careers
- Montana Department of Commerce Business Resources Division Spring 2010 Newsletter
The Montana Department of Commerce http://commerce.mt.gov/ has created this quarterly newsletter to up-date you on the status of our business resources business financing programs and other program news. Contact information for each program is provided. Feel free to contact any Business Resources staff when you have questions about our programs, or to discuss potential applications.
- Missoula, Montana could gain flights from United-Continental merger
If the merger goes through, it could mean that Missoula would benefit by getting some of Continental's routes.
- Biomass energy in Montana subject of demo, scandal
“It’s a very worthwhile” pursuit, she said. “We can do it in a sustainable, sensible way.”
- New Great Falls, Montana economic development officer, Jeremiah Johnson shares plans for city
"You can go to a city and you can make more money, but the quality of living isn't what it is here in Great Falls."
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Career Advancement: It’s the Soft Stuff That’s Really the Hard Stuff
These findings have implications for both job seekers and for leadership development.
Funding and Building your Business
- NASVF NetNews
“The speed of turnaround in the situation is truly impressive. It shows the overall pick-up in the confidence that fund managers seem to have in seed stage companies” said Raj Chaganti, professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Fox School of Business.
Incubators and R&D
- Time to Reset Your Business?
Extra revenue may come at too steep a price.
- Selling Your Business
So you’re thinking of selling your business? Before you start any conversations with prospective buyers, here are a few ideas to keep in mind during the planning process.
- Don't Be Afraid To Give Your VCs, Angels and Board Members Assignments
Rarely have I heard a VC say something like “My plan is to just hang around, go to board meetings, ask a few nonsensical, low insight, rhetorical questions, eat the crummy food, and then disappear until the next board meeting.”
- The new face of venture capital: A road map for entrepreneurs
It’s a rough time for start-ups seeking financing. Venture capital firms may have loosened the purse strings somewhat, but finding that magic formula to catch an investor’s eye is harder than ever.
- Sustainability is the next business mega-trend
The factors that fuel that shift and set out the key steps companies need to take to stay ahead of the curve.
- Patent Office Plans Could Kill Small Company Innovation
Patent filing and maintenance rates may shoot so high as to make it economically difficult, if not impossible, for many small companies to adequately protect their innovations.
- Community Lenders Can Offer Start-Ups Lift
A growing number of the nation's lenders are pursuing a speciality that could make them a promising source of funding for small-business owners and entrepreneurs who don't qualify for traditional bank loans.
- Three Best Ways to Court a Community Bank
Community banks are often more willing than their larger counterparts to conduct business on a handshake because they understand the needs of their neighboring establishments and, in many cases, have underwriters in-house to approve loans.
Montana Education Excellence
- $12M Available for Tech Commercialization Challenge
EDA will award up to $1 million to each of six winning teams with the most innovative ideas to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in their regions.
- Health Care Bill Includes 50 Percent Credit for Biotech Research
The 50 percent credit is intended to limit tax liability for biotech companies and their investors. A cash grant is available for companies with no tax liability, or whose liability is less than the amount of the credit.
- Preclinical Research And Development Summit, 5/19, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana
"The summit will provide information and connections for researchers to successfully navigate preclinical testing of their discoveries, and open up possibilities for access to resources both at ITHS (Institute of Translational Health Sciences) and locally."
- Salt Lake Community College Powers Up Business Start-Ups
Currently it serves 14 resident clients and has “graduated” 20 companies.
Regional Business
- Ravalli County Montana students receive Greater Ravalli Foundation Scholarship
Recipients currently receive $4,000 each year for two years toward the school of their choice and if they choose to stay at a Montana state school, recipients will receive funding from various other scholarship funds for the following two years - covering their entire four-year education and keeping them in Montana.
University TechTransfer
- Senate Bill S.515 would harm small, innovative businesses
We need small innovative companies more than ever to create jobs, a new green energy independent economy and solutions to major technological problems.
Idaho Business
- The new realities for tech transfer
The financial crisis has blown a chill wind through US technology transfer offices, making it harder to fund start-up companies.
Education
- Trade expert gives pointers to Idaho businesses
“Idaho is open for business, whether you know it or not. Idaho has a great story to tell.”
Canada Business & Economic Development
- Ethics specialist to lead Harvard Business School - Longtime professor, Nitin Nohria, has called for code of behavior
In naming longtime faculty member Nitin Nohria to the top post at the prestigious school, Harvard University president Drew Faust yesterday acknowledged it was “an important moment for the future of business and the future of business education.’’
- The future of schools
Riotously colourful atriums? Dining halls 'cool enough to chill in'? There's a revolution afoot in school design, and it's not just the buildings that are being transformed
- Darwin Got It Going On - “The Rap Guide to Evolution,” by Baba Brinkman.
His guide to evolution grew out of a correspondence with Mark Pallen, an evolutionary biologist and rap enthusiast at the University of Birmingham, in Britain; the result, as Brinkman tells us, is “the only hip-hop show to have been peer-reviewed.”
- State education cuts hurt economy, report says
"We're very concerned with the impact on the economy because of what's happening to education because of the budget crisis."
- Tracking Return-on-Investment for Higher Ed
Any ideas as to the best ways to measure return on investment for institutions of higher learning?
Government
- Canada's top angel investor wants every Canadian to have access to angel investment opportunities
What about the next 10% people that are very well off, but not classified as accredited investors they may like to take a gamble on a startup, but they can't?"
Ignite Missoula
- Montana Governor Schweitzer Announces Over $400 Million Cash in the Bank
Governor Brian Schweitzer today announced that Montana remains in a strong fiscal position having over $400 million in cash in various accounts that can be used for general government and fighting fires.
Other Economies
- Deliver Better Presentations by Understanding PowerPoint's Top 3 Myths
Whenever someone requests (or demands) that you send the PowerPoint deck ahead of time — so it can be reviewed the day before the presentation — a kitten dies.
- Liven up your speeches with these social media tricks
Use social tools to build buzz ahead of time, stage interactive text-message polls or get your audience talking by moderating a back-channel Twitter discussion. "These methods allow you to connect with your audience before, during, and after you deliver your message"
Community
- 11 states that want your business - States That Truly Bet On Small Business
This article and slide show highlight 11 of the most ambitious state incentive programs for small businesses.
Energy and Climate Change
- From Values to Actions - Shared values drive new plans for Victor, Idaho
Victor residents have started to bridge divides and recognize common ground. These new connections, a renewed sense of community, and Victor’s five shared qualities will shape the City’s plans for the future.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Warmer Planet to Stress Humans
As global warming pushes up Earth's temperatures, a large number of people won't be able to handle the heat, studies show.
- No Fooling Mother Nature - By Thomas L. Friedman
The only meaningful response to this man-made disaster is a man-made energy bill that would finally put in place an American clean-energy infrastructure that would set our country on a real, long-term path to ending our addiction to oil.
Non-Profit News
- Vintage Tech Ads: The 15 Funniest Videos
Just wait 'til you see what we found in our hunt for the most entertaining old tech commercials.
Transportation
- 1,145 Montana Nonprofits at Risk of Losing Tax-Exempt Status. Are you one of them?
If you have any questions about your status, the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics has developed a simple tool to find out if you need to file.
- Allegiant adding weekly flights from Missoula to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, increased Allegiant Air flights are coming to Billings and Great Falls over the summer as well.
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