What are your hopes for the future of Twin Cities startups?

Casey:

What are your hopes for the future of Twin Cities startups?

Reed:

I want to see another three or four Fortune 500 companies grown... built and grown locally that begin as startups in my lifetime.

You know, I want to see a continued emergence of some really critical categories of enterprises that we can look to and rely on as consistent communities of innovation. We have that in medical device. We have that in some kind of insurance and InsurTech stuff. We're building that in FinTech. We're building that in food, we're building that in kind of SportsTech.

So there's things that are emerging, I'd like to see those continue to be invested in and the exponential growth of exits, producing new companies and new talent happening in each of those categories reliably.

Casey:

And I had mentioned that I'm wrapping up a professional coaching program and that was kind of the impetus for this research paper and this interview. And you had mentioned earlier that with having a guide along the way or a person you could confide in, it sounded like it was more kind of your own cohort, your peers, your partner, but not necessarily a coach or mentor or anybody like that. I'm curious, what are your perceptions of the professional coaching space and any value or lack of value they might bring to Twin Cities Startups?

Reed:

I'll probably describe it using different words.

I think the master and apprenticeship model is proven and timeless, you know, and I think as I look to the future of all of the different offerings that we have now in the ecosystem around cohorts and accelerators and incubators, I'm kind of starting to think that that master-apprenticeship model is probably due for some follow up attention. But the difference between I would say maybe that and the coach, as you're saying is like you don't become a master unless you know your shit.

And you only work with the apprentice that's trying to do something that's just like what the master is capable of. And so I think that approach makes a lot of sense to me. The more generic coaching I think there's certainly room for and a place for what I would call more of a therapist function that's more of a general encouragement person versus the tactical ‘this is how we forge this metal.’

Casey:

Yeah, absolutely, that makes sense....?

For me this has been really helpful to… learned a ton from this conversation and look forward to running into you here at Twin Cities Startup Week and hopefully some other events.

Reed:

Yeah, well come and say hi. Looking forward to seeing you again in person.

Conclusion

I agree with Reed that I'd love to see "another three or four Fortune 500 companies built and grown locally [in Minnesota] that begin as startups in my lifetime."

This is the reason I contacted Reed. This is the reason I'm promoting BETA and Groove Capital and Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW) and other events and organizations like it. I want to be there when an idea goes from inception to reality to revolutionizing an industry, a market, even our way of life.

We have an incredible community of talent, innovation, and determination here in the Twin Cities and I'm SO excited to see what the next 50 years has for us.

Let's go, Minnesota!