The founder of 2 Gingers whiskey is at it again with a new Irish whiskey called Red Locks. Serial entrepreneur Kieran Folliard shares the process of launching new businesses, and why he’ll never retire. 

“I don’t play golf, I wouldn’t be any good on a beach," Folliard says. "I get to do something I’m passionate about, excited about.” 

He grew up in rural Ireland. He liked sports and drama. He describes himself as a daydreamer—not an entrepreneur—but from the time he was 12, Folliard worked—retail, construction, farming in Saudi Arabia. Eventually, travels in the U.S. brought him to Minnesota, and a job at a search firm where he helped startups find employees. Until one day he realized he needed to flip the script and start something of his own. He started with something near and dear: an Irish Pub called Kieran’s. From there, he built a portfolio of bars and restaurants, including the Local and the Liffey. In 2011, he exited the pub business to start 2 Gingers, which he sold to liquor giant Beam Suntory. Then in 2013, he established the Food Building in Northeast Minneapolis, an incubator of sorts for artisan food brands that aims to get back to the basics of a sustainable food ecosystem, connecting farmers, makers, purveyors and eaters. And in late 2021, he launched another whiskey brand, Red Locks, flipping the old model of starting with bars and spreading to stores due to a marketplace disrupted by Covid-19.  

Folliard says his favorite part of starting businesses is “anything that has to do with people and the creative process. Team building, relationship building, partnerships in marketplace, the expansion of the story. It’s the things you learn.”

He teaches us a bit about whiskey and its resurgence, about branding, and most importantly, about exploring creativity through business.

 “I don’t think I’m very good at business, and I don’t think I’m very good at art," Folliard says. "And so I take the best I have of both and put them together and then it’s like yeah…I’m an entrepreneur in the sense that I do start things.” 

For some takeaways from Folliard’s career, we go Back to the Classroom with John McVea–fellow Irish immigrant, longtime friend, and associate professor at the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. He says Folliard is a “wonderful example of a career of conviction.” For him, entrepreneurship isn’t a means to an end—it is the end. “It’s the idea of entrepreneurship as the good life.” 

McVea points out how Folliard builds community around entrepreneurial ideas. “It’s not about the liquid. It’s about the story he weaves around it.”

78. Food and Drink Entrepreneur Kieran Folliard

Scott Olson is the founder of one of the most iconic lifestyle products to come out of Minnesota in the 20th Century: the Rollerblade. He didn’t invent the inline skate, but he improved on a design that had virtually no market traction and made it an international fitness phenomenon and a product that endures still today.

Launched in 1980, Rollerblade steadily grew into a hot commodity. But by 1986, Olson was out of the company. Just 19 when he started working on the product, he had the vision and drive, but lacked the business know-how to scale the brand. Money problems forced him to sell to Robert Sturgis and Robert Naegele, who soon took over the company and eventually sold it to Nordica, which is now a division of Technica Group and still the parent company to Rollerblade.

"I was bummed out for a day or two," Olson recalls. But I had to regroup. I still had the goal of being successful with this product." And despite the disappointment, he considers his Rollerblade run a success. It's the product that defined his entire career and allowed him to pursue other dream products, including his latest focus, the human powered Skyride, another invention at the intersection of fitness and thrills.

"The entrepreneur and inventor seldom see anything—they can never hold on long enough to see the rewards. I held on to a little piece," Olson says. "I've been lucky enough to keep doing what I love to do: innovating and inventing." 

After our conversation with Olson we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Alec Johnson chairs the entrepreneurship department and makes sense of Olson's business journey. 

"The transition from idea to running and growing a business is something a lot of founders don't make easily," Johnson says. "It's a bit of the Field of Dreams approach here—if I build it, they will come. My advice to founders: be prepared for the fact that they don't always come. What are you going to do to bring them in?"

94. Rollerblade Founder Scott Olson

Just a little over a decade ago, Emily Pritchard’s job didn’t exist. 

As an undergraduate entrepreneurship student, she noticed that her friends were communicating over social media, but businesses weren’t meeting them there. In 2011, straight out of the University of St. Thomas, she and a partner launched The Social Lights, a social media agency that helps brands with strategy, content, and optimization. Today, the Social Lights works with big brands including General Mills, Pentair, Cargill, and Polaris. In just the past year, the agency has grown its revenue by 87% and its staff by 70%, now up to 43 employees. 

Keep in mind, Pritchard has never had a boss. She’s never worked for an advertising agency. The role of social community manager—now commonplace at many companies—did not yet have a name when the The Social Lights launched. Today, the agency offers a training program for corporate social media managers.

“What we’re doing is actually having implications on traditional agencies that have been doing things the same way for a really long time, and now we’re disrupting that,” Pritchard recalls realizing early on in the formation of her own company. “We really wanted to double down on exploring what we could build rather than what we could do for an [ad] agency.”

Pritchard talks about learning to lead on the job, the evolution of social media, and the role it can play in building and supporting businesses today. 

After our conversation with Pritchard, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Professor John McVea teaches entrepreneurship. “Emily’s  story shows how entrepreneurship… can be molded and directed if people have the skills, talents, and interest. Entrepreneurship is not only a viable career, it’s also a noble one – you do make an impact on people and make things better," McVea says. "Entrepreneurship creates opportunity for outsiders.”

97. The Social Lights Founder/CEO Emily Pritchard

For 8 million K-12 students and their parents, Infinite Campus is as essential to schooling as pencil and paper. The software platform serves as an administrative support tool for more than 2,000 school districts across the country—managing class schedules, tracking grades, collecting lunch money, scheduling conferences—all to minimize paperwork so that teachers can focus on teaching, and parents can get a real-time glimpse at how their students are doing.

Charlie Kratsch started Infinite Campus in 1993—long before kids had their own iPads in the classroom. As his vision evolved, the company grew, and grew. Today, Infinite Campus, based in Blaine, Minn. employs 500 people and continues to perform at the forefront of ed tech—a category that has been growing by leaps and bounds since the onset of the pandemic. 

“Prior to the pandemic, it was tough to convince school districts they needed a learning management system,” Kratsch says. “Suddenly, a reluctant marketplace showed up at our door.” 

Kratsch talks about what its like to operate as a mission-driven for-profit company, succession planning, the accelerating pace of ed tech innovation, and about how technology has the potential to make good teachers great. He offers this advice to other entrepreneurs: 

-	If you’re starting something from scratch, find a job in that world to learn everything about it first. 
-	Find something you're interested in. Because it’s going to be aggravating and you're going to lose money. But passion will pull you through all that.
-	Most entrepreneurs are jacks of all trades, not specialists. You don’t have to be great at anything; you need to be good at lots of things. Form the vision, and find people who can specialize in different aspects of the work.
-	If you’re not willing to risk your own money on the business, don’t expect other people to put money in.

Following our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Lisa Abendroth, the academic director of business in a digital world, discusses how technology can be used to enhance learning. She says technology is most useful when we think of it as a problem solving tool rather than the focus. 

“We can use technology to personalize and democratize learning,” Abendroth says. “To make interactions with teachers more human. To take a whole student approach to learning. There’s so much potential.”

98. Infinite Campus Founder/CEO Charlie Kratsch

“I didn’t start The Stable for it to be big. But it probably had to be big because we had a big idea.” Chad Hetherington is the co-founder and CEO of The Stable, a “next generation” retail rep group that was acquired by Accenture in the summer of 2022, after just seven years in business. The Stable takes an omnichannel approach to launching products and has help digitally native brands such as The Ring and Quip go to market both online and in stores. Hetherington shares his path from Adaliade, Australia to sales rep for Quirky, a platform that crowd sourced product ideas and developed them. That experience opened his eyes to the need for a new approach to retail rep groups that would take multiple channels into a account. The Stable launched in Minneapolis in 2015 and within two years expanded to Seattle and raised venture capital—a rarity for a service agency. By the time Accenture made an offer, The Stable had grown to more than 500 employees with offices in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Bentonville, Arkansas, six acquisitions under its belt, and expertise in Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and social media. Now running the company under Accenture, Hetherington says “I’m on the phone with people all over the world, trying to solve issues and problems their clients are facing around commerce.” He talks about what’s next in retail.

Following our conversation with Hetherington, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Gino Giovanelli teaches digital marketing. He talks about “the power of scale” and advises businesses and founders to change their thinking if they want to achieve the sort of growth The Stable has enjoyed. “Don’t think tactically about marketing,” Giovanelli says. “Think strategically.”

99. The Stable Co-Founder/CEO Chad Hetherington

Dan Mallin and Scott Litman have become synonymous with entrepreneurship in Minnesota. Together, they’ve co-founders several successful technology startups starting with Imaginet in the 1990s and moving on to Magnet 360, a marketing tech firm they sold to Mindtree in 2016 for a reported $50 million. In all, they’ve had four exits of their own, and advised countless others. Beyond their own companies, Litman and Mallin may be even better known as the founders of the Minnesota Cup, the state’s largest startup competition. Launched in 2005, it’s become the gold standard for startup contents—a rite of passage for many Minnesota companies that have gone on to great success and exits of their own. For the last six years, Litman and Mallin have been building another tech company: Lucy. Unlike their previous service-based businesses, this one is a product: an AI-powered management platform designed to help businesses keep track of internal files and documents and find answers quickly.

But beyond innovation, this is a story of relationships—the enduring partnership of two independently minded founders, their encouragement of thousands of other aspiring entrepreneurs, and their commitment to building both businesses and an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Minnesota.

“This is the best place to build companies,” LItman says. “Everything we’ve ever touched is really around entrepreneurism. People working hard to achieve a mission. Not letting hurdles or pitfalls get in their way. Hopefully that rubs off on others.” 

Adds Mallin, “The best ideas are not because of  a great idea alone. It’s a great idea executed by a great team with the passion to do it.”

Following our conversation, we go back to the classroom with University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship Professor John McVea who picks up on the idea of being “born entrepreneurs,” to point out that we all are. “Innovation is a natural trait. Human beings are naturally inventive.”

But successful entrepreneurs don’t just make something cool—they do it to add value. “It’s an inherently social process and we do that uniquely well in Minnesota.”

100. Serial Entrepreneurs Dan Mallin and Scott Litman

Twin brothers Rob and Ryan Weber famously started their first company, Freeze.com, out of a St. Cloud State dorm room. They had their first exit before graduating, and a decade later, sold tech startup NativeX to mobile ad platform mobVista for $25 million. All told, the Webers have been involved in more than 50 startups. Today, they're focused on funding them through their venture capital firm, Great North Ventures. They are fierce champions of entrepreneurship—particularly in greater Minnesota, and small towns that don't have all the resources. They share advice on being scrappy and determined; not raising too much and not selling too early; and the billion dollar idea they're still searching for.
After our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Professor Jay Ebben teaches entrepreneurship from the investor side. "We teach students to think like investors," he says. "What stands out most about Rob and Ryan is the authenticity with which they operate. That's under appreciated in the VC world, and it's a big part of their story."

107. Great North Ventures Co-Founders Rob + Ryan Weber

"If you're someone who can express yourself, be an expert, gain the trust and be an authentic with an audience, there are unlimited outlets. Media in some ways is more interesting than ever. In other ways, it's harder than ever." 

Straight out of journalism school, Stephen Regenold turned his passion for outdoor adventure into a newspaper column called GearJunkie. A few years later, in 2006, he launched gearjunkie.com, which built up a large and devoted audience for its expert product reviews, and became an authority on all things travel and adventure for both experts and novices. 

In 2020, he sold the brand to Lola Digital Media, now AllGear Digital, and became vice president of strategy. Now he identifies other niche websites to acquire and grow.

Regenold talks about what audiences and advertisers are looking for, and how to build an engaging content hub today.

Following our conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Alec Johnson teaches entrepreneurship. He says Regenold's story speaks to the importance of being focused, disciplined, and networking. "Always focus on content and audience, and work really really hard to understand who that audience is."

108. Gear Junkie Founder Stephen Regenold

Isaac Lien was a college student in California who wanted to stay in touch with his grandma in Iowa. When popular video conferencing programs proved too complicated for her, Isaac decided to develop his own simplified software tool. It worked. Issac’s father Scott Lien immediately recognized the potential. Scott was a career corporate technologist who had worked for Target, Best Buy, and Bank of America before taking the leap to become a startup co-founder with his son. Together, they launched GrandPad as a platform that makes it easier for seniors to connect with families, friends and caregivers. Grandpad has reached 1.6 million in 120 countries so far. The company, based in Hopkins, Minn., employs 165 and has raised $31 million to scale its technology—both hardware and software, with human-centered around-the-clock customer service to back it up.

The Liens talk about working with family, moving from mission to profitable company and why they believe helping people over 75—super seniors as they call them—with technology isn't a market soon to evaporate.

Following our conversation with the Liens, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Kjrk Reyerson teaches Health Innovation and says the GrandPad story is a testament to the importance of knowing your customer.

"There are tons of great ideas, but do you have the right opportunity, the right focus and mindset. This story is about passion. Knowing you have to solve this obstacle for grandma, realizing no one has done this. Tech is the enabler to create that connection."

110. GrandPad Co-Founders Scott + Isaac LIen

Amin Aaser was an entrepreneur in search of a problem, and then he realized the problem that had been with him his whole life: feeling different. Embracing his faith as a Muslim while also living his best life as an American. Aaser, along with his brother, launched Noor Kids with the goal of “raising Muslims who build a better world.” Initially, that took the shape of a magazine. Then came books, and more recently, video programming, which is drawing a global audience and setting the stage for a new chapter of growth for the Minneapolis-based social enterprise startup. 

To date, Noor Kids has published 140 titles and reached more than a quarter of million people with its content, which is available under a “freemium” model—some is free; subscriptions can be purchased for full access. The latest product is “Noor Kids Muslim Treehouse”—think of it as Mr. Rogers for a multicultural, international audience that interacts over Zoom. You can watch it now on YouTube, and don’t be surprised if you see it soon on a streaming service, or maybe even a network. 

Aaser talks about turning his passion project into a full-time job, how he applied his corporate and business school experiences to his entrepreneurial mission, and how to know when it’s time to raise money. 

Following our conversation with Aaser, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where professor AnnMarie Thomas teaches entrepreneurship. She talks about the value of following your heart in entrepreneurship. “In this day and age, we know that kids are really struggling in a lot of ways, trying to find meaning,” Thomas says. “With social and emotional learning, they are tapping into something families are really looking for.”

113. Noor Kids Co-Founder Amin Aaser

From farmers market novelty to grocery store mainstay: Minnesota-made Maazah, a line of Afghan-style chutney sauces, is poised to break through through the global foods aisle to become a mainstream condiment, much like Sriracha. 

Founder Yasameen Sajady takes us from her mom’s kitchen, where she got the idea to bottle up the flavors of her family dinners that weren’t readily available at Western stores, to inflection point: Maazah is now sold in more than 150 stores nationwide and expects to double that by the end of the year.

“The industry is ripe for this shakeup—a woman-run, global product on the shelf," Sajady says. "It represents so much that we do: the way customers are shopping, and eating. 

Sajady talks about the benefits of accelerator programs, raising her first venture round, the challenge of relying on co-packers, spending on a publicist, and scaling up for a national opportunity with Kroger stores. 

“Every three or four months, everything gets so much bigger,” Sajady says. “And it takes capital and knowledge.”

Following our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. 

"We’ve reached a point where people in society have become impatient with inauthentic brands,” says entrepreneurship professor John McVea. “We have this hunger for authenticity. People have reached the point where they’re saying to big companies: we want access to real brands.” 

And Minnesota, with its depth of large companies in the agriculture and food manufacturing space, is an ideal place to build startup food brands, McVea says. “We should be the Silicon Valley of the food business. There’s so much expertise here.”

115. Maazah Chutney Co-Founder/CEO Yasameen Sajady

Zoë Levin saw opportunity in the toilet paper aisle to create a high design brand committed to sustainability. Armed with a $10,000 Kickstarter fund and a whole lot of moxie, she believed she could compete against the likes of Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark. 

Bim Bam Boo, made of fast-growing bamboo fiber and packaged in colorful paper wraps, launched in 2018 at a direct-to-consumer brand. Levin quickly learned that even the savviest online shoppers rarely order toilet paper online—it’s one of those staples people tend to run to the store to pick up. She was limping forward, trying to elevate an everyday product by promoting the benefits bamboo and cautioning consumers that 27,000 trees are flushed down the toilet every day in the U.S. And then the Covid-19 pandemic drove people into lockdown/stock up mode, setting off the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. “Suddenly I knew: I had the most wanted product in the entire world.” 

With very little inventory on hand, but a manufacturing process in place utilizing a highly regenerative material, Levin was able to step up production and get on the shelves at Whole Foods. Today, Bim Bam Boo is sold in 1,800 stores nationwide including select Target and Fresh Thyme stores. Levin says she’s just getting started. She recently added bamboo wet wipes, paper towel and facial tissue to the collection and is in the midst of raising her first $1 million seed round. 

“The future of the supply chain—the future of the paper industry—is at a crossroads,” Levin says. “I truly believe that we will be one of the major players solving the climate crisis through paper.” 

Back to the Classroom
Innovating on basic products is becoming commonplace, driven by consumer demand, says Danielle Campeau, incoming associate dean of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas. “Students tend to think about big, flashy tech ventures, but we always encourage them to think about innovation in unique, underestimated areas.” Consumers crave socially minded brands, giving Bim Bam Boo an opportunity to disrupt a category that is owned by large companies. “Sustainability is the new standard,” Campeau says.

116. Bim Bam Boo Founder/CEO Zoë Levin

The Surly Brewing story is the stuff of entrepreneurial legend in Minnesota, but in recent years, founder Omar Ansari has had to contend with an industry wide decline of beer sales, diversification of the adult beverage market, pandemic shutdowns, and changing employee expectations. 

“Things have changed and we’re having to change with it,” Ansari says. 

Over the summer, Ansari got back to his roots: visiting neighborhood bars that sell Surly, connecting with fans, and telling the story. 

In this wide ranging conversation, we go back to how it all started, and then talk about how Ansari had had to come around to doing contract brewing and introducing new beverages like hop water and a THC seltzer to stay competitive. “If that’s where we’re at, that’s what will do.” 

Then we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Assistant professor Casey Frid has conducted research on the craft beer industry and talks about how the market saturation can chip away at a brand’s character. “Previously, craft brewing was about independence,” Frid says. “Now you do what have to to survive.”

117. Surly Brewing Founder/President Omar Ansari

Adam Turman is one of Minnesota’s most prolific working artists today, known for capturing state icons like Paul Bunyon and the Stone Arch Bridge in vibrant illustrations. He’s also unapologetically commercial, selling his drawings on giftware, apparel, prints, and murals seen around town from Surly Brewing to his latest, and largest, yet: a 220 foot by 40 foot scene on the side of a parking ramp for the new Corsa Apartments in St. Louis Park. 

He’s managed to do what most artists only dream of: pursue the creative projects that fuel him, and turn it into a successful business that includes licensing deals, custom projects, brand work, and art prints. 

“I’ve always really liked having a reason to make the art I make,” says Turman, who started his career as a graphic designer for creative agencies. “I’m just trying to make things people really enjoy.” 

Turman offers a peek behind the canvas and into his company, from licensing deals to corporate collaborations, and how he’s embracing AI. 

For broader perspective, we go Back to the Classroom with Shinwon Noh, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. "Often, we believe arts and commerce are conflicting concepts, that you're bound to sacrifice one to achieve success in the other. That's not true," Noh says. "Find a sweet spot between what you want to do and what your audience wants to see. Art is a passion-driven career. Self-awareness is a must."

118. Artist Adam Turman

Feeling homesick drove Argentinian native Belén Rodríguez into entrepreneurship. But grit and tenacity have helped this first-generation immigrant take her grandmother’s empanadas recipe from backyard parties to farmers markets to the frozen foods case of major grocery stores in just five years. 

By the end of 2022, St. Paul-based Quebracho Empanadas expects to be in 250 stores throughout the Midwest, with plans to reach 3,000 stores nationwide within five years. 

The Spanish pastry filled with savory ingredients captures the flavors of Rodríguez’s childhood in the Argentine Pampas, adapted for modern convenience. Healthy frozen foods used to be an oxymoron, but Rodríguez says Quebracho Empanadas is part of a movement to bring better-for-you ingredients to the freezer case.

On the precipice of launching this fall with Cub Foods, Rodríguez talks about her unlikely path from medical interpreter to founder and CEO of a fast growing consumer product goods, and how the pandemic completely changed Quebracho’s business model. She walks us through her measured approach to growth, and explains why Quebracho, which she and her husband own 100%, is just now starting to pursue investors.

Some keys to Rodríguez’s success so far: 
-	Leveraging advice from mentors and local organizations with a mission to assist entrepreneurs
-	Turning “no” into an opportunity to make a change; she convinced the state to amend a food licensing law to simplify the startup process for new brands
-	Balancing the heart of the brand with the realities of scaling—figuring out what can be outsourced, and what is fundamental

“For us, there’s such an emotional component to our brand and founder story,” Rodríguez says.  “We bring this authenticity. And the innovation. I want my grandma’s empanadas to be the go-to handheld food in the U.S. It’s very close to home.”

Following our conversation with Rodríguez, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Professor of entrepreneurship Jay Ebben talks about the challenges of scaling a CPG brand. “It’s one thing to sell at farmers markets; very different to be on the shelves at grocery stores.” He says listening to customers, leaning on mentors and taking a measured approach are all fundamental to Quebracho’s forward momentum.

119.  Quebracho Empanadas Founder/CEO Belén Rodríguez

Nora and Jay Schaper are serial entrepreneurs with a big idea: rid the world of single use plastic bottles—starting in the bathroom. Experts told them salon-quality shampoo couldn’t be produced in solid form, but that only made them more determined to come up with a winning formula. They did, and HiBar launched in 2018. 

The line, which has grown to include face wash and deodorant as well as solid shampoo and conditioner, is now sold in more than 10,000 stores. To date, HiBar says it has eliminated nearly 5 million plastic bottles and conserved over 800,000 gallons of water. 

To turn their product into a successful business, the Schapers partnered with an entrepreneur experienced in consumer brands: Ward Johnson, who built and sold the pet food brand, Sojos. A fourth founder is no longer involved. We talk to the three partners about the challenges of building a mission driven business, from engineering to marketing.

“People who are committed to sustainability are willing to make sacrifices…but don’t mess with my face and hair,” Johnson says. “We realized quickly: the product needs to not just be sustainable, it needs to perform as good or better than salon quality, professional grade products.” 

Following the conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Jason M. Pattit is a professor of management. He talks about the added challenge for mission-based businesses. “There’s a dual tension that happens in the growth phase where you’re trying to scale quickly, which may mean sacrificing mission.”

120. HiBar Founders Nora and Jay Schaper and Ward Johnson

"We call it the health care system, but really, it's the illness-burden-treatment system. There are so many things we can do to improve in health care."

Tony Miller and Dave Dickey are serial health benefits entrepreneurs who've built and sold multiple companies, leading the way toward consumer-driven insurance programs. The most recent is Bind Benefits, an on-demand, zero-deductible program that was acquired by UnitedHealth Group in 2021. Recently renamed Surest, the benefits plan is UHG's fastest growing product with a net promoter score nearly three times higher than its competitors.

Miller and Dickey, who no longer work for Surest, talk about how to change health care coverage in America, starting with Miller's first startup, Definity Health, which he sold to UnitedHealth Group in 2004 for $305 million (not $300 million as widely reported, and he tells the story behind that). Miller is managing partner of Lemhi Ventures, a healthcare investment firm, which put the first $12 million into Bind. Between Definity and Bind, he build Carol Corp., which he also sold to UHG. 

Dickey an early Definity Health employee and co-founder of Bind, was also a  co-founder of RedBrick Health. An employee benefits expert and seasoned sales pro, he consults and advises sales teams and entrepreneurs.

Packed with insights on business of health care, Miller and Dickey also dole out advice on entrepreneurship and disruption.

Following the conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Kjrk Ryerson teaches healthcare innovation. He frames up some of the key benefits advances Miller led, and frames up questions any entrepreneur should ask him or herself before diving in: 
1.  Do you have a great idea?
2. Do you keep evolving that idea?
3. What is the driving difference?
4. Is there a personal motivation that's driving you forward?
5. Do you have the power to make something better?

121. Bind Benefits Co-Founders Tony Miller and Dave Dickey

Behind many popular drink brands—Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Celsius Energy Drinks, Pabst Blue Ribbon—is BevSource, a St. Paul based company that provides beverage development, sourcing, and production—everything from supplying the can that holds your beer to helping develop and test an entirely new drink idea. Today BevSource is one of the largest packing and ingredient distributors in North America, with $250 million in annual revenue. Janet Johanson started the company in 2002 when she was just 24 years old, with three years of experience in the industry. “I just said yes,” she says.

Johanson talks timing: from knowing when to take on private equity and start a board to knowing when it was time to step away from the day-to-day operations. “As CEO, I got stuck in detail,” she says. “By cutting my hands off, it made me think differently about who we partner with…and how I can make an impact.” 

Following our conversation with Johanson, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. Tera Galloway is an associate professor in the Department of Management who studies the craft brewing industry. She explains the idea of “coopetition,” where companies realize is better for their industry to work together than to compete. She talks about the importance of building a network and the critical moment for entrepreneurs, when they realize their out of their depth. “It doesn’t mean you have to leave; you need to get more help.”

122. BevSource Founder Janet Johanson

Kristen Denzer is the founder and CEO of Tierra Encantada, a Spanish immersion daycare that is on its way to becoming a national brand. Currently there are 11 locations in four states—two of them are franchise centers, and an additional 20 franchise units have been sold. It’s already a $22 million business, and Denzer is just getting started. 

Tierra Encantada is actually her third startup; Denzer started her career in nonprofits, but saw business opportunity everywhere. When she got engaged and realized how expensive it would be to plan a wedding, she started her own event rental business. As an animal lover, she co-founded a doggy daycare. So when she went looking for a daycare center for her own children and coulnd’t find one that met her criteria: Spanish immersion, inclusive, healthy meals, quality programing, she started her own. Tierra Encantada started in Eagan in 2013 and within a year, Denzer was working on expansion. She shares what went right, the mistakes she learned from, and why she made the decision to franchise. 

Denzer’s advice on entrepreneurship “Just do it. So many people think about doing something for so long…you’re not going to get everything right and it’s ok because you’ll learn from your mistakes.”

Following our conversation with Denzer, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Associate Dean Danielle Campeau talks about the “entrepreneurial mindset—an individual who able to see opportunity in a space and take it.” Here are some key indicators, and ways to make the most of it.
-	Curiosity. “A willingness to develop expertise. It’s especially important when you’re launching a business in an area that’s new to you.”
-	Product-market fit. “You can understand an opportunity based on your own experience, but then you’ve got to do your homework and make sure there’s really a need for what you want to do.” 
-	Diverse viewpoints. “Collaboration with partners is key to success. IT’s another way that individuals can fill in their own knowledge gaps.”
-	Perseverance. “A no today is not necessarily a no tomorrow. Those that are entrepreneurial thinkers recognize that and they’re going to persevere through the ups and downs.”

123. Tierra Encantada Founder/CEO Kristen Denzer

When your arteries are blocked, you see a cardiologist. For cancer, there’s the oncologist. But for the 13.5 million Americans dealing with a serious wound—from surgery, an injury or disease, an ostomy bag, or old age—there’s often no one coordinating care until the problem becomes a crisis. Nima Ahmadi saw the white space, and co-founded The Wound Company in 2022 with the intention of creating a coordinated, cost effective solution that supports health care providers and improves healing for patients. 

The Wound Company partners with medical practices and benefits companies to provide focused patient care through a combination of telehealth, AI diagnostics and in person care. Already the data shows that Wound Co. patients heal 60% faster for a 15 to 20% reduction in cost.
 
Ahmadi, who studied bioengineering and worked on other software-focused health startups, walks us through the process of recognizing the problem, devising a solution, and actually bringing it to market. He talks about the challenges of scaling a health care startup and why he believes the big health care companies need to think smaller. 

Following the conversation with Ahmadi, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Mike Porter is a professor of marketing. He talks about the problems caused by a diffusion of responsibility. “What this business is really doing is owning accountability and expertise and aggregating those things in one place…for this very specific outcome.” Porter, who teaches reputation management, also talks about the public’s growing confidence in telemedicine and how that can benefit new innovations like The Wound Co.

124. The Wound Co. Co-Founder/CEO Nima Ahmadi

“Where passion meets frustration creates motivation.” 

Erin Pash is the co-founder and CEO of Ellie Mental Health—one of the fastest growing franchise chains you’ve probably never heard of—yet. The Mendota Heights-based company opened its first franchise clinic in July 2022. Now there are more than 200 Ellie Mental Health clinics open around the country with another 450 sold and under development. 

Pash is driven by the desire to destigmatize mental health care by building a national mental health care brand that makes care accessible and fun while also creating a flexible work environment for therapists.

Pash is a licensed therapist who saw a bigger opportunity. “We wanted to create a hybrid employment model where we could give therapists safety, security and support while providing them with the culture, creativity and compensation they could get in their own private practice.” 

Pash talks about barrier to mental health care, the rising demand for services and how that’s driving more therapists not to accept insurance, which creates barriers to entry for those who need it. She talks about building her business, one practice at a time, and coming to identify herself as an entrepreneur more than a therapist. 

“There are two paths to successful business. One is you’re an entrepreneur and you try 20 things and one sticks. You’re passionate about entrepreneurship. The other is you’re passionate about one thing and because you’re so passionate, people can’t help but want to join you. That’s me.”

Following our conversation with Pash, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Mike Porter is a marketing professor. He talks about the importance of a passionate founder and the marketing conundrum in the mental health field.  “Not everybody wants to talk about mental health or say, oh, I went to this amazing clinic.” Porter talks about why franchising makes sense. “She’s starting with community."

125. Ellie Mental Health Co-Founder/CEO Erin Pash

What happens after a founder appears on Shark Tank, and walks away from a $250,000 offer? For Beth Fynbo, her Busy Baby activity mat saw six weeks worth of online sales in in three days. “And two weeks later,” she says, “no one had heard of us.”

“I thought Shark Tank was going to be life changing, and it was—just not in the way that I thought.” 

Fynbo, an Army veteran and former health care account manager, was a new mom when inspiration struck. Kids were constantly dropping toys off their high chairs. Her Busy Baby silicone suction placemat keeps toys, teethers, and utensils secured in place. In 2023, two years after her Shark Tank appearance, Busy Baby logged $5 million in sales and introduced new add ons to its core product.

Now with two years of growth and perspective since her national television debut, Fynbo talks about what it’s really like to go on Shark Tank and what it’s really like to build a business from the ground up, including raising money, creating an advisory board, navigating the waves of social media marketing, and charting a path to profitability.

“You’re never too old, and it’s never too late to chase a new dream,” Fynbo says. “I was in the army for 10 years. I had this corporate career for 10 years. I had given up on being a mom, but became a mom and a business owner after 40. And I know that probably 50 or so, I’m going to start the next thing. I just want anyone who is stuck in something they don’t love to know: you can change.” 

Following our conversation with Fynbo, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Alec Johnson is a professor. Johnson talks about overcoming the limitations of a “dysfunctional belief system”—that’s the idea, he says, that you have to be creative or you have to be an expert to be an entrepreneur. “You can grow into it. You just have to be a good problem solver.”

126. Busy Baby Founder/President Beth Fynbo

Sean Higgins knew he was spending too much time on his phone—going down a YouTube rabbit hole when he meant to go for a run, or call his mom. But rather than fighting the ever-present phone, he imagined a new way to utilize the technology that sits in the palm of our hands—a better way, if you will. BetterYou is a digital coach that uses artificial intelligence to map how we spend our time and make suggestions to fulfill the goals we set for ourselves, like more exercise, more sleep, or calling mom every week. 

Higgins started BetterYou with partners in 2018, using seed money from his first start up, ilos, a video platform that was acquired by Paylocity and became VidGrid. He quickly realized the real opportunity for an app designed to “harmonize technology with wellbeing” was B2B. The first organizations to sign on were schools, which offered BetterYou as a service for students.  

BetterYou ended 2023 with a $6 million Series A funding raise. It’s still early days, but this app is showing traction with users and Higgins is hopeful the company could hit profitability by the end of 2024. 

Higgins offers advice on going all in, knowing when to pivot, and vetting an idea without falling for false enthusiasm from those around you. He also talks about digital wellness in the age of AI.

“We should be optimizing our lives around the things that matter most—not watching random ads.”  

After our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where Jay Ebben is a professor. He offers perspective on how AI is creating new startup opportunities, but cautions founders to make sure they're not just using technology for technology’s sake, rather “doing something beneficial that can help our daily lives.”

127. BetterYou Founder/CEO Sean Higgins

“We’re going to be helping hundreds of thousands of patients with our device and that’s probably more than a lifetime of patients I could see as a physician.” 

By the time Allisa Song started medical school at Mayo Clinic in 2018, she was already the founder of an active medical device startup company called Nanodropper. The idea came to her in 2017, when she happened to read an article titled: "Drug Companies Make Eyedrops Too Big, and You Pay for the Waste.”

“It really felt like we were letting people down,” Song says. “We have these great medications that are vision saving, and we’re dangling it in front of people, saying that you have to pay this amount if you want to keep your vision.”

The cost, the structure of benefits—it all felt “unfair,” Song says. But rather than go for the big industry-wide fix, she approached the wasted eye medicine problem with a harm reductionist mentality. “I was just trying to think about how can we develop a solution that we could put directly into the hands of patients.” 

That, for Song, was an eye drop bottle adapter with a smaller opening for less waste. The product, which sells for $19.99,  is now available direct to consumer online and through thousands of medical clinics nationwide. 

Song talks about leveraging student startup competitions to fund the business, and juggling entrepreneurship with medical school. “Taking that first step in bringing your idea to life is a really powerful feeling.” 

Following our conversation with Song we go Back to the Classroom with Dan McLaughlin, senior executive fellow at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, with a focus on health innovation. “One of the things I teach in my operations management class is how do you improve processes?” Often the best way to make a big impact is by addressing something small or seemingly mundane. Look for the opportunities, McLaughlin advises, in your daily routine.

128. Nanodropper Co-Founder Allisa Song

Ashley Hawks was a successful working model, in print and on runways around the world. But when she thought about her goal of making a magazine cover, she realized, “I’ll still be promoting somebody else's brand, somebody else's lipstick, somebody else's clothing line. And it was this light switch of, I want to be on the cover because of something I did, because of something I built. I want my name next to my picture.”

For her first startup, Hawks built on what she knew. Style & Grace offered training for models and pageant queens. She made money, but realized the business wasn’t scalable—all of the students wanted to work with her directly.

Her next venture took her back to her childhood, working in her mom’s bridal boutique. Hawks launched Forever Bride in 2012 as a tool to support the local wedding industry online. She created a network of small businesses and built a national following for her online platform and boutique market experiences. 

Halted by the pandemic, she took a shot and reached out to the CEO of David’s Bridal, who not only responded, he became a trusted ally and eventually acquired Forever Bride in 2022. (They renamed it Pearl.) Hawks went to work for the national wedding retailer, but after a year, realized her entrepreneurial spirit didn’t mesh well with a corporate setting. Her latest venture is Soar Leadership Groups, creating forums, events, and adventures for business leaders. 

Following our conversation with Hawks, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Erica Diehn is an associate professor of management. She wasn’t surprised that Hawks didn't stay long at David’s Bridal. “It’s really tough to find entrepreneurial experiences in larger organizations.” 

“We call that person-organization fit,” Diehn says. “Not only does the job fit your skills and abilities, but the broader context of the way work is done, the culture of that organization, their mission and purpose. If that’s not a strong fit with you as an individual, that’s a hard one to overcome.”

129. Forever Bride Founder Ashley Hawks

Laura Roos started Minny & Paul as a way to take the hunt out of discovering high-quality, locally made goods. She launched in 2016 with a selection of themed gift boxes that she thought would be popular with bridal parties or for housewarmings. But very quickly, businesses started requesting large orders of boxes for clients or staff. Today, 80% of  Minny & Paul’s business is B2B and the company has gone beyond Minnesota to spotlight makers nationwide and offer curated gift boxes as well as ready-to-order options. 

The creative side drew her in, but Roos talks about the logistics and leadership that have made Minny & Paul a success. 

A request for a customized Minny & Paul box filled with CBD products inspired Roos’ next startup, the new Mary & Jane, which sells microdose cannabis products. 

“I love a challenge,” Roos says. “I think the most important thing to keep in mind as you're building any business is problems are going to come up all the time and it's really just about how you react to them and your creative problem solving that's going to fix them.”

Following the conversation with Roos, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Seth Ketron is an assistant professor of marketing and has studied the subscription box market. His advice to those thinking of starting one is ask yourself: “What's your product? What are you trying to do?" If you're working with something that people…know they're going to use every month, a subscription could be functional. But if it’s just for the sake of a gimmick, you probably want to think that through.”

130. Minny & Paul Founder Laura Roos

If you spend any amount of time in or around the startup community in the Twin Cities, you will no doubt hear the name Daren Cotter. Today, most people know him as an investor and advisor—his personal portfolio includes more than 100 startups—primarily software as a service and tech. But before Cotter could focus full time on investing, he had to have an exit of his own. That was InBox Dollars, the rewards-based digital advertising platform he built in his college dorm room, scaled to a peak of $25 million in annual revenue, and sold, some 15 years later in May 2019, to a leading market research and insights firm, Prodege. Cotter shares his entrepreneurial journey, from concept to acquisition, as well as his investment philosophy and advice for founders—including not raising funds prematurely.

"My personal viewpoint is a founder is often much better served by building the product, finding a few customers, proving that they're solving a real problem that the customer is willing to pay for, and then they think about raising capital."

Takeaways

Following our conversation, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Professor John McVea who talks about the entrepreneurial mindset.
"It's a stance you take towards problem solving and getting things done that is distinctly different."

Key traits, McVea says, include, "A comfort, a joy in ambiguity, in dealing with problems, being drawn to messy situations that are hard to solve...and the relentless ability to pivot from those learnings and to take a different direction."

131. Tech Entrepreneur and Investor Daren Cotter

Megan Tamte was a new mom who wanted help putting together fashionable outfits. A bad experience at a northern California boutique sparked the idea for Evereve, which is now a national women's specialty retail chain with 85 stores, a fast-growing e-commerce business and a subscription service called Trendsend. “I left the store crying," Tamte recalls of that fateful shopping experience more than 20 years ago. "I remember thinking, someone should create a retail concept that helped women like me who wanted help finding items that would fit their body type. I wanted clothing that was modern and versatile…and I wanted connection.” 

Five years later, in 2004, Megan and her husband Mike opened their first store in Edina, Minn., called Hot Mama. Their unique proposition: trendy fashion, warm service and a kid-friendly environment with toys in the fitting rooms so moms could take a moment for themselves. That boutique grew into Evereve, which now generates $120 million in annual revenue.
 
In a wide-ranging conversation, the Tamtes explain how a detailed business plan set them up for success. They reveal why they changed their company name right as the brand was taking off. They talk about balancing parenthood and running a business together, about leading a brand that has grown far beyond their dreams, and about the future of retail.

After the conversation with the Tamtes, we go Back to the Classroom with University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business digital marketing professor Gino Giovannelli, who shares tips on using social media to your brand’s advantage, as Evereve has done. And, from his own personal experience, Giovannelli highlights pros and cons of going into business with a spouse.

Episode 2 - Evereve founders Megan and Michael Tamte

Episode 2 - Evereve founders Megan and Mike Tamte

His story has become legendary at the University of St. Thomas—and beyond. Zachary Quinn was a sophomore when he enrolled in an entrepreneurship class. There, he met Brian Keller, and together, they turned an assignment to create a business into Love Your Melon, the $40 million hat company that donates half its profits to fighting pediatric cancer.

“We wanted to start something that would make a difference,” Quinn says. On this episode of By All Means, he outlines the key moments and decisions that set Love Your Melon up for success, including its college ambassador program, a hockey bus tour that garnered national press, and brand building through social media. Quinn talks about Love Your Melon’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing and its first brick and mortar store, which the company is using for special events designed to tell the brand story and build engagement. 

What’s next? “I never look more than six months out,” Quinn says. But he does have “more crazy stuff” in the works, including a concert series and e-gaming competition. 

After our conversation with Quinn, we go Back to the Classroom with his entrepreneurship professor at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business Jay Ebben. “We really push students to build their career or a business around their own values, their own sense of purpose and mission,” Ebben says. He describes what it was like to have the Love Your Melon founders in class, and why he gave them an A- for the semester—a grading decision he’s never quite been able to live down.

Episode 3 - Love Your Melon founder/CEO Zachary Quinn

Episode 3 - Love Your Melon co-founder and President Zachary Quinn

Joe Keeley’s story is the stuff of business school legends—particularly at the University of St. Thomas where he was a student when he got the summer babysitting gig that sparked the idea for College Nannies, Sitters + Tutors, which he grew into the nation’s largest employer of nannies, sitters and tutors. Today, the company, which Keeley sold in 2016 to Bright Horizons, operates close to 200 franchises and has provided more than 2 million hours of child care. 

In 2000, Keeley answered an ad from parents who were looking for a college hockey player to nanny their two boys for the summer. Other parents started asking if he could help them find them a college student to watch their kids, and Keeley quickly realized the market was ripe for a professional placement service that would vet childcare providers and treat them as “role models” for kids. It made for a great news story, too, which is how Keeley built an early buzz without a marketing budget. 

But even as College Nannies, Sitters + Tutors was gaining momentum, Keeley didn’t see himself as an entrepreneur. “You get that job, a 401K, you have 3.2 children, you retire, and you die. That’s kind of the American dream, that’s the path.” Or it was the path, 20 years ago. “The times have changed—certainly a lot of companies are valuing entrepreneurship majors as intra-preneurs quite highly. As more and more industries get disrupted by entrepreneurs, they’re looking for the entrepreneurial thinking. So I think the major is something that’s even more sought after because large companies need to have small divisions that have independent thinkers.” 

Keeley did become an entrepreneurship major and by the time he graduated from St. Thomas in 2003, he was running a profitable business. He made the key decision to structure College Nannies as an employment agency rather than a placement service. He began franchising in 2005. By 2010, dozens of new franchises were opening each year. Then in 2014, Keeley created an app that expanded his company’s services to provide on-demand sitters, creating the Uber of licensed childcare. But always, he says, the people are at the center of the business. “We’re a childcare company with good technology.” 

Keeley talks about his decision to sell College Nannies to Bright Horizons, the largest provider of corporate child care in the U.S. He stayed on to run College Nannies under Bright Horizons for three years and stepped away from the business completely this summer. He offers advice for other would-be entrepreneurs and talks about what's next in his career. 

After our conversation with Keeley, we go back to the classroom with one of his former professors. Alec Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. “No one would have doubted Joe’s intentions,” Johnson says. “He hasn’t changed a bit.”

As for the role St. Thomas played in Keeley’s business, Johnson says, “We can’t make entrepreneurs, but we can teach them.”

Episode 16 — College Nannies, Sitters + Tutors Founder Joe Keeley

Innovation. Drive. Purpose. Conversations with the enterprising entrepreneurs and leaders behind beloved and up and coming brands.

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