“I thought, you know what I could do? I could make games.” 
 
Julien Sharp is a game inventor and industry executive who moved to Minnesota in 2022 to head up the U.S. division of Paris-based Asmodee Group, a global game company with a portfolio that includes Catan, Spot it!, Ticket to Ride, and Star Wars X-Wing. 

An avid game player, who can solve a Rubik Cube in 45 seconds (which she says is amateur stuff), Sharp started out in the industry as the inventor of several games including Disruptus and Juxtabo. She sold her company, Funnybone Toys, to FoxMind Toys & Games, and went on to work for popular names including What Do You Meme? And Spin Master toys. 

Sharp takes us inside the fast-growing $13 billion global industry, from the challenge of creating a game that endures to the power of play—for both kids and adults. 

Sharp says games are played every day in the Asmodee office in Lino Lakes, Minn. But her work is not all fun and games. “Budgets, logistics, sell-throughs—there’s all the aspects of business,” she says. “But if you’re going to do all that, why not do it in games?” 

Following our conversation with Sharp, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, where Tera Galloway is an associate professor in the Department of Management—and an avid game player who is working to incorporate games into her business classes. “The idea of gamification in learning is huge. There’s the collaborative component, which is good for mental health and it increases [feelings of] belonging.” Galloway is currently working on teaching methods that use board games to teach leadership, cultural change and strategic thinking.

133. Game Industry Founder/Executive Julien Sharp

“People think, oh, it’s just a catchy slogan. No. If marketing does it’s job, it’s what does your brand stand for and how do you buy things. If we do that really well, we’re the number one growth driver of a business.” 

Margaret Murphy is the founder and CEO of Bold Orange, a Minneapolis-based marketing agency focused on customer experience, growth, acquisition, engagement, and retention. Her company frequently shows up on “best workplaces” lists and she herself has won numerous accolades for leadership. 

She learned the ropes at Carlson Marketing Group, and co-founded Denali Marketing, which was acquired by Olson. At Olson, she served as president and chief operating officer. Following an “adult gap year,” Murphy started Bold Orange in 2018. Today, she leads a team of more than 120 serving clients such as Target, eBay, and CitiBank.

Murphy offers advice on mentorship, marketing, leadership and work culture.

“Action changes everything,” Murphy says. “If you have good ideas or a good thing the market needs, don’t keep talking about it. Make something happen. That’s entrepreneurial.”

Following our conversation with Murphy, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Gino Giovanelli is a marketing professor. “I think grit is so undervalued,” he says. “That’s the biggest differentiator between people being successful and not.” Grit is tough to teach, but Giovanelli shares lessons in successful leadership approaches, which leads to quality work in marketing, or any other field. “It’s investing in the relationships.”

134. Bold Orange Founder/CEO Magaret Murphy

It started as a fun project with his kids: creating the “best hot cocoa in the world.” After countless tries, Dean Packingham thought he had succeeded, and everyone who tried his instant cocoa mix agreed. Named for his kids, Mike & Jen’s Hot Cocoa debuted at specialty shops in their hometown of Duluth. Today, it’s sold in more than 1,300 stores nationwide including Costco, Target, and Meijer. Packingham has grown his home project to a regional brand with just one partner and no outside investors. 

“It’s a little bit of a sleeper category, hot cocoa—there wasn’t much in the premium part of the category to compete with,” Packingham says.

It may have started as a hobby, but Packingham went all in: selling his house, living in a trailer, leaving a 27-year career in meteorology, and even buying a fitness franchise to fund the hot cocoa business. He talks about scaling, from finding a co-packer to planning for a seasonal product to being disciplined about not adding other products too quickly. Mike & Jen’s has already attracted some interest from larger companies, but Packingham says he’s in no rush to be acquired.

“As long as we’re having fun, we’re happy to keep doing this.” 

Following our conversation with Packingham, we go back to the classroom with Jay Ebben, an entrepreneurship professor at the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. Ebben talks about the challenges of scaling a consumer products goods business without raising money. “It forces you to figure out what the selling equation is and how to get it done,” Ebben says. “Raising money… might take away some of the financial stress, but at the same time, right now, they’ve got the freedom to grow as they like, operate as they like, and not feel some of the pressure that comes along with having investors on board.”

135. Mike & Jen's Cocoa Founder/CEO Dean Packingham

Dr. Aho is a surgeon and scientist with an insatiable appetite for invention and more than 20 patents to his name. He was still in his surgical residency at  Mayo Clinic when he spotted an opportunity that led him to develop a medical device now in use around the world.

Tension pneumothorax is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when air builds up between the lungs and chest wall. It’s not especially common, but it’s one of those medical situations that TV medical dramas often act out because the way to treat it is to jam a large needle into the chest and wait to hear a gush of air. It occurred to Aho: there had to be a better way. He developed the Capnospot, a device that provides visual confirmation that treatment of tension pneumothorax has been successful. The Capnospot is now standard equipment on ambulances and in emergency rooms everywhere, from Minnesota to Poland. It's the first product to be released by Aho’s parent company, Pneumeric. 

But it took five years to get here, and challenges persist, from manufacturing to marketing. Aho walks us through the long, expensive process of earning FDA approval for a medical device.  “I would have raised more money, earlier,” he says. “Everything takes twice as long, and costs twice as much as you expect.” He’s raised $2.2 million to date.

Aho says venture capital for medical devices tends to go to the really big ideas, rather than “little innovations,” like the Capnospot, that improve on everyday treatments. We discuss the opportunities, and the challenges, of being both practicing surgeon and entrepreneur.

“Being a doctor, you get to help people,” Aho says. “Doing a medical device, I get to help people on a system wide, national and international scale.”

Following our conversation with Aho, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Dan McLaughlin is a senior executive fellow who teaches health care management. He explains why Aho's path to successful medtech developer is unique; most medtech innovation comes out of big companies that employ teams of scientists. He points out the value of basic business training in helping entrepreneurial thinkers turn their ideas into business.

136. Pneumeric Founder/CEO Dr. John Aho

Pet Evolution is a fast-growing pet supply chain that started with one locally owned store in Woodbury, Minn. back in 2012 and has really picked up steam in the last couple of years since it started franchising. There are now seven stores in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, and 15 nationally. By the end of the year, 24 are expected to be open, from New York to Oregon.

In the $147 billion dollar pet industry, Rian Thiele saw a space between big box stores and mom and pop shops to create a chain focused on premium food and services. 

What’s perhaps most interesting about Thiele as an entrepreneur, is that he didn’t grow up thinking about business. He always dreamed of being a police officer, and worked for the Carver County sheriff’s department. He talks about the decision to leave his dream job to pursue a passion project and why he believes Pet Evolution can scale to 500 locations. 

Following our conversation with Thiele 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 and faculty director for the undergraduate program. She talks about the growing frequency of career transitions, especially among younger professionals, and offers advice for managers whose employees are more likely than ever before to leave for a passion project. 

“Understand what motivates that employee, what kinds of opportunities for learning and growth and challenges at work could keep them really excited.”

137. Pet Evolution Founder/CEO Rian Thiele

Peter Mogck and Matt Frakes turned their love of Minnesota lake life, and their desire to start something of their own into Paddle North, a water gear manufacturer best known for its inflatable paddle boards. The company marks its 10th anniversary this year, now with a team of 25 employees, and a line of products that has expanded to include kayaks, utility docks, and apparel

The founders share keys to their successful partnership—Frakes is a mechanical engineer; Mogck runs marketing and branding, and both say they have “short memories” when disagreements occur, keeping in mind that they always know they both want the same thing: to continue scaling this company.

They each put in $15,000 to start it, and have grown without outside investors, utilizing pre-orders to pay for manufacturing, outsourcing some production to keep their overhead low, and through grassroots marketing, from popup shops to social media. 

Even on the most challenging, demanding days, Frakes says the two never lose site of how lucky they are: “Our day to day business is making toys for the water.” 

Following the conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Seth Ketron is an assistant marketing professor. He talks about the importance of crafting a brand story. “How do you come up with a message that resonates with people, that they’re willing to spread, and how do you make it easy for them to spread, and make sure it’s something that really matters to people.”

138. Paddle North Co-Founders/Owners Peter Mogck and Matt Frakes

A chemical engineer turned community development organizer, Anthony Taylor shares the career journey that led him to founding Melanin in Motion, a Community Wellness Center program that connects children of color—and their families – with active pursuits like skiing, cycling, kayaking. Melanin in Motion was a Twin Cities Business 2024 Community Impact Award winner. 

“I noticed my white friends, when they think about preparing their kids for law school, they’re putting them in the woods. That’s the secret for making more lawyers,” Taylor says. “I want all communities to realize the benefits of municipal, state, federal investment in natural places that can show up in children being resilient, confident, and collaborative.” 

Taylor talks about how working for successful Minnesota wellness companies, Life Time and Aveda, helped him become a well rounded leader, and what he learned from his own startups, Spa One and Simply Organic Beauty, that led him to shift course and work for the Loppet Foundation and as president of equity outdoors for the YMCA of the North. 

“Melanin in Motion really is the culmination of that idea, where we see culture as an asset,” Taylor says.

He also gives us a preview of his next venture: RiverNorth Development Partners, a social impact development group that is working to create a business district in North Minneapolis that prioritizes “equity driven employers” that agree to create skilled jobs for area residents who have been marginalized. Ion Aerospace is first to sign on, with plans to open on West Broadway in 2025.

Following our conversation with Taylor, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship where associate professor Alex Johnson teaches entrepreneurship. He talks about the pros and cons of starting a venture on your own versus within a larger organization, and explains the difference between an inventor and an innovator. 

“Inventors create things. Innovators identify the problem, the value, and build a solution.”

139. Community Development Innovator Anthony Taylor

In our first Mentor Series pairing, Chuck Runyon, co-founder of Anytime Fitness, the world's largest fitness franchise chain, and its parent company Purpose Brands (formerly Self Esteem Brands), which includes Orangetheory Fitness, Waxing the City, and several other franchise businesses in beauty and fitness talks about transitioning out the CEO role to board chair. He offers advice to Melanie Richards, founder and CEO of goGLOW. Richards started her spray tan business in 2011 and with seven corporate stores open, she  started franchising in 2024. Now with 78 units sold across the country, Richards is navigating the change from scrappy founder to leader of a national brand.

Plus: Office Hours wtih the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. Economics professor Louis Johnston offers advice to founders on knowing what you're best at, what to hire out, and the importance of telling the story of your business.

140. Scaling a Franchise: Chuck Runyon + Melanie Richards

Angie’s Boomchickapop–one of the most legendary homegrown Minnesota brands in recent history and the benchmark for just about every new packaged food startup hoping to make it big. As the story goes: Angie Bastian was a nurse; her husband Dan Bastian a teacher. They bought a kettle corn machine off the internet in 2002, and started selling at festivals, in hopes of making some extra money. Soon they were selling to grocery stores, building their own manufacturing center, and becoming the first truly national ready-to-eat popcorn brand. In 2017, the company was acquired by Conagra for an estimated $250 million. Today, another Minnesota-made popped snack is slowly gaining shelf space at stores around the country: Yoga Pops, made of popped water lily seeds—a snack as popular in India as popcorn is in America. Currently sold in 350 stores across the country, co-founders Nalini Mehta and Anita Balakrishnan want to make Yoga Pops a household name. They get advice from the Bastians on manufacturing, marketing, culture building, and what it really takes to build a lasting packaged food brand.. As Dan Bastian says, “Leaders work for their people, and then they in turn will work for you.”

Stick around for Office Hours with Kingshuk Mukherjee, chair of global business leadership at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. He talks about the school's entrepreneurial alums, the Bastians, and tariff volatility.

141. Growing a Food Brand: Angie and Dan Bastian + Yoga Pops

Bruna Valente was a corporate marketer working in industrial manufacturing when a health scare sent her on a personal wellness journey, which led her to the rainforests of her native Brazil. There, she discovered natural botanicals that inspired her to create her own skincare products—face oils and lotion bars. She quickly realized they were good enough to sell. Minnesota-made Terrain Brazilian Botanicals is a small, but growing beauty brand now sold in luxury spas, hotels, boutiques, and online. Valente faces many decisions ahead: Does she set her sights on Sephora? How does she grow the audience, and the team? Does she raise money for the brand, which has been bootstrapped thus far? 

When beauty founders are mulling such questions, the person who is often on their wish list to meet is Sue Remes, a beauty consultant who worked with many of the biggest brands around the globe in her 30-plus year career, including Kiehl’s and Kevin Murphy. (You can hear her career story on Episode 22 of By All Means.)

Remes shares the questions she asks of every founder before engaging in mentorship, perspective on how an indie brand can compete in a crowded field of multinationals, and how to succeed at retirement. 

In Office Hours with College of Saint Benedict and Saint Johns University, accounting and finance professor Boz Bostrom offers advice for early stage founders on creating a business plan, and not letting passion cloud the math on potential for profitability.

142. Building a Beauty Brand: Sue Remes + Terrain Brazilian Botanicals

“Sales will take you anywhere.” 
	
That skill took Jill Blashack Strahan from a small farm town where she ran a café and didn’t dare to dream much bigger to founder and CEO of national meal prep brand Tastefully Simple. At its peak in 2008, Tastefully Simple hit $143 million in sales with 20,000 sales associates executing home parties in small towns and big cities across the country. Mission: bringing people together to answer that age-old question, “What are we going to eat for dinner?”

But after hitting that peak, sales began to slide. And slide. For 11 straight years, Tastefully Simple lost ground. For nearly seven years, there was no profit whatsoever. Strahan invested her own money to keep the company afloat—ignoring the advice of several turnaround consultants. “I just believed in my heart it was not time to give up on this.” 

Indeed, Tastefully Simple is once again profitable. With a much leaner executive team and renewed focus on sales and marketing training, Tastefully Simple was well positioned to pivot to virtual parties during the Covid-19 pandemic and has benefitted from renewed interest in home cooking and a desire to socialize—even if over Zoom—around food. 

Strahan takes us on her entrepreneurial—the jobs that led to her a-ha moment and the sacrifice it took to pull it off. “Fear is a great motivator,” she says. 

But what would a business professor have told her during the dark days of declining sales? After our conversation with Strahan, we go Back to the Classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. Professor David Deeds, the Schulze Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship points out the fundamental difference between founder and CEO. “There’s a commitment and passion in an entrepreneur that is different than in a CEO. In terms of economics, she should have found a buyer. But from a personal standpoint, it made sense to keep going.”

51. Tastefully Simple Founder + CEO Jill Blashack Strahan

Making business work in Minnesota. Entrepreneurs and leaders share the stories behind their beloved brands, and the ones you’ll want to know next

51. Tastefully Simple Founder + CEO Jill Blashack Strahan

Twin Cities Business

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