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Tag: Articles

Wipeout

Wipeout

It might have been a great Minnesota success story. It might have made its founders rich. But Excelsior-Henderson crashed and burned, taking more than $100 million in investors’ money down with it. Ten years later, Dan Hanlon wants the story—and the brand—to endure.
Roll With It

Roll With It

While major metros around the country host mobile restaurants that tweet their whereabouts to loyal followers, Minneapolis is stuck in park. The city council passed a measure in April that
Can Keith Halleland Escape the Billable Hour?

Can Keith Halleland Escape the Billable Hour?

He’s left his namesake law firm, saying it was consumed by the short-term, eat-what-you-kill thinking of litigators. He’s started a new firm, where he says billable hours won’t be the driver, and a holistic approach to clients and to compensation will rule. Funny thing is, that’s what he thought he was doing 14 years ago.
The Fallon Diaspora

The Fallon Diaspora

Fallon has been creative in more ways than one. Besides award-winning advertising, it also has spawned several new agencies that are small, but garnering national attention—in part, by doing “advertising” in nontraditional ways.

Transom (3)

Miromatrix, the University of Minnesota spinoff that holds promise of being able to build human organs and tissue (see the May story), has received a $250,000 loan from the Minnesota
Irwin Jacobs Gets Back in the Boat

Irwin Jacobs Gets Back in the Boat

Shaken by a Genmar bankruptcy that he didn’t see coming, he’s determined to rebuild his boat business. No, he doesn’t expect an industry turnaround, but Jacobs says he’ll be profitable regardless.
Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight

“I’ve probably sold more octopus in the past year than I have in the previous 20 combined,” says Tim Lauer, general manager of Coastal Seafoods. Tako has always been on
Believe It or Not

Believe It or Not

Breathe Laser Therapy claims to have a better way to help smokers kick the habit. CEO Rick Diamond intends a national rollout. All that stands in the way is a little credibility issue and a treatment method that “sounds like voodoo.”

Transom (4)

Iconoculture founders Mary Meehan and Vickie Abrahamson have left their Minneapolis market research firm to start another, Panoramix Global. Their focus is projecting consumer trends in the G-20: 19 industrialized
Further to Fall

Further to Fall

Stu Utgaard was the Twin Cities’ biggest dealmaker in the ’80s and ’90s, a master of M&A. Then he made his own acquisition, Sportsman’s Warehouse, and built a single store into a $718 million retail chain. So how did Utgaard wind up buried under $31 million in personal debt?
21st Century Watkins Man

21st Century Watkins Man

What would lure Mark Jacobs (Irwin Jacobs’ son) from Manhattan to Winona to run an old-fashioned door-to-door business? The chance to apply entrepreneurial liniment to a tired, aching brand.
Russia’s Entry in the Burger Wars

Russia’s Entry in the Burger Wars

“The year of the burger” last year in the Twin Cities—openings of Burger Jones, Galaxy Drive-In, American Burger Bar, and Smashburger, to cite just a few—continued into 2010 with this
It’s All About Loyalty

It’s All About Loyalty

Since meeting in the early 1980s and building Northwest Airlines’ WorldPerks frequent-flyer program, Mark Lacek and Peter Brennan have started five businesses, with a sixth on the way—nearly all devoted to helping businesses keep their customers coming back.

Miles to Megawatts

Mark Lacek and Peter Brennan have built their expertise in the travel business, but telecommunications companies, banks, oil companies, and retailers also have used loyalty programs to build their customer