MNteractive.com

There’s a lot of similarity between the design world and the software development world. If only because the line between the two is caterpillar fuzzy. What interests me about both of them is their low startup costs - just a brain, a computer, a phone, and some experience.

Where does this experience come from?
From my perspective, the fastest, safest way to get the experience is working for an established player. Then once you gain enough experience, maybe you want to try something different - you leave and start your own thing. In the design world locally - Target is a great example of this. Larsen Design also comes to mind. Less of an industry or community, more of an ecosystem.

This combination of established players and fresh startups has made Minnesota’s design community one of the strongest and most reputable in the country. And it factored highly into my move here a few years back.

Dan Grigsby says, it’s time to do the same for the software business. I agree. There are a few players here as Dan mentions; Adobe, Dow Jones, and others, with Microsoft on the way.

There’s room for quite a few more.

“All in, fully loaded, it costs less than half as much to build software here as on the coasts.” - Dan Grigsby

“onshore work is often qualitatively higher, is created faster and innovation is higher.” - Steve Borsch

“By encouraging startups on the small end as well as trying to bring more established companies to the state, both ends of the spectrum are covered.” - Luke Francl