This week I attended the MHTA (MN High Tech Association) Spring Conference. Robert Stephens, founder of the Geek Squad, was a keynote. Robert was also a speaker at the Blandin Conference last fall. (Many of you will know that I work with and love the Blandin Foundation.) Anyways over the next couple weeks I’m going to try to highlight some of the ideas/tools that he mentioned. Partially I think they are fun – but partially I think that Robert has a good track record for knowing what’s on the horizon.

To start the ball rolling I wanted to mention Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com. Here’s the blub from the web site.

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

So if you have an idea you can go there for feedback and funding. If you have money you might go there for unique opportunities. It’s not like a traditional investment or gift. Each project offers its own benefits to donors. So maybe if get to name the product or get a free trial or signed first edition.