250 Attracted to The 14th Annual Entrepreneur & Investor Luncheon on June 4
The Economy and Its Effect on Our Businesses and Minnesota…Revisited

Bringing the investment and entrepreneurial community together has been the goal of the Annual Entrepreneur & Investor Luncheon since the National Venture Capital Association, Minnesota Venture Capital Association and The Collaborative first launched this event in 1996. For this 14th Annual Luncheon we reconvened the January event featuring panelists in a variety of industries to help us understand what the current state of the economy means (much has changed in 6 months) for our businesses’ growth and our state’s economy in the coming years. The astute panel delving into these timely issues featured: The Economist: Art Rolnick, Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis The Healthcare CEO: Mary Brainerd, CEO, HealthPartners The Investor: Michael Gorman, Managing Director, Split Rock Partners The Banker: Richard Hartnack, Vice Chairman, Head of Consumer Banking, U.S. Bancorp

The panel was moderated by Jeff Hinck, General Partner at El Dorado Ventures and 2009 President, Minnesota Venture Capital Association; and Dan Carr, CEO, The Collaborative.

These are indeed interesting times. We are now over a year into the recession and the darkest stock market in a generation — yet markets have improved over 20% since March. We’ve seen large government sponsored financial policies implemented and 100 year-old companies fail. After a brisk networking session and lunch, the panelists delved into what all of this means for Minnesotans and their businesses.

Panelists (L-R): Michael Gorman, Mary Brainerd, Richard Hartnack, Art Rolnick,
Dan Carr (moderator) and Jeff Hinck (moderator)

The discussion started with the “50,000-foot view of the economy.” Rolnick, a self-described optimist, said, “We’re starting to see signs. Generally speaking, economies reset themselves; it ain’t broke, it’s in recession. One reason this economy succeeds is because we do allow businesses to fail. I take exception to the media when they compare this recession to the Great Depression.”

The panel also commented that the last 6 months have affected industries differently. Brainerd stated, “This is one of the most challenging times I’ve encountered in 30 years in healthcare. The biggest concern is not the overall Economy, it’s what’s going to happen to public policy.” From the venture capitalist perspective, Gorman commented on exit strategies, “IPO is not an option we plan on when opening our companies!” Hartnack offered a banker’s perspective, “In a classic economy, which has been forgotten for a couple of years, the first rule of lending is character; is the guy gonna pay you back?” Gorman added, “I’m really grateful that Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank are the financial underpinnings of Minnesota’s economy.”

During these difficult times, what can Minnesota do to thrive? What will happen moving forward? “A lot of what is right in healthcare is happening in Minnesota,” Brainerd said, “We need to be at the forefront of high quality states.” Hartnack offered, “I think the visibility into the debt will be this year. But it takes a long time to clean up a mess.” Ever the optimist, Rolnick said, “I happen to think we may come out [of this recession] a bit stronger.” The stimulating afternoon wrapped up with a lively audience Q&A session.

The Collaborative would to thank our Leadership Series sponsors who made this event possible: Dorsey & Whitney, Faegre & Benson, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and Twin Cities Business.