~ Partnership creates business network for entrepreneurs, small business, and investors ~

Governor Tim Pawlenty was joined today by a group of business, government, academic and civic leaders to announce the launch of GetGo Minnesota, a new online exchange to create networking opportunities between entrepreneurs, investors, service providers and industry organizations.

“If the future is about innovation, Minnesota wins. Our history tells an extraordinarily robust story about breakthrough ideas that went to market and around the world,” Governor Pawlenty said. “In this hyper-competitive global marketplace, we need to find new and better ways to keep and grow the best ideas here. GetGo Minnesota will help us do just that.”

Operating as a non-profit organization, GetGo is a program of the James J. Hill Reference Library, the nation’s premier business research organization. The GetGo network is free and located at www.GetGoMN.org.

GetGo will help entrepreneurs and small businesses update current and prospective investors about their business plans, projections and presentations; for investors, angel groups and venture capitalists to seek out new deals that match their areas of interest; and for service firms to publish their service capabilities and cultivate business opportunities.

GetGo was developed by Minnesota Cup co-founders Scott Litman, Dan Mallin and Tom Kieffer. The Minnesota Cup is an annual statewide competition to discover and commercialize new breakthrough ideas.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas, the Minnesota High Tech Association, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), Wells Fargo and the Itasca Project helped finance and build the network.

“As an angel investor, you’re always looking for new entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and a strong ability to execute,” said Michael Moore, founder of the Early Stage Investor Network, a group of more than 70 metro-area investors. “GetGo is an exciting new tool that will help investors, entrepreneurs and supporting organizations find one another.”

“Like earlier communication tools such as the fax, cell phone and e-mail, GetGo does not create business on its own, but it does provides a dynamic environment that creates new opportunities for collaboration and business,” Litman said.

The launch of GetGo coincides with the nationwide Entrepreneurship Week USA. This is also the year of “Innovation America”, the National Governor’s Association initiative that Governor Pawlenty is co-chairing with Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona. The goal is to educate students to become innovators and to carry that spirit of innovation through college and into the workforce.

“We are also focused on making new investments in the biosciences and in technologies that will help Minnesota reach our new, nation-leading renewable energy requirement of 25 percent by 2025,” Governor Pawlenty said. “And we are seeking tax credits to keep venture capital in Minnesota where it belongs.”