Item 5: Initial Fees

Consistent with the UFOC Guidelines, Item 5 of the amended Rule requires the disclosure of any initial fees and any conditions on their refundability. “Initial fees” means “all fees and payments, or commitments to pay, for services or goods received from the franchisor or any affiliate before the franchisee’s business opens, whether payable in lump sum or installments.”

Uniformity of Fees Disclosure

In some instances, franchisors do not charge the same initial fees to every prospective
franchisee. Where fees are not uniform, franchisors have a choice. They can disclose a range of
fees paid in the last year. For example, fees may have varied over time because of increases in
costs. In such instances, a range of fees is acceptable. In the alternative, franchisors can disclose
the formula used to calculate the initial fees paid in the last fiscal year, along with any factors
other than the formula itself that determined the fee amount. For example, franchisors may
calculate initial fees based on a dollar amount per number of potential consumers in the
prospective franchisees’ territory.

If a franchisor only occasionally sells company-owned outlets to franchisees, such
isolated sales may not reflect the typical initial fees paid by franchisees. Inclusion of the fees
charged in such sales in Item 5 (and on the cover page), even in the calculation of a range of
initial fees, could skew the disclosure of initial fees franchisees typically pay the franchisor.
Thus, fees from occasional sales of company-owned outlets need not be included in Item 5, and
should not be included if doing so would make the fee disclosure misleading.

Refunds

Item 5 requires a disclosure about the refundability of initial fees. Franchisors are not
required to refund initial fees paid by prospective franchisees. Nevertheless, if the initial fees are
refundable in whole or part, the franchisor must state the terms and conditions under which a
refund can be obtained.

Installment Payments

Finally, if any initial fees may be paid on an installment basis, Item 5 requires a
disclosure of the installment payment terms. Thus, where the initial fees include payments for
goods, equipment, or other items on an installment basis, the franchisor must disclose the
payment terms. The amended Rule makes clear that franchisors have the option of disclosing
installment payment terms either in Item 5 or in Item 10 (the financing section) of the disclosure
document.

Foreign Limited Liability Companies Doing Business In Minnesota

A limited liability company that is organized under the laws of a state other than Minnesota that transacts business in Minnesota must obtain a certificate of authority before doing business in Minnesota. The requirements for obtaining the certificate of authority are specified by Minnesota Statutes § 322B.90 to 322B.955, and are set forth on forms available from the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=331 or by fax from the Fax Forms library at (651) 296-2803 or by mail from the Secretary of State. A certificate of status or certificate of good standing from the state or province of organization must accompany the registration form.

The term “transacting business” is not clearly defined in the law, but the standard used in making the determination is the “minimum contacts” standard used in determining jurisdiction. Under this standard the facts are analyzed by the limited liability company to determine whether the business or its local agents have conducted a continuous course of business in Minnesota or with Minnesotans sufficient to justify being governed by Minnesota law.

Neither the Secretary of State nor any other state agency will make a determination as to whether a particular limited liability company should register as a foreign limited liability company. As a general rule, doubts should be resolved in favor of registering the organization. Minnesota Statutes § 322B.945 establishes certain activities as exceptions to the registration requirement. Limited liability companies organized under the laws of a state other than Minnesota should consult with their legal counsel to determine whether any of the exceptions apply.

In addition to obtaining the certificate of authority, a foreign limited liability company must obtain a Minnesota tax identification number from the Department of Revenue. If the company will have employees in Minnesota, it also must complete the Department of Revenue’s withholding tax forms and arrange for workers’ compensation insurance. The procedure for obtaining these numbers and forms is described in the section of this Guide on business taxes and the Checklist for Hiring an Employee.

If the foreign limited liability company changes the name or address of its registered agent or other statements made in the application for the certificate of authority become inaccurate, the foreign limited liability company must file an amended certificate of authority with the Secretary of State. A foreign limited liability company also must obtain any state and local business licenses necessary to conduct business operations. Information on business license requirements may be obtained from the Minnesota Small Business Assistance Office.

This post is part of a series of posts on forming a limited liability corporation. 

Limited Partnerships

A limited partnership is a type of partnership in which the limited partners share in the partnership’s liability only up to the amount of their investment in the limited partnership. By statute, the limited partnership must have at least one general partner and one limited partner. The general partner has the right and responsibility to control the limited partnership, and is responsible for the debts and obligations of the limited partnership. The limited partner, in exchange for limited liability, generally does not participate in the day-to-day management and control of the business.

Regulatory Requirements

As is the case with general partnerships, a limited partnership will need to obtain business licenses if necessary, obtain federal and state tax identification numbers and may need to register the business name as an assumed name. A limited partnership that will hire employees, even if those employees are members of a partner’s family, must obtain an unemployment insurance employer account number and worker’s compensation insurance for those employees. The limited partnership must file a certificate of limited partnership with the Secretary of State before commencing business. The filing requirements are discussed in the next section.

A limited partnership that will be selling shares in the limited partnership to the public likely will be required to register with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Persons contemplating such an offer or sale should consult with legal counsel well in advance of the offering to assure that it complies with federal and state securities laws.

Certificate of Limited Partnership

A limited partnership must file a certificate of limited partnership with the Secretary of State. Minnesota Statutes § 322A.11 sets forth the minimum content requirements of the certificate. A form containing these requirements is available from the Secretary of State website at www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=331 or by fax from the Fax Forms library at (651) 296-2803 or by mail from the office. A limited partnership is formed at the time the certificate of limited partnership is filed with the Secretary of State or at a later time specified in the certificate.

In addition to the certificate of limited partnership, the limited partnership may also adopt a limited partnership agreement. As is the case with a general partnership agreement, the limited partnership agreement governs the details of the partnership and the management arrangement between the general partners and the limited partnership. Issues and concerns to be addressed in the limited partnership agreement as well as consideration of securities law requirements and tax consequences should be discussed with legal counsel.

In order to become a limited liability limited partnership, the first step is to establish the limited partnership, second, it is necessary to follow the procedures required for creating a limited liability partnership described in the preceding sections of this Guide. It is recommended that the name of the limited partnership and the name on the limited liability limited partnership registration match so that there is no question whether the limited partnership entity has elected limited liability partnership status.

Foreign Limited Partnerships

A limited partnership that does business in Minnesota and is formed in another state or country must register with the Secretary of State as a foreign limited partnership. Filing requirements are established by Minnesota Statutes § 322A.70. A registration form containing the required information is available from the Secretary of State by mail, fax, or from the website. The foreign limited partnership must attach to its registration a certificate of good standing (sometimes called a certificate of status) from the state or province where the foreign limited partnership is formed.

A foreign limited partnership also must obtain a Minnesota tax identification number. If the foreign limited partnership has employees, even if those employees are members of a partner’s family, it must obtain an unemployment insurance employer account number and workers’ compensation insurance covering its employees.

This post is part of a series of posts on forming a business in Minnesota.

Determining Whether a Name is Distinguishable

General Rule

In general, any name which contains a different word from existing names on file with the Secretary of State is distinguishable and the name is acceptable for filing as an assumed name or as the name of a corporation or limited liability partnership or limited liability company. Exceptions to this general rule are stated in the following section.

Exceptions

Names which are identical except for the following are not distinguishable and will not be accepted for filing:

• Corporate endings regardless of where they appear in the name. These include Incorporated, Corporation, Company, Limited, Limited Liability Company, Limited Liability Limited Partnership, Professional Limited Liability Company, Limited Liability Partnership, Professional Limited Liability Partnership, Professional Association, Limited Partnership and their abbreviations, and Chartered.
• The inclusion or omission of articles of speech, conjunctions, contractions, prepositions or punctuation. An article of speech is any one of the words “a,” “an,” or “the.” A conjunction is a word or symbol that joins clauses, phrases or words together. Examples include “and,” “or,” “as,” “because,” “but,” “+,” “–,” “&.” A contraction is the shortened form of a word such as assn. for association and dept. for department. A preposition is a word which expresses the relationship between a noun and another word. Examples are “at,” “by,” “in,” “up,”“of,” “to.”
• The abbreviation versus the spelling out of a word or different tenses of the same word. An abbreviation is the shortened form of a word or a recognized shortening of a word to an unrelated combination of letters, e.g., “Mister” to “Mr.,” “pound” to “lb.,” “Brothers” to “Bros.”
• The spacing of words, the combination of commonly used two-word terms or the splitting of words usually found in compound form.
• An obvious misspelling or alternative spelling or homonym.
• The use of the word or n umerals (including Roman) for the same number, e.g., “two,” “2,” or “II.”

Options for Dealing with Names Which Are Not Distinguishable

A business that wishes to use a name that is not distinguishable from a name that is already on file with the Secretary of State has several options. These include changing the name, obtaining and filing consent to use the name, filing a court order, and filing a statement of dormant business.A fee is charged for each filing.

Changing the Applied-For Name

The name may be changed by adding or deleting words to distinguish the name.

Filing Consent to Use the Name

Written consent may be obtained from the holder of the conflicting name and filed with the Secretary of State. A form for this purpose is available from the Secretary of State’s office. Applicants for a trademark may not obtain consents, but they may submit affidavits from themselves and from holders of conflicting names describing the nature of the businesses and the geographic and market area served as evidence that the marks will not be confusingly similar. There is no fee for filing these affidavits, although a fee is charged for filing a consent.

Filing a Court Order

An applicant for a name who obtains a court order establishing a prior right to use of that name may file the name. The court order must be attached to the filing. Filing a Statement of Dormant Business. To use this method, the applicant must file a signed affidavit stating that: the existing corporation or business has been in existence for three years or more and is on file with the Secretary of State; the existing corporation has not filed anything with the Secretary of State in the past three years; the applicant mailed a written notice by certified mail return receipt requested, to the registered office of the existing corporation or business, and the notice has been returned as undeliverable; the applicant has made a diligent inquiry and has been unable to find a telephone listing for the existing corporation or business in the county of its registered office; and the applicant has no knowledge that the existing corporation or business is still operating.

This post is part of a series of posts on how to choose a business entity type.

Sole Proprietorship

The sole proprietor receives all the profits from the business, and bears all the losses, which may exceed the proprietor’s investment in the business.

Partnership

In the general partnership, the limited liability partnership, the limited liability limited partnership and the limited partnership, profits and losses are passed through to the partners as specified in the partnership agreement. If left unspecified, profits and losses are shared equally among the partners.

Corporation

In a C corporation, profits and losses belong to the corporation. Profits may be distributed to shareholders in the form of dividends, or they may be reinvested or retained (within limits) by the corporation. Except upon sale of stock or liquidation of the corporation, losses by the corporation are not claimed by individual shareholders. In an S corporation, profits and losses flow through to shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings.

Limited Liability Company

Profits and losses of a limited liability company generally are allocated among the members in proportion to the value of their contributions. The articles of organization or the board of governors, under circumstances specified in the statute, may provide for a different allocation.

This is part of a series of articles on How to Pick the Right Business Entity Type.  These articles help you select the right business type for your circumstances.

Which Business Type is Right for You?

One of the fundamental initial decisions a new business owner faces is choosing the type of business entity that will be best for the business.

In choosing the most appropriate form of organization, a new Minnesota business owner will want to consider a variety of factors. These factors can be separated between tax and non-tax considerations.

Introduction

• tax and non-tax considerations

Non-Tax Considerations:

1. complexity and expense of organizing the business;
2. liability of the business owner;
3. distribution of profits and losses;
4. management control and decision making;
5. financing startup and operation of the business;
6. transferability of ownership interest;
7. continuity of the business entity following withdrawal or death of an owner;
8. complexity and expense of terminating or reorganizing the business;
9. extent of governmental regulation.

Tax Considerations:

1. Who is the Taxpayer?
2. What Tax Forms Are Used?
3. Tax Rates
4. Tax Impact
5. Selection of the Tax Year
6. Compensation for Services
7. Employment Taxes and Workers’ Compensation Insurance
8. Employee Retirement Benefit Plans
9. Fringe Benefits
10. Capital Gains and Losses
11. Net Operating Loss
12. Estimated Tax Payments
13. Disposition of Ownership Interest

With over 2,000 criminal cases under their belts, attorneys Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall represent the finest in criminal defense in Denver, Colorado.

During my practice, I have observed Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall in court and in action on numerous occasions. They are assertive and aggressive trial lawyers with years of in-depth experience in criminal trials and courtroom plea negotiations.

Track-Record of Aggressive Advocacy

As the saying goes, the best defense is a strong offense. Unlike many attorneys, Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall are unafraid to take on Colorado’s Attorneys General, District Attorneys, City Attorneys, and local government prosecutors.  Masterson and Hall regularly challenge and criticize local city police departments, Colorado State Patrol, the county sheriff’s offices, and other law enforcement agencies (including private security officers acting outside the bounds of Colorado Law).

Experienced Criminal Defense Attorneys

As criminal defense attorneys, Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall are well experienced in complex cases and sophisticated areas of Colorado criminal law. They provide criminal defense services in the following areas:

• Drug and alcohol charges
• Sex offenses
• Violent crimes
• Vehicle and traffic charges
• Theft and property crimes
• Guns and weapons charges
• Abuse and domestic assault crimes
• Probation and parole violations
• Fraud and white collar crimes

Outstanding Results

Smart, dedicated, and experienced, Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall represent the best in Colorado criminal defense work. I have no hesitation in endorsing them. If you are located in the Denver area and need rigorous criminal defense, check out Masterson Hall, P.C.:

Masterson Hall, P.C.
Denver Criminal Defense Attorneys
955 Bannock Street, Suite 200
Denver, Colorado 80204

Attorneys Jolie Masterson and Jesse Hall
Phone: 720-663-9553
Email: joliemasterson@gmail.com

In 2003, the Minnesota Court of Appeals addressed the issue of whether a website that was accessible from Minnesota was sufficient to fulfill the “minimum contacts” requirement for Minnesota’s long arm statute to establish personal jurisdiction in a Minnesota lawsuit. The short answer was “no.”

Only Meikikou’s English-language Internet site provides a contact that could be interpreted as an advertisement accessible to Minnesotans in Minnesota. The Internet site, however, was primarily a broad promotion of the company and general advertisement of its products. It did not provide an avenue for communicating with customers and did not target Minnesota. There also was no evidence of “hits” on the Internet site or successful Internet solicitations of Minnesota residents. In any event, jurisdiction cannot be based solely on the ability to access an Internet site, see GTE New Media Servs., Inc. v. BellSouth Corp., 199 F.3d 1343, 1349-50 (D.C.Cir.2000), particularly when the cause of action is unrelated to the Internet site. Cf. State v. Granite Gate Resorts, 568 N.W.2d 715 (Minn.App.1997) (concluding that minimum contacts existed where Internet advertising involved multiple contacts with Minnesota residents on the Internet, including one successful solicitation, and cause of action arose from Internet connection), aff’d mem.,576 N.W.2d 747 (Minn.1998). While indirect contacts are sufficient for personal jurisdiction, Rostad v. On-Deck, Inc., 372 N.W.2d 717, 721 (Minn.1985) (noting distribution contracts and marketing efforts calculated to create a national market for the product), the nonresident defendant must have those contacts, not just the distributor. In re Minn. Asbestos Litig., 552 N.W.2d 242, 247 (Minn.1996); see also Welsh v. Takekawa Iron Works, Co., 529 N.W.2d 471, 474 (Minn.App.1995) (noting that jurisdiction may be proper where wide-scale marketing efforts or nationwide sales of commonly used products existed).

See Juelich v. Yamazaki Mazak Optonics Corp., 670 N.W.2d 11, 18-19 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003).

Thus, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed that the district court correctly dismissed, for lack of personal jurisdiction, claims against a company with a website accessible from Minnesota.

Please note that cases applying traditional law to the internet is an evolving area of law. Thus, you should contact an attorney and research whether there are new cases on this topic before relying on the case here.

Northfield, Minnesota is known as the home of Carleton College, St. Olaf College, and its historic role in damaging the Jesse James Gang. Northfield is located about 30 minutes south of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I lived in Northfield for a few years—it’s a beautiful city with a “small town” feel that still has many of the benefits of a big city, including an excellent hospital, good shopping, and good schools.

At times, I have received calls from residents and small business owners in Northfield seeking legal assistance. However, our office is quite a drive for someone from Northfield seeking a lawyer.

It’s my pleasure to recommend an excellent Northfield attorney, Jim Prichard, who has lived and worked in Northfield for over 20 years. Jim is a private Northfield lawyer providing legal counsel and representation in estate planning, business law, and real estate law.

Jim has also been a personal friend of mine for over 20 years. If you need legal assistance in Northfield, Minnesota, contact Jim Prichard through one of the following websites: Northfield Attorney & Northfield Lawyer.

Last night I attended MinneDemo, a free gathering of techies who demonstrate their software creations. The innovative software demos presented were only surpassed by the fascinating people I met.

Much has been written in blogs about the MinneDemo software that was demonstrated, so I’ll focus on the people.

MinneDemo People

I spoke with Justin Heideman who is doing some fascinating things at the Walker Art Center.

I met John Roberts, an attorney from New Counsel, which graciously provided hundreds of free drinks for everyone. John also has a fascinating legal practice with tech startups.

I didn’t meet him, but Roger Peters took a number of notes on his Tablet PC. I’m not sure if he will be publishing any of them online.

There was a long list of others who attended or RSVPed to attend:

1. Dan Grigsby (Co-organizer)
2. Luke Francl — (Co-organizer) Slantwise, Rail Spikes, personal blog
3. Graeme Thickins | Tech~Surf~Blog — Boosting startups throughout the seven-county metro (eight, nine, ten)…
4. Michael Amundson
5. Ray Ghanbari
6. Nate Carlson
7. Stephen Van Dahm
8. Tony Collen
9. Ben Edwards
10. Paul DeBettignies|MN Headhunter
11. Adam Sellke
12. Aaron Mentele
13. Sam Schroeder
14. Ed Kohler — Ah crap, Graeme beat me on the RSVP list.
15. Chris Barber
16. Dan Mallin — Making breakthrough ideas a reality
17. Phil Crissman
18. Gary Elfert — VISI
19. Stephen Heuer
20. Bjorn Stansvik — www.mentormate.com custom software develoment
21. Joe Sriver
22. Matt Zumwalt — Putting the gay in holiday.
23. Mike Sowada
24. Jacob Hookom — Corporate Pawn @ McKesson
25. dack ragus — cans of food for beer? Deal.
26. Derrick Fountain
27. Garrick Van Buren
28. Bill Heyman
29. Marshall Onsrud
30. Curt Prins
31. Todd McGrath
32. Kumaran Sundar — Software Architect
33. Matthew Dornquast — Protecting your bits and completing that next project
34. Lars Klevan
35. Bob Hastings
36. Barry Hess — Write now. bestow_karma(self) if canned_pabst.is_a? CannedFood
37. Scott Vlaminck — Refactr
38. Steve Halligan
39. Ralph Jenson
40. Jonathan Lord
41. stefan hartwig — Lordy, lordy, look who’s 40!
42. Jesse O’Neill-Oine
43. Erik Swenson
44. Kyle Drake — Making breakthrough ideas a catastrophe
45. Kyle Wilson — Lordy, lordy, look who’s drinking a 40
46. John Daenzer
47. Andy Morgan
48. Nick Sieger
49. Gabriel Heller — Still working on that melody search engine
50. Josh Neiman
51. Steve Fanning — Business software as a service
52. Ben Moore
53. John Grozik — Currently Program Director of Customized Online Learning for the N. Hennepin Community College. Lots of other stuff going on as well. Looking forward to the MinneDemo.
54. Joe Hoover
55. Don Mink
56. Rob Juncker
57. Scott Burns
58. Eric Scheel
59. Mitchell Weers
60. Matt Geiser
61. Norman Orstad — [http://datsro.com]
62. Mike Palmquist — I’m going to the National Association of Gifted Children Conference tomorrow. Will they let me in?
63. Brad Wilzbacher
64. Ben Wallace — Seeking to reduce redundancy and enhance unique relevance.
65. Anders Davidson
66. John Hoffman
67. Dave Abbott
68. Marty Wetherall — FanChatter.com, the mobile sports fan chat utility, was proud to present at the last MinneDemo in October.
69. Mario Fantauzzi
70. Jamie Thingelstad
71. Annie Picken — Prost!
72. John Sundberg — Kinetic Data
73. Peter Edstrom — “Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information” – Tufte
74. Justin Heideman — Hoping to type so much text here that it wraps around and that I’ll get free beer.
75. Paul Armstrong — don’t touch my stuff
76. Cuong Tran
77. Adam Dewitz
78. Tyler Norenberg
79. Michael Woods
80. Charlie Flinn
81. Phil Wilson — RemainComm
82. Matt Pennig
83. Matt Thompson — Oh, you know, various MSM apologia
84. Scott Peterson
85. Craig Antolick
86. Jon Dahl — Spinoza -> Zencoder
87. Greg Buchner — Thanks Dale!
88. Dennis Becker
89. Matthew Nitchals
90. Thomas Knoll — embrace the geek
91. David Vinge
92. Marc Johnson — Excess ain’t rebellion if you’re drinking what they’re selling
93. Bob Waldron — Hope to see lots of Wisconsin people at MinneDemo as well as all the Minnesota participants…
94. Dan Stone
95. Aaron Hall
96. Ethan Galstad — Nagios
97. Randall Rodakowski
98. Eric Schaefer
99. Mark Zoia
100. Dan L. Shirk — Big Picture, Bold Leadership, Real Results
101. Larry J. Lorence
102. Jason DeBoer-Moran — *insert witty clever blurb here*
103. Peter Beacom — FindLaw
104. Nicholas Barthelemy
105. Amanda Barthelemy
106. Tim Bursch
107. Ryan Schmitt
108. Eric Peterson — Blurb because I can
109. Morgan Catlin
110. Jeff Pester
111. Tony Webster
112. Benjamin Ortega — still breathing
113. Tim Elliott
114. Tony Klein — Hardware is soft. Software is hard.
115. Jeremy Lizakowski — GreenSpringDesign, TCLUG, Startup Camp Evening Events (startupcamp@googlegroups.com)
116. andy kvamme — if i’m shivering, i know i’m alive.
117. Dave Walstad
118. David Quimby — Adaptive Avenue
119. Tom Harty — Convention-reg.com | Owner/Developer
120. Adam Vernier — A day without sunshine is like night.
121. John Nesbitt
122. Farhan Muhammad — I can say things but I won’t because I shouldn’t.
123. Eric Chapweske
124. Ryan Fisher
125. Riley Gerszewski
126. Jonathan Dahl
127. David Hedrick Skarjune — Is this like uh some World Brain thing?
128. Jim Geppert — 42
129. Eric Kinsella
130. Darren Siaw — sysadmin / guitarist
131. Noel Grover
132. Cory Preus
133. Matt Bauer — I’ll break it.
134. John Nelson — This all sounds super-cool. Hooray for Pete for telling me about it
135. Matt Prokes
136. Leon Giles
137. Colleen Velo
138. Matt Prokes
139. Tim Foreman
140. Tom ONeill
141. Praveen Mittal
142. Nate Roise
143. Nate Weiner — First timer.
144. Harlan Iverson
145. Lance Lavandowska
146. Darryl Wheaton
147. Jeff Hahn
148. Eric Caron
149. Jeff Gold
150. Matt Bartel
151. John Stavig
152. Arun
153. Sara Cowles
154. Erik Eliason — uTead
155. Naiomi
156. Wil Traeger — This space intentionally left blank.
157. Steve Wicks
158. Daniel Marsh
159. Dale Wyttenbach — There’s a demo?
160. Dan Rue
161. James Kahl — Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship
162. Bill Brown
163. Tinghao Wang
164. Andrea Casselton
165. Mayor Chris Coleman
166. Sara Grewing
167. Mike Calvo
168. Steve Borsch — “The best ideas are common property” Seneca (5 BC – 65 AD)
169. Jonathan Trent
170. Sarah Jenkins
171. Roger Peters
172. Clint Jurgens
173. Joe Hoover
174. Bill McGuire
175. james swanson
176. Ira Mitchell
177. Craig Letourneau
178. Cathy Paper — World’s Best Coach and Motivational Catalyst
179. Michael Manders
180. Bill Worple — 3LUXE
181. James Trachy
182. Steve Perry — Former editor of City Pages; currently publisher/editor of local web startup The Daily Mole.
183. Cecily Marcus
184. Bob Kusnetz — Need people trained on your bumpf?
185. Derrick Shields
186. Jordan Howe
187. Ken Earley
188. Michael John
189. Chris Josephes
190. Tim Bates
191. Shannon Duanmu
192. Rami Siriani
193. Corey Thompson
194. Jon Coudron
195. Erik Haugo
196. Randy Geise — Graphic Design for Business…Online or Off
197. Matthew Johnson — Matthew Johnson Custom Software Consultant, Webmaster Minneapolis, MN
198. Nicole Kinn
199. Cory Tranby
200. Paul Wenzel — Drinking Scotch at Carmichael Lynch
201. Richard Isaacson
202. Kris Richardson
203. David Bagley
204. Mike Hugo
205. Chris Massoll
206. Peter Fleck — former Cancer Center webmaster now with U of MN Extension
207. Lief Larson — Looking for anyone who knows Symfony. RoR sucks. How closed.
208. Robert Lebowitz — We’ll do what we do every night, Pinky; try to take over the world!
209. David Bearman
210. Jeffrey Geisener
211. Jon Mierow — Network Admin for CSP
212. Doug Olson — I want to come but all the sessions are filled
213. John Holtan
214. Patrick Rhone
215. Patrick Rhone
216. Curtis Thompson
217. Kyle Henderson — I am bringing with one other person from my company.
218. James Becker
219. Bill Amberg
220. Tom McArdell — Never heard of such a thing

Demos

The demo schedule included the following:

1. Spinoza Video Transcoding System (Jon Dahl)
2. Valtira (George Reese) — The Valtira Online Marketing Platform (CMS/Campaign Management/Personalization/more)
3. JRuby (Charles Nutter) — current state of the compiler, perf/java demos, maybe NetBeans
4. Grapheety (Gavin Quinn) — A map-based social exploration site. All stories and pictures are tagged onto the map by users.
5. ILM Services (Doug Nelson) — A quick lap around Silverlight.Net
6. NTractive (Dale Jensen) — Hybrid web application, focused on Small Business Management software
7. [wait list] Turf War (Jeff Pester and Matt Bauer) — A high performance Fantasy Football platform built on Rails featuring live scoring & reporting, multiple video deployment & advanced Edge Networking
8. [wait list] lua (Dustin Bruzenak) — lua.org
9. [wait list] Mobile Data Collection Platform (Nick Kleinjan) — Windows Mobile and ASP.NET handheld platforn for many types of field applications (i.e. http://www.airnab.com)
10. [wait list] Localtone Radio (Justin Grammens) — Internet Radio for local Twin Cities artists and listeners.
11. [wait list] SuddenDeals.com (Julian Reytel) — Deals from local restaurants are sent to shopper’s cell phones the moment they become available. Shoppers create FREE accounts and set a limit on messages received– there’s NO SPAM!
12. [wait list] Patented Distribution Relationship Management Software (Kevin Kruse) — Live demo of existing customers using our software to manage their distribution channels
13. [wait list] Performance-driven PHP Framework (Kyle Drake) — I will make really obnoxious cat noises. If there’s extra time, I’ll demo a really fast PHP framework I am working on. I’ll also show the benchmarking code I am using to do this.
14. [wait list] ThingsILearned.com (Dave Fowler) — A hierarchical wiki and social network based around putting knowledge on the web.
15. [wait list] TeamTreks Toolkit (Mike Palmquist) — A teacher toolkit sold as a subscription for organizing groups, customizing game content, and tracking student performance of a game, Glacier Bay, also hosted on teamtreks.com, that focuses on leadership and literacy skills for 4th through 7th graders.
16. [wait list] Nabbit (Tom Healy) — Use your cell phone to tag songs/ads heard on the radio allowing you to download them at a later time from the nabbit.com website. You can also share your playlist (not your music) with your friends on facebook. Did I mention it is free? Give it a try.
17. [wait list] Our VoicePrint Portal Technology (Noel Grover) — I will demo our patent pending technology for protecting personal identity and corporate data with one’s voice. To find out more about our technology please visit: http://www.voiceprintportal.com
18. [wait list] Soashable (Harlan Iverson) — A web based, multi-protocol instant messenger built on XMPP (Jabber) and COMET.