Episode 248: Rochester’s MN Cup Winners Shrpa, Canomiks, + Nanodropper

This week on the podcast we talk more about some big news that hit Rochester’s entrepreneurial ecosystem this September. This season, our community had three Divisional Winners at the Minnesota Cup, the nation’s largest statewide business pitch competition. Minnesota Cup is a rigorous program that starts each spring and runs through multiple rounds to crown winners across nine different divisions, as well as an overall Grand Prize Winner at the end of the competition in early fall. Competitors receive mentorship, pitch practice, seed funding, and much more as part of their experience at Minnesota Cup. This year, Rochester based startups Shrpa, Canomiks, and Nanodropper each walked away as Divisional Winners in the High Tech, Food/Ag/Beverage, and Student Divisions, respectively. In addition, Nanodropper was named the overall Grand Prize Winner and is the first ever student-led team to win the entire Minnesota Cup! This is a conversation that needed to be shared in our community as we sit down today with co-founders Chris Lukenbill of Shrpa, Leena Pradhan-Nabzdyk of Canomiks, and Allisa Song of Nanodropper to hear more about what the Minnesota Cup journey met for themselves and for their teams and why they choose to keep their businesses in the Rochester community.

Links from today’s show:
Minnesota Cup
Website: https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup
Facebook: @mncup
Twitter: @MinnesotaCup
Instagram: @minnesotacup

Shrpa
Website: https://shrpa.com/
Facebook: @shrpa.explore.local
Twitter: @explore_shrpa
Instagram: @shrpa.explore.local
Shrpa origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/main/meet-rochesters-newest-startup-shrpa

Canomics
Website: https://www.canomiks.com/
Twitter: @canomiks
Canomiks origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-181-inspirational-collisions-with-leena-pradhan-nabzdyk

Nanodropper
Website:https://nanodropper.com/
Facebook: @nanodropper
Twitter: @nanodropper
Instagram: @nanodropper
Nanodropper origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-193-alissa-and-robbie-with-nanodropper

Our sponsors:
CliftonLarsonAllen
Website: https://www.claconnect.com/

Music Attribution: Like That by Ano Domini Beats is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library.

Episode Breakdown:
0:00 Start
7:56 Shrpa
17:43 Canomiks
34:15 Nanodropper
49:12 Conclusions
50:44 End

This week on the podcast we talk more about some big news that hit Rochester’s entrepreneurial ecosystem this September. This season, our community had three Divisional Winners at the Minnesota Cup, the nation’s largest statewide business pitch competition. Minnesota Cup is a rigorous program that starts each spring and runs through multiple rounds to crown winners across nine different divisions, as well as an overall Grand Prize Winner at the end of the competition in early fall. Competitors receive mentorship, pitch practice, seed funding, and much more as part of their experience at Minnesota Cup. This year, Rochester based startups Shrpa, Canomiks, and Nanodropper each walked away as Divisional Winners in the High Tech, Food/Ag/Beverage, and Student Divisions, respectively. In addition, Nanodropper was named the overall Grand Prize Winner and is the first ever student-led team to win the entire Minnesota Cup! This is a conversation that needed to be shared in our community as we sit down today with co-founders Chris Lukenbill of Shrpa, Leena Pradhan-Nabzdyk of Canomiks, and Allisa Song of Nanodropper to hear more about what the Minnesota Cup journey met for themselves and for their teams and why they choose to keep their businesses in the Rochester community. 

Links from today’s show:

Minnesota Cup

Website: https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup

Facebook: @mncup

Twitter: @MinnesotaCup

Instagram: @minnesotacup

Shrpa

Website: https://shrpa.com/

Facebook: @shrpa.explore.local

Twitter: @explore_shrpa

Instagram: @shrpa.explore.local

Shrpa origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/main/meet-rochesters-newest-startup-shrpa

Canomiks

Website: https://www.canomiks.com/

Twitter: @canomiks

Canomiks origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-181-inspirational-collisions-with-leena-pradhan-nabzdyk

Nanodropper

Website:https://nanodropper.com/

Facebook: @nanodropper

Twitter: @nanodropper

Instagram: @nanodropper

Nanodropper origin story on Rochester Rising: https://rochesterrising.org/podcast/episode-193-alissa-and-robbie-with-nanodropper

Our sponsors:

CliftonLarsonAllen

Website: https://www.claconnect.com/

Music Attribution: Like That by Ano Domini Beats is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library.