2020 Minnesota Cup (Sponsored by Maslon); Shawn McIntee, Shauro Bagchi, and Susan Markey Serve as Review Board Members

Maslon is pleased to continue sponsorship of the Minnesota Cup (MN Cup), now in its 16th year. MN Cup is a community-led, public-private partnership that brings together corporations, VCs, foundations, government, and skilled volunteers to support Minnesota's entrepreneurs. The core of their programming is an annual competition that reaches emerging entrepreneurs from across the state and connects them with tools, resources, and support to launch and accelerate the development of their new ventures. The competition officially launched on April 22, 2020, and will close with a Final Awards event on September 22. Maslon has been a sponsor since the competition's inception in 2005.

Shawn McIntee, Shauro Bagchi, and Susan Markey, attorneys in Maslon's Corporate & Securities Group, will serve as Minnesota Cup review board members. Shawn has participated with the Minnesota Cup since the competition's inception and will serve on a Grand Prize Review Board. Shauro will serve on the review board for the Life Science/Health IT Division, which supports Minnesota's most innovative entrepreneurs developing ideas and businesses in medical devices, biologics and biopharmaceuticals, animal health, healthcare delivery, healthcare services, healthcare IT, and more. Susan will serve on the review board for the Food/Agriculture/Beverage Division, which includes businesses focused on food and beverage products, food technologies in manufacturing, materials and ingredients technologies, food safety, and farming. They join the other seven Minnesota Cup divisions: Education/Training, Energy/Clean Tech/Water, General, High Tech, Impact Ventures, Student, and Youth.

Shawn is, first and foremost, a business lawyer. Public and private businesses alike—from startups to the Fortune 50—value Shawn's attention to detail, responsiveness, and acute ability to make business, technology, marketing, and legal matters work in harmony to achieve client goals. He skillfully advises across a broad spectrum of legal needs, with particular experience in technology and software transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate and commercial law (including contracts, electronic commerce and advertising), technology and software transactions, and emerging companies. He is dedicated to serving his clients and committed to supporting the entrepreneurial community through his longstanding role as review board member for the Minnesota Cup—the largest statewide startup competition in the country.

Shauro manages, negotiates, and closes national and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, technology and licensing transactions, and capital raising deals. He also provides day-to-day business counseling and related advisory services to his clients, including transaction structuring, technology licensing, and general commercial contract drafting. Shauro is passionate and energetic; his mission is to help companies (both established and entrepreneurial) achieve their business and financial goals by providing practical, efficient, and business-minded legal advice. He has particular skill working with clients involved in real estate development and acquisition, advertising, software, manufacturing, and investment funds, which is enriched by prior experience working as part of an in-house corporate legal team for a Fortune 500 company in Minnesota.

Susan represents clients in general corporate, taxation, and nonprofit matters. She relies on her diverse background in government, accounting, and law to act as a holistic business advisor, and strongly believes that tax and corporate advice should be both easy to understand and practical. Susan assists clients with a wide array of tax issues, including tax controversies, audits, appeals, planning, and structuring, as well as researching tax law, drafting legal appeals, and memoranda. In addition to her tax practice, Susan counsels clients on mergers and acquisitions, business formation, joint ventures, and general corporate matters, while leveraging her tax background to help guide them toward profitable solutions.

For more information about the competition, go to: Minnesota Cup.