At Minnebar 17, Jim Moar, a MESA co-founder and current president, spoke in a well-attended session on MESA learnings from over 12 years of mentoring 76 startups. MESA’s five critical startup business needs have shown to repeat themselves, and Jim shared these to help emerging businesses understand what it takes [...]
Tell us a bit about your background, John. I often say that I’ve had two careers. I have an electrical engineering degree and worked as a process engineer for Texas Instruments when I first got out of college. I did spend quite a bit of time in manufacturing and was [...]
On May 4, John Tedesco led breakout sessions at Groove Capital’s Angel Fest 2023 in Minneapolis on Why Founders Need Mentors. John has been a MESA Mentor since 2010 and serves as a member of the MESA Executive Committee. In these well-attended sessions, John covered: Why have a mentor? Mentors [...]
Billiyo Health empowers today’s post-acute care providers with the management and operational support they need to help people thrive. As an all-in-one home health software solution, Billiyo ties together medical billing, business operations, clinical documentation, real-time communication, and automation in a secure, compliant, and affordable cloud-based system. Feeding an entrepreneurial [...]
Minneapolis, MN – April 4, 2023 Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory (MESA), a non-profit, pro bono mentoring organization inspired to make Minnesota’s software economy rank among the most vibrant and respected in the nation, is announcing its fifth foundation partner – Cherry Tree & Associates. Cherry Tree & Associates is a [...]
TriNet has been a valued MESA partner since 2019. Justin Balfany, HR Tech Consultant, and Abigail Johnson, HR Sales Consultant were introduced to MESA by Kevin Spanbauer, a MESA co-founder. Because TriNet takes a community-based approach, they were excited about the prospect of a partnership and to MESA’s mission of [...]
Tell us a bit about your background, Jason. Early in my career I wrote software, and while software is in my blood, I found that coding was not. I started my first business when I was 24 – a consulting firm doing software development, and then another software business focused [...]
With a growing need for rapid last-mile delivery, Dispatch is solving a critical business need through a combination of delivery management software and its on-demand last-mile delivery marketplace. Dispatch founders Andrew Leone and Ryan Hanson’s nascent idea in 2016 is now transforming the traditional courier space for B2B industrial and [...]
There’s an old saying that great minds think alike, and at MESA, we’re fortunate to have such a like-minded advocate in RSM US LLP. RSM has a long tradition of supporting the communities in which they live and work. One of the ways they do this is by staying close [...]
Tell us a bit about your background George. I’ve been in software and the cloud for about 25 years, back when it was all starting, working with small emerging companies as the head of sales and marketing. One of my most interesting experiences was with Enstratius where I was one [...]
A smart idea from the early 2000s takes flight in 2010. Today, When I Work serves over 200,000 workplaces in 80 countries, and is focusing its plans for continued growth. Chad Halvorson’s very first job was bagging groceries and stocking shelves in a grocery store. As an hourly employee, he [...]
Founded in 2012 with support from the National Science Foundation, Pivot Interactives develops cloud-based science activities and lab experiments that allow students to explore scientific phenomena without costly lab equipment. In late August 2022, the company was acquired by Discovery Education and its parent Clearlake Capital Group. The acquisition brings [...]
HelloIgnite, an idea generation and implementation software platform, empowers companies to collect, share and manage innovation ideas from employees to improve experiences for customers. Working with global organizations and Fortune 100 clients, HelloIgnite helps foster innovation and help identify opportunities for company growth, organized through a centralized technology platform that [...]
Omnia Fishing has seen rapid growth since their founding in 2018. In 2019, founder and CEO Matt Johnson realized there were significant opportunities and milestones ahead to achieve the kind of success he was looking for. In 2019, he began a mentoring relationship with two MESA mentors, Dan Kinsella, former [...]
Carving out an entrepreneurial path is not for the faint of heart. Founders and CEOs need to demonstrate conviction to their teams and investors. But no founder or CEO has all the answers, and that’s where mentoring comes in. On September 21, MESA mentors and mentees came together to share [...]
Achieving Real Impact In his column in the Star Tribune Business section, Isaac Cheifetz captured MESA’s contributions and its continuing goal of helping CEOs of emerging Minnesota software companies get to the next stage of growth and success. More than 70 emerging software companies in Minnesota have been mentored.Thirty-five companies [...]
Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY), a leading provider of cloud-based HR and payroll software solutions, announces the acquisition of VidGrid, a leading video platform provider and MESA mentee company. VidGrid enables peer-to-peer video learning courses, transforming video into two-way communication. With the deal, Paylocity expands its product functionality around workplace video communication [...]
In our current environment, it is especially exciting to hear stories of progress and growth. Sven Gustafson, founder of BuildTools, and a graduate of the MESA Mentoring program in 2018, just announced that BuildTools has been acquired by ECI Software Solutions. BuildTools developed a robust system for the residential construction industry [...]
Sezzle Inc., a Minneapolis-based fin-tech firm specializing in setting up installment payments for online purchases, recently graduated from the MESA Accelerator program. Graduating from any startup course is a rewarding achievement, but doing so from MESA’s, a premier startup mentoring and acceleration venture, is a signature event. It’s a declaration [...]
In June, MESA Mentee Sansoro Heath, founded in 2014, merged with Datica. The combined entity now offers the most advanced and complete platform available to manage and integrate patient data on the cloud. Jeremy Pierotti, CEO The merged firms will operate under the name Datica and be headquartered in Minneapolis, [...]
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