WORKFACE Q&A
MESA sat down with Lief Larson, CEO of Workface,
to ask him about his experience working with MESA.
Tell us a bit about your background, your career history, and your business. What prompted you to get involved with MESA?
My entire adult life (20+ years) has been in the technology arena, with 17+ years in software. I got involved with MESA because I wanted to learn as much as I could from elder statesmen of the Minnesota software industry.
What was your biggest business challenge before working with MESA? Has MESA able to help you work through it, and if not, what happened instead?
We had a product positioning problem. Although we had a good solution that was working for customers, we were having troubles quickly articulating our value in a noisy marketplace. Working with our mentors we were able to help dial in on messaging that worked better.
What, specifically, is your favorite part about working with MESA, and why?
Definitely my favorite part was working directly with the mentors. The empathy and experiential knowledge is not the type of help you can get from books. Having really smart people with leadership history in software was invaluable to the optics of our business.
If you were going to recommend MESA to a colleague, what would you say?
Surrounding your business with the absolute best people will determine 90% of your happiness or misery. MESA helps you tap into a network of grade-A software leaders and professionals that have already burned trails and can share their lessons and insights.
What three words would you use to describe your experience with MESA?
Worthwhile, unique, meaningful
Anything else you want us to know about your experience with MESA?
Funding is always an issue, but Minnesota is was even more so. Having investor events that connect companies with qualified investors is really important.
