Steve VanTassel, MESA Mentor Since 2022

MESA mentors come with deep, real-world experience in the always-changing world of software and technology startups. Steve VanTassel, one of MESA’s newer mentors, is just one example of the willingness to give back and the depth of the expertise on the MESA bench. Tell us a bit about your background, [...]

2024-03-26T09:33:17-05:00March 26, 2024|

Nested Knowledge Expands Market Reach with Open Health Partnership and Enhanced AI Capabilities.

The Nested Knowledge AI-assisted SaaS evidence synthesis platform makes clinical research processes faster, updatable, and more powerful – transforming a critical and time-consuming process that ultimately informs and supports health systems around the world. Founded by four University of Minnesota alumni, Nested Knowledge is a powerful platform out to revolutionize [...]

2024-01-30T10:20:17-06:00January 30, 2024|

MESA Announces New Elite Partner – Brown & Brown

Minneapolis, MN – December 20, 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 eighth foundation partner – Brown & Brown. Brown & Brown is one of the [...]

2023-12-20T09:21:11-06:00December 20, 2023|

Shrpa Sets its Sights on New Horizons, Connecting More Travel Destinations to More Content Creators.

Shrpa is a SaaS platform that connects destinations with content creators, making it easier to share authentic, user-generated content that will help travelers discover what to do, see and experience in a community or travel destination. Shrpa CEO Chris Lukenbill and co-founder Andy Vig came together from different software backgrounds [...]

2023-11-14T12:20:23-06:00November 14, 2023|

MESA Announces New Elite Partner – O8

Minneapolis, MN – October 10, 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 seventh foundation partner – O8. This is the third new foundation partner to date [...]

2023-10-10T13:24:23-05:00October 10, 2023|

Visana Health Fuels its Mission to Transform Health Outcomes at Scale with a $10.1 Seed Investment.

Visana Health is pursuing a whole-person approach to radically improve the health system and women’s health outcomes. Joe Connolly, CEO and co-founder of Visana Health has a personal NorthStar: to improve health outcomes at scale. His mission and passion were born from his mother’s experience with chronic and complex gynecologic [...]

2023-10-02T15:33:48-05:00October 2, 2023|

MESA Announces New Premier Partner – Wise IT Consulting

Minneapolis, MN – September 27, 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 sixth foundation partner – Wise IT Consulting. Wise IT Consulting is a Minnesota based company [...]

2023-09-27T13:03:04-05:00September 27, 2023|

MESA Mentees Raise $740 Million in Capital

  MESA’s mission is to make Minnesota’s software economy rank among the largest and most vibrant in the nation. Our 47 C-level mentors freely give their time with no compensation to help speed learning and reduce risk for the software companies in our MESA program. Over 12 years, MESA has [...]

2023-08-14T12:19:32-05:00August 14, 2023|

John Moroney, MESA Mentor since 2017

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 [...]

2023-05-30T15:02:24-05:00May 30, 2023|

Mentoring Helped Billiyo Health Build a Foundation of Business Knowledge to Grow

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 [...]

2023-04-18T14:20:57-05:00April 18, 2023|

MESA Announces New Elite Partner – Cherry Tree & Associates

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 [...]

2023-04-04T14:02:31-05:00April 4, 2023|

Partner Spotlight: TriNet

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 [...]

2023-03-22T14:07:30-05:00March 22, 2023|

Jason Tober, MESA Mentor Since 2015

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 [...]

2023-06-14T14:50:46-05:00February 22, 2023|

MESA Graduate Dispatch Lands a $50M Series C Investment, Grows to 75 Major Markets.

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 [...]

2023-01-25T15:30:49-06:00January 25, 2023|

Partner Spotlight: RSM U.S. LLP

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 [...]

2023-01-10T16:22:35-06:00January 10, 2023|

George Hadjiyanis, MESA Mentor Since 2018

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 [...]

2023-01-03T20:04:23-06:00January 3, 2023|