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MESA

Inspiring Growth for Made in Minnesota Software

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Auto Ice

Auto Ice Q&A

MESA sat down with Stephen Randall, CEO of AutoIce, to ask him about his experience working with MESA.

What prompted you to get involved with MESA?
A recommendation from a potential investor and the ability to get objective third-party advice on running the business.

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?
Biggest challenge was “not knowing what I didn’t know” and losing focus on key issues that were often outside of my comfort zone. Having a group that can look at what you are doing and has the knowledge and experience to point me in the right direction.

What, specifically, is your favorite part about working with MESA, and why?
The monthly meetings to realign on direction, discuss topics requiring consideration and attention, allowing time to step back and think about things that tend to get lost during the day-to-day operations.

If you were going to recommend MESA to a colleague, what would you say?
First thing that I would say would be “do it”. At least engage in the process to understand the state of you company to validate perspective on tactics and strategy. MESA is un-biased by any internal agenda, i.e. there is not intent to sell fee-based services on top of the pro-bono Mentoring.

What three words would you use to describe your experience with MESA?
Helpful, experienced, objective.

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Recent News

VidGrid, a MESA Group Graduate, Acquired by Paylocity

Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY), a leading provider of cloud-based HR and payroll software …

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Testimonials

  • The MESA mentors are one of the most trusted advisors a founder CEO can have. MESA brings both trust and clarity to help a founder address challenges and determine what actions are best.
    Chad HalvorsonCEO, When I Work
  • MESA provides a unique perspective that we don’t get elsewhere. We have experience doing product development but not in operating and running a business. Our MESA mentors provide us with the operational guidance we need.
    Matt RongeCEO, Astro HQ
  • Our MESA mentors were able to articulate proven strategies that we implemented to improve internal alignment. Very quickly the team was more in sync as the new strategies allowed us to have a clear line of sight to where we needed to go.
    Sameer KumarCEO, HabitAware

Recent Blog Posts

Sezzle, Inc. Graduates from the MESA Accelerator Program

Sezzle Inc., a Minneapolis-based fin-tech firm specializing in setting up installment …

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MESA Turns 10 Years Old Serving the Minnesota Startup Community Since 2009

Founder Jim Moar MESA, the Minnesota Emerging Software Association, is celebrating its …

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VidGrid, a MESA Group Graduate, Acquired by Paylocity

Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY), a leading provider of cloud-based HR and payroll software …

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BuildTools, a MESA Graduate, announces it will be acquired by ECI Software Solutions

In our current environment, it is especially exciting to hear stories of progress and …

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Being the CEO of an emerging software company can be incredibly challenging. MESA mentors have been there, and can offer you unbiased guidance to help your business flourish.

If you are interested in a mentorship with MESA, please contact us.

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There’s no substitute for experience. If you’re a seasoned software industry executive, local software companies could benefit from your knowledge and expertise.

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Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory, LLC

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