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Minnestar: How it all began - with co-founders Ben Edwards and Luke Francl

by Maria Ploessl, Luke Francl, and Ben Edwards | at MinneBar 14 | 2:50 – 3:35 in Challenge | View Schedule

Join Minnestar Executive Director Maria Ploessl, Minnestar Co-Founders Ben Edwards and Luke Francl, and old friends as we take a deep dive into the nostalgia of the early years of Minnestar, Minnebar, and Minnedemo.

Whether you are new to Minnestar, or you were one of the 135 attendees at the first Minnebar in 2006, this will be a fun and exciting look at the last 13 years of this great community.

Can't wait for your nostalgia fix? Get started here: https://minnestar.org/vault-11-crowd-favorites-11-years-minnedemo/

Maria Ploessl

Maria Ploessl serves as the first Executive Director of Minnestar, a nonprofit organization committed to building, nurturing and engaging those interested in technology through meaningful connection. In her role, she works to promote the strategic vision and growth of the organization, while developing events and experiences that bring the MN tech community together.

Links:

  • Twitter: @MariaPloessl

Luke Francl

Luke was one of the co-founders of minnestar, the organization behind MinneBar and MinneDemo. He now lives in San Francisco, where he is a software engineer at GitHub, which makes software you hopefully use.

Links:

Ben Edwards

Ben is a catalyst to the various tech, design, and entrepreneur communities of which he is a part. A Co-Founder of SmartThings, Minnestar, and Refactr, Ben has spent his career building products, platforms, and the communities that surround them—most notably taking SmartThings from a Kickstarter campaign to a Samsung acquisition in just two years.

He currently leads people operations and team growth at Contextual, an AI solutions platform for technology consultants, and is also co-founder of Incogneato, a SaaS company in the autonomous feedback collection space. Ben also advises startups on strategy, product, design, and marketing and is also a fund advisor at Great North Ventures and TechStars mentor alum.

Ben is particularly proud of his role in the genesis of Minnestar—the nonprofit he co-founded to foster technology and startup activity in Minnesota—growing it into the largest unconference event series in the North America.

Links