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 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.
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.
Ben is a catalyst to the various tech, design, and entrepreneur communities of which he is a part. He currently serves as Head of Community at Misty Robotics and was formerly Co-Founder of SmartThings, Minnestar, and Refactr. In addition, Ben is currently an Advisor at Great North Labs and a Board Member at Goodfolio, a non-profit based on the principles of effective giving.
Ben is particularly proud of his role in the genesis of the non-profit, Minnestar—fostering technology and startup activity in Minnesota since 2006.
