Cheifetz: Software executives are helping the next generation of SaaS companies

In the 1960s, Minnesota was a hotbed of computer innovation. In that mainframe era, dominated by "IBM and the seven dwarfs," three of the top eight computing companies were located in Minnesota: Control Data, Univac and Honeywell. In the 70s and 80s, Cray Research was a dominant player in supercomputers.

With the advent of the personal computer in the early 80s, Unix workstations in the 90s and the internet, the Minnesota computer industry receded in importance. Silicon Valley became the center of innovation, with the giants that dominate today.

If Minnesota lost the war for modern systems software, it remains well-positioned to compete in the current "Software as a Service" (SaaS) era. As software functionality increasingly migrates to the "cloud," great opportunities remain in digitizing the workflow of every industry, hosted on the cloud and accessed by customers on their web browser.

Minnesota ought to be well-positioned to succeed in this environment. For a variety of reasons, Minnesota has not become a first-tier entrepreneurial center in the SaaS era.

But 11 years ago, a local group of C-suite leaders organized to help the Twin Cities become a regional center. Six of the executives, including well-respected Jim Moar, formed Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory (MESA).

The nonprofit offers pro bono counseling and mentoring services to founders of early-stage SaaS startups.

The 32 mentors focus on what they call the "wildly important goal," the critical success factor the new company needs to get to the next phase of growth and success. The goal is to help lift up companies that will bring new innovations to the field.

MESA has mentored more than 70 emerging growth software companies. I have volunteered my time as an executive recruiter, drawn by its forward-looking mission.

Of those 70 companies, well over half have had major capital funding and about one-third have been acquired. Thousands of jobs have been created.

"I am proud of our mentor group who volunteer their time and offer their 'been there, done that' experience to software entrepreneurs to speed growth," Moar said. "Entrepreneurs appreciate the open, candid discussions and feel free to raise difficult questions and subjects as they know the mentors are only interested in their success."

Isaac Cheifetz, a Twin Cities executive recruiter, can be reached through catalytic1.com.