What. A. Night.

Minnedemo41 lit up the Ordway stage Oct 9 with an incredible evening of live tech demos, community connection, and celebration of Minnesota innovation.

Hundreds of builders, dreamers, and doers came together in Saint Paul to cheer on seven presenters — each showing off real, working technology made right here in Minnesota.

Each demo highlighted the creativity, technical talent, and curiosity that make our #MNtech community so special — from tools that make collaboration easier to platforms improving accessibility, conservation, and community.

🎬 Watch the video recordings!

📸 See the photos

💬 Share your feedback

We also celebrated our incredible community. The evening was full of gratitude, recognition, and exciting announcements about what’s ahead for Minnestar:

📅 Save the Date: Minnebar20 is happening May 2, 2026 — our 20th anniversary celebration!

🪩 Board & Committee Recruitment: Applications open Monday, Oct 13 interested in shaping the future of Minnestar. Learn more here.

Community Groups also shared some great upcoming events:

Want to get involved with Minnestar? There are plenty of ways to be part of the magic:

Thank you to everyone who attended, volunteered, sponsored, or cheered on our demoers — you make this community what it is.

Meet the Minnedemo41 presenters here – and keep an eye out for recordings coming soon!

Course Counter

After watching social workers panic over CE credit spreadsheets, Carl built Course Counter – an app that scans certificates and tracks continuing education for licensed professionals. No more spreadsheets, no more missed deadlines, no more audit anxiety. License compliance made simple.

Presenter: Carl Wills
Website | LinkedIn

🛠️ Built with: Flutter, Supabase, Loops, OneSignal, Firebase

GlueStick

GlueStick is a kids’ creative copilot, inspiring them to do more arts, crafts, and hands-on science projects at home with supplies they already have. Designed and built by parents who want to teach their kids to use devices as tools instead of mindless distractions (or worse), GlueStick supports families’ entire creative journey from setup to cleanup with AI-powered supply recognition, step-by-step tutorials, and unlockable digital rewards.

Presenter: Abby Allen
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

🛠️ Built with: FlutterFlow, Vertex AI, Supabase, Python

 

Happo

Happo is known for helping teams catch visual bugs with powerful screenshot testing. Now, we’re bringing that same magic to accessibility. In this demo, we’ll show how developers can surface accessibility issues across their entire UI—automatically—using the same tools and workflows they already rely on. With accessibility standards gaining urgency worldwide, this is a timely, practical solution you won’t want to miss.

Presenter: Joe Lencioni
Website | LinkedIn

🛠️ Built with: axe-core, Kubernetes, JavaScript, TypeScript, Docker, AWS, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Redis, MySQL, CSS, HTML, Next.js, React, Node.js

Liminal Network

Customers expect instant updates. In ecommerce that means self-service delivery pictures, status, and documents. But how do you deliver a B2C-level experience with a legacy B2B tech stack?

That’s where Liminal Network comes in, with tools are designed to easily connect your existing systems with your partners, enabling the experience your customers and users want without a capital project.

Presenter: Hillary Drake
Website | LinkedIn

🛠️ Built with: hosted on AWS, our tech is built from the ground up by CTO Josiah Carlson (native of Vermillion, MN and Macalester College grad). The backend is primarily Python.

Skyway.run

Navigating the skyways of Minneapolis is easier than ever with Skyway.run. Now you can search for lunch spots, get directions and check which buildings are open or closed all from your phone’s web browser.

Presenter: Hank Brekke-Peer
Website

🛠️ Built with: AWS Lambda and CloudFront, NodeJS, C++, OSRM, Tilemaker, LitJS, MapLibre

Spiral Betty

Spiral Betty is an image filter site that allows users to transform photos into unique two-tone designs, including spirals, dots and lines. Originally created for fun in 2018, Spiral Betty became an unexpected global sensation, gaining widespread popularity on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Presenter: Shalanah Dawson
Website | Instagram | GitHub

🛠️ Built with: Typescript, React, AWS, Github Actions, Redux RTK, Canvas, RAF, Vite, TanStack Router, started out as a create-react-app 

Taxon Profiles

Species360, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, is revolutionizing wildlife conservation with Taxon Profiles, a new tool that transforms the world’s largest repository of animal data into a powerful resource for saving species. A “one-stop-shop” where wildlife professionals can instantly access critical information like medical care, reproductive analytics, and survival rates – the team is modernizing a legacy system and using advanced analytics to turn data into a powerful force for conservation action.

Presenters: Laura Gaucher, Katelyn Mucha + Rachel Thompson
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

🛠️ Built with: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft SQL Server, Auth0, .NET, C#, Node, Ext JS & Vue, Bootstrap, Kotlin, Spring Boot, JPA/Hibernate, Yarn, TypeScript, React, MUI, ElasticSearch