Michelle Messina

Michelle E. Messina is CEO of the international training and consulting firm, Explora International LLC focused on accelerating entrepreneurs and their companies, while developing sustainable ecosystems worldwide.

As a serial entrepreneur and consultant, she speaks on the topics of entrepreneurship, startup best practices, sustainable ecosystems, business acceleration, market readiness, Silicon Valley besy practices, and regional development Michelle has deep experience with corporate and government startup acceleration and entrepreneurship programs aimed at helping companies find repeatablebusiness models, while leveraging the best practices of Silicon Valley.

During the past 6 years, she has worked in more than 30 countries, including developing, post-war, and transitional economies.The global increase in startup acceleration programshas created opportunities for ecosystem partners, investors and mentors to better align with the needs of entrepreneurs and their startups. Michelle trains extensively in this area, while working with international governments on their ecosystem strategies, the alignment and unification of partnerswithin their ecosystems, and best practices for portfolio company management.

She has a strong revenue and operational background and leverages it to develop actionable growth strategies and tactical plans that make sense. Michelle is a sought after speaker and travels regularly supporting public private partnerships benefitting SME’s, women, and entrepreneurs. She actively mentors startups at GSVlabs, Alchemist Accelerator, The Last Mile @ San Quentin Prison, Telefonica’s Wayra academies, and Innovation Center Denmark.

Her latest book, "Silicon Valley: The Insider’s Guide is designed to help you better understand and appreciate SiliconValley—including the more subtle aspects of the Valley that are, in fact, hidden in plain sight. You will learn about Silicon Valley best practices, and about the Valley’s unique vantage point for evaluating startups. It will help you understand the rules that can and should be broken, and the value of experimenting and iterating until you either find success, or run out of money and fail. This book includes interviews with serial and first-time entrepreneurs, leading venture capitalists, and many others who are part of the Valley ecosystem. Notable interviewees include Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad, Dave McClure of 500 Startups, Joe Kennedy of Pandora, and Phil Libin of Evernote. The interviews provide colorful stories, surprising anecdotes, and telling insights about what really happens in Silicon Valley.