Melissa Withers is Managing Director of Betaspring. Betaspring has accelerated 92 companies and the portfolio has raised $65MM in follow-on funding and produced four exits. In 2015, Betaspring launched RevUp--the first accelerator for revenue-driven companies. She is also co-founder and director of Founders League, a co-working community in Providence, as well as a MassChallenge mentor and judge.

• Managing Director at RevUp, the first accelerator for revenue-first startups, pioneering a novel non-equity approach for building better companies.

• Experienced startup mentor advising ventures on PR, communications, customer discovery/engagement, marketing, team building, and management.

• Unique role developing communications for the Human Genome Project, one of the largest publicly funded science ventures in U.S. history, part of 6+ years service at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT

• Co-founder of the Business Innovation Factory, a leader in the design and testing of new and disruptive business models.

• 15+ years experience in strategic communications and public relations.

• Masters Degree in technical communications, special focus on emerging technologies.