Steve and Mary Grove

Power Pair: Steve and Mary Grove support each other and Minnesota

In 2018, Steve and Mary Grove left big tech jobs in Silicon Valley and moved to Minnesota with their twin toddlers to start a new chapter. Since then, the married couple has navigated a pandemic, job changes and this fall, the start of first grade.

“We both made a bet on Minnesota,” says Steve Grove, who grew up in Northfield and started as CEO and publisher of the Star Tribune this spring, after serving four years as the state’s commissioner of employment and economic development.

While Steve was the public face of the state’s effort to keep businesses and workers afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary Grove has been less visibly building Minnesota’s startup culture. She arrived in Minnesota as a partner in an investment firm founded by AOL billionaire Steve Case with the mission to invest in businesses outside of Silicon Valley, New York and Boston. She now runs her own venture capital firm that skews heavily toward tech startups in Minnesota and companies started by women and people of color.

Listen back to a conversation MPR News host Angela Davis had with Steve and Mary Grove about their marriage and shared commitment to the state.

Silicon North Stars

Founded in 2013, the mission of Silicon North Stars is to inspire and educate young Minnesotans to become future leaders in technology. We focus on equipping a select group of high potential, rising ninth graders from economically underserved communities in Minnesota with the inspiration and community they need to pursue careers in technology.

Every other month, we hold a meetup with students from all classes where they tour local tech companies and re-connect on their goals. The purpose is to build a community of young tech leaders who can continually draw inspiration from mentors and each other throughout their high school experience, preparing them for future careers in technology. This program is designed to be a five year, hands-on experience and then you are part of our alumni community for life. To date we have served over 120 students and are proud to be part of their entrepreneurial journeys.

Silicon North Star Media Clips

Mary Grove

Mary is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures. She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in technology, early stage investing, and startup ecosystem growth. She began her career working on the Google IPO, and went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating early stage product and technology deals worldwide. Mary then served as the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries.

After her 15 year career at Google, Mary worked as an investment partner at Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund where she led dozens of investments in a range of sectors including healthcare, enterprise software, and fintech. She also built the fund’s portfolio support platform and built a network of over 150 mentors and partners to guide startup growth.

She is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Silicon North Stars, a nonprofit that she and her husband Steve founded in 2013 to help young Minnesotans from underserved communities pursue careers in tech. Mary serves on the boards of Vital Voices, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Techstars Foundation. She earned her BA and MA from Stanford University. Mary and her family moved from Silicon Valley to Minneapolis in 2018 and she loves cooking, hiking, and getting to know Minnesota through the eyes of her seven-year-old twins. Mary's bread and butter is helping organizations build teams and infrastructure to operate at scale, building partnerships, and home cooked Thai recipes.

Mary’s Work