Take your company from prototype to fundability.
Join our community of entrepreneurs and innovators.
Together we can create a new future.

BRIIA connections

Connections

Propel your business forward by connecting with domain experts that can help solve your startup challenge. We connect community members and startups with the resources they need!

BRIIA community

Community

Join a vibrant community of data scientists, entrepreneurs and startup professionals that are creating the future. Learn how our collaborative co-working environment works for you!

BRIIA capital

Capital

Raising capital is never easy, but BRIIA helps you be your best. But we don't stop there. We connect our Accelerator companies to the best sources of capital and a whole lot more.

Alex Mehran Jr.

We are ecstatic to provide a home for the Bay Area's first integrated data innovation accelerator and collaboration community. The Tri-Valley is home to some of Silicon Valley's best and brightest, and we look forward to fostering a community of entrepreneurship where they can innovate close to home.

Alex Mehran Jr. President & COO, Sunset Development Company
Owner/Operator Bishop Ranch

Meet the Team

Les Schmidt Les Schmidt Founder & Executive Director

Les is a serial entrepreneur and leader. As a C-level executive, he has led startups, middle stage and public companies. His forte is leading businesses through the search for strategic direction, product iterations, and financing. His resume includes taking two companies public, lots of mergers & acquisitions, and raising capital and other financing. Les even took on transforming the San Francisco 49ers as that organization's COO!

Most recently, Les was the Executive Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership (IEL)- a business accelerator in Concord. IEL graduated over 200 participants from its programs and those companies collectively generated $1.7Billion in revenue in 2015 and employed over 4000 people.

Behind his efforts to develop BRIIA is a passion for seeing entrepreneurs prosper in the "far" East Bay! Nothing could be more gratifying than to see this entrepreneurial ecosystem thrive.

 
Melissa Ross Melissa Ross VP Operations

Melissa is a leader who knows how to get things done. She has spent the last two decades leading growth in healthcare analytics companies. Most recently, she spent the last ten years at MedeAnalytics, the largest pure-play healthcare analytics and big data firm, while they grew from start-up to 10X in revenue. During her tenure there, Melissa was involved in leading almost every aspect scale, including VP-level positions in operations, engineering, sales strategy, and business development.

Melissa has her bachelors in Math with a CS minor from Loyola University Maryland, where she currently serves as an Advisor to the Masters of Data Science program. Melissa has her MBA from Saint Mary's College of California, and serves as an Advisor for their Masters of Business Analytics program. Melissa is an accredited Angel investor and member of the Keiretsu Forum.

Melissa is ecstatic to help launch BRIIA, which sits in the intersection of three areas she loves - data science, entrepreneurship, and the Tri-Valley community.

Want to stay informed?

If you love data science or are building a company that harnesses the power of machine learning, artificial intelligence or natural language processing, sign-up to get updates about our public events, co-working opportunities, our demo days and more!