We Empower Entrepreneurs To Be Successful Sooner.
Our Mission
We Invest In You provides support to smaller, Greater Minneapolis Metro companies that otherwise don't have access to reasonably priced financing but have a viable business plan. We are a business funding and coaching nonprofit 501(c)(3) private foundation, providing below market financing to entrepreneurs of all genders, sexual orientations, marital statuses, races, colors, religions, nations of origin and ages on the condition that they agree to accept coaching. Because of the coaching and financing, we expect the entrepreneurs to achieve success sooner, resulting in improved living standards for themselves and their employees. The goal of this program is to enable these entrepreneurs to be financially viable enough that a bank will provide standard loan terms to their companies in two to three years.
Why Did We Start?
When I was in my 20’s and went with my 2 partners to First National Bank of St.Paul, a loan officer told us that we did not have enough meat on our bones (assets) to even make our personal guarantee count for much. So we had to borrow from individuals at high rates, and we were always searching for more investors. After about two years we had enough assets that we finally became a desirable bank customer. Success could have come earlier and with less stress if we had access to lower cost financing and did not have to spend time constantly raising money.
~ Ted Yoch, Founder, We Invest In You
Meet the Team
Gary Pedersen
President & Director
Gary Pedersen has been a financial professional for his entire career. He spent over 25 years in the retail furniture marketplace, managing all aspects of Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, and Operations. He led the finance department of a local non-profit organization involved in both book and training materials publishing for early childhood learning and development for children from birth through pre-school.
For the past 16 years, he has served as Senior Vice President for a marketing agency providing print and online content publishing on over 1,200 large news online sites such as USA Today, Tribune, and Hearst newspapers. The agency creates and publishes targeted customer content on the sites. He has also served as an operational leader for an e-commerce manufacturing company that produced, sold, and serviced wall murals nationwide.
Gary has served on the Board of Directors of a furniture retailer, the Edina Chamber of Commerce, We Invest In You, the Edina Rotary club, and has been a leader in international global grant projects for his Rotary club.
Gary received his undergraduate BSB degree in Accounting from the University of Minnesota and his MBA from the University of St. Thomas with an emphasis in finance and marketing.
He is a native Minnesotan, an Army veteran, and an avid cyclist, and lives in Edina, MN with his wife, Ruth. He enjoys the seasonal lake home life along with his 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.
Our Board Of Directors
Ted Yoch
Founder of We Invest In You Inc., a non-profit, in December 2020, to give back to the community. Its goal is to help entrepreneurs be successful sooner and create jobs for many decades.
An entrepreneur who has experienced success, failure, and successes is a mentor, coach, and a business leader knowledgeable in many aspects of commercial real estate; conceiving, developing, financing, and/or owning apartments, office buildings, shopping centers, and warehouses. He was also involved in banking and mortgage banking.
In the most recent 25 years, he has been directly involved in a digital printing company, internet marketing, pay-per-click, and social media. As a director, he has been involved in manufacturing. He has also been an investor in many companies, as well as an accredited investor and an angel investor.
Tom Klingen
Mr. Klingen received his B.S. in finance from Arizona State University in 1982 with an upper-level course concentration in Investment Real Estate. He was hired by Rosewood Corporation (Ted Yoch, founder and CEO), a Minneapolis-based full-service real estate developer, upon graduation. From 1982 to 1992, Mr. Klingen worked closely with Mr. Yoch on developing numerous real estate projects, including office, warehouse, retail, self-storage, and multi-family products.
In 1992, Mr. Klingen founded his own company, Reacor, Ltd., to provide Investment Real Estate Services for a select group of investor clients with special concentration on multi-family. The company currently owns/manages 1,500 units of apartments in 18 locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
During Mr. Klingen's 38 years in the commercial real estate business, he has personally financed and/or sold over $100 million of investment real estate, and has been involved in the negotiation of over 100 lease transactions, totaling in excess of 700,000 square feet. Since 1994, he has acquired and syndicated 12 apartment properties totaling 612 units. He is a licensed real estate broker and has previously served on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association.
Steve Yoch
Steve has practiced business law for over 35 years and is a partner at Felhaber Larson. Steve has also written and taught widely on business and legal issues. He is co-chair of the board of directors of ARAnet, the parent company of Brandpoint. He has served and acted as general counsel on the boards of numerous civic and business organizations. He is also a volunteer general counsel for the Housing First Minnesota Foundation, which provides housing for homeless veterans or other groups in need.
Steve writes historical fiction in his free time. He is the award-winning author of Becoming George Washington and Becoming Benedict Arnold. When Steve is not home in St. Paul, he is traveling with his wife, Andrea, or visiting their grown sons.
Steve graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School. He graduated cum laude from Boston College with a double major in Economics and Political Science and was named a Scholar of the College.
Gwen Martin
An initiator and entrepreneur at heart, Gwen has spent her career building and growing businesses in a variety of industries. Companies she has led have been recognized among the Best Places to Work in Minnesota multiple years, achieved a Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies status multiple years, and ranked on the Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 lists multiple times as well as the Eureka award for innovation. She has been featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal and has been recognized as a Top 50 Women Leaders of Minnesota, Notable Leader in Recruitment & Talent,Minneapolis Woman Executive to Watch, Woman on the Move, and has served on the Boards of the University of St. Thomas School of Entrepreneurship, Peace House and Peoples Organic restaurants. Gwen is an active mentor to entrepreneurs and executives in transition.
Greg Yoch
A business leader with more than 30 years of experience spanning marketing, sales, and entrepreneurship across multiple industries. From 2014 to 2025, he served as President and Owner of Murals Your Way, a leading custom printing company specializing in direct sales and e-commerce. After successfully selling the business to Pixelwerx, a commercial printing company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, he joined the organization as a Business Development Executive.
Before that, Greg co-founded Sutter Street Investments, a real estate investment, construction, and property management firm in Sausalito, California. As one of two partners, he led all acquisition and disposition activities and oversaw marketing initiatives. He sold his stake in the company in 2014 before relocating to Minnesota.
Greg has also served on the Board of Directors of Brandpoint, a nationally recognized content marketing agency, since 2013.
He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Marketing and Finance. He holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into the Order of the Cross and Crown for leadership and academic excellence.