2015 Demo Day Takes a Tech Twist.
Every entrepreneur knows that flexibility is a key to ensuring success. The ability to pivot based on changing market conditions, or to meet customer needs, is a must for any startup. It’s the same for the organizations that support entrepreneurs, and so, one of the showcase events of the St. Louis innovative entrepreneurship movement — an annual event designed to showcase local startups — will take on a different look this year. In its first three years, Capital Innovators Demo Day, an event organized by an accelerator program that helps early stage St. Louis IT companies with...
Read MoreA SLU student who majors in startups.
Mention the words “business opportunity” to some college sophomores, and chances are they’ll frame the phrase in terms of the entry-level job they’ll seek upon graduation. Mention the term to St. Louis University student and North Carolina native Lachlan Johnson, and you’ll hear an entirely different take. Johnson is in the midst of creating not her first, but her second business – at the age of 19. And these aren’t just any businesses. Her first business landed her an appearance on the ABC-TV program Shark Tank. Venture number two connected her with billionaire Warren Buffett. Now...
Read MoreStartup promises simplified scheduling
Ask any office administrator, executive assistant or secretary to list the most frustrating aspects of their job and chances are good the task of scheduling a meeting – especially those with large numbers of participants — will be near the top. There are individual schedules to view and coordinate, time zone considerations to juggle, conference call numbers to maintain, and RSVP’s and confirmations to track. It’s the same story, really, for anyone at any level who has to schedule a meeting. It can be a huge challenge, and it really should be easier. Soon it will be, if the founders of...
Read MoreWine without the worry: a St. Louis sulfites solution.
For millions of people around the world, it doesn’t get much better than enjoying a good meal or good conversation with friends or family over a glass of wine. But for many people – about three million in the United States alone, according to the Food and Drug Administration – the idea of settling down with a glass of wine can be worrisome. The wife of St. Louis entrepreneur Alan MacInnes is one of those people. Alison MacInnes suffers from an adverse reaction to the sulfites that are added to most wine to help preserve it. Symptoms of such sulfite sensitivity can include headaches, a rash...
Read MoreSLU specialty: pitches with pinache
When it comes to providing entrepreneurs with innovative ways to pitch for funding, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John have nothing on Tim Hayden, the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University. The stars of the popular ABC program Shark Tank may have the TV ratings that Hayden doesn’t, but they can’t match Hayden and his team when it comes to creativity. Case in point: On Saturday morning, April 11, ten Saint Louis University entrepreneurs, selected from a competition among the school’s 16,000 students, will make business pitches to about a dozen...
Read MoreFor Squarefruitlabs, it’s all about re-shaping.
When Chico Weber describes the nature of his growing business, listeners should prepare to hear the word “reshaping” sprinkled liberally throughout the conversation. It begins with the name of Weber’s company – Squarefruit Labs. The title comes from a two-decades-old practice by some Japanese farmers of growing watermelons that are square. Those farmers insert the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing, producing a melon that can more easily be stacked, transported, displayed, and placed on a refrigerator shelf. Squarefruit Labs may sound like it deals in...
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