InnoVoxSTL: Working for Better Mainstream Awareness of Startup Scene

My good buddy Jan Andersen published a terrific blog this week, lamenting the lack of mainstream media coverage of the growing St. Louis innovative entrepreneurship movement.  Jan’s a co-founder of Lab 1500, a cool, collaborative space located in one of the most vibrant areas of St. Louis — at 15^th and Washington downtown.  It’s a place for forward thinking entrepreneurs to gather and share ideas.  And in the interest of full disclosure, Jan and his business partner Dan Lohman provide office space for me to park my behind at a desk as I toil for my startup, InnoVoxSTL.

Lab 1500 was the setting last week for a news conference in which St. Louisan and Square co-founder Jim McKelvey announced the formation of LaunchCode, a new initiative aimed at pairing 100 St. Louis companies with 100 emerging computer programmers.

The news conference drew a lot of familiar faces within the St. Louis startup movement, and some of the Internet media who generally cover the local entrepreneurship scene.  And to their credit, Post Dispatch columnist Dave Nicklaus (whose story ran three days later), a reporter from KMOX Radio and a reporter from television’s Fox 2 news also were on hand.

Not on hand were other local mainstream media outlets, and that is a shame.  As I noted in an op-ed piece that ran in the Post Dispatch in July, the St. Louis Innovative Startup scene is the best story that has yet to be told.

KMOX Radio’s Charlie Brennan gets it.  Through a partnership with InnoVoxSTL, Charlie’s been featuring innovative local startups on his show since March.

InnovoxSTL media outreach efforts don’t end there.   We’ve held discussions with all three local television news departments about creating an innovation “beat” reporter program.  So far, it hasn’t happened.  But we will get there.

We’re talking to two other radio stations about doing just what Charlie is doing on KMOX each Tuesday.

But outreach means much more than media coverage.  InnoVoxSTL is working to create programs that create greater awareness of the innovative startup movement among  St. Louis elected leaders, educators, community leaders and local corporations.

If you want to see greater mainstream awareness of the exciting local startup movement, please consider supporting non-profit InnoVoxSTL, by contacting me at jbafaro@innovoxstl.com

Thanks for reading.