For Olathe biotech startup Ronawk LLC, the Entrepreneurship Scholars program has been integral to its success.
“It forms this really unique family, and the benefits of E-Scholars don’t just stop when you graduate,” Ronawk co-founder and CEO A.J. Mellott said.
The lessons learned positioned Ronawk to raise a family and friends round, and it’s now in the middle of a seed round, more than half of which has been raised from a major strategic investor on the coast.
“They’re excited about what we’re doing here in Kansas City, and they want to see more,” Mellott said. “That all ties back to what started at E-Scholars. It not only helps Kansas City, but companies like ours have been able to reach people on the coasts. … We’re starting to get their attention. … We’re lucky to have a program like this. It truly is transformative for the future of Kansas City.”
E-Scholars is an accelerator program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that’s tailored for early-stage ventures. Most program participants are at the idea stage and need guidance in launching. Others are looking for a systematic growth plan. Since the first class in spring 2011, about 300 ventures have completed the program, including RFP360, Lending Standard, Integrated Roadways and Strange Days Brewing.
E-Scholars helps participants build networks, flesh out business plans and target customers, create prototypes and hone their pitches, among other aspects, E-Scholars Director Alex Matlack said. It also connects participants with mentors and regularly brings in guest speakers, including local entrepreneurs and companies, such as Garmin Ltd.
Garmin’s candid talk on product development and the associated challenges was fascinating, Ronawk co-founder and chief technology officer Heather Decker said.
“A.J. and I talked about that lecture several times just because of how impactful it was,” Decker said. “It made me look at how we were going forward.”
The entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs in each class hail from a variety of industries, including complementary sectors. Each class is strategically chosen.
“We love to have companies that have adjacencies in what they do so they can support each other and share a similar network without competing. Those kind of things make us more successful,” Matlack said. “When I take on one company, I think about who will be their peer.”
There’s a sense of community, Decker said, and they look for ways to support each other – even after they graduate from the class. One class member redesigned Ronawk’s website, and Ronawk has shared advice with other startups. Class members have connected on LinkedIn and have helped each other with pitch decks and executive plans. They celebrate each other’s victories, Mellott said.
“It’s not just a single class benefit to Kansas City. It’s really building coalitions that will benefit the city for decades. … You build these deep relationships that A.J. mentioned, which are in a lot of ways built on the theme of floating all boats,” said Myles Howell, an E-Scholars mentor who’s also part of the founding team at Bardavon Health Innovations.
When Ronawk’s co-founders started in the program, they were “baby entrepreneurs,” but they’ve matured quite a bit, Mellott said. They’ve learned aspects ranging from legal to operating agreements to perfecting their messaging.
“We’re in a very specific field, so we hang out with a lot of nerds that are like us, so we end up speaking our own language a lot of times,” Decker said. “Having such a variety of different people (in the program), we learned how to become much better communicators.”
Ronawk’s tissue blocks (T-Blocks) technology could help scientists develop vaccines and drug therapies faster. T-Blocks facilitates growing cells in a 3D format, which better mimics how cells would behave inside the body. It allows scientists to grow cells 3,600 times more efficiently and use fewer resources, Mellott said.
“We have a technology that is essentially modernizing the petri dish,” he said.
Over the next year, Ronawk plans to add 25 full-time employees. Next on the list is building out a science, technology, engineering and mathematics training facility to support and retain bioscience talent in the Kansas City area.
“Kansas City has gone through an amazing transformation over the last 15 years, and we’re not done,” Mellott said. “There’s so much potential, and Heather and I want to be a part of seeing Kansas City grow and do these amazing things in biotech and entrepreneurship.”
