About 175 people came out Tuesday to celebrate the local startups setting St. Louis ablaze.
St. Louis Inno on Tuesday hosted its Fire Awards and Startup Exit Awards, recognizing more than two dozen startups and innovators that notched major milestones in the past year. The event marked the inaugural celebration of St. Louis Inno’s Fire Awards and the fourth year of honoring companies and entrepreneurs through the Startup Exit Awards.
Following opening remarks by St. Louis Business Journal Publisher Robert Bobroff, St. Louis Community College Chancellor Jeff Pittman spoke about the growth of St. Louis’ startup economy.
The event, held at the Boo Cat Club, also included a fireside chat with the 2022 Startup Exit Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jim Eberlin. Eberlin, who has launched three St. Louis-born companies that were acquired in high-profile exits, spoke with St. Louis Inno Editor Nathan Rubbelke about how the region’s start economy has grown over the past decade, providing support and capital that wasn’t available locally when he launched his first companies more than 20 years ago. He also offered advice for other entrepreneurs, speaking about why it is critical that company founders understand the different types of leadership a business needs at its various stages of growth.
Take a peek inside the event by scrolling through the gallery below.
2022 Inno Fire and Startup Exit Awards event
Following the fireside chat, the audience heard from Dave Finkling, a partner at Anders CPAs + Advisors who leads the company’s startup and emerging practices group, and Peter Vincent, shareholder at Polsinelli’s venture capital practice. After that, Rubbelke presented awards to this year’s winners for the Startup Exit Awards and Fire Awards. The awards’ winners and finalists are profiled in this week’s edition of the St. Louis Business Journal.
Thank you to our St. Louis Inno sponsors — Anders CPAs + Advisors, BioSTL, Cortex Innovation Community, Envision LLC, Greater St. Louis Inc., Polsinelli, Royal Banks of Missouri, St. Louis Community College and World Wide Technology — for making this awards program possible.
