How can St. Louis attract more startups and young tech employees? Our Inno Under 25 honorees weigh in.

Clay Canfield, founder, ClayCEnterprises, Sobriety Hub: "Some of the biggest moments for us were getting small amounts of non-dilutive funding. With a startup like ours, where we worked on the business full-time over the whole summer, I think that little pieces of financial support along the way were well-deserved and put to great use. If the funder can verify that the venture is working hard, I am confident that small amounts (

Giuseppe Di Cera, founder, Student Opportunities Network: "I think we need more accelerators/funding opportunities specifically for entrepreneurs under 25. In other cities and college campuses, there are strong programs that incentivize innovative thinking among young people, which I think is lacking in our environment in St. Louis. Beyond this, I don’t believe St. Louis has to do more to engage young entrepreneurs – young entrepreneurs need to do more to engage St. Louis. Young people are full of ideas, but we often become disheartened by what other people think about us. People will always find something to criticize about you or your ideas, and building a business where I’m constantly failing to attract more companies with only a small percentage who want to participate has actually made me more confident in myself. No matter how small you feel through failure, big ideas have value that can only be uncovered through persistent belief that you will be successful."

Kenneth Eversole, systems reliability engineer, Cloudflare: "We must start by including technology-minded people further into project planning, community gathering, and equitability distributing conversations in both the public and private sectors within our community. I believe this will encourage young tech workers to engage with the community and help facilitate innovative and creative ideas to help better St. Louis as a holistic community."

Jack Hanley, analytics engineer, St. Louis Cardinals: "I’m continually impressed by the intelligent and motivated individuals I meet in St. Louis. Most of them are from the area or have gone to college here, but several of them have moved to St. Louis to pursue unique opportunities they couldn’t have gotten elsewhere. For example, the chances to gain more direct experience at a firm, better access to capital to start or build a company, or simply a higher salary relative to cost of living. I think then that the key to increasing engagement with young tech talent is to continue to offer these unique opportunities, specifically through funding, mentorship, or whatever outreach is necessary."

Brett Luing, program director, Capital Innovators: "I moved to St. Louis a year and a half ago to advance my career in a way that wouldn’t have been possible on either of the coasts. I have no doubt that there is plenty of opportunity for young professionals to find a place in the St. Louis startup and VC scene. One of the things I find most appealing is the ability for founders, companies, and VCs to get in on the ground floor of a rapidly growing innovation ecosystem and play a meaningful role. Despite all the great work being done in St. Louis, government, corporations, founders, and community members need to take more action to boost our appeal and attract top talent. First – safety around St. Louis needs to improve and the narrative around public safety needs to change to attract new talent to St. Louis. Second – we need more dense areas with bars, restaurants, stores, and activities. Vacant locations need to be filled up, new developments need to be built, and businesses need to revisit their open hours (depending on the business – opening earlier, staying open later, or both). In addition, developers with new builds need to work together so the future St. Louis is harmonious and not separated with “dead zones”. Third – founders need more access to capital to startup and to grow to maturity in St. Louis. Despite the amazing resources currently available, there will always be gaps in funding. Fourth – continuing to lean into a select category of industries (geospatial, agriculture, biotech, manufacturing – to name a few) and slowly expand into new verticals. You can’t do everything all at once, so concentrated effort is critical. Success in a few verticals will naturally lead to success in additional verticals as the ecosystem matures."

Henry Matus, CEO, Bark n Sniff: "I would like to see more networking events that cater to middle school and high school age students. Although countless ideas have been born from inventors who fall within this age range, access to capital is sparse and their rolodex of resources is incredibly limited. Targeted networking events can break a lot of those barriers to entry and allow a greater exchange of ideas between like-minded individuals who have their entire lives ahead of them."

Juliana Scheidhauer, founder and CEO, Reimagine Resources: "First of all, the St. Louis ecosystem is already very robust and active. St. Louis has countless resources and opportunities that I still have yet to explore or participate in. For example, the local universities are active in supporting young entrepreneurs, the chambers are awesome resources, the funding in the region is abundant, and the St. Louis area houses many professionals who are happy and open to connecting young entrepreneurs with contacts and resources. My ideas are: Collaborative streamlined ecosystem: As a young entrepreneur, it can be overwhelming to determine where best to start. I suggest creating an integrated, digital, streamlined platform that can boost ease of access to all the wonderful resources in the region from inception to global expansion. St. Louis is becoming more competitive nationally and globally, but bringing it down to practical, actionable steps for entrepreneurs would allow for more engagement for the next generations. Mentorship and leadership: Having a seat at the table where young entrepreneurs can learn from more seasoned, experienced leaders would be another solution. By listening, learning, and respectfully engaging with ideas from another perspective through reverse mentorship would help bridge the cross-generational gap and add collaboration while also actively engaging young entrepreneurs in shaping the community they are building."

Maddy Singleton, business development officer, SpeakIT: "I believe there could be more networking events to share ideas at any stage, like the Skandalaris Center Idea Bounce. These events allow an idea to turn into a real business because the events connect people with the resources and support they need."

Ritika Tejwani, student, Washington University: "To engage more young technologists, St. Louis needs to foster collaborations and partnerships between local startups and students. Oftentimes, high schools and college campuses feel like a sheltered bubble within the city in which they are located. But I think if done properly, a region’s entrepreneurship, business, and community scene can grow tremendously with partnerships between students and startups. Students are looking for work experience while startups are looking for people to do work at a low cost. For this reason, integrating students with the local startup community is so essential and valuable to the growth of entrepreneurship. For example, forming a contract for which a student volunteers to manage the finances of a local coffee shop while the owner offers all students a discount on any purchase forms a mutual partnership between the two sectors. Not only does this benefit both parties involved, but it also builds a community that is more integrated, interdependent, and prosperous. On the individual level, students build a network and startups gain a personal perspective of their work and how it impacts the community. As we engage more students and young technologists with startups and vice versa, we can help each other grow both individually and collectively."