STL Startup Week is returning for its third year with a format its leader says will meld the components of its first two iterations.
The weeklong event, scheduled for Nov. 8-12, will include more than 65 sessions covering a range of topics. First held in 2019, STL Startup Week highlights the region’s entrepreneurial sector through events focused on connecting the startup community and providing educational resources to local entrepreneurs.
This year’s sessions will include a mix of in-person and online events. Phyllis Ellison, community organizer for STL Startup Week, said roughly 60% of the events scheduled will be in-person with the remaining 40% to be held online.
The third year of STL Startup Week comes after the first two versions of the weeklong event differed. Ellison said the inaugural STL Startup Week was highly focused on networking and social events designed to introduce people to organizations and individuals that could help them. The Covid-19 pandemic forced last year’s event to be completely virtual, and included online content and educational sessions to help individuals grow their businesses.
“This year, we’re trying to find the balance between that,” said Ellison, who is vice president of partnerships and program development at the Cortex Innovation Community.
Key in-person events include a kickoff breakfast Monday at WeWork’s downtown location, an outdoor opening kickoff party Monday evening at Cortex’s Innovation Hall and a closing party on Friday evening hosted by Bourbon Friday at TechArtista’s downtown coworking facility. Ellison said she’s encouraged to have in-person events return to startup week, saying they better facilitate networking between individuals.
“To be able to make introductions to people and hear peoples’ stories in person and getting entrepreneurs talking to entrepreneurs and their peer group, I think that’s critical and we’ve all been missing that," she said.
Several startup showcases will take place during next week’s events, with the schedule including OPO Startups Demo Day, Capital Innovators Spring and Fall 2021 Demo Day, WashU Startup Showcase and the Battle of the Saints Teen Pitch Challenge.
The inaugural STL Startup Week was anchored by Startup Connection, the annual event that features startups and entrepreneur support organizations. While that event will not take place this year, components of its annual venture showcase and resource fair are being incorporated into startup week. An in-person resource fair will take place Wednesday at Cortex. Additionally, STL Startup Week will include a daily entrepreneur showcase featuring interviews with local startup founders.
While each year of STL Startup Week has looked different, Ellison said it’s been important to keep the event going to support the startups that have continued to operate and launched during the pandemic.
“Our startups didn’t go away during Covid. I’m sure we lost some, but even more startups were born. Numbers locally and nationally have shown an increase in startups,” she said.
All of STL Startup Week’s sessions are free to attend and attendees are encouraged to register for events in advance. The full lineup of sessions can be found here.
