Venture Cafe to take month break as it transitions to new leadership, programming focus

Venture Cafe St. Louis will pause its weekly programming in July, taking a break that organizers said will be used to strategize on how to enhance its events moving forward.

The hiatus planned for July comes as Venture Cafe has undergone a change in leadership, contracting with St. Louis technology booster group TechSTL to oversee its programming. A staple of the local startup ecosystem, Venture Cafe St. Louis provides programming and networking for entrepreneurs and community members. It is known for its weekly Thursday Gathering, which is held at 4240 Duncan Ave. in the Cortex district. Venture Cafe is the programming arm of CIC St. Louis, the local arm of Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), a global operator of innovation-focused real estate, including 4240 Duncan Ave.

Venture Cafe’s collaboration with TechSTL includes TechSTL Executive Director Emily Hemingway leading and overseeing programming for Venture Cafe. That builds upon an existing relationship between the two organizations, with Venture Cafe having previously formed a partnership focused on bolstering its programming around technology and boosting attendance at its weekly events. TechSTL, which launched in 2022 through a federal grant, is a membership-based organization looking to provide the metro with a forum to advance St. Louis’ technology and innovation sectors.

The deepened relationship between TechSTL and Venture Cafe comes as J.P. Johnson, the former director of Venture Cafe St. Louis, departed his role earlier this year. CIC St. Louis General Manager John Land said working with TechSTL and its leader, Hemingway, made sense given the focus TechSTL has had on bringing together different components of the innovation community, as well as its experience putting on events, including its recent STL TechWeek.

“I’ve been really struck by the thoughtful way in which (Hemingway) does all of that,” Land said.

Venture Cafe will hold its last weekly gathering Thursday before taking the month of July off. The decision for the hiatus comes a little more than a year after Venture Cafe relaunched operations in March 2022 after suspending programming during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ve learned so much over the last year and we really haven’t had a second to stop and process all of those learnings, so this is really serving as a time to do that,” Land said.

One key insight to emerge in the past year has been that the “ecosystem has shifted” coming out of the pandemic, Land said.

“There’s something different about the needs and Venture Cafe therefore needs to occupy a different space,” he said.

He pointed to Venture Cafe’s attendance as an example. Venture Cafe used to draw at least several hundred attendees each Thursday, but has only reached such figures a few times since returning to programming last year, he said.

Hemingway said the monthlong break in programming at Venture Cafe will allow for time to strategize how best to move forward with events that provide relevant content and can draw attendees on Thursdays.

“When leadership changed this spring, it presented an opportunity for TechSTL to leverage our member network to help support the next iteration of the series,” she said. “Frankly, this is a hard time for events because people in general are a lot more selective with how they spend their time. It's never been more challenging to hit the target, but our team is committed to working with CIC and Cortex to lean into figuring this out. Venture Café is too important to let it falter.”

Hemingway and Land said a key component of the strategy moving forward will be partnering with other St. Louis organizations to team up on programming. Land said the best attended Thursday gatherings in the past year have come when Venture Cafe has teamed up with partners on focused programming. Hemingway said partnering with other organizations would involve seeking to “develop more curated takeover experiences” at Venture Cafe.

As it looks toward its future programming, Venture Cafe has created a presenter application form for those interested in speaking or hosting an event there. Venture Cafe plans to return to its weekly events, under its new programming strategy, Aug. 3. As part of its new programming focus, Land said Venture Cafe plans to have a longer runway for its upcoming programming. In the past, he said it has operated two to three weeks ahead, with plans to now map out programming several months ahead to help better promote events.

While attendance at Venture Cafe has lagged compared to its pre-pandemic figures, Land said boosting it isn’t the goal of its hiatus. He said he believes larger crowds will come if Venture Cafe is successful at forming strong partnerships, providing relevant content and interacting with a wide swath of the community.

“Once we have those things in place consistently, the numbers will come very naturally,” he said.