A new course designed to give tech startups a boost at the earliest stages of their formation will launch next month in Wichita.
The program is called Campfire and its first 12-week course out of Groover Labs will begin May 6.
Dave Cunningham, founder and CEO of Flint Hills Group, who is helping administer the program, says the training will be based off videos Y-Combinator courses given at Stanford University.
Y-Combinator is one of the most prestigious accelerators in the country, counting among its startup alums the likes of Airbnb, Dropbox and Reddit.
Beyond those sessions, Cunningham says, participants will have access to the brain trust at Groover Labs, as well as a cadre of local mentors.
In addition to Cunningham, the mentors include Molly Breitenbach, director at BKD LLP; Steve Castro-Miller, managing director of technology at Intrust Bank; Danielle Cornejo, an attorney with Martin Pringle Law Firm; Greg Giefer, vice president of sales and business development at DARI Motion; Josh Oeding, president and CEO of NXTUS; and Mark Janzen, tech entrepreneur and vice president of engineering at Avalara.
What first sets Campfire apart from other startup programs, Cunningham says, is the cost.
The 12-week course is $250 and registration is available online, with the first cohort group — Troop Alpha — of 20 people already being about half full. There is also early-bird registration of $100 before April 28. A second course is expected in the fall, with plans to continue each spring and fall from there.
But the low cost feeds to the other unique characteristic of the program, namely how early-stage the entrepreneurs are that are being targeted.
“This is the very beginning of any (entrepreneurial) funnel that’s out there,” Cunningham says. “To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never seen this exist anywhere in the state of Kansas.”
To qualify for Campfire, the entrepreneurs need only to have a technology idea or concept, not have immediate funding needs, though participants must be willing to invest their own time and money in their idea.
But beyond that, Cunningham says, Campfire, as the name suggests, is designed to be a place where ideas are shared, challenges addressed and next steps identified for those with innovations ready to take the next step.
Those that are ready can then be connected to some of the next levels of entrepreneurial programming in Wichita, like LaunchPrep at Wichita State University or other programs at Groover Labs.
And, Cunningham says, it can also connect them with the broader business community for support on the way potentially to homegrown, scalable new businesses that can help drive the local economy.
“Everyone can be a part of this dynamic,” he says.
