Startup Grind is returning to in-person events in Wichita after a nearly two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
The group will hold an event at 5:30 on Feb. 22 at Wave, the event venue located at 650 E. 2nd St. in Wichita.
The event, says Kristyn Smith, director of the local chapter, will focus on the resources available locally for entrepreneurs and startup companies.
Tickets for the event are available on the Startup Grind Wichita website.
Smith also encourages local organizations that can be a resource for startups to utilize contact information on the site to secure exhibitor spots for the gathering.
Smith, a design educator at Wichita State University, began to take the reins of the local chapter in late 2019 and led her first event in March 2020.
“It was sold out and did so well,” she says. “Then the whole world shut down.”
The Wichita chapter of the national organization hasn’t met in person since. It largely stayed away from virtual engagements in an effort not to burn people out on such meetings, Smith says.
But now, she says, the organization is ready to recapture startup momentum in 2022 and she has been working closely with local stakeholders, including NXTUS Inc. and its executive director, Mary Beth Jarvis.
Smith says the group still wants to hold its fireside chats with individual entrepreneurs in 2022. But a big focus will be placed on networking in this year’s programming.
For example, she says, she hopes with the first event and subsequent ones to connect startups with resources for things like marketing and more — but on a price scale startups can afford.
That means building connections, Smith says, and is in keeping with one of the mantras of the organization.
“Make friends not contacts,” she says.
