Startups in and around Wichita are poised to get an inside look at how enterprises do business — and who they want to do it with.
NXTUS initiated Wednesday its third annual NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series.
The series will have 21 Kansas startups learn from local and national enterprise businesses — including Koch Supply Services, Lange Real Estate, Spirit AeroSystems and Hutton Development — on how to do business with them through weekly workshops and information sessions. The program will run through Sept. 30, when startups will pitch to enterprises at the Start-Up Enterprise Summit at the Cargill Protein headquarters, the kickoff event for Wichita Startup Week.
Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS, said the program provides small and early stage startups with a unique "playbook" in which enterprises provide their basic preferences and mention their experiences with previously contracted small businesses — among other things.
She added in her organization's research of engagement programs, a free-flowing and transparent conversation between enterprises and startups was missing around the country.
"We tried to Frankenstein it together for something that's worked in another market ... but all we could find was like networking or sponsoring new funding (events), which is great, ... but we didn't see how to grow together," she said. "They (enterprises) don't roll up their sleeves like they do here. They've never been asked to spell it out, to provide a roadmap. So that's what we've developed."
The program is being funded by multiple partners. Major sponsorship partners include NetWork Kansas' K-State 105 program and the U.S. Economic Development Administration's $75,000 "Build to Scale" grant, which was awarded to the ICT Entrepreneurship Coalition in 2022.
"It's been a really good partnership (with NXTUS)," said Amara Kniep, director of entrepreneurship community partnerships at NetWork Kansas. "All the cohorts have been very successful. I think it's a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to connect, to learn from experts and to also connect with larger enterprises so that they have the potential for partnerships there."
Amber Dunn, program director at NXTUS, said around 70 startups expressed interest in applying for the program, out of which 21 were shortlisted. Thirteen of the 21 Kansas startups are based in the Wichita area.
One of the startups is Kori DaCosta's Biio, a tech company that makes contactless, digital business cards for businesses. DaCosta has been working on the startup and its app since October last year.
"I went through the customer traction cohort with NXTUS, which really helped me understand the stage of my business," he said. "I'm really looking to learn from all these larger organizations about how they do business with smaller businesses and how they got to where they are."
After the first two years of the program, Jarvis said there is an expectation that the program will provide startups with an avenue to learn about enterprises, how to work with them and assess if their business is a good fit for the enterprises.
"We thought maybe the enterprises will be a little guarded and give short answers, not wanting to reveal too much, but no, they've thrown open the doors and been very transparent with startups," she said. "They (startups) really learn if they have the courage to say what they can and can't do."
