StartupDigest
The personalized insider newsletter for all things startup in our area.
Subscribe to the free weekly St. Louis edition of Startup Digest. With the ever-growing array of startup activities in St. Louis, it's hard to know which to attend. Startup Digest can help. We curate the events and point you to the best ones for the week ahead.
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Featured Event
2nd Thursday
March 13th, 2014 - 4pm until about 6pm - Networking with ITEN companies, mentors, investors and interested friends. (Speaker starts at about 4:20)
Topic for February:Bitcoin 
Bitcoin is a digital system that both stores value and allows value to be transferred anywhere in the world almost instantly without the need for third parties. While the future of Bitcoin is uncertain, it is likely that one or more digital currencies will be accepted widely in exchange for goods and services. During this short talk, Vance Crowe and Rob Long will be discussing what Bitcoin is, as well as what opportunities are available for tech entrepreneurs who can imagine services and platforms that will increase adoption and use among the global population.
Held at the Tavern of Fine Arts , 313 Belt Ave St. Louis 63112, just off Pershing between Union and DeBalivere. It's a happy two hours with all of your friends from ITEN and beyond. Everyone is invited; plenty of free parking.
Always interesting discussions and it's a great way for entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and others interested in networking with and about start-up tech ventures to connect with each other. 2nd Thursday is open to all and all are welcome, so do come hang with us!
Special heartfelt thanks to our 2nd Thursday event sponsors: AHM Financial, and the iSelect Fund. 2nd Thursday's Twitter #tag is #2ndThursday .
If you missed the last 2nd Thursday, you can watch videos here.
 | | ITEN 2013 Startup Report Part 1 |
 | | ITEN 2013 Startup Report Part 2 |
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Calling All Innovators!
Show Me SXSW! Trip
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It's time to put your masterminds to the test. Startup Missouri is caravanning local entrepreneurs to the South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, TX on March 6-12, 2014. Accelerate St. Louis, along with Startup Missouri's other partners, are giving away free bus, badge and board to three deserving tech startups.
If you are part of Missouri's bourgeoning startup scene--or have always wanted to go to SXSW--your seat should be on the Show Me SXSW bus. Check out the discounted rates and see how a 60 second video and 140 character description could earn you a free seat.
Don't wait! Contest ends March 3, 2014. Please email [email protected]. Want to go for FREE? Click here to find out how!
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Contact: Callie Leitterman
Phone: 630-592-8332
Email: [email protected]
New St. Louis Private Office and New Chic Co-Working Space About to Open
Downtown St. Louis will soon host a trendy, chic, and modern coworking layout with an open space and energetic feel. It will be called the Claim Office sharing space. Claim will provide the ideal work environment for startups, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. Claim will offer desks, co-working desks, private offices, and meeting/conference rooms. It is the ultimate place where entrepreneurs and small businesses can work together in a collaborative office space and get access to mentors and resources that will assist in the growth of their businesses.
Claim is being financed and opened by Ola Ayeni, Founder and CEO of eateria. eateria is one of the $50,000 Arch Grant recipients in 2013. Ola who is a new St. Louis resident, is excited about the new opportunity that Claim will provide for up and coming businesses.
"There is a need for a better and more progressive space comparable to other major cities' private office and co-working space where ideas and visions can be fully ignited," Ayeni said.
Ayeni got the name "Claim" from St. Louis history when the westward expansion of the United States was driven by the Gold Rush in California. During that time
St. Louis was an entrepreneurial hub where many prospectors traded with a growing community of merchants who offered foods, tools, and other supplies. Similarly, Claim will become the entrepreneurial hub for a diverse group of hungry entrepreneurs and startup companies.
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2013 Report Names Yurbuds as Region's Top Tech Startup
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For the second year in a row, local tech startup Yurbuds  ( www.yurbuds.com) won top honors for the region, and was recognized in the annual Tech Startup Report, released on February 13th by ITEN. Yurbuds topped the list of "Top Ten" early-stage tech ventures in St. Louis. Rounding out the top 5 were super-star companies Norse, MulticoreWare, Aisle411 and Lockerdome.
The report also listed the "Fast Ten," specifically recognizing very young companies founded since 2012 that are already gathering steam. In that category, RoverTown was named #1, followed by Pixel Press, Eateria and Crazy For Education. The report also lists top companies by sector, and contains other important data and commentary about the tech startup community in St. Louis.
To create the lists, ITEN employed objective analytics incorporating freely volunteered data from the ventures that included revenue, number of employees, outside funding raised, and acceleration of those factors during 2013.
The complete lists of Top Ten, Fast Ten, and other successful startups making the Honorable Mention list can be seen in the online version of the Report, at https://www.itenstl.org/impact/st-louis-tech-startup-report-2013-year-in-review.
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RespondWell Graduates from Mock Angels
RespondWell (www.respondwell.com), a healthcare IT company, has successfully completed the the Mock Angel program to become ITEN's 29th graduate, and 4th so far in 2014. The company built and is deploying a full motion, sensor-driven interactive tool for physical therapy and rehabilitation. Initial partnerships, enabling a rapid go to market strategy are in place. John Grispon is the CEO of the company, and also one of ITEN's Entrepreneurs in Residence, demonstrating that dynamite entrepreneurs are capable of pulling off amazing feats simultaneously. Most Mock Angel graduates deploy compelling products and services that drive customer expansion and revenue, and find interested investors who help accelerate the venture.
A list of all of the Mock Angel graduates is at https://www.itenstl.org/programs/for-investors/mock-angel-graduates. Congratulations to John and the RespondWell team!
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ITEN Entrepreneur In Residence Program (EIR) Has Strong Start In the 2nd half of 2013, ITEN instituted a new resource for its startup companies-the Entrepreneur In Residence Program or EIR Program. EIRs are serial tech entrepreneurs who have demonstrated leadership in bringing new technology businesses to market. They have the skills and the contacts to rapidly accelerate the growth of startups in areas of their choosing and expertise. EIRs are required to work closely with a small group of ITEN startup companies who mutually agree that a good fit exists. ITEN tracks the progress of those connections and is already seeing progress in many cases. Recent EIR additions to the team, Mary Louise Helbig and Chuck Vallurupalli join John Grispon to bring the ITEN EIR total to three. The EIRs have been very busy adding companies to their portfolios. John Grispon is currently working with the following ITEN companies: Pixel Press: www.projectpixelpress.com AccuteTeleCare: https://gust.com/companies/acutetelecare TechSource 360: www.techsource360.com Sparo Labs: www.sparolabs.com Mary Louise Helbig is working with these ITEN companies: Mujo: www.mujonation.com HealthyMe Mobile Solutions: www.healthymehub.com Eateria: www.eateria.co Code Red Edcuation: www.coderededucation.com Chuck Vallurupalli is working with these ITEN companies: Time to Cater: www.timetocater.com TeleREDI: www.teleredi.com Our EIRs are continuing to meet with companies and there are more contracts in the works but there is still capacity in the program. If you are an ITEN company interested in the EIR program, please send an email to Linh Nguyen, [email protected] expressing your interest. |
Featured Company: CrazyForEducation
CrazyForEducation provides Online Video Tutoring through their brand uTutor.me. Their lesson acquisition and business model is unique. CrazyForEducation offers free services to teachers who are using a methodology called Flip Teaching or Flipped Classroom.
Flip Teaching refers to Flipping the lecture from the classroom to the home, through the use of video recording the lesson, and Flipping the "homework" from the home to the classroom. CrazyForEducation provides free Professional Development (PD) to Schools and School Districts, as well as online to teachers, to reveal the benefits of Flip Teaching and show them how easy it is for teachers to record their lessons. They are the only system in the world specifically Designed By Flip Teachers, For Flip Teachers™. It allows teachers to Read Your Students' Minds Even Before Walking Into The Classroom™. This is accomplished through features built into the system that allow teachers to get feedback from their students on each video lesson topic. The next day the students come to class to do their "homework" with the teacher and their peers to help them.
Flip teaching results in better grades, better standardized test scores, and less disciplinary problems from the students. The students are also more engaged and excited to learn.
CrazyForEducation have three primary websites for specific purposes and branding.
CrazyForEducation.com educates teachers and school administrators on the concepts of Flip Teaching, including interviews with Flip Teachers, and shows videos of How To Record lessons with free software.
FlippinTeachers.com offers a focused free mini-PD on Flip Teaching to guide teachers through the steps on their own.
uTutor.me is our subscription site for students from all over the world to receive Online Video Tutoring from the Real Lessons From Real Teachers™. We offer a very low rate of only $59.88 per year to access the entire library of lessons on all topics.
CrazyForEducation was ranked no. 4 in the Fast Ten list in the ITEN Tech Startup Report for 2013 and is currently participating in ITEN Mock Angel Program.
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After receiving an excellent education at Washington University in St.  Louis, including access to mentors and learning in an environment conducive to innovation, alumnus Suren G. Dutia (BS '63, AB, MS '67) forged a successful career in several industries, including Internet/e-commerce, medical instrumentation and other high-technology businesses. Along the way, he grew into a passionate advocate for innovation and transdisciplinary, cross-campus entrepreneurship.
Now, he and Jas K. Grewal, his wife and frequent professional collaborator, are completing the circle of opportunity begun at his alma mater by establishing an endowed fund to assist promising entrepreneurs and high-growth entrepreneurial ventures to catalyze social change.
Their gift of $1,025,000 will establish the Suren G. Dutia and Jas K. Grewal Global Impact Award in the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at WUSTL. Click here for application information.
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A Quick Peek at ITEN's New Website
As many of you already know, ITEN has been working hard to build a new website to better serve the tech startup community. We are very pleased to let you know that our gorgeous new website will launch in the next couple of weeks. We're already into the testing phase.
With the new website, you'll be able to post a job within 2 minutes. It's very easy to access all the programs and curriculum. You can also find active mentors online and do your own Mentor Match. Yes, we are finally bringing back Mentor Match. Mentor Match enables startups to quickly search all mentors and find the expertise or connections you need. Search by key word or use the check boxes to find the mentor you want, then connect with them directly.
Integrity is working with us and the new site will be a huge step up for the ITEN community. Thanks for your patience.
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