How Heartland startup communities can think outside of tech
0How Heartland startup communities can think outside of tech.
My introduction to the startup community in St. Louis came by accident. I stumbled into it while looking for stories of innovation and positive change in a city labeled as racist and backwards following protests in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The negative news cycle felt suffocating, so I started a podcast called STL Community Cast, in which I interviewed local innovators to share the stories of their work.
My first interviews were with people working in nonprofits. St. Louis has the most nonprofits per capita of any city in the country, so this was an easy place to start. Soon, I become aware of the influential role tech startups were playing in the community. Through a recommendation by a friend, I reached out to Tyler Mathews, who now is director of Venture Café St. Louis. Tyler suggested a few other guests for the podcast, and the ball was rolling. With each new guest, I’d get a couple of referrals.
This was exciting for me because I wanted the city to own a new positive identity, and we already had it — I just hadn’t been aware of it. I realized St. Louis was — and is — a special place for innovation and entrepreneurship. Much of it was happening in the tech space, but not all of it.
I think that my experience offers up a valuable lesson for startup founders in the Heartland. Some of their neighbors might not be familiar with tech terms like “UX design” or “blockchain,” and might not readily understand why it’s so important to create a greater density of tech startups. But their neighbors likely do understand the importance of working together to create positive change in the community and to develop a reputation for innovation. This can be done by creating startup events with this end goal in mind.