Startup VooDoo: Innovation is the voice of a new generation

I was lucky to be on this year’s Startup VooDoo Panel: Keys To The Enterprise, with executives from Spendsetter, Bonfyre and Crowdsource. The discussion was lead by Jason Falls of Elasticity.

The VooDoo event was largely built around the idea that, the force of the new economy is driven by entrepreneurs, investors, technology, products, and services. Startup activity is growing in the Midwest and I’m loving it! I’m starting to see startup ecosystems pop up all around (YES!!!).

The Presscon

Startups aren’t just for the West Coast anymore.

We discussed what it takes to land fortune 500 companies as customers and some of the hurdles when getting to this point (so many hurdles!).

  • The bureaucracy of the business world is sometimes a little overwhelming. You have to get the right people in the room at the right time.
  • You need to be a subject matter expert. You should know your potential clients problem and already have a fix for it.

The PressconIt was very clear that big things are coming to the midwest region.

The day long event on June 18th was held in Downtown St. Louis at Hotel Lumiere. The crowd was strong (I counted) and full of media, writers from the valley, and startup enthusiasts. The day consisted of keynotes from Robert Scoble, Maxine Clark, Erik Moore, and Sam Altman.

I learned about a couple of startups geared towards creating what Robert Scoble calls “frictionless” apps. One really caught my attention.

  • Ear Compass – A St. Louis based startup that has developed a navigation product for the visually impaired. It helps by identifying surroundings wirelessly and through audio. The product uses micro-mapping to identify things like signs and labels. It was no surprise to me when this startup took home the award for “Most Promising Startup of 2015.” Congrats guys!

Of all the keynotes, I found that Robert Scoble’s talk about a frictionless society was most relatable to our goals here at Red e App. We are trying to connect the unconnected, in turn creating frictionless communication in any work environment.

We are Red e App though, so we don’t stop there. In the future we want to help our clients by developing more frictionless ways to implement SaaS. The Scobleizer dropped by our office the other day.

Speaking at these events really gets me excited. Something that excites me even more though is the future of Red e App. I plan to take away a few things from this experience to help build a bigger and better company.

Thank you Startup VooDoo and the event sponsors: Daugherty Business Solutions, Simplify Commerce, Arch Grants, US Bank, Downtown STL, Accelerate St. Louis, Polsinelli, Elasticity, and Techli.

 

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