Startup Missouri Information to fuel Missouri business startups

For Missourians whose livelihoods depend on events, adaptation has been the name of the game through the past year.

Tamara Keefe's business, which has four locations, has earned accolades far outside St. Louis — even picking up the coveted imprimatur of Oprah Magazine as “Sexiest Ice Cream” on its 2019 “O List.”

For thousands of business owners who depend heavily on the dollars spent by visitors who road-trip throughout the heartland, the pandemic’s impact has completely scrambled the financial equation.

A half-year into the COVID-19 pandemic, what do experts in economics and entrepreneurship predict the next six months will bring for small businesses and startups?

With summer weather waning, how will Missouri eateries and bars keep and accommodate business when their customers no longer can count on dining and drinking al fresco?

Michelle Robinson advertises her DEMIblue Natural Nails as “seven-free” — a term indicating they lack seven key toxins she said are typically found in conventional polishes.

As founder of The Mission Center, Chris Miller knows one important thing about philanthropy. “Most people don’t go into nonprofit work because they are passionate about doing accounting,” he said. That’s why The Mission Center exists. Founded in 2010 and housed in the Cortex District of St. Louis, Miller’s brainchild specializes in outsourcing back-office operations for nonprofit organizations. That’s not ...

Galen Gondolfi doesn’t work for a traditional lender. For starters, his institution is among the few who would turn away a borrower for having too perfect a credit report. “If you come in with an 800 credit score and real estate collateral, we’re going to say, ‘We’re not the program for you,’” he said. But Gondolfi’s organization, called Justine PETERSEN, ...

Fashion icon Ralph Lauren once noted that he didn’t design clothes. “I design dreams,” he said. That may be true, but turning dreams of a new clothing startup into the tangible reality of product hanging on a shelf can be a genuine challenge — even in fashion Meccas such as New York or Los Angeles. Still, there is a small ...

When entrepreneur Rachel Kennedy ran a food truck called Plantain District, she wanted to move things to the next level but a standard restaurant wasn’t really what she was looking for. “I started thinking about a shipping container because that’s so similar to a food truck,” said Kennedy. “Just taking the mobility factor out of it made sense.” And that’s ...