Startup Missouri Information to fuel Missouri business startups

After Jake Heyen noticed his social media feeds showing a lot of workout-related content, he put together Fitic, an app he describes as a fitness-related version of Only Fans or Patreon where subscribers pay to gain access to all creators on the platform.

A fair number of entrepreneurs have found themselves opening new startups despite the world groping its way through one of the biggest, most complex, least predictable economic environments in living memory.

The software-as-a-service company, which was originally founded in a spare office and now employs 19 full-time people at its 13,000-square foot downtown St. Louis location, aims to find ways to connect its advertising clients to the public with measurable results by referencing proprietary and third-party data across multiple platforms and in real time.

Those who hit it big with a million-dollar idea always seem to get all the attention. But, as many entrepreneurs will tell you, it is the businesses that crash and burn that sometimes teach the best lessons.

An initiative called Main Street STL hopes to bring together small businesses in 15 counties on both sides of the Mississippi River to encourage "inclusive growth" that its backers say would increase opportunities and reduce income, health and wealth disparities.

For those who run theaters, concert halls and other platforms for performance, the SVOG has been a $16 billion pool of life-saving cash designed to help the arts world cope with new fiscal realities as it struggles to reopen to a wary public.

Decorated in wicker and second-hand items, the establishment’s furnishings evoke the same ethos as its products, which aim to avoid plastics and packaging in favor of reusable or natural materials. In a modern universe burdened by glitzy plastics, a clean, earthy array of simple wood and glass dominates here.

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.