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Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

archgrants.org

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Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#91

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

Eliezer wrote: post #75
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #58

Honestly... I've lived in St. Louis my whole life (other than collage) and recently went to Startup Weekend St. Louis as well as php and code till dawn meetups. I know only a few people, angel investors from Startup Weekend, community organizers and others who are really trying very hard to get something started here. But it's a very VERY tiny tech community. However, there are angel investors, mentors, startup weeke…

Goal-factoring alert! If videoconferencing technology becomes sufficiently advanced or your parents sign up for cryonics, does that mean you can move to the Bay Area? Have you considered asking your parents if they would rather live in the Bay Area?

lol. My dream is to move them out there. This year my little brother graduates so I'm going to try it.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#92

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

knowtheory wrote: post #88
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #58

Honestly... I've lived in St. Louis my whole life (other than collage) and recently went to Startup Weekend St. Louis as well as php and code till dawn meetups. I know only a few people, angel investors from Startup Weekend, community organizers and others who are really trying very hard to get something started here. But it's a very VERY tiny tech community. However, there are angel investors, mentors, startup weeke…

Do you think that these are qualities unique to Saint Louis or the midwest? Do you think that NYC or SF don't have their hanger-ons, dilettantes and blowhards? What frustrates me so mightily about the overly-dour pessimism about the midwest is the total neglect for all of the things that do happen here, and a lack of recognition of all the awesome midwesterners who leave the midwest just to do awesome stuff elsewhere…

Let me put it this way. A few years ago I posted a job ad on Craigslist trying to find a technical co-founder for a few ideas I had. I posted it in Orlando's craigslist, in Tampa's, in Cocoa Beach's, then in St. Louis, and just for the hell of it, I paid the $75 fee and posted it in the Bay Area Craigslist section even though I don't live there.

I got 2 replies from people in Central Florida that never materialized, 1 reply in St. Louis but the guy moved away to D.C. for a job. and I got FORTY FIVE ->45I will admit, I stopped looking and just gave up. Deep inside I'm planning to move out west. I have to.

There's a reason why Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, Adobe, Cisco, Sandisk, Nvidea, Netflix, Symantec, Mcafee, Paypal, eBay, etc... all call the bay area home. If Microsoft were here, Windows probably wouldn't be so stagnant and stuck in the past.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#93

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

vnchr wrote: post #84
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #58

Honestly... I've lived in St. Louis my whole life (other than collage) and recently went to Startup Weekend St. Louis as well as php and code till dawn meetups. I know only a few people, angel investors from Startup Weekend, community organizers and others who are really trying very hard to get something started here. But it's a very VERY tiny tech community. However, there are angel investors, mentors, startup weeke…

"It's like trying to build a Craigslist for Antarctica" LOL. Chris, you're awesome. Even if you spelled my last name wrong. Your honesty is great. I know some people will consider it worthwhile to start something here in spite of these legit challenges that you raise, but that's sober truth... For the record, Chris is an awesome, intelligent dude who tries new things. Every time I see him, he has a new invention or w…

Ah thanks. It's organizers like you that give the place hope. I also can't wait for the next Startup Weekend. I'll probably still be in town.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#94

Post by vnchr »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #93
vnchr wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's like trying to build a Craigslist for Antarctica" LOL. Chris, you're awesome. Even if you spelled my last name wrong. Your honesty is great. I know some people will consider it worthwhile to start something here in spite of these legit challenges that you raise, but that's sober truth... For the record, Chris is an awesome, intelligent dude who tries new things. Every time I see him, he has a new invention or w…

Ah thanks. It's organizers like you that give the place hope. I also can't wait for the next Startup Weekend. I'll probably still be in town.

Cool. Are you coming to the Pitch Bootcamp next Wednesday? It's not announced yet, but we're also going to host an Executive Summary workshop the Monday before the Arch Grants deadline.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#95

Post by vnchr »

athst wrote: post #90

They've basically structured it as a business plan competition, not a startup competition. Not sure what kind of businesses they were looking to attract with this, but it doesn't seem very well suited to what we tend to think of as a "startup."

Agreed... It is based on the format of a BPC. The guys writing the checks are old school, old money ;)

I've talked to them about next year incorporating Lean Methodology. Executive Director is open to it, but for now, they're off and running with plenty to do.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#96

Post by jws »

jacques_chester wrote: post #72
chrisamiller wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1% earnings tax if you either live in the city or work in the city. (If you both live and work in the city, it's still 1%) Frankly, I don't mind paying it. The city is entering a tricky time where it's got some momentum going with a lot of young people, a up-and-coming arts scene, more and more local businesses. If it puts the money to good use, there's hope for revitalizing the city core.

It's not the rate that is unattractive. It's having to deal with yet another income tax bureaucracy.

Fear not. Your payroll company takes care of it. There are no forms for employees.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#97

Post by therobot24 »

2mur wrote: post #46

I hate writing this comment because I actually have a lot of warm feelings about St. Louis. I grew up there and went to college + medical school there (until I was about 25). Then I left. I always say that St. Louis is a nice place to be from. It's a nice place to raise a family. But I'm never going to move back. Or under extreme protest if my wife decides she wants to move back to be by family. There's just nothing…

same thing happened to detroit

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#99

Post by tptacek »

ratsbane wrote: post #64
tptacek wrote: post #42

I wonder whether groups like this hadn't ought to stop doing grant/investment programs like this. You can't just buy a startup community, at least not for any amount we've seen spent to date. It has to grow organically. What seems likely to happen here is that adverse selection will allocate these grants to companies with poorer prospects than the total pool of startups, thus creating a track record of failure for th…

"You can't just buy a startup community..." At least, not for that amount of money. But maybe they can. The first step is to try.

Please note that I'm not saying STL shouldn't build a startup community. I'm a fan of startups hosting in the Midwest (for obvious reasons). I'm saying that grant programs like this might not be the way to get there; good startups can take money from lots of different places, so the STL grant program might be left with a bunch of business-plan-startups that couldn't get money from anywhere else.

Re: Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis

#100

Post by tptacek »

knowtheory wrote: post #87
tptacek wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

St Louis has a city income tax?!

St. Louis isn't the only one. A lot (the vast majority i believe) of cities in Ohio also have a municipal income tax. So yes, living in Ohio, you file a Federal, State and Municipal income tax return.

Why would anyone base a company out of St. Louis?

New York gets away with this because it's NYC.

But STL competes with bigger, better cities that have no city earnings tax: Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Kansas City KS, Overland Park, Des Moines, Memphis. The only nearby cities that have earnings/income taxes are KCMO and Indy.

City taxes baffle me.

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