Posts by jbafaro

The St. Louis mom who wants to revolutionize social media

Posted by on May 15, 2015 in Featured Stories, Innovation Tuesday | 0 comments

The creator of a new social networking platform that promises a safer, more secure social media experience for users of all ages is herself a St. Louis area mother of two young daughters. So, as you might expect, Janel Patterson’s creation, called Frienedy, is a product of very personal experience. “I came up with the idea about five years ago,” says Patterson, “when my two daughters were aged 11 and seven and I was going through a divorce.” Because her oldest daughter was a competitive gymnast who needed transportation at varying times from practices, Patterson and her husband...

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St. Louis startup wants to help you cut the cords

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in Featured Stories, Innovation Tuesday | 0 comments

Attention road warriors: your days of schlepping through airports toting luggage packed with the laptop, AV cables, power cords and flash drive you need to deliver your PowerPoint presentation soon may be over. Two graduates of Milwaukee’s Marquette University who have set up shop in the T-Rex incubation hub in downtown St. Louis are taking the next steps in developing a mobile application that allows users to present PowerPoints and interactive whiteboards from a tablet or smartphone, wirelessly, to another display. The FocalCast application was created by Narsys, LLC, whose CEO Devin...

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2015 Demo Day Takes a Tech Twist.

Posted by on May 1, 2015 in Featured Stories, Innovation Tuesday | 0 comments

Every entrepreneur knows that flexibility is a key to ensuring success. The ability to pivot based on changing market conditions, or to meet customer needs, is a must for any startup. It’s the same for the organizations that support entrepreneurs, and so, one of the showcase events of the St. Louis innovative entrepreneurship movement — an annual event designed to showcase local startups — will take on a different look this year. In its first three years, Capital Innovators Demo Day, an event organized by an accelerator program that helps early stage St. Louis IT companies with...

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A SLU student who majors in startups.

Posted by on Apr 23, 2015 in Featured Stories, Innovation Tuesday | 0 comments

Mention the words “business opportunity” to some college sophomores, and chances are they’ll frame the phrase in terms of the entry-level job they’ll seek upon graduation. Mention the term to St. Louis University student and North Carolina native Lachlan Johnson, and you’ll hear an entirely different take. Johnson is in the midst of creating not her first, but her second business – at the age of 19. And these aren’t just any businesses. Her first business landed her an appearance on the ABC-TV program Shark Tank. Venture number two connected her with billionaire Warren Buffett. Now...

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Startup promises simplified scheduling

Posted by on Apr 17, 2015 in Featured Stories, Innovation Tuesday | 0 comments

Ask any office administrator, executive assistant or secretary to list the most frustrating aspects of their job and chances are good the task of scheduling a meeting – especially those with large numbers of participants — will be near the top. There are individual schedules to view and coordinate, time zone considerations to juggle, conference call numbers to maintain, and RSVP’s and confirmations to track. It’s the same story, really, for anyone at any level who has to schedule a meeting.  It can be a huge challenge, and it really should be easier. Soon it will be, if the founders of...

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