7 ms·

Million Dollar Carrot Dangled As St. Louis Redefines Itself In Start-Up Space

42 points by thecoffman 14y ago

yawn 14y ago
Sounds great. Now where are the Who's Hiring posts/comments for St. Louis?
atpaino 14y ago
As a college student and St. Louis native, this really excites me. I wish all the startups in these programs the best of luck.
- vnchr 14y ago
  Hey! I'm an Associate Partner at Cultivation Capital, one of the venture funds mentioned in the article. I run an all-night programming Meetup called Code til Dawn (http://www.meetup.com/allnightlong/ http://www.meetup.com/allnightlong/), next one is on Friday night if you want to come hang out and talk shop.
  - bzalasky 14y ago
    I was going to drop a mention for Code til Dawn, but you beat me to to it, Israel. Cool to see St. Louis get some Hacker News love...
the_bear 14y ago
The article touches on this, but the real reason St. Louis could be a great place to start a company is because it has one of the most underrated Universities in the country. Wash U attracts very talented students to St. Louis, but because the school doesn't have much name recognition, very few tech companies recruit there. When I was at Wash U, the best tech jobs at the career fair were (in order): Microsoft, Raytheon, and General Mills. Unless things have changed dramatically in the last five years, I think it's safe to say that there's not much competition if you're trying to hire developers there. Combine that with the low cost of living, and St. Louis might be the easiest place in the country to hire talented young people.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Ok, I'll bite. What would be the most effective way for my company to recruit at WUSTL, bearing in mind that we'd be relocating people from STL to Chicago (or NYC or SFBA, if that's what they wanted). We've got WUSTL people on staff, and I'm sold on the caliber of its grads, but direct-to-school recruiting has been a dead-end for us at other schools.
  - srunni 14y ago
    > What would be the most effective way for my company to recruit at WUSTL As a recent (Spring 2012) graduate of the WUSTL School of Engineering, I would highly recommend that you contact the Career Center[0] for opportunities to participate in career fairs and register as an employer on CareerLink[1], WUSTL's career website. The Career Center pushes CareerLink hard with students, so if you post jobs on there, there's a good chance you'll get some bites. I attended a career fair just this spring, and it was packed with students - there were sometimes lines up to 10 people deep just to talk with industry representatives. Don't give up so quickly on direct-to-school recruiting. You should also look into offering summer internships for current students. IIRC, WUSTL will match whatever you pay interns, making it less of a financial burden for you, while still making it worth the student's while. This is another way to grow your "reputation" on campus. Finally, the students may find it easier to connect with an alum - get your WUSTL grads involved in the recruiting process. 0: http://careercenter.wustl.edu/ http://careercenter.wustl.edu/ 1: http://careercenter.wustl.edu/tools/careerlink/Pages/default.aspx http://careercenter.wustl.edu/tools/careerlink/Pages/default...
    - philip1209 14y ago
      For engineering, Michael Chapin [1] is who you want to speak with at the WU career center. [1] http://careercenter.wustl.edu/people/Pages/mchapin.aspx http://careercenter.wustl.edu/people/Pages/mchapin.aspx
  - the_bear 14y ago
    I think that srunni's answer is probably a good start, but I'd also add another approach. Until recently, the Wash U CS program was run with a heavy focus toward academics rather than industry. As a result, most of the really talented students weren't really going to career fairs, they were instead looking for interesting research positions. It's possible that things have changed since I left (there's a new dean and department head), but I'd guess it's still about the same. If that's the case, you really need a way to reach those top tier students. Do you have any positions that would seem intellectually rigorous and interesting? If so, I'd find a professor with relevant interests and shoot them an email saying you're looking for a top-tier intern and that you have some really cool problems for them to work on. Some professors are obviously more industry-friendly than others, but in my experience, there are at least a few who would probably be willing to help. Another option would be to host an event at Wash U. I'm not entirely sure how this works from a logistical standpoint, but it's common at Wash U for companies to reserve rooms for different types of recruiting events. Some companies might host hack-a-thons. Some might do giveaways. EA did a presentation on how video games get made. Those events generally get a lot more attention from the top tier students than the career fair booths, and professors often promote them at the end of class. I'd guess that contacting the Career Center would be your first step if you want to set something like that up. Hope that helps.
dylanhassinger 14y ago
The STL startup/tech scene is getting better every month. Join us! http://startlouis.com http://startlouis.com http://stljs.org http://stljs.org
- vnchr 14y ago
  Coming soon... http://istl.co http://istl.co :-)
jeffchuber 14y ago
The opening line: "When you think of technology start-ups, a small cluster of cities comes to mind – Silicon Valley, Seattle, Austin and Charlotte." Charlotte?? I thought Raleigh-Durham was bad for startups - Charlotte has to be worse. And where is the mention of New York City? Strange perspective. Maybe someone from Charlotte can shed light on their Ive league status.
- mindcrime 14y ago
  Charlotte?? I thought Raleigh-Durham was bad for startups - Charlotte has to be worse. And where is the mention of New York City? Strange perspective. Maybe someone from Charlotte can shed light on their Ive league status. Raleigh-Durham has quite the burgeoning startup scene, but I don't know anyone (except maybe Charlotte fanboys) who would say Charlotte has a better tech-startup scene. The RTP area is at least sometimes acknowledged by non-locals, but I've never heard anybody mention Charlotte as a startup hotbed (well, until now).
rcrowley 14y ago
The comments suggesting Wash U's CS program has (too much of) an academic slant have a point but also miss it entirely. In my experience, the academic is certainly emphasized over the pragmatic (for example, lots of talk about algorithmic complexity but zero mention of testing or version-control). That isn't in-and-of itself a problem, it's just a mistake in the order-of-operations. I needed a lot of real experience to motivate the academic in me. In college, you couldn't pay me to read cutting edge CS literature because I was sure the academics were never going to teach me anything practical. Fast-forward five years and I'm bored of what I was doing and interested in the same hard problems academics are. (Of course, I'm coming to worse but occasionally good-enough solutions.) It'll be good for Saint Louis and Wash U to have an injection of that context earlier because it might motivate the academic side of CS early enough for students with a couple of years left to give more of a shit.
philipkimmey 14y ago
I'd love to see St Louis start to develop a tech startup scene. Low cost of living, really cool neighborhoods and lots of smart programmers at stodgy big companies. It seems like the city just needs some capital & a few experienced tech entrepreneurs to get it going. That being said, I don't know of any Wash U CS grads that stayed in St Louis for startups - they all headed for the coasts (me included.) Hopefully that'll change over time.
- vnchr 14y ago
  Hey Philip, I'm working with the WUTE group leaders to (hopefully) launch this fall an extension of the group called WUTE-VC where we can bring in VCs and entrepreneurs to talk about the fundraising process from both sides of the table. Sounds like you'll be out and about, but let me or someone with WUTE know who in CS might be interested. Thanks!

42 points by thecoffman 14y ago

yawn 14y ago

Sounds great. Now where are the Who's Hiring posts/comments for St. Louis?

As a college student and St. Louis native, this really excites me. I wish all the startups in these programs the best of luck.

vnchr 14y ago
Hey! I'm an Associate Partner at Cultivation Capital, one of the venture funds mentioned in the article. I run an all-night programming Meetup called Code til Dawn (http://www.meetup.com/allnightlong/ http://www.meetup.com/allnightlong/), next one is on Friday night if you want to come hang out and talk shop.
- bzalasky 14y ago
  I was going to drop a mention for Code til Dawn, but you beat me to to it, Israel. Cool to see St. Louis get some Hacker News love...

the_bear 14y ago

The article touches on this, but the real reason St. Louis could be a great place to start a company is because it has one of the most underrated Universities in the country. Wash U attracts very talented students to St. Louis, but because the school doesn't have much name recognition, very few tech companies recruit there. When I was at Wash U, the best tech jobs at the career fair were (in order): Microsoft, Raytheon, and General Mills. Unless things have changed dramatically in the last five years, I think it's safe to say that there's not much competition if you're trying to hire developers there. Combine that with the low cost of living, and St. Louis might be the easiest place in the country to hire talented young people.

tptacek 14y ago
Ok, I'll bite. What would be the most effective way for my company to recruit at WUSTL, bearing in mind that we'd be relocating people from STL to Chicago (or NYC or SFBA, if that's what they wanted). We've got WUSTL people on staff, and I'm sold on the caliber of its grads, but direct-to-school recruiting has been a dead-end for us at other schools.
- srunni 14y ago
  > What would be the most effective way for my company to recruit at WUSTL As a recent (Spring 2012) graduate of the WUSTL School of Engineering, I would highly recommend that you contact the Career Center[0] for opportunities to participate in career fairs and register as an employer on CareerLink[1], WUSTL's career website. The Career Center pushes CareerLink hard with students, so if you post jobs on there, there's a good chance you'll get some bites. I attended a career fair just this spring, and it was packed with students - there were sometimes lines up to 10 people deep just to talk with industry representatives. Don't give up so quickly on direct-to-school recruiting. You should also look into offering summer internships for current students. IIRC, WUSTL will match whatever you pay interns, making it less of a financial burden for you, while still making it worth the student's while. This is another way to grow your "reputation" on campus. Finally, the students may find it easier to connect with an alum - get your WUSTL grads involved in the recruiting process. 0: http://careercenter.wustl.edu/ http://careercenter.wustl.edu/ 1: http://careercenter.wustl.edu/tools/careerlink/Pages/default.aspx http://careercenter.wustl.edu/tools/careerlink/Pages/default...
  - philip1209 14y ago
    For engineering, Michael Chapin [1] is who you want to speak with at the WU career center. [1] http://careercenter.wustl.edu/people/Pages/mchapin.aspx http://careercenter.wustl.edu/people/Pages/mchapin.aspx
- the_bear 14y ago
  I think that srunni's answer is probably a good start, but I'd also add another approach. Until recently, the Wash U CS program was run with a heavy focus toward academics rather than industry. As a result, most of the really talented students weren't really going to career fairs, they were instead looking for interesting research positions. It's possible that things have changed since I left (there's a new dean and department head), but I'd guess it's still about the same. If that's the case, you really need a way to reach those top tier students. Do you have any positions that would seem intellectually rigorous and interesting? If so, I'd find a professor with relevant interests and shoot them an email saying you're looking for a top-tier intern and that you have some really cool problems for them to work on. Some professors are obviously more industry-friendly than others, but in my experience, there are at least a few who would probably be willing to help. Another option would be to host an event at Wash U. I'm not entirely sure how this works from a logistical standpoint, but it's common at Wash U for companies to reserve rooms for different types of recruiting events. Some companies might host hack-a-thons. Some might do giveaways. EA did a presentation on how video games get made. Those events generally get a lot more attention from the top tier students than the career fair booths, and professors often promote them at the end of class. I'd guess that contacting the Career Center would be your first step if you want to set something like that up. Hope that helps.

dylanhassinger 14y ago

The STL startup/tech scene is getting better every month. Join us! http://startlouis.com http://startlouis.com http://stljs.org http://stljs.org

vnchr 14y ago
Coming soon... http://istl.co http://istl.co :-)

jeffchuber 14y ago

The opening line: "When you think of technology start-ups, a small cluster of cities comes to mind – Silicon Valley, Seattle, Austin and Charlotte." Charlotte?? I thought Raleigh-Durham was bad for startups - Charlotte has to be worse. And where is the mention of New York City? Strange perspective. Maybe someone from Charlotte can shed light on their Ive league status.

mindcrime 14y ago
Charlotte?? I thought Raleigh-Durham was bad for startups - Charlotte has to be worse. And where is the mention of New York City? Strange perspective. Maybe someone from Charlotte can shed light on their Ive league status. Raleigh-Durham has quite the burgeoning startup scene, but I don't know anyone (except maybe Charlotte fanboys) who would say Charlotte has a better tech-startup scene. The RTP area is at least sometimes acknowledged by non-locals, but I've never heard anybody mention Charlotte as a startup hotbed (well, until now).

rcrowley 14y ago

The comments suggesting Wash U's CS program has (too much of) an academic slant have a point but also miss it entirely. In my experience, the academic is certainly emphasized over the pragmatic (for example, lots of talk about algorithmic complexity but zero mention of testing or version-control). That isn't in-and-of itself a problem, it's just a mistake in the order-of-operations. I needed a lot of real experience to motivate the academic in me. In college, you couldn't pay me to read cutting edge CS literature because I was sure the academics were never going to teach me anything practical. Fast-forward five years and I'm bored of what I was doing and interested in the same hard problems academics are. (Of course, I'm coming to worse but occasionally good-enough solutions.) It'll be good for Saint Louis and Wash U to have an injection of that context earlier because it might motivate the academic side of CS early enough for students with a couple of years left to give more of a shit.

philipkimmey 14y ago

I'd love to see St Louis start to develop a tech startup scene. Low cost of living, really cool neighborhoods and lots of smart programmers at stodgy big companies. It seems like the city just needs some capital & a few experienced tech entrepreneurs to get it going. That being said, I don't know of any Wash U CS grads that stayed in St Louis for startups - they all headed for the coasts (me included.) Hopefully that'll change over time.

vnchr 14y ago
Hey Philip, I'm working with the WUTE group leaders to (hopefully) launch this fall an extension of the group called WUTE-VC where we can bring in VCs and entrepreneurs to talk about the fundraising process from both sides of the table. Sounds like you'll be out and about, but let me or someone with WUTE know who in CS might be interested. Thanks!