Applications Open Today for NXTUS Program that Helps Growth-Minded Kansas Entrepreneurs Learn to do Business with Large Enterprises
Enterprise Engagement Series (EES) partner meeting with program participants.
The second of four NXTSTAGE programs, produced by NXTUS to help entrepreneurs engage with prospective customers, opens applications today for Kansas startups who want to do business with larger organizations.
The NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series (EES) aims to bridge the knowledge and access gaps between early-stage companies around Kansas and the established businesses and community organizations they want to collaborate with and sell to, in order to grow.
This program, which is part of NXTUS’ overall effort to connect entrepreneurs with customers to help them grow companies of significance, is coming off a successful first year in 2022, when a U.S. Economic Development Administration ‘Build to Scale’ grant enabled its launch. With over 75% coming from traditionally underserved populations, the inaugural 2022 cohort included a wide-range of businesses providing products or services from employee benefits and culture enhancing solutions, to technology tools that streamline the enterprises’ processes.
Thanks to a collaboration between NetWork Kansas and NXTUS, the program has a plan to reach more rural entrepreneurs this year. The program goal is to accept ten startups from urban areas and ten startups sourced from rural and small-market areas, with recruitment help from NetWork Kansas’s e-community coaches.
“We are excited to build off the momentum of last year’s success and spread the support to more areas of Kansas. The NXTSTAGE EES program is for early-stage Kansas companies with business-to-business sales as part of their growth strategies. It is ideal for participating companies to have products or services in the market and an existing stream of revenue,” said Amber Dunn, Program Manager for NXTUS.
These 2023 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Partners have committed to engage with the startups by providing a “playbook” for how to do business with organizations like theirs, will present at workshops, and in some cases, meet individually with cohort members for additional relationship building:
Berry Companies
Cargill
City of Wichita
Evergy
LANGE Companies
(Acquipt, Lange Real Estate, RedGuard)
Professional Engineering Consultants (PEC)
Sedgwick County
Spirit AeroSystems
Star Lumber
Technology Group Solutions
Wichita Public Schools
This program is made possible by support from the Enterprise Partners, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and NetWork Kansas, as well as the ‘Build to Scale’ grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded to ICT Entrepreneurship Coalition members, Wichita State University and NXTUS. Additional program support is provided by the SBA’s Wichita District Office, Hutton, and 2022 Cohort Member, Wichita Shredding.
The 2023 EES Cohort will be announced in August, and workshops will begin mid-September. The program will culminate with a Startup-Enterprise Summit recognizing cohort members and partners on November 15, as a flagship event of Wichita Startup Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week.
For more information on the NXTSTAGE EES program or to apply, go to www.nxtus.io/nxtstage/ees.
For more information on other NXTSTAGE programs, including Community Health & Vibrancy and Financial Technology coming this fall, and the Customer Traction Cohort coming in spring 2024, go to: www.nxtus.io/nxtstage