Startup-Enterprise Summit Features Diverse Growth-Minded Kansas Entrepreneurs
NXTUS Program Culmination Celebrates Enterprises Engaging with Promising Startups
NXTUS, Inc. yesterday wrapped up the 2023 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series program at the Startup-Enterprise Summit, a flagship event during Wichita Startup Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week. This event, held at Cargill Protein Headquarters, celebrated the 19 growth-minded Kansas startups and the 11 community-minded enterprise partners who played a pivotal role in leading the way during this program.
Since its launch in September, the program has bridged the knowledge and access gaps between early-stage Kansas businesses and the larger organizations they need to sell to in order to grow.
Cohort members offer diverse products and services, such as Kansas-made swag and treats, hemp protein and building materials, blade sharpening, power washing, composting and commercial cleaning, as well as technology, accounting and marketing services and potential enhancements to employee benefits or team-building efforts. Through weekly workshops, cohort members were able to build connections with enterprise partners and were provided with 'playbooks' featuring strategies for successful collaboration, fostering learning and growth opportunities.
“This is our second year collaborating with the Enterprise Engagement Series program. We have continued to experience new connections and relationships and see the incredible innovations that are happening in our state,” said Fabián Armendáriz, Operations Division Director for Wichita Public Schools. “Witnessing these great innovations by startups that are happening organically in our state, driven by passionate entrepreneurs, has been inspiring. We try to support them however we can.”
“In many cases, these large companies started with entrepreneurs just like us, and they have continued to foster an entrepreneurial atmosphere as they’ve grown,” said Jesse Marks, founder of Nudge Compost. “We learned the fundamentals of creating supplier profiles and how to present to stakeholders, but the main takeaway for me was that these businesses often make decisions the same way I might make a decision in my business. Even at this larger scale, it's always going to be important to get the basics right - provide value, solve a pain point, and be a good partner.”
The 2023 Enterprise Engagement Series cohort represented NXTUS’ commitment to reaching and serving diverse entrepreneurs. Ninety percent of the small businesses in the cohort were led by traditionally underserved entrepreneurs (females, ethnic minorities, rural founders and those in opportunity zones, etc.).
These 2023 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series cohort members pitched live at the event:
Forge Podcast Co. (Maize)
Hustle & Ground (Shawnee)
iGuardPro (Hillsboro)
infoFluency (Wichita)
K.N. Rials Therapy and Consulting (Lawrence)
KS. Power Washing (Wichita)
M & M Sharpening Services (Wichita)
Maid Strong Cleaning Service (Wichita)
Midland Railroad Hotel & Barn Conference Center (Wilson)
Midwest Hemp Technology (Augusta)
Mpruv Sports (Basehor)
N’credibly Sweet (Wichita)
Nudge Compost (Wichita)
Optegrity Solutions (Wichita)
Redlogic Communications, Inc. (Mound City)
Rodriguez Tax Group (Garden City)
Thompsons Handmade Country (Ellsworth)
Workplace Healing (Leawood)
Zant Technologies (Wichita)
The Startup-Enterprise Summit offered an opportunity for NXTUS, the program’s Enterprise Partners, and other community leaders to celebrate, network, and connect with the cohort.
These 2023 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Partners helped fund the program, provided playbooks on how to do business with them, and participated in 90-minute workshops to answer entrepreneurs’ questions:
Berry Companies
Cargill
City of Wichita
Evergy
Koch Supplier Strategies
LANGE Companies (Acquipt, Lange Real Estate, RedGuard)
Professional Engineering Consultants
Sedgwick Country'
Spirit AeroSystems
Star Lumber
U.S.D. 259 Wichita Public Schools
This program is made possible by support from the Enterprise Partners, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, NetWork Kansas, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, and ICT Entrepreneurship Coalition. Additional support was provided by the SBA’s Wichita District Office, Hutton, Syndeo, IMA Financial Group, Women’s Business Development Center of Kansas City, Wichita Shredding, and the Greater Wichita Partnership.
Click here to learn more about the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series, or to express interest in the 2024 cohort.