We were thrilled to host Wichita Startup Week for the third year. WSW volunteers and event sponsors brought local and national experts to Wichita to discuss topics related to entrepreneurship. The weeklong event is affiliated with TechStars, a pre-seed and early-stage accelerator, and it coincides with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Each year, GEW unites entrepreneurs from around the world under the banner of creating a shared experience for people who assume the risk of starting new businesses.
There were five tracks this year: DE&I, Entrepreneurial Spirit Track, Innovation Track, Social Entrepreneurism Track, and the Startup Toolkit Track.
Hundreds of attendees visited Groover Labs last week, so we had lots of activity in the building. We love it when Groover Labs is full - that’s when we’re at our best! As a sponsor of WSW, we opened our hotseat area to attendees for free, and we had plenty of entrepreneurs working on projects, networking, and taking calls between sessions.
Seven of our current and former members presented on topics from unlocking the value behind primary data to validating target audiences to lessons on when and how to pivot your startup. Member Matthew Leming, Ph.D., executive vice president and head of U.S. product development for TestCard, a clinical testing startup, hosted a panel about developing biomedical technology startups in Wichita - a prescient topic with the opening of the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine and the forthcoming WSU/KU Wichita Biomedical Campus.
New to this year’s WSW was the Youth Entrepreneur Track. More than 100 area high school students loaded onto school buses and flooded into the event venue on Monday to hear from Sierra Marie Bonn, a local digital creator and influencer who has worked with companies like Microsoft and Sephora, to commercial real estate developer and long-time startup ecosystem supporter Gary Oborny.
Sameer Kenkare, managing partner of corporate venture capital, corporate innovation and startup business development at Amazon Web Services, filled the event venue for his talk about customer-centric approaches to innovation. He focused on Amazon’s mission “to be the earth’s most customer-centric company” by sharing Jeff Bezos’ vision to start with the customer and work backward.
Scott Redler, co-founder of Freddy’s Frozen Custard, rounded out Wednesday’s speakers, sharing how the steakburger restaurant started off as a side project and transformed into more than 500 locations in 38 states. Redler talked about how, in the restaurant's early days, Freddy’s staff noticed customers in the drive-through window sneaking fries before setting down the to-go bag in the seat next to them. This observation led to ensuring the fries were always hot and ready. He concluded the talk by discussing his new role as founder of Redler Hospitality, LLC, and his vision for the future.
We want to thank James Williams, Shae Blevins, and all the Wichita Startup Week volunteers for their help. It was a pleasure to have so many people in the building sharing their passion for entrepreneurship!
We look forward to having you back again next year!