St. Louis IT Entrepreneur Network  (ITEN)

 
The St. Louis IT Entrepreneur Network (ITEN) is an initiative of the St. Louis IT Coalition and Innovate St. Louis started in April of 2008 to be a catalyst for the emergence of a thriving and robust entrepreneurial community that creates successful IT ventures.  Thanks to generous grants from the Missouri Technology Corporation and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, ITEN helps IT ventures and start-ups through the initial stages of development so that they can succeed.  ITEN assists IT entrepreneurs in the larger St. Louis Region - from Columbia and Rolla, Missouri to Champaign-Urbana in Illinois and everywhere in between.

While duly recognizing that successful innovation also requires the presence of fortuitous intangible factors, ITEN focuses efforts on programs believed to have the most promise for helping IT entrepreneurs be successful.

ITEN Mentoring Program - The ITEN Mentoring Program provides IT start-ups with experienced mentors that help the company focus its efforts effectively and avoiding mistakes.  Many ITEN mentors have experience with IT start-ups of their own or are knowledgeable in an area of technology adjacent to the start-up’s technology.  The mentoring program is offered at a very modest monthly fee. 

ITEN Beta Program - The ITEN Beta Program seeks to match ITEN start-up companies with larger corporations within the region who agree to become early trial adopters of the start-up company’s technology, product or service.  This program is conducted on an individual case basis and requires the start-up’s product or service to be of interest to the larger corporation as well as be ready for rigorous beta testing.

ITEN Seed Fund - The ITEN Seed Fund will provide start-up funding for qualified ventures, bridging the funding gap between “friends and family” funding and angel funding.  The Seed Fund is currently in the conceptual stage and no funds are available at this time.

Beyond these initiatives, ITEN has efforts in other areas:

• In conjunction with the IT Coalition, ITEN is creating a web portal that will provide many valuable services to our regional IT entrepreneurs. 
• ITEN works with local universities to enhance IT entrepreneurship on campus and also to foster more effective access to promising research for regional entrepreneurs.
• ITEN provides a regional voice for IT entrepreneurship, and looks for new and creative ways to enable the emergence of a thriving IT start-up culture in the extended St. Louis Region.

Jim Brasunas
Director, ITEN
jbrasunas@i-ten.org
(314) 333-0456