4th Annual EIC Demo Day Meets 5 Entrepreneurs Who Grew Their Businesses with the Anchor Accelerator Program
Rachel Burns (center) is the founder of Bald Spoon Creamery. (Photo provided by Derrick Holtmann)
Rachel Burns quickly learned Mint’s lesson. When planted directly in an open garden rather than in a confined space or pot, mint plants tend to grow rapidly and spread over large areas.
She knows it now. But in 2017, she suddenly noticed an abundance of fragrant herbs growing in her garden at her home in University City. One of the ways she used her leftovers was to make mint her ice cream for her family and friends. Everyone loves mint ice cream, she thought. She was right.
This delicious discovery began a journey that took her on stage in front of a crowd of more than 350 people at the Millennium Student Center at the University of Missouri-St. As part of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s fourth Demo Day, Louis introduced the founders of Anchor Her Accelerator, who have used the program to grow their companies. The event was hosted by EIC Director of Operations Michael Butler, with EIC Executive Director Scott Morris providing insight and background throughout the evening.
After the presentation, Burns was all smiles as she stood beside a table of Bald Spoon Creamery samples and a poster board listing 15 of the company’s non-mint flavors. Ta.
“I really enjoy being in such a supportive environment,” she said. “All the people who have come to support local entrepreneurship have been amazing. Everyone has been so positive. So many people have come up to me and offered to help. It’s been amazing. hey.”
Branded as premium, small-batch ice cream with unique flavor profiles and locally sourced ingredients, Bald Spoon Creamery has been a huge success. The company’s products can be found in more than 70 Schnucks grocery stores in Missouri and Illinois, City Park (for soccer fans) and Enterprise Center (for hockey fans), and other locations throughout the city. Bold Spoon was so successful that Burns and her team realized there was potential for more.
That’s where UMSL’s EIC Anchor Accelerator comes into play. Burns is one of five ambitious individuals selected for the spring semester program, which aims to help local entrepreneurs expand their already successful businesses. was. Anchor Accelerator not only provides mentorship (Jeff Barry of Dot Foods was integral to his Burns), but also access to experts in the field and customized educational support from UMSL School of Business faculty. He also offers an 8-week program featuring: UMSL also pays student interns who assist with the business.
And perhaps the biggest help for these fast-growing companies? Aimed to give entrepreneurs a boost, courtesy of local companies including Missouri Technology Corporation, Edward Jones, and the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation $50,000 of non-dilutive capital injection.
Burns found the Anchor Accelerator program at the perfect time. She officially founded her Bold Spoon, a retail and wholesale sales company, in 2020. In 2021, she signed a deal with Schnucks, and Bald Spoon moved to a farm south of St. Louis, where it grows most of its ingredients. Production increased in 2022. In 2023, stands will open in CITYPark and Enterprise Center. In 2023, Bold Her Spoon signed a contract with Her BJC Healthcare and the University of Washington.
“We knew we needed help. We’re still very small, but we’re coming out of the small phase and into the expansion phase,” Burns said. “When it was just me and my husband, there was no real risk, per se. We didn’t have employees to pay our rent. Our financial investment wasn’t zero, but… It wasn’t huge. But it took a lot of financial investment to move it forward. We have people who depend on us to pay our bills. If we get it wrong, it could be even more dangerous for us. I really wanted help getting it right.”
Like other Anchor Accelerator program winners, Burns’ journey at UMSL didn’t end with completing the eight-week program. His goals for Baldspoon are bold and include expanding relationships with grocery stores, hospitals and universities, as well as establishing new food service contracts and major corporate catering customers.
Bold goals was the theme of this event.
The 2024 EIC Anchor Accelerator Demo Day was a great success. From left: Michael Butler, Scott Morris, Pat Upchurch, Rachel Burns, Dennis Williams, Kwamane Liddell, Kevonne Martin, Shani Bennett. (Photo provided by Derrick Holtmann)
Inspired by her grandmother’s cheesecake recipe, Pat Upchurch started Patti’s Cheesecakes. Her miniature delicacies can be found at City Foundry, along with local grocery stores (like Dierbergs and Fresh Thyme) and restaurants. Upchurch’s company also caters weddings and other events from a catering truck purchased with her capital injection. Upchurch was recently featured on a segment on Fox 2. “We’re really, really excited,” Upchurch told the audience at the end of his presentation. “Everyone who knows me knows I say this, but please remember that you are the reason someone smiles.”
Kwamane Liddell is a nurse who has developed a way to positively impact thousands of people in need of medical care by removing barriers and making the process more accessible. His company, ThriveLink, uses voice activation technology to simplify enrollment in existing programs such as health care, utilities, and food stamps. ThriveLink has already helped more than 500,000 people, and Liddell’s goal is to reach his more than 3.6 million eligible Medicaid members.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without going through this program. I didn’t ask Scott and Michael any simple questions,” Liddell said. “When we asked how we could move a system from this critical cloud system to another, we were able to find someone with the expertise who had done this before. He helped me think through the pros and cons and introduced me to people who helped me make a decision.”
Kevonne Martin and Shani Bennett, the duo behind Figozo, wanted to find a way to help solopreneurs stay organized while tackling the challenges that come with starting and running a new solo business. Ta. Figozo’s digital agent handles customer interactions and administrative tasks around the clock, allowing solopreneurs to focus on more important tasks. They are currently targeting the beauty and wellness space, but are using the Anchor Accelerator program as a way to evaluate expansion of their business.
UMSL graduate Dennis Williams founded Real Document Solutions, a company that provides software to individuals and companies performing due diligence work. The idea is to provide an all-in-one management platform that helps businesses with speed and accuracy by automating elements so they can focus their time on other areas. “Many document search companies have been stuck since 1995, using outdated workflows and outdated technology,” Williams says. “Lost documents can cause transactions to fail, costing you time and money.”
After the presentation, Mr. Morris announced that EIC is expanding its program.
As with the first four cohorts, the Anchor Accelerator program continues to select winners from a pool of applicants – Morris said there were 1,100 unique applications over four years and 22 program winners were selected. – and those winners will continue to receive $50,000 in funding, plus a mentor and an intern. However, the eight-week program will be expanded.
“The next step in our evolution is to begin rolling out the program publicly,” Morris said. “We call this the democratization of accelerators. We plan to open up our curriculum to anyone in the community who wants to come and take our classes.
“We think there are gaps within the St. Louis ecosystem that are helping companies get past the startup stage and get ready to really scale.”
