(By MATT PIKE)
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce opened the doors to show off a new space in downtown to help entrepreneurs get their business ideas off the ground.
The Launch Pad opened officially at the beginning of this year, after a soft launch in December, giving business owners a co-working space in northwest Missouri.
Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Hawn says there's already been successes, with the building nearly full, including with an exciting tech start up
"That was really just officing out of what space he could find, if it was Parkway or a coffee shop or Smooth Endings, and we were able to really get him an office space,” Hawn tells reporters. “And he’s already gone from one office space to three, plus additional cubicles, he's added three employees since he started here and he relocated one of those employees from Los Angeles.”
Hawn says that type of synergy is exactly what is being looked for in the space downtown. It also offers several resources to entrepreneurs to get their businesses started.
Hawn says the space is available to all of northwest Missouri, and provides whatever business owners might be looking for
"We’re having classes come up on how to prepare for World Cup, we just had a class on how to learn AI, how to code, how to make an app in a day,” Hawn explains. “So, I think no matter where you are on that journey, we’ll have a resource for you.”
Hawn says the space is also going to be adding several other resources for people, such as a podcast studio, to continue adding opportunities for people to be able to utilize the Launch Pad.
Jamie Donaldson, co-owner of Juniper Lane in St. Joseph, says having the resources to know how to start a business in one space is convenient for entrepreneurs.
"Instead of having to do all the Googling and being like well how am I supposed to start a business, you have one spot to go, you know you’re getting answers from somebody who understands running a business, operating a business, and can send you in the right direction without feeling like you’re having to do all that leg work yourself and then wondering if you found the right answers to begin with,” Donaldson says.
Donaldson also points to the collaboration at the space being huge for business owners, with the space giving entrepreneurs the space to work together closely and become more of a unit.
(You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.)