Illustration by Scotty Reifsnyder
You might not know it, but St. Louis is a hotbed of tech-minded startups. That’s the thrust of a recent Wall Street Journal piece by Gabe Lozano, the brains behind one such company, LockerDome. Lozano’s article makes mention of about a dozen infant companies and conferences that are turning heads. The names of these groups tend to be cryptic, often providing few clues to their actual functions, so we decided to mock and explain them—in that order.
The Disruption Department
What It’s Not: A best-selling thriller by author Ken Follett
What It Is: A hands-on tech and engineering mentorship program for youth, modeled on the professional baseball farm system
T-REX
What It’s Not: A secret government program to bring back a dinosaur that can’t scratch its butt
What It Is: A downtown business incubator that’s home to 70-plus startups, including LouTapes.com and the recycling exchange Material Mix
LaunchCode
What It’s Not: An app that gives you the power to control America’s nuclear arsenal
What It Is: A startup from Square’s Jim McKelvey that pairs young software developers with mentors on projects for companies
LockerDome
What It’s Not: An arena where fans cheer as foul odors intermingle and athletes slap each other with towels
What It Is: A social-media platform that connects sports enthusiasts
Yurbuds
What It’s Not: An app that allows you to rank your friends on the basis of how often they furnish free beer
What It Is: High-end in-ear headphones for athletes and others moving to music
Code Red
What It’s Not: A flavor of Mountain Dew (well, actually, it’s that, too)
What It Is: A program to create, market, and distribute a curriculum that teaches programming-language and coding skills to students from first through 12th grades.
Bonfyre
What It’s Not: A Welsh heavy-metal act that roasts marshmallows onstage
What It Is: An app-based social platform that “shares better,” providing the ability to chat and share privately with those around you at events
Global Game Jam
What It’s Not: Petroleum jelly the whole world can enjoy
What It Is: An intense get-together next month where programmers, artists, and designers collaborate to create working video games in a single weekend
