Midway through August, the opportunities keep coming for St. Louis entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and marketing professionals the week of August 17-23, 2026. From collaborative events to solo skill-building, there’s something to match every goal. Erik Lutenegger, our Founder, has assembled this week’s top events and opportunities for networking, growth, learning, and community.
ESO, Accelerator, and Funding Opportunities
Apply Now // Venture Ready Missouri | Capital Innovators & Missouri Technology Corporation
Missouri founders can sharpen their fundraising skills through this free, two-part venture readiness program. Entrepreneurs learn how to navigate venture capital, craft compelling investor pitches, and develop a fundraising strategy, with top participants advancing to one-on-one coaching and a live pitch showcase before investors. (Bootcamp)
Apply Now // Square One (SQ1) Bootcamp | Cortex’s Square One
Ready to move beyond the idea stage? This intensive 10-week accelerator helps entrepreneurs transform early traction into a fundable business through expert-led instruction, hands-on coaching, and practical deliverables like financials, a business model, and a polished pitch deck. (Bootcamp)
Due August 21 // Lift Beauty Accelerator 2026 | Rare Beauty Brands
Early-stage beauty brands led by founders from underrepresented communities can compete for one of three spots in this free accelerator offering at least $10,000 in non-dilutive funding, hands-on mentorship from beauty industry experts, and more than $24,000 in in-kind testing, consulting, and design services. Selected brands also receive practical support tackling real startup challenges and an opportunity to pitch JCPenney for potential online or in-store distribution. (Accelerator)
Due August 31 // Empower Growth Micro-Grant | Black & Brown Founders
Underrepresented entrepreneurs with demonstrated revenue over the past 12 months can apply for one of four micro-grants designed to help scale, stabilize, or systematize an existing business. Funds can support marketing, technology and automation, website or e-commerce improvements, consultants, hiring support, or expanded production and service delivery. Applicants must provide proof of revenue, explain how the funding will support growth, and complete the assessment, with finalists also submitting a one-minute video pitch. (Grant)
Due September 3 // Founder Framework Fall 2026 Cohort | T-REX
Early-stage founders can build a stronger foundation for growth through this free, competitive 11-week program led by venture capitalist Vikram Lakhwara. In-person sessions at T-REX cover customer discovery, value propositions, business models, market sizing, go-to-market strategy, financial storytelling, and investor readiness, helping participants validate their ideas, refine product-market fit, and develop practical materials for future grants, pitch competitions, and fundraising. (Bootcamp)
Startup, Tech, and Marketing Events
August 17
Marketing that matters: Learn from the experts | Enterprise Nation
Hear marketing leaders discuss why email remains an important growth channel, with a live Q&A featuring experts from Constant Contact, Canva, and Chelsea FC Women. The 30-minute session focuses on practical guidance attendees can apply to their own email marketing. (Virtual)
Who Do You Trust to Orchestrate Your AI Agents? | Gartner
Examine the question of who should coordinate and govern AI agents as organizations move toward increasingly agentic systems, with the session centered on trust, orchestration, and responsibility in multi-agent environments. (Virtual)
Robots at Work: The Future of Small Business Automation | Small Business University (Small Business Expo)
See how physical automation is being used in cleaning, warehousing, and hospitality, with real-world examples showing how robots can reduce repetitive work, improve consistency and safety, ease labor pressures, and free employees to focus on higher-value tasks. (Virtual)
Beyond the Business: A Wealth Blueprint for Female Founders | NY Public Library, Thomas Yoseloff Business Center
Learn how founders can build personal wealth beyond business revenue through practical approaches to tax and cash-flow optimization, strategic investing, risk management, and estate planning while balancing reinvestment in the company with long-term financial independence. (Virtual)
August 18
The AI-powered workplace: An introduction to agentic transformation | Google Cloud
Explore how AI-driven agents can reshape everyday work through agent workflows, implementation strategies, governance, risk mitigation, and change management. The session offers practical guidance for organizations planning responsible adoption of agentic tools across teams and systems. (Virtual)
Rising Grinds | The 89th Collective
This community gathering blends casual networking with a welcoming morning atmosphere, offering space for coffee, tea, meaningful conversation, quiet work, and relationship building. The focus is on sharing ideas, discovering opportunities, and strengthening community through positive, productive connections. (In-Person | The 89th Collective)
Make a Career Vision: Connect with Your Inner Compass | CreativeMornings
Clarify your career direction through guided reflection, freewriting, and visualization of an ideal future workday. Participants identify what is and is not working, surface recurring themes, and leave with manageable, values-aligned actions for moving toward a clearer career vision. (Virtual)
Engineering Consent: Precision Activation at Scale | Martech
Examine how consent and preference data can become usable signals for more precise marketing activation. The session covers permission-aware orchestration, behavioral signals, AI-assisted personalization, and ways to improve customer engagement without sacrificing compliance or trust. (Virtual)
Grow with Google – Free Coursera Certifications!! | NPower Community Help Desk
Learn how eligible participants can access free, self-paced Grow with Google Career Certificates through Coursera, including available tracks, enrollment steps, expected learning formats, and the support NPower provides as learners begin and progress through their chosen program. (Virtual)
Demystifying the Security Clearance Transition into the Private Sector | SCEA
Gain clarity on how security clearances carry into private-sector employment through a panel spanning corporate security, recruiting, software engineering, military service, and critical infrastructure. The discussion addresses misconceptions, hiring realities, compliance expectations, and the practical factors cleared professionals face during career transitions. (Virtual)
Build a Startup Idea Investors Won’t Ignore | Founder Institute
Pressure-test your startup concept with practical frameworks for identifying urgent problems, understanding how investors evaluate early-stage opportunities, refining product-market fit, and gathering peer feedback that can strengthen an idea before building or pitching. (Virtual)
August 19
AI for Business 3-Day Workshop | Real Advisors
Build practical AI skills across a three-day workshop covering prompting, content and image creation, landing pages and funnels, list building, paid media, conversational sales bots, and automated follow-up systems designed for marketing and sales use cases. (Virtual)
Convert Customers to Cheerleaders | UGA Small Business Development Center
Explore ways to turn satisfied customers into active advocates for your business, focusing on the relationship between customer experience, loyalty, referrals, and the kind of word-of-mouth support that can help strengthen sustainable growth. (Virtual)
Beyond the Buzzwords: Real Marketing Tech, Live in Action | American Marketing Association
Watch marketing technology move from theory to live use as experts separate durable shifts from hype and vendors demonstrate real workflows for automation, measurement, content operations, and personalization. The session emphasizes practical tools, trade-offs, and ideas teams can test. (Virtual)
How To Prove Local SEO ROI With Call Tracking and Attribution | Moz
Connect local SEO activity to measurable business outcomes by examining call tracking and attribution as tools for proving return on investment. The session focuses on linking local search performance with customer actions that demonstrate tangible value. (Virtual)
Builder Bootcamp: API Foundations | OpenAI Academy
Develop a stronger foundation for building with the OpenAI API by covering model selection, prompting patterns, structured outputs, technical requirements, and implementation trade-offs. The session helps builders move from an initial use case toward a working prototype and production planning. (Virtual)
How To Write an Ethical Marketing Message To Fill Your Practice in the Age of AI | TherapySites
Practice creating clear, ethical marketing messages for a therapy practice while considering how AI changes the way messaging is developed and used. The webinar emphasizes practical communication choices, ethical AI considerations, and examples that can be applied to practice marketing. (Virtual)
Storytelling for Impact | Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
Strengthen your storytelling with a practical framework for simplifying complex ideas, building trust, and shaping memorable narratives. The session is designed to improve communication across pitches, presentations, meetings, and other situations where clarity and persuasion matter. (Virtual)
How to Build AI Agents People Actually Use | Willem Avé (Square) | Product School
Consider what makes an AI agent genuinely useful to people in this Product School session with Willem Avé of Square, focusing on the product challenge of designing agents that users will actually adopt rather than simply showcasing technical capability. (Virtual)
“I Heard It on TikTok”: Advice for Small Business Owners | Start Small Think Big
Review the kind of small-business advice that circulates on TikTok and consider how owners should evaluate social-media guidance before applying it to real business decisions, especially when short-form recommendations may lack context or nuance. (Virtual)
Vetworking STL Aug 2026
Meet veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses, employers, and community partners for career-focused networking. The event creates space to discuss job opportunities, resources, mentorship, and professional connections that support career transitions and strengthen the local veteran community. (In-Person | Global Brew Tap House – O’Fallon, IL)
Geospatial User Group | T-REX
Gather with the Geospatial User Group at T-REX for an in-person session centered on geospatial interests, community connection, and the exchange of ideas among people working with or interested in mapping, location data, GIS, and related technologies. (In-Person | T-REX)
Futuremakers Club: First Official Membership Meeting | Futuremakers Club STL
Get involved in Futuremakers Club’s first official membership meeting with networking, organizational updates, downtown initiative briefings, a participatory community-funding workshop, and time to continue conversations about programming, neighborhood activation, and collaborative projects. (In-Person | 21c Museum Hotel St Louis)
Securing Your Business/Data in the Age of AI | SIM St. Louis Chapter | SIM St. Louis c/o Jen G
Discuss how GenAI changes cybersecurity risk, governance, and data protection with St. Louis technology leaders. Following networking, a panel will address practical controls, emerging threats, ethical oversight, compliance considerations, and ways organizations can adopt AI without weakening security. (In-Person | Maritz)
Business Pitch Lab: The 30-Second Business Pitch | St. Louis County Library
Craft a clearer 30- to 60-second business pitch through guided exercises, rehearsal, and feedback. The lab focuses on simplifying your value proposition and making your message memorable for customer conversations, networking events, potential partners, and other business opportunities. (In-Person | Clark Family Branch)
August 20
MAC Business Development Group Meeting
Discover how fiction-writing skills can strengthen business development as Tim Sansone connects storytelling, audience awareness, listening, and emotional intelligence to more intentional professional communication and relationship-building, drawing on examples from his appellate practice. (In-Person | Missour Athletic Club)
Plant Science Family Reunion | 39 North AgTech Innovation District
Step into a day of cross-sector agtech conversation featuring researchers, founders, investors, students, and industry leaders. Panels, storytelling, curated networking, a community fair, and an evening reception create opportunities to exchange insights, identify resources, and form new collaborations. (In-Person | Ultra Club, Energizer Park)
Coffee Connections – Creating Content that Connects (MO) | SMPS St. Louis
Swap practical content ideas over coffee with A/E/C marketing peers, covering thought leadership, project and employee storytelling, social media, video, repurposing, and ways to measure success. The informal discussion includes networking, peer questions, and one CPSM CEU. (In-Person | Coma Coffee)
Tame Your Claws: Governing AI Agents & Assistants | Datacamp
Focus on the governance challenges surrounding AI agents and assistants, including the controls, oversight, and organizational practices needed to manage increasingly autonomous systems responsibly as they become more deeply embedded in business workflows. (Virtual)
Meet Grok Bot: Your Team of AI Agents | Cursor
See how Grok Bots can be created, assigned distinct jobs, taught repeatable routines, and coordinated like a team. Demonstrations cover agents working across apps and websites, retaining context, handing off tasks, collaborating in parallel, and escalating when human approval is needed. (Virtual)
How to Win Visibility in an AI-Driven World | Adobe for Business
Learn how brands can compete for visibility as AI changes the way people discover, evaluate, and engage with information online, with the session centered on adapting visibility strategies for an increasingly AI-driven search and discovery environment. (Virtual)
How to Use Credit Cards Effectively | Justine PETERSEN
Understand credit card fundamentals through an hour-long workshop covering smart spending, payment strategies, interest, rewards, and methods for building or rebuilding credit. The session emphasizes practical steps for avoiding costly mistakes and making healthier long-term credit decisions. (In-Person | Elevator)
Behind the Layers: Data, Audit & Tax Complexity in Fund of Funds | Carta
Unpack the added operational complexity of fund-of-funds structures by looking at the overlapping demands of data management, audits, and tax reporting, and how those layers affect the teams responsible for maintaining accurate, reliable fund operations. (Virtual)
AI Search Visibility Benchmarks: What to Measure, Track, and Report | MarketingProfs
Identify useful benchmarks for measuring AI search visibility, with attention to what marketers should track, compare, and report as AI-generated search experiences change how brands appear and how traditional search performance metrics are interpreted. (Virtual)
Founders Lounge | Powered by Metis Analytics
Join founders and creators for a community-driven mix of networking, peer discussion, learning labs, and practical workshops. Sessions emphasize exchanging real-world lessons, testing ideas, exploring new tools, and building relationships that can help startups refine strategy and move forward. (In-Person | Spark Coworking St. Louis)
Elevator St. Louis Grand Opening
Celebrate Elevator St. Louis with a ribbon cutting and open house featuring refreshments, giveaways, staff-led tours, and networking. Attendees can explore co-warehousing and meeting-space options while connecting with founders, makers, e-commerce sellers, and other local business owners. (In-Person | Elevator)
Standing In Front Of The Room With Confidence | Global Center for Cyber
Sharpen your presentation confidence through storytelling practice, small-group exercises, and live mentor feedback. The professional-development session combines guided skill building with introductions, peer connection, and dinner networking for emerging cybersecurity and technology talent. (In-Person | Cortex @ 20 S Sarah)
#theTABLE AfterHours (Hosted by Dr. Jenn Ritchie) | BTP by Alison
Set aside formal pitches and rigid agendas for a relaxed after-work gathering hosted by Dr. Jenn Ritchie. The evening is designed around candid conversation, authentic relationship-building, and unpressured opportunities for entrepreneurs and business leaders to make meaningful connections. (In-Person | Gateway Behavioral Health Consultants)
Async Task Processing with Django and Celery | PySTL
Dive into asynchronous task processing with Django and Celery, including background jobs, worker-web communication, architectural trade-offs, deployment considerations, maintenance, and common pain points. The beginner-friendly meetup also includes pizza, networking, real-world examples, and time for questions. (In-Person | TechArtista CWE)
SheCan Global Circle Glow & Pour Party | #SheCan Connect Global Network
Create a customized all-natural sugar scrub while connecting with women around leadership, innovation, faith, and enterprise. The Glow & Pour gathering combines hands-on crafting, meaningful conversation, rooftop refreshments, networking, and a school-supply drive supporting local students. (In-Person | Angad Arts Hotel)
2026 Business After Hours | Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis
Network with Hispanic Chamber members, business owners, and other local professionals during a relaxed after-hours mixer focused on conversation and relationship-building. The recurring gathering welcomes members and non-members and creates an informal setting for new introductions and community connections. (In-Person | Elevator)
The Contract Protects Them, Not YOU! | Center for Entrepreneurship
Protect your business by learning how to spot contract terms that create risk, identify clauses worth requesting, recognize red flags before signing, and find affordable review options. The workshop uses plain-language explanations and includes time for live participant questions. (In-Person | Urban League)
August 21
Wavelength: The Art of Listening for Possibility | Filament
Gain practical listening tools through guided exercises, paired dialogue, group conversation, and reflection designed to increase curiosity, attention, and receptivity. Participants will practice using deeper listening to uncover overlooked perspectives, generate new ideas, and create unexpected collaborative possibilities. (In-Person | Filament)
Bourbon Friday | Sponsored by Tenacity
Connect with founders, creatives, and community members during a relaxed evening that pairs informal networking with curated bourbon tastings. The gathering creates room to share ideas, discuss wins and challenges, meet potential collaborators, and build relationships across the local startup community. (In-Person | TechArtista CWE)
August 23
St. Louis Code and Coffee
Spend time with St. Louis developers in a welcoming co-working meetup that begins with brief introductions and community announcements, then opens into self-directed coding, collaboration, and conversation over coffee, with the possibility of an optional member-led workshop. (In-Person | TechArtista UCity)
Join us on Meetup or Tiktok.
What are you working on this week? Share in the comments below! Your feedback helps us continue to grow the St. Louis Startup, Tech, and Marketing Ecosystem. For event announcements or important dates, reach out to us at [email protected].
© Tenacity, LLC. This content was curated and compiled by hand, requiring hours of work each week. You may not copy, repost, or reproduce this content without permission. However, we welcome and appreciate links to the original post if you’d like to share it with your community. Thanks!