As we celebrate Juneteenth and the ongoing pursuit of freedom and equity, the week of June 15-21, 2026, also brings a powerful lineup of opportunities for St. Louis entrepreneurs, tech professionals, and marketers. Erik Lutenegger, our Founder, has compiled this week’s essential events and opportunities, from networking and mentorship to skill development and inclusive community building.
ESO, Accelerator, and Funding Opportunities
Due June 26 // Small Business Launchpad | St. Louis County Library
Built for formerly incarcerated individuals ready to build a new chapter, this eight-week entrepreneurship program provides hands-on training in business planning, marketing, sales, and funding. Participants develop real-world startup skills, receive expert guidance, and pitch their business ideas for a chance at startup funding. (Bootcamp)
Startup, Tech, and Marketing Events
June 15
June 15-18 // One Year Anniversary | The 89th Collective
Bask in a hands-on floral workshop celebrating one year of growth, where attendees craft beautiful arrangements, mingle with neighbors, and enjoy a festive atmosphere that highlights creativity, community bonding, and collective milestones at the space. (In-Person | The 89th Collective)
How to build AI products safely and experiment faster | Enterprise Nation
Enjoy a concise, practitioner-led session featuring Olugbenga Latinwo’s experiences developing Culture Illustro, covering hands-on AI guardrails, iterative testing to mitigate product risks, and scalable governance practices designed specifically for start-ups and SMEs aiming to deploy AI responsibly. (Virtual)
Build the next generation of creative and multimodal experiences | Google Cloud
Experience a focused program on scaling AI strategies from text-only models to integrated video, image and audio pipelines, covering practical guidance, architectural choices and considerations for producing compelling, multimodal creative outputs for diverse applications. (Virtual)
Spark Turns 5: Anniversary Celebration! | Spark Coworking
Join neighbors and fellow members for an anniversary party featuring a live DJ, curated eats and beverages, interactive trivia, and a photo booth, complemented by celebratory treats, social moments, and exclusive event-only deals throughout the festivities. (In-Person | Spark St. Louis)
Cortex Panel | Skandalaris Center
Network with founders as they participate in an honest panel discussion about entrepreneurship in the district, revealing why they located there, which community resources fueled momentum, how they tackled early-stage challenges, and the actionable takeaways that informed their next steps. (In-Person | Cortex Havana Room)
The Basics of Commercial Leases | NY Public Library, Thomas Yoseloff Business Center
Discover a practical, one-hour online walkthrough of commercial leasing essentials, including how leases differ from residential leases, rent and guarantee clauses, negotiating fair terms, avoiding costly pitfalls, understanding LOIs and timelines, and accessing complimentary legal support through the Commercial Lease Assistance Program. (Virtual)
How to Think Like a Founder and Take Action | Founder Institute
Absorb practical guidance on overcoming the excuses that stall startups, discover how to reframe obstacles into fuel for progress, walk through a structured exercise to define your immediate action, and use the subsequent live networking time to find collaborators and accountability partners. (Virtual)
June 16
Government Contracting in the Technology Industry | Morgan Lewis
Discover practical guidance on selling and collaborating with the government, including compliance with cybersecurity standards (CMMC), considerations for AI integration by contractors and agencies, pathways for dual-use technology transactions, IP allocation strategies, and supply-chain risk controls. (Virtual)
Virtual Conference: Collaborating with AI | American Marketing Association
Kick off an intensive program of expert-led presentations and case studies exploring how AI can enhance research, content, strategy, and measurement, offering step-by-step frameworks, governance best practices, and practical tests marketers can run to prove impact beyond pilots. (Virtual)
Reset + Refocus: A Mid-Year Tune-Up for Your Goal | CreativeMornings
Pause at the year’s midpoint for a CreativeMornings talk built around resetting and refocusing on your goals, blending honest reflection, simple planning tools, and community encouragement to help you regain momentum and head into the second half of the year with renewed clarity and intention. (Virtual)
IDEA Fund Info Session | Missouri Technology Corporation
Learn how Missouri-based startups can pursue equity or convertible debt investments through a structured funding process that supports technology development, commercialization, scaling, and the attraction of private capital across key industries such as life sciences, fintech, software, energy, manufacturing, and logistics. (Virtual)
Preparing to Lead with AI | Olin Business School
Step into a session where Olin Business School faculty and practitioners help leaders prepare to lead with AI, combining presentations and discussion with practical frameworks for adopting the technology thoughtfully, guiding teams through change, and turning emerging tools into real organizational advantage. (Virtual)
From Customer Data Management to Actionable Intelligence: The CDP’s Next Chapter | Emarketer
Embark on a focused webinar where Adobe and industry analysts reveal findings from enterprise CDP users, explaining how CDPs bridge systems of engagement and record, demonstrating the requirements for an agentic-era context layer, and prioritizing media connectivity to fuel personalized customer engagement. (Virtual)
Business Contracts 101: Essentials for Small Business Owners | Start Small Think Big
Get grounded in the contracts every small business depends on as Start Small Think Big walks owners through the essentials, covering common agreement types, key clauses to watch for, how to review terms before signing, and where to find legal support so you can protect your venture with greater confidence. (Virtual)
Founders Hour: Lock In Your Milestone | Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
Learn structured techniques in a compact working session to convert ambition into a single measurable milestone, develop a 12-week plan for growth or launch, gain clarity on priorities, and access peer support and accountability to sustain momentum. (Virtual)
June 17
PitchSTL
Admire focused six-minute pitch presentations followed by twenty minutes of constructive Q&A, then mingle with other founders and supporters, learn about professional services and past presenters, and discover ways to apply, sponsor, donate, or join the organizing board. (In-Person | NEEC powered by SLDC)
How to Use Physical AI in Manufacturing & Construction | DataCamp
Explore how physical AI, robotics, sensors, and intelligent systems are moving onto factory floors and job sites as DataCamp examines real applications across manufacturing and construction, the data and skills behind them, and what these advances mean for productivity, safety, and the future of skilled work. (Virtual)
Tech Talk with Connect Video | Connect Video
Applaud a focused workshop that walks attendees through a complete video-to-lead process: scriptwriting, audience identification, and automated ad strategies, blending instruction and hands-on practice on personal laptops to leave with an actionable marketing funnel. (In-Person | Woodward Restoration HQ)
The AI Search Playbook. What’s Actually Driving Traffic Now. | Search Engine Journal
Embark on three sequential sessions that map discovery to conversion, featuring industry speakers, audience-driven questions, and tactical takeaways, with clear guidance on AI citations, how Reddit and LinkedIn influence answers, and how to prioritize team effort for immediate impact. (Virtual)
How Freelancers Can Generate PR For Clients (And Yourself) | Freelancers Union
Share in an actionable session that reveals a seasoned communicator’s tactics for securing feature stories, with guided instruction on identifying high-value media contacts, composing concise pitches that compel responses, and using tools to send large-scale outreach while maintaining credibility and deliverability. (Virtual)
Pride Month Lunch & Learn with PROMO Missouri | CIC St. Louis
Join organizers and PROMO Missouri for an intimate lunchtime gathering that spotlights community-building, policy conversations, and advocacy tools; participants can expect open dialogue, shared experiences, resource guidance, and connections to support LGBTQ+ efforts across the region. (In-Person | CIC @ 20 S Sarah)
AI Impact Hour for Nonprofits | TechSoup Global
Venture into a peer-driven hour focused on pragmatic AI use in nonprofit settings, featuring easy demonstrations, live sharing, and group discussion; participants will hear real-world examples, surface common barriers, and leave with practical ideas for applying AI to everyday mission work. (Virtual)
Scaling AI: Designing Systems Built to Grow | Data Science Connect
Take part in an expert discussion tailored to data executives, revealing recent innovations in Generative AI for visual data, showcasing sector-specific case studies, and outlining how to design scalable systems that maintain performance, trustworthiness, and governance as complexity increases. (Virtual)
Mozilla Head of Firefox on The Future of Agentic Browsers & Open Internet | Product School
Hear Mozilla’s head of Firefox discuss the future of agentic browsers and the open internet in this Product School session, exploring how AI-driven browsing could reshape the web, what it means for privacy and competition, and how product leaders should think about an increasingly autonomous browser landscape. (Virtual)
Polite Illusions: The Hidden Beliefs Sabotaging Your Professional Impact | St. Louis County Library
Delight in a focused workshop that reveals the hidden scripts that make unhelpful beliefs feel normal; attendees will examine how these patterns affect communication and responsibility, practice recognizing them in real-world scenarios, and leave with strategies to present themselves more effectively in business settings. (In-Person | Clark Family Branch)
Geospatial User Group | T-REX
Kickstart an afternoon of applied geospatial problem solving focused on number stations, learning how distributed software-defined radios and hyperbolic multilateration reveal transmitter positions, followed by a detailed case where mathematical geolocation contradicted prior media claims, with time for networking and refreshments. (In-Person | T-REX)
AI Workforce Readiness: How Businesses Can Build an AI-Ready Team | Confluence Tech Hub
Discover hands-on guidance for non-technical leaders to create AI-ready workforces, including methods to assess readiness, train staff without requiring programming expertise, govern experimentation responsibly, and scale from individual tool pilots to integrated, value-driven AI practices. (In-Person | OPO Startups)
Protection and Income Strategies for Small Businesses | Porscha Anderson
Experience a practical weekly seminar designed for employers and professionals, addressing contracts and business formation, trademark and brand protection, tax and legal support resources, employee benefits, and new income opportunities, with clear, applicable guidance from host and small business group specialist Porscha Anderson. (Virtual)
Creating Realistic Financial Projections for Your Small Business | SCORE
Be part of an interactive webinar focused on translating business concepts into credible financial forecasts, covering revenue modeling, expense planning, and sensitivity analysis while showing how projections support strategic choices and identify funding or operational needs. (Virtual)
June 18
Coffee Connections – AI Tools and Best Practices | SMPS St. Louis
Attend a casual, discussion-driven coffee session exploring how AI can streamline marketing and business development tasks; participants will exchange examples, responsible-use guidelines, and implementation tips while enjoying a member-first complimentary drink and the opportunity to earn one CPSM CEU. (In-Person | Coma Coffee)
Managing Reputation Amidst Truth Decay | Gartner
Examine how organizations protect and manage reputation in an era of truth decay, where misinformation, eroding trust in facts, and competing narratives complicate communications, as this Gartner webinar looks at the forces driving the trend and the strategies leaders can use to defend credibility and respond effectively. (Virtual)
Avoiding Costly Patent Battles: A Founder’s Guide to Risk Reduction | Gearhart Law
Revel in an entrepreneur-focused webinar that examines how patent disputes affect funding, launches, and partnerships, offering defensive and offensive strategies to reduce exposure, with a networking segment followed by a practical presentation from experienced IP counsel on protecting and monetizing innovations. (Virtual)
Beyond Diversity: Turning Multicultural Insights into Growth Strategy | AMA Saint Louis
Venture into conversations that connect cultural intelligence to business outcomes as speakers discuss multicultural research methods, community-centered listening, and the interplay between AI insights and human empathy, all presented during a networking session, lunch, and a focused panel aimed at marketing growth strategies. (In-Person | Oh London)
Working with a Multi-Generational Workforce | The Wedge
Appreciate the nuances of a multi-generational workforce through an interactive session that explores differences, communication preferences, and motivation tactics, delivering clear, practical approaches to strengthen cooperation, reduce friction, and increase engagement in a 90-minute, in-person learning format. (In-Person | The Wedge Innovation Center)
Responsible Data Sharing: Balancing Access, Privacy, and Trust | DATAVERSITY
Elevate your approach to privacy, ethics, and policy with targeted discussions and case examples that tackle the right-to-explanation, consent-aware sharing, and trust-building measures, providing frameworks and communication strategies to meet regulatory demands while maintaining stakeholder confidence and responsible innovation. (Virtual)
Online Tracking Technology Governance and Insights | Interactive Advertising Bureau
Discover a moderated session that examines how tracking technologies function across ad tech and AI, with expert presentations on risk management under CIPA and ECPA, compliance best practices, vendor governance, emerging regulatory trends, and approaches for building consumer trust while enabling responsible analytics. (Virtual)
Navigating Your Cash Flow | Justine PETERSEN
Be part of an interactive session designed to demystify business credit and cash flow management, offering clear action steps to establish creditworthiness, prevent common mistakes, optimize revenue timing, and structure expenses so your operations run smoother and your business remains resilient. (In-Person | Elevator St. Louis)
Builder Bootcamp: Agents | OpenAI Academy
Explore a step-by-step session that maps core agent concepts to a concrete Python implementation, demonstrating tools, instructions, handoffs, tracing, routing and guardrails while progressing from a single-agent workflow to patterns like agent-as-tool delegation and triage routing. (Virtual)
Cursor Automations | Cursor
Take part in a focused demo that outlines triggers and agent workflows, illustrates continuous background execution in cloud sandboxes with tool access, and demonstrates how teams review validated outputs such as pull requests, summaries, and alerts while setting up integrations and guardrails. (Virtual)
Building Smarter Content Workflows with AI: Risks, Realities, and Lessons Learned. | Martech
Kick off with an in-depth look at why loose workflows create unreviewed, inconsistently tagged AI output and how teams can rebuild processes using structured content, content models, and composable systems to produce reusable, channel-ready material while preserving speed and governance. (Virtual)
You’re Not Asking Enough of Your Merch | MarketingProfs
Connect with proven strategies for transforming merch into a revenue-driving tool as Michele Pytlinski outlines how to shift from awareness-focused swag to programs that reward loyalty, strengthen retention, and shape employee and customer behavior with scalable processes and clear decision questions. (Virtual)
Python for (Almost) Everything | PySTL
Admire a lineup of practitioner and researcher presentations that demonstrate Python’s breadth, from applying Python in cloud data engineering to enabling quantum hybrid computing and building observability and geospatial computer vision pipelines, all interspersed with networking and light refreshments. (In-Person | T-REX)
Founders Lounge Global | Powered by Metis
Gain hands-on insight during the weekly AI Learning Lab and networking meetups, where conversational sessions explore core AI concepts, system design, agentic workflows, and real deployment lessons while founders and engineers share knowledge and troubleshoot practical product challenges collaboratively. (In-Person | Spark Coworking)
How To Represent Yourself In Business Settings – Enhanced Upskilling Workshops | The Global Center for Cybersecurity
Unveil practical communication skills through guided practice and role-playing exercises, beginning with introductions from organizers and partners, followed by mentor-led feedback and coaching, ample peer networking, and a dinner setting that fosters relationship building and employer engagement. (In-Person | Cortex @ 20 S Sarah)
Innovators Hour: Speakers – Dennis & Matt Plummer, CoverCress & Saluna | Biogenerator
Hear from featured innovators Dennis and Matt Plummer of CoverCress and Saluna during BioGenerator’s Innovators Hour, a speaker session that spotlights the people building companies across the local bioscience and startup ecosystem, with time to learn from their experiences and connect with fellow founders and supporters. (In-Person | EDGE@BRDG Building)
Business Banking Workshop: Obtaining Business Credit | African Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis
Ignite your business growth as BMO leaders walk through credit-building steps, lending criteria, and practical approaches to access capital via their Zero to Business program, with opportunities for personalized questions, networking, and complimentary refreshments during the two-hour, in-person workshop. (In-Person | BMO Harris Bank Mortgage)
Hot Dogs & Hot Takes A Conversation with Steve Ewing | Elevator
Uncover real-world stories as Steve Ewing walks through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, offering lessons learned and community reflections; attendees will sample hot dogs and beverages, engage in Q&A, and network in an informal setting ideal for founders and creatives. (In-Person | Elevator St. Louis)
MAC Business Development Group Rooftop Happy Hour
Soak up panoramic rooftop views while mingling with local professionals during a two-and-a-half-hour in-person happy hour organized by MAC Business Development Group, featuring informal introductions, industry-focused conversation starters, and chances to cultivate meaningful business relationships over drinks. (In-Person | Missouri Athletic Club)
2026 Business After Hours + Non-profit connections – LiUNA | Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis
Embrace an engaging after-hours gathering featuring multiple nonprofit members sharing concise overviews of their initiatives, current needs, and volunteer pathways, then transition into casual networking to connect donors, volunteers, and professionals interested in collaborating, contributing, or exploring governance roles with community groups. (In-Person | LIUNA Event Center)
June 19
Juneteenth Festival | City of Dellwood
Celebrate Juneteenth with the City of Dellwood at the Dellwood Recreation Center, where the community gathers to honor the holiday with music, food, family activities, and local vendors in a welcoming, open-to-all outdoor setting. (In-Person | Dellwood Recreation Center)
St.Louis Official Juneteenth Festival Block Party | House of Soul
Marvel at a real block party experience filled with soulful performances, street vendors offering food and goods, interactive family activities, and a warm community vibe; attendance is free. (In-Person | Washington Ave)
3rd Annual Juneteenth “FREE – DOME” Celebration | SAINT LAAA FAB
Partake in an afternoon of uplifting performances, curated exhibits, and community showcases featuring local musicians, poets, and artists, paired with family activities, vendor markets, and informational booths that highlight history, resources, and the cultural significance of the occasion. (In-Person | Griot Museum of Black History)
No Bourbon Friday This Week!
Due to the Holiday, there is no Bourbon Friday this week (In-Person | Next Week in U City)
Join us on Meetup or Tiktok.
What are you celebrating or building this week? Share your thoughts in the comments! We’re committed to fostering an inclusive and thriving St. Louis Startup, Tech, and Marketing Ecosystem. For event submissions or important dates, reach out at [email protected].
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