May kicks off with a fresh slate of opportunities for St. Louis entrepreneurs, tech leaders, and marketing professionals, the week of May 4-10, 2026. Whether you’re seeking your next collaboration or looking to level up your expertise, this week delivers. Erik Lutenegger, our Founder, has compiled a curated list of events and opportunities that span networking, business strategy, skill development, and community fun.
ESO, Accelerator, and Funding Opportunities
Due May 4 // Most Influential Business Women Awards 2026 | St. Louis Business Journal
This recognition celebrates standout women shaping business and community impact across St. Louis. Selected leaders are honored for measurable career success, leadership, and influence, with winners featured in a major publication and recognized at a high-profile awards event. (Community Awards)
Due May 6 // Techstars Accelerators
A three-month, sector-agnostic accelerator is committed to advancing world-class startups from Japan and abroad, focused on emerging technologies across industries. Participants receive mentorship, funding, and access to a global network to scale their businesses. Applications are now open for Techstars Tokyo Accelerator. (Accelerator)
Due May 18 // Verizon Small Business Super Pitch
A three-month, sector-agnostic accelerator is committed to advancing world-class startups from Japan and abroad, focused on emerging technologies across industries. Participants receive mentorship, funding, and access to a global network to scale their businesses. Applications are now open for Techstars Tokyo Accelerator. (Accelerator)
Startup, Tech, and Marketing Events
May 4
Show Me the Money – Funding Strategies for Business Owners | DreamSpring / Economic Growth Business Incubator / Wells Fargo
Explore a practical panel where lenders and entrepreneurs share funding strategies, from traditional loans to creative financing. Hear a small business case study, learn what lenders look for, and gather actionable steps and expert tips to confidently secure capital and grow your business.
How to Get Your First 10 Customers Without a Marketing Team or Budget | Founder Institute
Gain a proven, zero-budget playbook as the speaker demonstrates how to identify overlooked customer pockets, convert conversations into commitments with concise outreach, de-risk ideas through validation sales, seed simple referral loops, and leverage AI to halve customer discovery time without sacrificing quality.
Game On: How Freelancers Can Win Contracts During the 2026 World Cup | Freelancers Union
Kickstart your approach to landing large-event work with clear strategies for identifying procurement opportunities, cultivating partnerships, and tailoring services to agency and producer requirements; the workshop includes portfolio strengthening, certification guidance, and collaboration tactics to enhance competitiveness for major contracts. (Virtual)
From First Meeting to Final Close: The Power of a Connected CRM | Carta
Master the entire deal lifecycle through a connected CRM, learning how to centralize relationship data from initial meetings through final close, eliminate workflow gaps between teams, and use unified pipeline visibility to move deals forward with greater speed and accuracy. (Virtual)
The Business of Food: Asian American Founders Spill the Tea | NY Public Library, Thomas Yoseloff Business Center
Dive into a live, moderator-led discussion featuring three Asian American entrepreneurs who recount launching and growing food brands, exploring topics like recipe development, retail partnerships, sustainable practices, and minority business challenges, while offering real-world strategies and insights for aspiring food founders during the online session. (Virtual)
Embracing Noise: How Data Corruption Can Make Models Smarter | PyData St. Louis
Discover an approachable, hands-on session that begins with pizza and networking, then explores why real-world data is noisy and how corruption can regularize models; attendees will see techniques like masking and label flipping, practical Python demos, and a Q&A-driven networking period. (In-Person | Spark Coworking)
Monday Wealth Management for Entrepreneurs | Urban League – Center for Entrepreneurship
Enhance your financial toolkit in a compact online session that covers startup funding basics, expense management, and growth-oriented financial planning, combining expert advice with actionable resources to help entrepreneurs prioritize financial health and readiness to scale. (Virtual)
May 5
National Small Business Week Virtual Summit | U.S. Small Business Administration
Connect with federal small business experts and cohosts America’s SBDC in a two-day virtual summit featuring live sessions, practical guidance, and interactive programming. Register to receive login credentials by email and access panels, resources, and networking opportunities on the event platform.
Building Your Brand Strategy | Nonprofit Marketers Network-STL
Participate in an in-person, activity-driven workshop led by a strategic communications expert, designed to help organizations craft impactful storytelling tools: key messages, audience definitions, and a straightforward cross-platform outreach plan to improve clarity and engagement. (In-Person | Network for Strong Communities)
AI for Marketing, Made Easy | CreativeMornings
Cherish an accessible walkthrough of AI in marketing that balances technical explanation with pragmatic advice: learn model limitations, discover everyday marketing tasks to delegate to AI, and receive a recording to rewatch while enjoying your favorite hot beverage. (Virtual)
Preparing Your Pitch Deck and Investment Memo | Techstars
Discover practical, step-by-step instructions on preparing compelling pitch decks and detailed investment memos, engage in an interactive session to craft and practice a crisp 30-second pitch, and observe live deck reviews where mentors give tailored, investor-focused critiques and improvements. (Virtual)
May 6
Best of Next ’26 | Google Cloud
Take part in interactive technical sessions that showcase modern cloud capabilities, combining guided demos, sample architectures, and troubleshooting tips to accelerate adoption and provide engineers with clear next steps to improve performance, reliability, and operational efficiency. (Virtual)
Redesigning your business for financial freedom and fulfilment | Enterprise Nation
Witness a concise, action-oriented webinar that blends strategy, marketing and mindset to help established micro and small business owners let go of start-up hustle, build aligned revenue streams, attract ideal customers, simplify tasks, and create sustainable freedom without sacrificing creativity. (Virtual)
MADE IN ST. LOUIS: How Great Businesses Are Built | St. Louis Small Business Monthly
Bask in an intimate conversation among successful entrepreneurs as they unpack beginnings, turning points, and lessons learned while building resilient companies. The session offers concrete guidance for business leaders and entrepreneurs, framed by an exhibit honoring centuries of local innovation. (In-Person | Missouri History Museum)
Coffee Connections – Client Experience in the A/E/C Industry | SMPS St. Louis
Transform routine networking into a focused exchange on client experience, where attendees collaborate to move beyond projects to partnerships, refine touchpoints and feedback practices to improve firm-wide consistency, enjoy a first drink on the house, and earn one CPSM CEU while connecting with peers. (In-Person | June’s Breakfast + Patio)
PitchSTL | Presenters: Warm Pages & BMS Services
Engage with a supportive community each Wednesday morning for fast-pitch networking: presenters deliver concise decks (optional), receive audience-driven feedback, and enjoy ample time to build connections, discover services, and explore sponsorship and volunteer opportunities to help scale early-stage ventures. (In-Person | Northside Economic Empowerment Center)
How Technology and Services Leaders Can Overcome the AI Value Crisis | Gartner
Examine the gap between AI investment and measurable returns using research-backed frameworks, with practical guidance for technology and services leaders to demonstrate business value, prioritize high-impact use cases, and build accountability structures to translate AI initiatives into clear results. (Virtual)
Why Global Teams Say Yes (and Still Miss Deadlines) | Talaera
Embrace a hands-on presentation that examines why misunderstandings occur in international teams, highlights cultural expectations around disagreement and feedback, and offers easy-to-apply methods to promote balanced participation, clearer decision-making, and earlier problem-solving in cross-border projects. (Virtual)
The Four Gaps Between Demo Agents and Production Systems | DataCamp
Identify the recurring obstacles that prevent AI agent demos from succeeding in real production environments, and provide technical guidance on closing gaps in reliability, observability, integration, and scale that engineering teams must address before agents can serve actual users. (Virtual)
Precision Leadership: Lead Your Team to Deliver Your Strategic Plan | Enterprise University
Absorb targeted, 90-minute training that combines concise instruction and real-world insights to equip attendees with practical frameworks, hands-on tips, and immediate next steps for enhancing leadership, financial understanding, and operational effectiveness to accelerate business or career momentum. (Virtual)
Morning Hatch: The 5 Financial Truths Every Startup Founder Needs to Know | T-REX
Start your Wednesday morning at T-REX with a focused founder breakfast covering five financial truths every startup founder should understand, from cash flow management and runway planning to fundraising preparation, with practical takeaways and time to network with the local startup community. (In-Person | T-REX)
The Automation Drift and How to Correct Course | Search Engine Land
Kick off a focused learning session where Ameet uses a real-world 417% spike to unpack the mechanics of automation drift—signal, query, inventory, creative—illustrating practical diagnostics, remediation tactics, and input-layer controls, with guidance on integrating human oversight into automated accounts. (Virtual)
AEO as a growth channel | Webflow
Venture into a live Q&A with Graphite’s CEO to learn how Answer Engine Optimization can become a dependable growth lever, what techniques are currently getting brands cited in LLMs, and how to evaluate team priorities for maximizing AI search visibility and ROI. (Virtual)
AI-Powered ABM That Targets Accounts Ready to Buy | American Marketing Association
Learn how to transform ABM from guesswork into measurable pipeline growth by using intent-backed account selection, timing triggers for campaigns or sales escalation, topic-driven messaging, and an attribution-ready data strategy that restores trust between marketing and sales and boosts campaign ROI. (Virtual)
AI Demo Day Q2 | Data Science Connect
Elevate your perspective with an executive-focused webinar showcasing Generative AI in visual data, combining demo-driven examples, real application case studies, and expert forecasts to clarify implementation trade-offs, measurable benefits, and the roadmap for future computer vision capabilities. (Virtual)
Greater St. Louis Region AI Forum & Networking Event | NIAX
Embark on a concise, community-driven AI forum offering general networking before and after a focused Q&A. The format encourages business-focused dialogue, problem-solving, and resource sharing among regional practitioners, helping attendees leave with actionable ideas and new contacts. (In-Person | The Wine Garden)
Big Data Bioinformatics in a Cancer Genomics Research Lab | St. Louis Big Data I.D.E.A.
Connect over pizza before a talk on how Wash U translates genome-scale research into robust bioinformatics pipelines for research and clinical settings, with a deep dive into spatial transcriptomics, data publication practices, and techniques for creating AI-ready biomedical datasets led by an experienced lab instructor. (In-Person | CIC St. Louis – CET)
Atomicdust’s 25th Anniversary Party
Celebrate a 25-year milestone with an in-person gathering filled with food, an open bar, fresh swag, and a few surprises. The evening brings together clients, friends, family, competitors, and former interns for a relaxed toast to resilience, creativity, and community. (In-Person | Atomicdust)
The Legacy Lab Presents: The Legacy Coalition Overview | The 89th Collective
Gain insight into a mission-driven coalition where business growth, community connection, and visibility work together. The session outlines opportunities to access resources, participate in impactful events, and build within a supportive ecosystem focused on sustainable success and meaningful influence. (Virtual)
May 7
May 2026 Coffee Club | American Marketing Association – St. Louis
Indulge in a relaxed networking session centered on quality coffee and connection, where marketers exchange ideas, learn from peers, and deepen local ties. Expect a welcoming atmosphere, house-roasted flavors, light bites, and a useful Coffee Passport to guide future meetups. (In-Person | Kentzo Koffee Cafe)
AI NativeDev and the Next Evolution of DevOps | Techstrong
Bask in a remote event exploring AI-native development, where attendees watch streamed presentations, review practical demonstrations, and take part in live exchanges; online registration is facilitated by Cvent to provide access, session details, and supporting materials for participants. (Virtual)
Claude for Financial Services: Putting Agents to Work | Anthropic
Transform team productivity by watching Claude agents execute representative financial workflows end to end, then learn how to scope an agent to a role, wire it into your data and tools, and apply deployment patterns, controls, and oversight to get it into daily use fast. (Virtual)
Build Real-Time AI Agents with Context Engineering on Google Cloud | ODSC AI
Ignite your approach to real-time AI by watching demonstrations of unifying Confluent streaming with Google Cloud serving via MCP and Vertex AI, learning concrete patterns to preserve data quality and deliver the low-latency context agents need to act autonomously. (Virtual)
Debt Management 101: A Roadmap to Zero | Freelancers Union
Unveil straightforward methods to tackle credit cards, student loans, and other balances in a supportive workshop that emphasizes realistic planning for fluctuating income. The coach offers prioritization frameworks, common-pitfall avoidance strategies, and guidance for crafting a personalized payoff plan that reduces stress and reliance on borrowing. (Virtual)
Codex for everyday work: Take ambitious ideas from start to finish | OpenAI Academy
Unite with OpenAI educators to learn concrete ways Codex can accelerate daily work: turning notes and data into reproducible outputs, creating dashboards, and automating repeatable processes. The session covers handoff and review techniques, features a live Daily Work Brief demo, and shares resources. (Virtual)
How to Improve AI Visibility With Press Releases and Syndicated Articles | MarketingProfs
Dive into an instructional session that reveals how AI models cite trusted sources rather than rank pages, teaching participants to optimize press releases, leverage syndicated content, analyze citation data, and use earned media and backlinks to elevate generative search presence. (Virtual)
Founders Lounge Global
Partake in an ongoing, conversational workshop series that pairs shared learning with applied insight, covering system design, workflow integration, and practical model behavior, creating space for builders at all levels to ask questions, collaborate, and grow their AI capabilities together. (In-Person | Spark Coworking St. Louis)
Business Banking Workshop: Obtaining Business Credit | African Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis
Kickstart your business credit journey in this two-hour, in-person workshop led by BMO banking experts who explain the Zero to Business program, capital access strategies, practical steps to build credit, and available resources. Light refreshments and ample parking will be provided for attendees. (In-Person | BMO Harris Bank Mortgage)
29th Annual What’s Right with the Region Awards | Focus St. Louis
Appreciate a curated awards program honoring organizations and individuals driving positive regional impact, preceded by a social reception for networking. Tickets cover access to both sessions, free onsite parking, refreshments, and support the organization’s leadership and civic education mission. (In-Person | Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis)
Build & Protect: Small Business Protection & Opportunity Overview | Porscha Anderson
Engage with expert-led instruction and peer discussion in a concise, one-hour session that demystifies contracts, trademark processes, and tax options while offering actionable ideas for monetizing skills, licensing products, or launching complementary services with practical next steps to implement. (In-Person | Cortex @ 20 S. Sarah)
May 8
PlayDays: AI Learning and Play | Filament
Embark on a practical learning journey featuring interactive stations, facilitator-led mini-lessons, and collaborative play sessions where participants test AI tools, build simple applications, solve playful challenges, and develop an intuitive understanding of how intelligent systems can be used creatively. (In-Person | Filament)
Mass Spectrometry Seminar – Applications of Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Mass Spectrometers | ThermoFisher Scientific
Discover the latest applications of Thermo Scientific Orbitrap mass spectrometers in this in-person seminar, where Thermo Fisher specialists demonstrate analytical capabilities, share research applications across proteomics and small-molecule analysis, and connect attendees with the local mass spectrometry community. (In-Person | The Langenberg Theater)
Bourbon Friday | Sponsored by Tenacity
Applaud an inclusive, weekly gathering that pairs curated bourbon tastings with networking among entrepreneurs and changemakers, fostering honest dialogue about business challenges and wins. The three-hour event includes guidance on transit, nearby bus and rail access, and free parking. (In-Person | Techartista UCity)
May 9
Kre8 Spaces 5-Year Anniversary Gala & Fundraiser : HONORS: An Evening Honoring Art & Impact
Revel in a night designed to celebrate five years of growth through structured community-building: expect awards presentations, artistic showcases across the venue’s expansive space, donor recognition moments, sponsorship visibility, and focused appeals supporting recovery efforts for affected residents. (In-Person | KRE8 Spaces)
May 10
A Mother’s Day Celebration – Bouquets, Bubbles + Brunch | Pour Decisions STL
Elevate Mother’s Day with an intimate two-hour brunch that blends hands-on floral arranging with a champagne-bottle vase, a fully stocked waffle bar, savory sides and fruit, and bottomless bubbly options, welcoming all mother-identities to relax, create, and connect. (In-Person | Pour Decisions STL)
Join us on Meetup or Tiktok.
Tell us what’s on your plate this week, we’d love to hear it! Your ideas and feedback help us strengthen the St. Louis Startup, Tech, and Marketing Ecosystem. Have an event or deadline you’d like us to highlight? Drop us a line 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!