Codefi Announces Multi-State Ozarks Startup Weekend to be hosted in Springfield, Missouri

March 27, 2024

Today, Codefi announced that after a 5-year hiatus, a startup weekend event is coming back to Springfield, and it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

During its sponsored presentation and social event at the Springfield Tech Council’s Squared conference that included nearly 500 attendees, Codefi announced it is collaborating with other regional and statewide partners specializing in tech-based economic development, to create and host Ozarks Startup Weekend, June 21-23 in Springfield, Missouri.

The new 54-hour event is where designers, developers, marketers, and startup supporters work together to develop a tech business idea and compete for a chance to win significant monetary investment and support to get their startup off the ground. Other events have been hosted in southern Missouri in the past, and a similar event is being hosted annually in Columbia, but the Ozarks Startup Weekend promises to be the biggest ever in our region:

• Participants from across southern MO, northwest AR, northeast OK, and southeast KS
• $15,000 in cash prize money
• Potential $100,000 investment
• Admission into Codefi’s pipeline programs for one year
• Coaching, office, legal, branding, and customer acquisition services.

Codefi and its curated group of experienced tech founders will deliver the startup weekend program with support from local sponsors. Participants from the event will also be eligible to enter the pipeline of programs¹ Codefi announced last year, the most comprehensive early-stage resources available in Missouri, to receive the expertise and resources to put their company on a path to success.

According to the Show-Me-Jobs² report recently released by UMKC’s Sourcelink, jobs created by startups across Missouri accounted for about 81% of all new jobs (185,479) and 7% of the total employment in Missouri from 2018 to 2022. The report also indicated that high-tech companies, which tend to grow more rapidly, paid average wages of over $97,000 during that period, a whopping 90% higher than the $51,000 average paid by all other establishments, during that period.

Likewise, in a recent study and publication commissioned by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce,³ researchers found the tech industry accounts for almost 6 percent of Missouri’s employment and 10 percent of the gross state product - just 2 percent less than the manufacturing industry.

“We are excited to leverage our expertise and resources to collaborate with partners in the region to deliver this and other events we will be announcing soon, that will help increase the pipeline of successful tech startups in our region. The more new companies there are to create high-quality new jobs, the more talent we can recruit, develop, and support across the region,” said Dr. James Stapleton, Codefi’s co-founder and seasoned tech startup coach. “We also pride ourselves on being great collaborators and look forward to announcing more details soon with our partners.”

Ozarks Startup Weekend will be free to participants and held June 21-23, 2024 in Springfield. Waitlist registration and further details available at www.codefiworks.com/startupweekend.⁴

About Codefi

Codefi⁵ is a nationally recognized tech-based development non-profit organization that specializes in deploying an innovation ecosystem by building and attracting software-focused companies, educating and training tech talent and founders, and expanding the tech economy to improve the quality of lives, companies, and communities. On the heels of its collaboration with the efactory⁶ at Missouri State University and the creation of the Southern Missouri Innovation Network,⁷ Codefi announced its expansion to Springfield last year,⁸ including the relocation of its co-founder and President/CEO, Dr. Stapleton.