St. Joseph debuts ‘The Launch Pad,’ a new hub for entrepreneurs and innovation

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Faced with a sea of doubters in the challenging early stages of launching his own business years ago, local entrepreneur Brian Juhl remembers the profound impact of one man's belief in his vision, and with that, his journey to success.

"When I started my business, everybody said I was crazy. But one guy, one successful local entrepreneur said, 'No, that's a good idea. You can do this.'" Juhl, a longtime St. Joseph resident and self-taught software engineer, said. "It changed my life."

Now, as Juhl prepares to headquarter his rapidly-growing software company, called AICE, from a loose network of working spaces to St. Joseph's new-age 7,000-square-foot co-working space, called The Launch Pad, he's eager to see it provide career-altering support for fledgling companies like he once received.

Launched this week in the first floor space of Mosaic's Downtown parking/office building at 801 Felix St., The Launch Pad aims to provide entrepreneurs with a range of tech-powered offices and conference spaces, technology and mentorship opportunities to grow, collaborate and realize their business dream.

"We have just over ten employees, maybe more now, but we have worked nomadically in coffee shops. That's where we would always link up and and it gets old," he said. "I have at least two employees who will be moving to St. Joe now to occupy space here at The Launch Pad. Having a home base is so important."

Developing physical infrastructure for a business is an early challenge that many young and rural entrepreneurs face.

Despite AICE not having a centralized physical space until now, Juhl was able to develop the AI-powered software company that provides digital tools to help businesses get off the ground, integrating industry-leading programs like Canva and Zoom to provide marketing, content management, interactive videos and valuable analytics, among other services.

With upwards of 25,000 AICE accounts created to date -- both on web browsers and mobile apps -- the program has taken off, including high ratings on both the Apple Store (5 out of 5) and Google Play (4.8 out of 5).

“As an entrepreneur you’re doing so many different things. So our software is designed to help those who are in that phase. I got started building online businesses when I was in high school and this came out of all of the tools I wished I had,” Juhl, a graduate of St. Joseph Christian, said. "We serve insurance, real estate, basically anything where someone is selling products."

The Launch Pad is the result of key collaborative efforts between the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, Mosaic Life Care and groups like the Show-Me Network and Missouri Technology Corporation, which has provided a three-year grant to develop and manage the space.

Setting up not far from Juhl in The Launch Pad is local businessman Lute Atieh, co-founder of Fly-Tech Pilot Academy, Parkway Distillery and a business development consultant who plans to help mentor entrepreneurs at the facility, a critical aspect of the project.

As part of The Launch Pad's extensive programming schedule, vital for business growth among young entrepreneurs, the facility will host 20-plus community and business events annually, offer more than 100 mentorship hours and support the creation or retention of at least 10 local jobs each year.

"We've really needed this for a long time. It's not just a co-working space so you can work anywhere. This is the community, the events, the training," Atieh said. “The very first one we're doing in December is basically the intro to vibe coding, whether you have an idea or a business or you work in a business, you can come learn how to code using AI without any coding experience."

Whether it's critical tech-based fields like cybersecurity, AI or non-tech startups, The Launch Pad is built with enough space to support close to 50 start-ups, including fulltime space or occasion usage of meeting and conference space for entrepreneurs.

Atieh and Juhl both agree the center will help foster innovation by providing technology and bringing together motivated and like-minded innovators -- some with completely different focuses -- into a collaborative space where ideas can be shared and developed.

"For some it could just be connecting them to the right people. Somebody's here and they need an e-commerce website. Great. Who do we have as the tenant here? Oh. Website guy introduction. It makes it efficient," Atieh said.

With AICE moving fulltime to the Launch Pad, the result has been new business activity and events coming to St. Joseph as opposed to other locations they initially contemplated like Kansas City, a trend they hope will continue.

In a challenging career field where many hardworking hours are spent alone, the space does more than help nurture ideas or concepts into success, it promotes positive culture-building as well.

“Being around Lute, when we would discuss things it would give me ideas in my own business. So how awesome is that for any other entrepreneur out there who's feeling isolated, now I have a place to go and pick the brains of people who've done it successfully," Juhl said. "There's so many entrepreneurs in this town that are working near each other but don't know what each other's working on."

Interested users can now tour The Launch Pad, explore workspace options and connect with staff about
membership packages. A new podcast studio is also being developed, a near-vital component of companies today with the growing popularity of podcasts worldwide.

After this week's soft opening, a grand opening ceremony is scheduled to occur in January according to Chamber CEO Natalie Hawn.

Hawn is eager see the Launch Pad expand its outreach to regional resources to help support up-and-coming businesses as well.

"December is kind of when we get our feet underneath us. And then we really plan a hard launch in January. We'll release kind of a six month plan for programing," she said. "I've had mentors in my career and I think small businesses, a lot of times, the ones that are successful are the ones that have access to resources, people and investors that believe in their dream."

Those interested in learning more can contact Kristie Arthur by email at arthur@saintjoseph.com, by phone at (816) 364-4113 or submit an interest form at stjlaunchpad.com.