Startup Weekend winners could have a billion-dollar solution for struggling taxpayers

Organizers of Missouri Startup Weekend predicted this year’s winner could be poised to be the competition’s next billion-dollar alumni.

Solvtax presented the weekend’s winning pitch: a solution for avoiding financial implications through better business and personal property tax management.

The idea struck a chord with entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs in both the audience and judge’s panel — earning the first-place prize of $15,000 and an opportunity for $150,000-plus in investment resources.

The Solvtax team’s startup idea recognizes the limited resources and dwindling assistance available for small to mid-sized businesses, who face time-consuming manual financial entries and costly misinterpretation of tax laws. 

“Our product supports companies that have a controller or accounting professional, who only wear their tax hat two days a year,” said David Beach, Solvtax team lead. 

Alongside Beach were Bryan Edelman, Darren Alexander, Jeffrey Appiagyei, Mahdi Jadaliha, and Scott Henderson, along with mentor Steve Powell.  

Missouri Startup Weekend’s panel of judges were not only impressed by the idea but the scalability of the product that could help service $650 billion in annual business spend. 

“It was clear the Solvtax team was addressing a real need that they knew based on experience and had a clear vision of what they wanted to build,” said Brent Beshore, CEO and founder of Permanent Equity and judge for this year’s competition. “We couldn’t be more excited to watch their progress and root them on.” 

Fynch Interactive, led by Noah Fouts and Lucas Crow, pitches during Missouri Startup Weekend; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

In juxtaposition to the winner’s technical finance product, second-place finisher and $3,000 cash prize winner, Music Den, and third place, $1,000 recipient, Fynch Interactive, aim to fill a gap in a more creative space. Runners up also proudly represented an up-and-coming demographic of student entrepreneurs with the majority of team members currently enrolled at the University of Missouri.

Kiley Grimes, Music Den, pitches during Missouri Startup Weekend; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

The goal of Music Den, led by Kiley Grimes, is to provide practice and collaboration spaces, which will revolutionize a currently fragmented and broken music community. Fynch Interactive, led by Noah Fouts and Lucas Crow, aims to harness an underserved demographic within the Roblox gaming platform through higher-quality game production. 

Missouri Startup Weekend, co-chaired by Brett Calhoun, Sas Cairnes, and Maria Heyen, is in its 12th year and was hosted April 5-7 in Columbia. The weekend offers a valuable opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to participate in a fast-paced, pitch-style competition with mentoring from entrepreneurs, who have successfully built billion-dollar companies.

Click here for more background on Missouri Startup Weekend.

This year’s event was a reunion for past Missouri Startup Weekend participants to be involved from a different perspective. Willy and Jabbok Schlacks, 2014 winners, participated as mentors and hosts of the event at EquipmentShare headquarters in conjunction with Redbud VC. Beshore was part of the original Missouri Startup Weekend team (formerly Columbia Startup Weekend). Wade Foster, previous judge and Missouri Startup Weekend winner in 2011 with Zapier, returned this year as a mentor and continued his title sponsorship for the third year in a row.

“The connectivity and community of Missouri Startup Weekend runs deep,” said Nick Jones, a vice president at Silicon Valley Bank and another Missouri Startup Weekend alum, who competed as a University of Missouri student on the same team as Beach. “The curation of entrepreneurial minds is something that is needed in the innovation economy, and Missouri Startup Weekend is providing exactly that.”

The weekend began with more than 60 teams giving their 60-second pitches on Friday evening to a room of participant voters. The weekend wrapped when 10 teams presented their final pitch to impress a panel of five judges for a $15,000 cash prize and chance at more than $150,000 of investment resources, supported by Redbud VC, Transitions Law Group, Heist Collective, and Relevance. 

The event was made possible this year by additional sponsorships from Zapier, The Arcade District, MU Health Care, Paytient, Veterans United Home Loans, Missouri Technology Corporation, Alpha Real Estate, DevStride, Elemental Enzymes, SVB, Permanent Equity, Tech STL, Cultivation Capital, Healium, WIN, Centennial Investors, Summersalt, and Hasura. 

Missouri Startup Weekend has a proven track record of success with past participants launching game-changing ventures like Noonlight, and both Zapier and EquipmentShare securing a spot on Y Combinator’s Top 25 Investments list, organizers said, noting these successes have solidified the event’s reputation as a catalyst for Missouri’s next unicorns.