THE BEST BUSINESS Schools For Entrepreneurship
IN THE CENTRAL WEST END NEIGHBORHOOD of St. Louis, an IKEA rests in the shadows of massive grain towers. The massive blue-and-yellow big box store marks the eastern edge of the Cortex district and provides a sharp visual reminder of the entrepreneurial renaissance happening in a city once decimated by the rise of suburbia and the fall of manufacturing. “There is no noncoastal city that has an innovation and entrepreneurship community of this scale,” says Henry (Hank) Webber as he walks through the 203-acre district.
Webber is the executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer at Washington University in St. Louis. He was brought here in 2008 from the University of Chicago by Washington University’s former chancellor, Mark Wrighton, to build Cortex and, essentially, revitalize a once-booming city.
So far, he’s done just that. Since 2002, Cortex has grown to include hundreds of thousands of square feet of coworking space and offices. It is home to more than 350 large and small businesses, about a half-dozen accelerators, some 4,500 jobs, award-winning restaurants, and, soon, a hotel space and apartment complex.
When it comes to the startup ecosystem in the U.S., entrepreneurial hubs on the coasts have grabbed most of the attention. But middle-of-the-country outposts have been emerging. Schools like Washington University and cities like St. Louis have been doing their Midwest thing and quietly keeping pace with the coastal entrepreneurial pack. In some cases, these tucked-away startup-rich communities are proving that location is
