Launching the company in St. Louis was possible, Pernikoff says, because “there was a little bit of a tech buzz happening” thanks to local startup resources like Capital Innovators, Cultivation Capital and T-Rex. The brothers, who are native St. Louisans, had spent several years in Silicon Valley helping to build a tech startup; compared to what they’d encountered there, they’ve found the entrepreneurial support system in St. Louis refreshingly different.
“There were more people [here] interested in investing and working with us because we were, from a music-tech standpoint, helping put St. Louis on the map. Also, it was just a different mentality. People in St. Louis want to prop St. Louis up, right?” Pernikoff says. “Of course, investors are always looking for their return, but there were a lot of people in the investment community here who care about a bigger picture.”