I’m excited to introduce the new publishing team: Jonathan Allen and Cooper Pickett, the co-founders of Longneck & Thunderfoot, LLC.

As of today, Jonathan will serve as EQ’s Publisher and Editor in Chief, running the day-to-day of EQSTL.com and its social media. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be working with Jonathan and Cooper to transition the company’s operations over to their team.

As I said in my post this morning bidding you a fond farewell, I know I am leaving you in the best possible hands. Jonathan, I’ll let you take it from here!

Kelly

 

Thanks for the intro Kelly! And a big hello to all of you, the readers out there of EQ!

Cooper, myself, and all of the editorial and analytics team at Longneck & Thunderfoot, are mighty proud to take the reins on a publication as much beloved as EQ.

Kelly has built a stellar publication, both in print and online, which has become the go-to-resource for every startup in St. Louis. EQ is also a beacon for this city to attract budding entrepreneurs from around the world. From hyperlocal guides on funding your new venture to putting your startup through an accelerator program or finding excellent co-working spaces, EQ is home to incredible resources for local investors and global entrepreneurs alike. And through Twitter and Facebook, EQ is also home to a vocal entrepreneurship community that is always happy to help and always rooting for local talent.

As startup founders who have benefited from EQ’s commitment to orienting entrants into the St. Louis’ startup ecosystem, we fully intend to expand on this role. Stay tuned to EQ for continued online coverage of the latest happenings in the region, Q&As with startup founders, company spotlights, community features and – my personal favorite – the “Voices” section. There is so much going on here already, that our work will be cut out for us to just keep up!

In the first few months, we’ll also be experimenting with new digital storytelling strategies on the EQ website. That’s a topic L&T has been exploring extensively at our events in NYC and through panel discussions with folks from Instagram, Story Worldwide, Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

While our initial focus will be on digital platforms, we do plan to maintain publishing of EQ’s yellow, digest-sized print magazine to offer a thoughtful “lean-back” experience for readers who want to engage with the discussions, organizations, districts and personalities that make up the innovation community. Expect the next issue sometime in Q4 2017 or Q1 2018.

On a personal and professional level, I–along with the entire L&T editorial team–am excited by the possibility of multi-format strategies to powerfully convey the entrepreneurial spirit of St. Louis, both locally and globally.

Beyond writing, EQ’s next immediate priority will be to start hosting regular events in the region. Earlier this year, L&T tested out bringing our popular NYC meetup, Startup Socials, to St. Louis for the first time, and I’m glad to say that the happy hour and panel discussion format was really well received. Maybe it was the free wine, beer and Imo’s pizza talking, but over 40 attendees said they’d like to see us host another discussion soon. So, look out for an invite to an EQ happy hour in the coming months!

Jonathan

(For more information, check out the press release or feel free to reach out directly to me at: [email protected].)