Nido Qubein: Why Immigrants Become Millionaires

How post-industrial St. Louis made itself a startup hotbed

St. Louis has become a startup mecca, and a good place for recent college graduates to find work, or even follow their dream and create their own venture. There are tons of support resources, a favorable business climate, lots of shared spaces to choose from, and a positive vibe from many quarters. Having been a resident of the city for the last seven years, I have personally seen this evolution and am indeed part of the action myself. So why St. Louis and why now? It has to do with money, middle management, mentoring, brains and bandwidth.

Let's look at the stats. Earlier this year, Dice named St. Louis the fastest growing city when it comes to technology jobs posted on Dice. Job postings grew 25% and the average tech salaries were up 13% to $81,245. And according to Dice, Missouri's tech employment beat out Texas, New York and Washington. St. Louis Community College's annual workforce report is also noteworthy in its praise for IT jobs.

First there is money. Over the past several years, entrepreneurs have seen multiple ways to get grants or investments in their companies. Jay DeLong, the Vice President for New Venture & Capital Formation for the Regional Chamber in St. Louis has this video showing the 10 ways to raise $50k for your startup, including links to venture capitalists and business plan competitions. His video is nicely outdated, and new VC firms are being added to that list. Last month, Jim McKelvey, who was one of the co-founders of mobile payments company Square, put together the new VC firm SixThirty.

Matt Menietti is a Venture Partner with SixThirty (the name refers to the height and width of the iconic Gateway Arch.) and he told me, "We are another organization to the rich ecosystem in St. Louis but we are just focused on financial service tech startups." Their first program starts next month and will provide $100,000 investments, requiring each beneficiary to move to St. Louis for a four month program.

Some of these organizations such as Arch Angels have stepped up their game. When I first came to town, the Angels made one or two yearly equity investments and had a few dozen partners. Now they have merged with another venture capital group that was known as FinServe Tech Angels and award dozens of grants per year. Kyle Welborn, who ran FinServe and is now a partner at Cultivation Capital, another St. Louis-based VC firm, told me "With accelerators, business plan competitions, venture funds and angel groups, local companies are raising enough money to get started and grow."

I mentioned middle management for a reason, but not why you think. Over the past decade, St. Louis has been losing headquarters of Fortune 100 companies to other locations. Our iconic Budweiser is now part of an international beer company as one notable merger or acquisition. These moves involve shedding a lot of middle management, who in turn go into startup mode. Many of them have created new ventures and have been early recipients of Arch Grants and other funding sources.

Some ventures have gotten big enough to require their own middle managers. McKelvey's Square continues to have a small development group in town, and Riot Games development team has more than 30 people in the region.

Mentoring is another big factor. If you are going to start up a company from scratch, it helps to have folks you can call and get guidance from. And in St. Louis, there are now so many IT-related mentoring opportunities it is hard to keep track of all of them. The longest-running IT-specific program is the IT Entrepreneur Network (ITEN), which was founded in 2008 and now has 70 mentors advising more than 200 startup companies. ITEN has various programs including its Mock Angel preparatory session for those ventures that are ready to pitch to VCs and another program to help hone business plans. All of its mentors volunteer their time and take no equity position in the ventures. ITEN has more than a dozen job openings on their website, and you can see some of them below here. (Disclosure: I am a mentor at ITEN.)

How to Get Free Money – These 17 Companies Will Give You $1,820.25

1. Look at Your Budget on PersonalCapital.com – FREE $10.00 PersonalCapital.com, a portfolio management site, will give you $10 just to open a free account! For those of you who aren’t familiar with PC, their site reminds me a lot of Mint.com. Basically, you input your account information and then their website helps you track your investments, credit card balances and changes to your checking/savings accounts. 

The layout is pretty cool too – a number of full-color charts & graphs lets you easily visualize all of your financial accounts at once. Here’s how to grab the $10… 1. Sign up for PersonalCapital.com using my referral link. The bonus is paid out via Paypal, so my advice is to signup for Personal Capital using your Paypal email address. 3. Add your financial account(s) to your Personal Capital dashboard. You must link at least one account in order to get the bonus. 4. Wait 30 days. Unfortunately, this bonus takes up to a month to pay out, but it’s free money so can I really complain? **You must be a legal resident of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia and 18 years or older in order to claim the bonus** Read more about it here: “Free $10 for Signing Up at Personal Capital”   

  2.  Trade Stocks at MotifInvesting.com – FREE $100.25 Motif Investing is unique among online brokers, because instead of picking individual stocks, you invest in a cluster of stocks (usually 20 to 30) from a similar field.  Sort of like a mutual fund, but the motifs range from Clean Energy, to Republican Companies, to Healthy and Tasty, to Obamacare.  Basically any interest you have or trend you’d like to invest in can be found on Motif… Even, better they’re giving away a ton of cash right now. If you open a new account and make one trade, you’ll earn $50. Make 3 trades, and you’ll earn $75. Make 5 trades, and you’ll earn $150! Now Motif charges $9.95 for each trade you make, so after making 5 trades, you’ll still be netting $100.25 in extra cash.  That’s like getting all of your transaction fees free AND earning $100 extra.  Sweet! Signup here - Free $150 Motif Promotion. Read more about it here: “How to Make $100 This Week with Motif Investing”  

 3. Download the Mobile Expressions App on Your Smartphone – FREE $15.00 MobileXpression is a research company that studies internet trends and reports to their clients about the popularity of different mobile phone websites. They are currently looking for a few thousand cell phone users to share some of the websites they are browsing on their mobile devices. All of the sharing is done with a special software that is installed on your phone and it doesn’t require any real work from you. Plus, they’ll give you a free $15 just to give it a try. Even better, you can also uninstall the software at any time if you decide you no longer want to participate. How it works… 1. Sign up at MobileXpressions here – You’ll need to share a little bit of information about your demographic which is similar to signing up as a Nielsen household. You’ll also need to tell them what kind of cell phone you have, because their software is only compatible with certain types of phones. 2. Download their software – It seems to be pretty easy and it runs in the background of your phone just like any other cell phone app. The site says it will have no affect on your mobile phone performance. 3. Send your data – This step doesn’t really require any work from you as the software automatically send the relevant data to MobileXpression. They don’t monitor your phone calls or personal information but they do check out the web pages you view, the links you access, and the usage times for certain device activities (e.g., text messaging, call lengths, and web browsing). 4. Collect your rewards – MobileXpressions will send you a $15 Visa gift card just for signing up and downloading the software. They also reward members with weekly contests and will have a drawing for $100,000 jackpot at the end of the year. Read more about it here: “Get Paid $15 to Share Your Favorite Website”  

 4. Try Banking at Capital One 360 – FREE $50.00 About a year ago, Capital One took over ING Direct and started offering free online checking accounts. What’s even cooler is that they’ll give you $50 just to open one. I’ve already got a checking account that I’m pretty happy with, but I don’t mind opening a second one for some free cash. Here’s how to do it: 1. Open a free checking account with Capital One 360. 2. There’s no minimum deposit with this account, but you’ve got to make at least 3 purchases with your Capital One 360 debit card during the first 45 days of opening the account. 3. On the 50th day, Capital One 360 will deposit a free $50 in your account. Sweet! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Capital One 360, they are a pretty popular virtual bank that gives spectacular interest rates. It’s completely free to open and maintain an account with Capital One 360. Go claim your $50 and take yourself out to lunch. Read more about it here: “Free Money Alert: Get $50 from Capital One 360” 

 5. Open a Netspend.com Account – FREE $20.00 This is another easy $20 just for requesting a prepaid, reloadable card from Netspend. I’ve tested this one and over 200 hundred readers have cashed in on this, so you know it’s a good one. 1. Click HERE and ”Open a NetSpend account” for FREE. 2. You will receive your NetSpend “Visa” Debit card within 10 business days. Mine made it here in 4 days. 3. Once you receive the card, simply log into NetSpend and activate it. 4. In order to get the FREE $20, you’ll need to load the card with a minimum of $40.00 using PayPal, a bank account or one of the other many options. 5. Once you load the $40.00, NetSpend will add $20.00 to your available balance on the card. I confirmed this myself with my own card. 6. Go to the ATM and withdraw the $60.00 total from your card or spend the funds at your local store, online, or wherever you can use a credit card. Yes, if you withdraw the money via ATM or cash back, you’ll be hit with the $2.00 fee for a PIN transaction or a $2.50 ATM Fee (would only be $17.50 – $18.00 bonus in this case). But, you can avoid the fee by ACH transferring it for free back to your bank Read more it here: “Free $20 Cash for Signing Up at Netspend”  

 6. Do Your Shopping via Ebates.com – FREE $10.00 The folks over at Ebates.com, the cash-back shopping site, are giving away $10 gift cards when you sign-up as a new member. You can choose either a $10 Target, Walmart, Macy’s, or Kohl’s gift card. You need to make a $25 purchase at any of the stores on their shopping list in order to qualify for the free gift card. I certainly don’t recommend spending $25 just to get a $10 gift card, but if you have plans to buy something online anyway, I would definitely cash in on this… Especially if you’ve got a gift card from a birthday or Christmas that needs to be spent. Look at this as a way to get a little bit extra back on your purchase. Some of the cash-back offers I use frequently include the 3% back on iTunes purchases, 1% back on Apple store purchases, and 3% back on Target purchases. But there are a ton of stores to pick from as well. Read more about it here: “Get a FREE $10 Target Gift Card from Ebates.com”  

 7. Open a Free Account at Plink.com – FREE $10.00 Plink.com is a new cash-back site that lets you collect rewards just by shopping at the places you already do. Right now they’re offering a sweet promotion that will pay you to $10 signup at Plink and then make a purchase a Mcdonalds. Since you do have to buy something, your actually profit might be a couple of dollars less, but my advice is just to buy an iced tea or an ice cream so you can keep most of the $10. One of the cool thing about Plink is that you earn rewards without having to carry any extra rewards card, coupons or special codes. Simply pay with your credit or debit card that you link to your Plink account. Your rewards will automatically be credited – it’s pretty cool! 1. Sign up with Plink.com – It’s FREE! To qualify for the FREE $10 Gift Card, you must be a new user of Plink. 2. Register your debit or credit card with Plink. 3. Make a purchase at Mcdonalds before 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, September 9, 2013. There’s no minimum purchase amount. 4. Wait for the 1,000 bonus points to apply to your Plink account (can take up to 7 business days). Finally, click the “Rewards” button and pick which gift card you want. That’s it! Enjoy. Read more about it here: “Get a Free $5 Gift Card to Amazon When You Join Plink.com” 

 8. Open an Account at Serve.com – FREE $50.00 Serve is American Express’s version of a prepaid, reloadable card and they are offering $50 when you open a free account, sign up for direct deposit and have two direct deposits put in your account. That’s a FREE $50 for about 5 minutes of work. Sweet! And here’s a tip: You can direct deposit a number of things besides your regular paycheck. I like to keep my paycheck going to my primary bank account, but for bank bonuses, I use other sources of income to fund it. Try to think of another place that you get monthly income from. Do you get a social security check? Insurance check? Second job income? Mystery shopping payouts?  A number of the “paid-to-email” sites also offer direct deposit. I know that Fusion Cash does, because I get a nice cash-out from them on the 20th of every month. Here’s a link to the promo page:     Serve.com $50 Bonus Read more about Serve.com here: “How to Get a Free $50 from Serve.com” 

  9. Take 5 Minutes and Open a Betterment.com Account – FREE $25.00 Betterment is a simple, online tool that allows anyone to invest in stocks & bonds without incurring transaction fees. It’s become pretty popular with small investors who want to start saving, but can’t afford the expensive fees you find at places like Etrade.com and Merrill Lynch. Plus, they’ll give you a free $25 just to signup! 1.) Open a free account at Betterment.com. The form takes about 90 seconds to fill out, so can literally do this while sitting in the doctor’s office or while watching television. 2.) You need to make an opening deposit of $250 or more within 60 days of opening your account. If you’re not ready to make a deposit right now, my advice is that you go ahead and fill out the Betterment promotion form today. You can always make the deposit later, but this way you’ll have the promotion locked in, just in case the promotion ends. 3.) Once you’ve deposited $250 (and waited 60 days), Betterment.com will deposit a FREE $25 bonus into your account. How easy is that? You can then withdraw your entire account balance or you can keep the $275 invested and earning interest with Betterment. Right now this is USA only. Read more about it here: “How to Make $25 While Sitting in a Waiting Room”  

10. Transfer Your Prescription to a New Pharmacy- FREE $25.00 If you’re one of the 70% of Americans with a monthly prescription from your doctor, I’ve got an easy way for you to make $25 bucks. Several of the national grocery and drug store chains have been know to run promotions where they will give you free cash or a gift card when you transfer a prescription to their store. For example, this month Walgreens is running a promotion where they will give you a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription to your local Walgreens. You can usually find these coupons in your Sunday newspaper circulars or on coupon blogs like DealSeekingMom.com and MoneySavingMom.com. You can even repeat this deal every month with a different pharmacy. Read more about it here: “Here’s a Neat Trick to Make $25/month if You Have a Prescription” 

 11. Sign Up an Account at OptionsExpress – FREE $100.00 Here’s another great way to make some free cash. This one is through OptionsXpress, a Charles Schwab affiliated brokerage house where you can trade stocks and options. From now until December 31, 2013, OptionsXpress is offering new US customers a $100 bonus when you open an Individual or Joint account and fund it with at least $500. 1. Open a new Individual or Joint account (IRAs, other tax-exempt, linked, or shared accounts are excluded from this offer). 2. Fund your new account with at least $500 cash or securities transferred from a brokerage firm other than OptionsXpress. 3. Make at least 3 trades within 12 months of account opening. 4. The $100 bonus will be deposited into your account within one month of meeting the terms and conditions of this offer. 5. Maintain at least $500 in your account for 6 months (excluding trading losses), if not, the $100 bonus will be deducted from your account. Read more about it here: “Look! OptionsExpress is Giving Away a Free $100 to New Account Holders”  

12 – 16. Sign Up for a New Credit Card – FREE $1,375.00 One of the best ways for a Penny Hoarder to make some serious extra cash is to take advantage of credit card sign up bonuses.  Of course, to get the most benefit, you should have excellent credit, and you should routinely pay off your credit card in full each month so you’re not paying interest.  (After all, every time you pay interest, you’re losing some of the positive effects of the bonuses.) Just recently I received over $1,300+ in credit card bonuses by selectively choosing new cards to apply for and use.  All I had to do was put my regular spending on the credit card over the course of a few months. US Bank FlexPerks Card –  $175 Signup Bonus Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – $400 Signup Bonus Barclaycard Arrival – $400 Signup Bonus Citi ThankYou Preferred Card – $200 Signup Bonus American Express Gold – $200 Signup Bonus For those of you wondering, here’s a great article on how to do this without hurting your credit score: How Opening and Closing Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score Read more about it here: “5 Credit Card Promotions That Made me $1,375”   

17. Get Paid to Complete Tasks at InboxDollars.com – FREE $30.00 There are a number of sites on the web that will pay you to read advertiser’s emails, sign up for offers, and take surveys. I’ve tried about a million of them, but there are only a few of them that I would recommend. Inbox Dollars is one of those companies and I want to show you how I made $30 in a little over an hour completing offers on their site. It’s free to join Inbox Dollars and best of all, they give you $5 just for signing up! Inbox Dollars just requires that you accumulate $30 in earnings before you can “cash-out” and they pay you by sending a check. Some sample offers include one that asks you to sign up for a email newsletter from AMF Bowling. That pays 50 cents and takes about 15 seconds. Another offer asks you to sign up for a free account at Turbotax.com to earn $3.50. These are simple and there are nearly a hundred of them to choose from. One way to get to $30 in earnings in only a few minutes is by taking advantage of the book club offers. There are a half a dozen book clubs that are offering $10 if you try out their club. Signing up for a book club does require you to put some money forward which is why I suggest this method for more advanced users. If you don’t want to continue your membership in the book club, you will need to simply mark “Cancel- Return to Sender” on the outside of your first package and return it to the postman. The book club will give you a full refund and you get to keep your $10 for trying it out. If you are interested in giving Inbox dollars a try, visit the sign-up page here to get started.