Greeting Pioneers,

Big, big week in the Louisville startup scene. Jokesters ticketing flow broke 5 mins before our publishing time. whoops. Dawson credentialed Duegooder’s Nate, and Swell’s Rachel & Dalton who root caused and fixed for him in 60 minutes while he was at his day job. That’s the power of Cinderblock. On the delay - sorry not sorry.

A Startup Was Born: Techstars Startup Weekend in Louisville

This past weekend, Louisville hosted Techstars Startup Weekend. Burgeoning entrepreneurs came, teams formed, and they had fifty-four hours to build, ship, and pitch a real product.

So much of the scene was new - folks we don’t find at all of our other startup events because they haven’t broken into the community yet. Haven’t decided to go all in on an idea yet. That’s the beauty of Startup Weekend - it’s a rapid trial-by-fire into all things startups and Louisville’s ecosystem.

Participants called it a crash course in startups, like “drinking through a firehose”, a “regimented bootcamp” forcing everyone to a goal. Teams formed, broke up, reformed, pivoted their ideas, changed their names, learned about building for what customers actually want, and found the entrepreneurs within themselves.

The winning team talked to 60 customers in two days. That's more customer discovery than most Louisville startups do in six months. They built a personal CRM for networking events – a smart rolodex that remembers people across all their platforms (email, phone, LinkedIn, social), geotags where you met them, and stores your notes. Solves the problem every founder has after conferences: meeting someone, getting their info, then never finding it again.

But the winning team wasn't the only one shipping. Seventy-five percent of teams walked away with functional working prototypes.

Huge shoutout to Austin Lopesilvero for running this year’s Startup Weekend. Organizing a Techstars Startup Weekend takes months. Austin nailed the hard part: creating an environment where teams build and validate instead of just ideate. He played organizer-in-chief and marriage counselor simultaneously, managing team dynamics and keeping founders focused on the one thing most Louisville startups avoid: talking to actual customers.

Special thanks to Story Louisville for hosting. It was a beautiful venue that gave teams room to actually work.

If you missed this one, keep an eye out for the next Techstars event. Fifty-four hours isn't enough time to build a company, but it's enough time to learn whether your idea has legs. Most founders wait months to get that signal. These teams got it in a weekend.

Congrats to the winners (Golden, Nicholas, Noni, Rocky, and Sahar) with Netlas. Check them out at next month’s Venture Connectors for the coveted 5 minute pitch slot hosted by Amplify, and join their waitlist for a free trial of Netlas when they launch.

Vogt 25

The 25th anniversary of the Vogt Awards was a surgical blend of history, elegance, and six stellar startups repping the River City. The Derby Museum was glowing — literally. The graphics were wild - looping around the circular screen floating above the ballroom. It was spectacular. Stunning. A masterclass in event planning and execution from the crew at The Community Foundation of Louisville. With it brought a sold out audience of people who genuinely care about this city — and the founders grinding towards greatness.

Maggie opened the night with yet another killer keynote — this time on grit, opportunity, and the thief of joy: comparison. maybe us Louisvillians should practice appreciating and leaning into what we do have instead of obsessing over what we don’t.

Something I would’ve disagreed with six months ago. But maybe she’s right. The way forward isn’t lined with whining and crying about what could be — it’s paved by people who want to build on the blocks already in place, not complainers lamenting cities stacked with amenities we lack. We don’t need to be shiny. Let’s try gritty, unique, and checks notes… feral.

Dripping perfectly into the main attraction: the cohort.

Due Gooder - Automate Your Study Schedule

Essential Innovations - Tax Credit Automation

KidVestors - Financial Literacy for Kids and Teens

Nongo AI - Make Every Worker an Expert

Proper Pilots - Flight Training Simplified

Revitalized Solutions - Virtual Care

Every founder delivered. Sharp, dialed, and devastating — and the crowd responded, much to Lisa B’s delight. Hooting, hollering, reacting to every stat, strat, and promise of future impact. Hell of a night.

Props to everyone involved — Lisa Bajornias, and the whole team at the Community Foundation of Louisville, the Vogt family, mentors, coaches, panelists, and all who poured into these founders throughout the accelerator.

Velocity Finale - December 4th

9 weeks down. 3 to go.

Velocity is in the final stretch. Pivots made. Checks signed. Playtest. Feedback. Playtest. Feedback. Every team has iterated. 3 of 5 are on track to meet the demo day requirements already. It's been a grind. It was supposed to be. Gauntlets aren’t designed to be easy.

This first attempt at getting companies to move at the speed of light hasn't been perfect. A little messy, even. But it's our rough draft and we're doing what founders do: eating the L's and pushing forward. One foot after the other. Fail. Learn. Iterate.

The cohort's been shipping towards revenue. All of it building to the finale: KYX's inaugural Velocity Demo Day.

Vogt set the tone. Let's see if we can match it.

December 4th • 5PM

Location: TBD

Sponsor: JPM

RSVP Here - https://luma.com/8rgsdubd

If we learned anything from our first year, it's how to throw an event. Will be one to remember.

And oh yeah — we won't just be celebrating Velocity… Louisville's premiere startup award ceremony returns.

THE LOUIES ARE BACK!

KYX celebrates its first birthday and what better way to celebrate our 1-year anniversary than with the return of THE LOUIES!!!

The premier startup event in Louisville comes back with more laughs, more fun and more connections. Plus this is a combo event w/ Velocity Finale kicking off at 5:45. Networking starts at 5pm. The LOUIES will kick off at 6:30.

Who will win the Best Startup of 2025? What new startups started up in 2025? Mourn the startups that died in 2025. Will we correctly understand the "Future Founder" as recognition for the babies born in 2025...or will Savon Grey win it again!? and lastly, who is LOUISVILLE'S FAVORITE FOUNDER?

Find more information here: https://www.kycombinator.com/events/louies/2025 (KYX b. 2024)

Nominate here (nominations close this Sunday 11/23): https://form.kycombinator.com/to/b706b984-80b9-4247-bd1d-740cda1b8038 (HZZH b. 2025)

Attend here: https://luma.com/8rgsdubd (RIP Affinna 2024)

See you at The LOUIES!

Jokester Launches This Wednesday

Dawson has been grinding 70 hours a week for the last two months, and on Wednesday, he’s launching the product.

The goal: sell a million tickets.
Here’s how you can help him get there.

Three Ways to Support

1. Watch the show on Jokester + give them UX feedback

Help Jokester stress-test the product and tell them what feels good, what feels clunky, and what needs polish.

🎟️ Tickets: https://jokester.live/shows/cory-miller/whiskey-wednesday-seriously-funny/Nov-19/06-00PM
⏱️ 72-hour replay if you can’t watch live
💵 $5 tickets with code KYX

2. Show up in person

Free entry. Great venue. Food + drinks available.
All the details are in the Luma.

👉 RSVP: https://luma.com/isjxhhgp

3. Be a SUPER-supporter (in person + virtual)

If you want to go all-in:

• Buy a ticket on Jokester

• Show up in person and be part of the crowd

• Then, within 72 hours, watch the replay and give us feedback comparing the in-person vs. online experience

Be a good lad/las and support Dawson and jokester. Some of us will be tailgating the show in the parking lot of the event so that we can livestream through Jokester while still supporting our community. Come through!

Note’s on The Distill’s co-EICs: Jack Crowdis & Rachel Edenfield

Jack runs the newsletter, helps run KYX. He’s a career startup kid, past founder, and current operator. Weekly contributor. Always editor.

Rachel’s the Founder/CEO of venture-backed Swell, and a driver of KYX. Routinely delivers the city’s sharpest long-form startup advice. Always re-edits Jack’s edits (including this bio).

Know someone who should read this? Forward it, or send them this link.

That’s a wrap 🎬
Keep showing up 👊 
Keep shipping 🚢 
Peace, Pioneers ✌️