How this St. Louis startup aims to reinvigorate Main Street USA

Mar 8

2022 Startups to Watch: MembershipWare

Story By: Nathan Rubbelke
Published on: February 24, 2022, 12:00pm CST
Original Article: St. Louis Business Journal

Headquarters: St. Charles

Founders: Randy Schilling

What it does: MembershipWare has developed what it describes as “community improvement software" it says is designed to help local communities and business districts better promote themselves. Its features help create business directories, maps and guided tours, promote events and manage content. In addition to local communities and business districts, MembershipWare’s software also can be used by business associations and coworking spaces.

The latest: The software behind MembershipWare was initially created to manage the operations and membership of OPO Startups, a coworking facility located at St. Charles’ historic Main Street and founded by Schilling. Since developing that internal software, Schilling and his team expanded its capabilities to serve other membership-based organizations while also placing a focus on using it to help “main street” business districts better promote themselves, with the belief its marketing tools can help drive more visitors and revenue to the businesses located within those communities.

Why you should watch it: MembershipWare marks the latest venture from Schilling and the company’s chief technology officer, Alan Groh. The pair have been partners for 30 years and have been behind the launch of IT consulting firm Quilogy, software firm BoardPaq, applications service provider WebBizApps and OPO Startups. With its newest venture, the pair hopes to help local businesses better compete against big box stores and online retailers like Amazon. That comes as the competition for brick-and-mortar businesses has stiffened, with the pandemic driving a massive increase in online shopping. Online retail sales grew 32.4% year over year in 2020, according to trade publication Digital Commerce 360.

What’s next: In 2022, MembershipWare plans to continue to bolster its software and build its user base to help “main street” communities and businesses grow their virtual presence to drive in-person visits.

More about MembershipWare

Founded: 2020

Employees: 5

CEO: Randy Schilling

Capital raised: The company has bootstrapped its operations and hasn’t raised any outside funding.