Louisville Startup Awards
The ecosystem event of Louisville. An extremely local celebration of the founders, operators, and enablers who keep Louisville's startup scene moving.
Solyco Capital, 111 West Main Street, LOUIESville, KY
Nominations & voting
Voting for The Louies 2025 is open. Tell us who's out here building, operating, enabling, and generally doing the most for Louisville's startup ecosystem.
Once nominations close, we'll publish finalists and open up community voting for select categories.
The slate
These are the Louies. Some serious, some chaotic, all very Louisville.
Each award can be paired with a presenting sponsor. As partners confirm, you'll see "Presented by" filled in below.
Individual
Louisville’s very own favorite Founder! The Founder who does it all and represents Louisville.
Presented by Duffy Baker of JPMorganChase
Not Assistant Founder or Co-Founder, let’s be clear—just the cofounder doing 80% of the work with 20% of the credit. The Dwight Schrute of the startup world.
Presented by Garrett French of Citation Labs
Why stop at one company when you can start four? This award celebrates the founder who lives in permanent "New Venture Mode," generating ideas faster than the rest of us can buy domains.
Presented by Greg Langdon of the Louisville ecosystem community
For the founder who is absolutely, definitely building the next decacorn — by force of sheer stubbornness, caffeine, and delusional confidence alone.
Presented by Louisville Bats
For the founder who seems to operate on pure adrenaline, bad coffee, and zero hours of sleep. This award honors the unstoppable night owl who’s always online, always building, and somehow always responding to Slack at 3:14 AM.
Presented by Steve Huey of TYP64
For the founder who always has something to say—whether it's a pitch, a rant, a story, a tangent, or a motivational sidebar nobody asked for. This award honors the unstoppable conversationalist whose words fill every room… and occasionally the entire Slack channel.
Presented by Kevin Gibson of Founder45
Ecosystem Award
For the ecosystem hero who has heard every meltdown, panic spiral, and existential startup crisis in Louisville. They provide therapy disguised as "founder office hours."
Presented by Rachel Edenfield of Swell / KYX
For the person who knows everyone and makes intros faster than LinkedIn can suggest them. The connector who keeps Louisville's startup scene glued together.
Presented by George Davis of LouCity & Racing Foundation
For the person who does the invisible work that keeps the ecosystem alive: events, logistics, onboarding, DMs, spreadsheets, chaos control, and founder cat-herding.
Presented by Chelsea VanHook of Community Foundation Louisville
For the investor who believes early, invests early, and relentlessly supports founders — with money, advice, memes, or all three.
Presented by Nate Royal of DueGooder
Startup Award
For the startup that did the impossible: raised meaningful money in Kentucky without selling a kidney, sacrificing a cofounder, or moving to SF.
Presented by Rron Thaci of Keyhorse Capital
For the team moving at Mach 10 — shipping fast, iterating faster, breaking things responsibly, and permanently living in "just one more sprint" mode.
Presented by Larry Horn of Amplify Louisville
For the early-stage team that emphasized the "M" (minimum) in MVP (minimum viable product). Celebrating the team that executed in an hour rather than building perfection over a year.
Presented by Natalia Bishop of Story Louisville
For the startup whose growth strategy is "send it to everyone." Cold emails, DMs, outreach, guerrilla tactics — if there's a channel, they've hit it.
Presented by Jack Crowdis of PayFwds / KYX
Recognition
A salute to the startups that actually made it out. Whether IPO, acquisition, acqui-hire, or "strategic liquidation," you still beat the odds.
Presented by Sara Blackmer of Solyco Capital
Honoring the fallen. They tried. They built. They learned. Fail fast and try again.
Presented by Dan Ross-Li of KYX
For those born in 2025, honoring the next generation! You're the future we're building for!
Presented by Janna Gottbrath of Story Louisville
For the partners who tolerated the late nights, the stress rants, the pitch decks on the kitchen table, and the "one more meeting" that was actually three.
Presented by Zeeshan Bhatti of Solyco Capital / KYX
Nominations & voting
Voting for The Louies 2025 is open. Tell us who's out here building, operating, enabling, and generally doing the most for Louisville's startup ecosystem.
Once nominations close, we'll publish finalists and open up community voting for select categories.
