NXSTAGE grad: Getting in the room with the big guys can ‘change the whole trajectory’ for a startup

A Kansas-built program designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs woo future enterprise-level partners is already proving it was worth the mileage to Wichita, said Connor Borrego, noting the just-wrapped cohort gave him the tools to insert his startup into the buying processes larger organizations actually use.

“They did more than theorize,” Borrego, founder of Kansas City-based playhaus, said of the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series crafted by NXTUS. “They brought actual purchasing representatives who allowed us to understand how we need to actually present ourselves to have success with their organizations.”

The most-recent Enterprise Engagement Series culminated Monday at Cargill Protein Headquarters during Wichita’s Launch Week. It brought together entrepreneurs, enterprise leaders and community supporters for the graduation of the cohort’s 16 Midwest entrepreneurs and to recognize the 13 enterprise partners that supported the 2026 program.

Borrego’s playhaus — ​​which boasts an AI-powered companion that gives businesses the “ultimate control” over their data — was one of four Kansas City startups selected for the cohort.

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The Wichita-based NXTUS program offers participants weekly workshops, one-on-one meetings, and enterprise coaching sessions. Entrepreneurs also receive Enterprise Playbooks and introductions to enterprise leaders, giving them the tools, knowledge and connections needed to build relationships and pursue sales and collaboration opportunities with larger entities, the organization said.

Merely telling an entrepreneur to build bridges with potential customers isn’t novel, Borrego acknowledged, but he emphasized NXTUS did the heavy lifting to get cohort members directly connect with companies with the potential to take their startups to the next level.

“As a startup, conference attendance isn’t always in our budget, so the opportunity to talk with these large organizations and schedule follow up meetings to explore being their AI partner has started our journey to securing one of these contracts,” he explained. “An added value of the program was our peer set — many of whom are potential clients for us as well.”

The full list of 2026 NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series cohort members included:

• AB&C Bilingual Resources (Claudia Yaujar-Amaro), Wichita — Helps organizations build meaningful connections with diverse communities through bilingual marketing, strategic outreach, and translation services.
• Aptly (Kenneth Knoll), Oklahoma City — The automated system of record for who can approve, sign, and commit on a company’s behalf, and up to what limit.
• Avery Boardroom (Jenn Lopez), Wichita — Cultivates intentional hospitality experiences that bring people together through elevated gifting, curated experiences and community-focused events.
• Culver-Turner Institute (Rebecca Culver-Turner), Wichita — Helps enterprises understand and improve organizational health through the Culver-Turner Assessment, which is grounded in systems theory, relationship science, and group dynamics.
• Demo Dogs (Kevin Dobyns), Wichita — Provides safe, reliable, and efficient demolition and property cleanout services for commercial and residential projects.
• EPIC Coaching (Alma Moore), Wichita — Empowers professionals, entrepreneurs, and organizations through executive coaching, leadership development, land transformational training.
• Euphemystic Ventures (Ted Kihm), Lawrence — Helps organizations decide where AI actually belongs before they spend serious money on software, vendors, pilots, or internal build efforts.
• ExpressIt Messaging (Mark McGuigan), Andover — Uses technology to deliver a planned series of contacts to enterprise clients, through direct mail and gifting to enhance customer retention, satisfaction, and increased client lifetime value.
• GiftWellSoon (Amy Steinhour), Kansas City, Missouri — Helps employees navigate illness, caregiving, surgery, grief, and major life disruptions by making it easier to ask for and organize practical support in one place.
• MobilityZ Health (Sucheshna Patil), Cypress, Texas — A workforce injury intelligence platform that solves the problem of delayed injury reporting, fragmented injury documentation, and limited return-to-work visibility for employers by capturing time-stamped injury status, symptom progression, and movement recovery data from the moment an injury occurs through recovery.
• NurtureWell (Allie Young), Fort Smith, Arkansas — An AI-powered infant development platform that helps employers support working parents by monitoring infant milestones from birth to age two and identifying potential developmental concerns early. 
• oneCOMMUNITY (Brent Lewis), Wichita — Provides a childcare benefit that is a traditional cost share with employees, like health and other benefits, that typically pays for itself.
• playhaus (Connor Borrego), Kansas City, Missouri — Builds next generation data and digital asset management software for business owners to improve operational efficiency across their digital supply chain and technology stack.
• Sales Coach Pro (Adam Pounds, Maggie Pounds), Hutchinson — Helps businesses grow through more powerful sales conversations using AI role play through which teams practice real scenarios, get immediate feedback, and improve fast.
• Smart Business Engines (Antwaun Williams), Topeka — Builds AI-powered Business Growth Engines that attract leads, automate follow-up, optimize operations, and increase customer retention, giving businesses a predictable, scalable way to acquire and retain customers.
• VisiPay (Barry Nelson), Olathe — Creates payment certainty for owners and professionals accelerating earned payments, reducing bid costs, and improving outcomes through secure, transparent payment workflows.

At Monday’s summit, participants showcased their businesses through fast-paced pitches while connecting with enterprise leaders, entrepreneurs and members of the broader entrepreneurial community.

Since 2022, the NXTSTAGE Enterprise Engagement Series has graduated 96 startups representing seven Midwest states and 22 Kansas counties. Collectively, those companies have generated more than $72 million in lifetime revenue and created or retained 244 jobs, according to NXTUS.

Connor Borrego, playhaus

“The level of professionalism that the leaders of the NTXUS team exhibit explains why we are able to have such high profile engagement opportunities that the program offers,” Borrego said. “Clients and revenue are things that actually move the needle as a startup, and this program is truly designed to help startups grow by focusing this program around sales the way they do.”

This year’s enterprise partners included Berry Companies, Cargill, the City of Wichita, Equity Bank, Evergy, IdeakTek, Kansas Department of Commerce, Koch Supplier Strategies, LANGE Companies, iSi Environmental, Sedgwick County, Textron Aviation, and USD 259 Wichita Public Schools.

“A deal with anyone of the sponsoring organizations can change the whole trajectory of our companies,” Borrego noted.

A winner of this summer’s Kansas City’s Frontier Technology Hackathon competition, playhaus recently rereleased its data automation software and is actively pursuing clients that want to take advantage of AI in their businesses, but want to do so in an affordable and secure manner, the founder explained. 

“We are also participating in the NXTUS Accelerate Venture Partners program to better prepare and position playhaus for its future fundraising efforts,” Borrego added, referencing one of the NXTSTAGE initiative’s sister programs. “We are hoping to align our client growth with the culmination of the program so we have the numbers we need to raise a successful round early next year.”