By the end of summer, Moore hopes the St. Louis operation will be successful enough to replicate in other cities. Already, he says, the TechStars experience has helped him move that process forward.

“The mentoring program is just phenomenal,” Moore says. “We've had this wealth of people to lean on … and the other companies in our class have been phenomenal in helping each other out.”

TechStars, founded in Boulder in 2007, has expanded to Boston, Seattle, New York and San Antonio, and the original Boulder program has taken on a national and international flavor. Moore says just five of the current 12 startups are from Colorado.

RollSale was briefly a part of a similar accelerator program in St. Louis. It was selected last winter to participate in Capital Innovators, based downtown, but Moore says one of his major investors couldn't agree on the terms of Capital Innovators' investment.

A few weeks later, he qualified for the older, more established TechStars. While the St. Louis program would have been a good experience, Moore says, he feels fortunate to have been drawn away from his hometown for a few months.