Hometown hero Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter and co-founder and CEO of Square, kicked off his national “Let’s Talk” tour last night at the Casa Loma ballroom in St. Louis. The event —which drew approximately 500 people— is intended to unite neighborhood businesses in a spirit of cooperation, with the belief that cooperation is as essential to success as is innovation.

“Businesses of every size should have the tools and resources to compete on the merit of their work and ideas,” said Square CEO Jack Dorsey.

“The growth and success of a community depends upon the people who support it. We’re eager to meet business owners, listen to their stories, introduce them to one another, and unite their neighborhoods.”

Following St. Louis, Dorsey will continue the “Let’s Talk” event series in Detroit, Minneapolis, Toronto, New Orleans and the Bronx.

Dorsey was joined by Scott Carey, owner of Sump Coffee, Kaylen Wissinger of Whisk Bakeshop, Jeremy Schwartz of Cherokee Street Bikes and Katie Miller, co-owner of Scarlett Garnet. Mayor Slay also spoke at the event.

“The ideas that came from “Let’s Talk” gave small businesses a big business voice,” said Mayor Slay today. “I took notes on how City government can be more user-friendly to new businesses. The truth is, most government offices are still organized around a service window and paper documents.

And it’s clear that building in taxes, permits, licenses and fees must be part of entrepreneurs’ business plans. We’re here to help. My message to City government following the forum is, ‘Let’s Talk.'”

What did others have to say of the ideas that came from the event? What better way to recap the event than by looking at Dorsey’s own creation, Twitter, where event attendees tweeted under the hashtag #LetsTalk.