Brad Feld contest offering a startup free rent in KC
July 7, 2015 | Bobby Burch
A prominent venture capitalist is launching an international competition in Kansas City that will offer a startup free office space in one of the area’s tech hotbeds.
Brad Feld’s ‘FiberHouse’
Brad Feld, co-founder of the Boulder-based Foundry Group, kicked off a contest Tuesday that will allow a startup to live in his Kansas City, Kan., home for one-year rent-free. Feld — who’s also co-founder of Techstars, which operates the Kansas City-based Sprint Accelerator — purchased the home in 2013 as Google Fiber first deployed its gigabit network in the area.
Feld said that the aim of the competition is to foster more innovation in Kansas City.
“I’m a huge believer that you can build startup communities anywhere,” Feld told Startland News. “I have a long relationship with Kansas City around entrepreneurship as a result of my work with the Kauffman Foundation going back to the mid-1990s. … (Kansas City) is growing and developing nicely.”
Applications to the competition are now open to companies from around the world, Feld said. Tenants are responsible for utilities at the home, however, Feld will cover the cost of Google Fiber’s connection. Feld said he will also offer mentoring to the startup that wins the competition.
Already two companies have lived in Feld’s so-called “FiberHouse” rent free, including Kansas City-based Leap.it and 3-D printing company Handprint. The house is a part of the Kansas City Startup Village, a community of entrepreneurs that serendipitously formed after Google’s installation of its fiber network.
Feld said the idea of purchasing the home came about when he bumped into Ben Barreth, founder and owner of Kansas City’s Home for Hackers program.
“I ran into Ben Barreth at the ‘Thinc Iowa’ conference and he breathlessly told me about what he was doing in Kansas City around Google Fiber and the Kansas City Startup Village,” Feld said. “I loved the idea and figured I’d participate in the KC Startup Community by buying a house in the KCSV and giving it rent free for startups.”
Applications for the contest will be accepted through Aug. 30, at which point a panel of judges will review the pool of applicants and narrow the field to five finalists.
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kauffman Foundation’s Erin Jenkins bounces between contrasting cultures, startup life
Editor’s note: This content was sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation but independently produced by Startland News. Curiosity took Erin Jenkins to Japan. Curiosity brought her home. In between, she embedded herself in the worlds of intercultural entrepreneurism and startup life — her journey aligning itself with an opportunity to serve as a program officer…
Pride outside: How the outdoor industry is missing out with a $1 trillion LGBTQ+ blind spot
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” said adventurer and speaker Mikah Meyer, quoting activist Marian Wright Edelman last week in Kansas City. Representation of LGBTQ+ consumers and entrepreneurs formed a thematic trail throughout the recent Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce awards luncheon where Meyer made keynote remarks. His borrowed quote also reflected…
nbkc launches Entrepreneur in Residence incubator: ‘I have a whole company behind me’
Less than a year after its inaugural Fountain City Fintech accelerator debuted, nbkc bank has launched a new incubator program designed to tackle common banking industry problems with start-up-style ideation, problem solving, and tenacity, said Megan Darnell. The goal: building new companies along the way, the nbkc program manager said. “Kansas City has every single…
Investors, students find potential and power in High School eSports League
Benjie Lewis saw potential in eSports from the beginning — first as a mentor, then an investor, he said. Rapidly evolving from recreational pastime to official leagues and high school sports programs, the competitive multiplayer gaming concept has created a new space for startup opportunity, he said. “When I was growing up … they weren’t…