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
Social entrepreneur’s Harris Park brings green and golf to blighted urban neighborhood
A clean green park with an award-winning golf course not only raises the profile of the Ivanhoe neighborhood at 40th and Wayne — it changes the mindset of those who live there, said Chris Harris. The space — completed in August— was chosen by the American Society of Golf Course Architects for its Design Excellence…
KCultivator Q&A: April Boyd-Noronha opens up on access to technology, authentic change
Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The KCultivator Series is sponsored by WeWork Corrigan Station, a modern twist on Kansas City office space.Awakening education and business potential while in your pajamas is an unexpected side effect of rapid technological advancement, said April…
KC Pinoy parks restaurant in West Bottoms, plans fiesta of Filipino flavors
KC Pinoy’s new spot on Genessee Street in the West Bottoms was an opportunity that just fell into Chrissy Nucum’s lap, said the owner of the Filipino food truck turned brick-and-mortar restaurant. “I wanted something where there’s a sense of community within whatever area we choose,” said Nucum. “When the West Bottoms Kitchen decided to…
Curb appeal attracts investors to $850K round for real estate tech firm RealQuantum
A year of steady growth will help Kansas City real estate tech firm RealQuantum end 2018 with the close of its first round of seed funding — securing $850,000 in investments, revealed Mark Davis. “We closed a couple of times actually — people just kept showing up at the last minute wanting in,” Davis, RealQuantum’s…