Some like it hot: KC named top startup town
August 6, 2015 | Bobby Burch
You’re hot, Kansas City, and it’s not just your sweltering summer heat.
Entrepreneur Magazine recently named Kansas City — Mo. and Kan. — as one of nine “hot startup cities” that are outside of San Francisco and New York City.
Although Kansas City is also known for its tech prowess, the magazine largely noted the City of Fountains as a foodie town that concocts a variety of specialty foods. Entrepreneur reported that since 2013, 71 new food companies launched in the area.
“Krizman’s House of Sausage has been selling ethnic sausages and knockwurst to Kansas City locals since 1939,” the article reads. “It’s one of the city’s growing number of specialty-foods businesses—including bakeries, breweries, distilleries, candy-makers and, of course, bottlers of barbecue sauce. Driving this growth are three local food-business incubators, including the Farm to Table Kitchen housed at the famed City Market, designed to help ‘foodpreneurs’ connect with mentors, commercial kitchens, collaborative infrastructure, marketing awareness and the greater Kansas City food community.”
Other cities on Entrepreneur’s “hot startup cities” list are Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Nashville, Sacramento, Minneapolis – St. Paul, Houston, Boston and Los Angeles.
Featured Business

2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
DivvyHQ landed Novel’s first investment by avoiding hockey-stick growth, co-founder says
It was a marriage of the minds, said DivvyHQ co-founder Brody Dorland, describing his marketing tech firm’s recent investment from Novel Growth Partners. The company’s leadership — Dorland and co-founder Brock Stechman — is honored to be recipients of NGP’s first investment, Dorland said. But the pairing didn’t come by accident, he added. “I think they viewed…
In talent showdown with corporate neighbors, startups must hire smarter, say Digital Sandbox experts
Kansas City heavy-weights like Garmin and Cerner court developers at the student level, said Brody Dorland, discussing a talent showdown seen by startups across the metro. “How am I supposed to compete with that?” asked Dorland, co-founder of marketing tech firm DivvyHQ, during a recent Digital Sandbox: Summer in the Sand panel about growing startup…
KC Fed: Want to strengthen Kansas City’s job market? Narrow skills gap caused by digital division
Digital division in Kansas City is taking its toll on the local workforce, said Jeremy Hegle. More must be done to allow skilled workers access to technology — in turn offering them a chance to succeed in a rapidly growing electronic economy, added Hegle, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City senior community development advisor. In…
Vote now: Kansas Citians vie to lead tech, education panels at SXSW 2019
A cadre of Kansas Citians are hoping to take the podium at one of the nation’s largest tech and innovation conferences in 2019. At least four Kansas City tech and entrepreneurship leaders are vying for panel or speaking spots at the 2019 South by Southwest conference March 8-17 in Austin, Texas. SXSW recently opened voting…
