Regional Roundup: VC valuations, bootstrapping
December 3, 2015 | Kat Hungerford
Welcome to our new series called Regional Roundup.
Every couple weeks we’ll pull together compelling articles, podcasts, videos and more related to startups and innovation in the region.
Let us know what you think, and send us any ideas or content that you’d like to share.
Sit back and read (or listen or watch) some of the latest stuff the Internet has to offer.
Silicon Prairie: Mercury Fund’s Blair Garrou predicts a “soft landing” for Midwest venture capital as valuations fall — What’s going to happen for the Midwest after the unicorns fall? Garrou tells us in this article.
Inside/Outside: “Bootstrapping” with Rafael Corrales, partner at CRV — There’s raising capital, and then there’s bootstrapping. Which one is best? The Inside/Outside team discusses in this podcast.
TechCrunch: How Early Exit Disease Stunts The Growth Of Midwest Startup Communities — We’ve talked a lot about challenges facing Kansas City’s startup community. This article takes a look at how the “end game” of going public too soon and too small impacts the “start game” of new startups in the Midwest.
Kauffman Foundation: Dept. of Labor Announces $100 Million TechHire Competition — This article highlights that Kansas City isn’t the only place feeling the tech labor crunch: Silicon Valley might be doing just fine on filling tech jobs, but the rest of the U.S. is hurting for talent.
Computerworld: Just what is a Smart City? — With all the news surrounding the Kansas City streetcar/smart city project, we thought it might be helpful to take a step back and explore what the concept means and how far it can go.Read more in the article.

2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Not just for students: MCPL expands digital tool set for entrepreneurs
Editor’s note: The following content is sponsored by Mid-Continent Public Library but independently produced by Startland News. Dusty books. Tedious silence. Cranky shushers. Many stereotypes come to mind when one thinks of a library. But for those who haven’t recently visited these sanctums of knowledge, you might be surprised to see their transformations from canvas…
Children’s book turns KC’s Mayor Sly into time-traveling history buff
Kansas City’s colorful mayor was made for the pages of a children’s book, Audrey Masoner said. He gets his hand-drawn debut in “Mayor Sly and the Magic Bow Tie,” a project co-authored by Masoner and Mayor Sly James’ daughter, Aja James. The book is featured in Startland News’ 2017 Made in Kansas City Gift Guide.…
Storyteller sketches path from former Soviet Union to KC-based Sibukop
The teeth marks on Jasur Rakhimov’s Apple Pencil aren’t his own. They belong to his young daughter, Jasmira, who — despite a new protective pencil box — still loves to chew on the tools of his trade, he said. “Everybody and everything has its own story,” reflected Rakhimov, running his fingers across the indentions from…
MTC renews 2018 support for LaunchKC grant contest
Despite the government program’s uncertain financial future, the Missouri Technology Corporation will inject $250,000 into the popular grants contest LaunchKC for 2018. After having its budget slashed from nearly $23 million in 2017 to $3.4 million in 2018, the MTC announced Friday that it will once again support the Kansas City-based grant contest, which has…
