Video: Foosball and whimsy are integral to the RFP365 ethos
April 4, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Kansas City foosball virtuoso Stuart Ludlow knows his way around the fútbol table.
With a strike rivaling a Black Mamba’s, Ludlow’s instincts and supple wrist on the foosball pitch puts to shame most any adversary. But perhaps equally as cunning is Ludlow’s savvy to integrate the table game into the workplace culture of RFP365, of which he’s a co-founder.
Founded in 2012, RFP365 created a software platform for issuers and receivers of requests for proposals — an often onerous process for organizations to solicit bids for commodities, services or assets. The company’s technology helps eliminate redundancies in the RFP process by providing streamlined tools to enable collaboration and improve workflow. It also allows RFP issuers to compare, track and monitor RFPs from respondents.
In 2015, RFP365 snagged the City of Kansas City, Mo. as a client, was named the 2015 “New Small Business of the Year” and raised $950,000 from regional angel investors.
As a small but quickly growing tech firm, RFP365 faces an ever-growing list of demands to juggle, creating stress that Ludlow and his co-founder, David Hulsen, aim to allay with foosball and a whimsical workplace. The company — which has seven employees and more than 200 customers in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia — recently moved to Kansas City’s Waldo District as part of an office expansion.
Check out the video below to learn more about the firm.

2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
New owner plans Vietnamese redux with modernized experience at Northland bánh mi spot
Quick service. Customization. Simple menu. Meals made-to-order in front of the customer. Chipotle was built on this service model. Now Peter Nguyen wants to bring it to his new Vietnamese restaurant, and even use that system to start a franchise of his own. In August, Nguyen purchased the former Bun Mee Phan restaurant at 4011…
Office with a pew: Coworking veterans hail ‘untapped potential’ of unused space within churches
A coworking space and a church — united around the idea of building community — formed a unique partnership earlier this year in Kansas City’s northland, said Bob Martin. The CO-OP at Shoal Creek — which Martin and Heather Heckroot opened in January — has taken up residence at Shoal Creek Community Church in Pleasant…
Digital Inclusion Fund awards $75K for devices to KC nonprofits working to get residents online
A relaunched Kansas City-area fund is expected to help residents struggling because of a lack of simple tech resources: devices that might often be taken for granted among their neighbors for whom the internet — and the opportunities that come with it — is already easily accessible. Eleven nonprofits in the region recently were awarded a…
Biden-Harris official tours KC BioHub; region prepares to reapply for federal Tech Hubs funding
A visit from a top federal economic development leader early this month offered regional leaders an opportunity to showcase and build upon Kansas City’s strategy to increase domestic production of life-saving vaccines within the footprint of the newly established KC BioHub. Maryam Janani-Flores, chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration…
