Kansas City Chief Dontari Poe challenges students, startups with new contest
December 9, 2016 | Meghan LeVota
Veteran Kansas City Chief Dontari Poe is hosting a competition that bridges young Kansas Citians and entrepreneurship.
Set for Dec. 13 at Think Big Coworking, Poe Man’s Challenge will pair nine local startups with 30 Kansas City high school students and pitch the companies to a panel of celebrity judges, including Poe and his teammates. Participating students will receive coaching from startup founders and then pitch the company as if it is their own.
Poe said he’s excited to acquaint more young Kansas Citians with entrepreneurship.
“It’s important that kids get exposed to what startups are all about. It will put them in a good position,” Poe told Startland News. “I feel that they’ll be ahead of me, at my age, if they start now. … Even if they never do a startup, learning how to pitch is an important life skill. We are always pitching ourselves for all sorts of things.”
Poe recently made his first tech investment in Lab Sensor Solutions, a company based in Redwood City, Calif. He hopes that Poe Man’s Challenge will inspire students to gain an entrepreneurial mindset in students, thus making an impact in Kansas City.
Mark Nolte, the founder of Start Talking, said he’s participating in the event to help educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“The more these students can learn now, the better they will be prepared to be entrepreneurs,” he said. “I hope we will see more events like this in Kansas City in the future.”
Below are the participating Kansas City area startups. To learn more or to purchase tickets for the event,click here.
- 2020 Adventures
- Blooom
- Dreams KC
- FEWDM
- Idle Smart
- PreScreend
- Start Talking
- The Selling Company
- Super Dispatch
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Torch.AI acquisition boosts its national security thumbprint, building out workforce proudly in KC
Leveraging Torch.AI’s local talent alongside targeted acquisitions gets the Leawood artificial intelligence firm closer to its goal of securely sharing data with the world, said Brian Weaver, founder and CEO, committing to keeping the surging company in Kansas City. “As our technology is being adopted by more and more customers and those customers continue to…
Not too late for the ‘naughty’ list: Roll into 2022 with a year-round Kansas City bourbon ball
A nip of locally distilled Tom’s Town bourbon mingles with bittersweet chocolate and a bourbon pecan mash with each bite into “guilty pleasure” — one of dozens of “notoriously naughty” bourbon and rum balls made by Lisa Fitch. “A lot of people associate them with the holidays, like they do with divinity fudge,” explained Fitch, founder…
The future is local: How masks helped neighbors look each other in the eyes again
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Keith Bradley is co-owner of Made in KC, a brick-and-mortar and online retailer of locally made goods with neighborhood, marketplace and cafe locations downtown, on the Country Club Plaza, in Lee’s Summit, Lenexa, and across the metro. As we wind down our second…
RIP to free chips and salsa: Why Don Chilitos just released the KC Tex-Mex staple’s secret family recipes
Don Chilitos might have served its last bit of CCQ sauce — but that doesn’t mean its final customers had to settle for a handful of chiclets as a memento on their way out the door, Barry Cowden said, explaining his decision to go public with dozens of recipes from the beloved restaurant in a newly…