Vetrepreneur event Purple Connection taking flight in KC
March 20, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
An event connecting veteran entrepreneurs is making waves in Kansas City.
Led by the Veteran Leadership Network and other local organizations, the next the Purple Connection will be held April 12 at the GRID Collaborative Workspaces. Community organizer Jesse Beaudin said this is the third iteration of the event series, and he was surprised by the turnout — which exceeded 75 people last month.
A veteran himself, Beaudin is also the founder of Teir 1 Performance, a government sales resource firm. Beaudin said that veterans are taught leadership skills at a young age and he wanted to connect with a group of likeminded individuals.
“The cool thing about the veteran community is that if you meet another veteran, there is a common bond there,” Beaudin said. “It’s important for us to work together and help each other. Since we share common experience, we speak the same language.”
Beaudin has large visions for what the Purple Connection could turn into, but it initially includes networking, veteran entrepreneur expos and panel discussions.
The upcoming panel on April 12 will feature: Maj. Wade Abel, an administrator from the veteran student department at Park University, David Bann, vice president of sales and operations at StreetShares; Ray Dick, vice president of technology innovation programs at the National Security Technology Accelerator; Mark Naster, Bunker Labs consultant; and Jordan Svancara, a Microsoft startup technical evangelist.
Local firms including KC Drone Company, Veteran Community Project and Liberty Candles will be showcasing their business.
Beaudin said that the veteran entrepreneurial community currently exists in a silo. He hopes that events such as this one will help “vetrepreneurs” such as himself connect with the greater Kansas City startup ecosystem.
“We’re a part of the Kansas City fabric and we add value in our own colorful way,” Beaudin said. “We don’t want to be seen as different we don’t want special treatment — we want to show you that we’re a premiere group of people and we intend to try and give back to the city as much as any other group.”
To RSVP to the event, click here.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Hammerspace grows maker mission on Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard
Dave Dalton is a maker — a blacksmith, a bladesmith, a woodworker, an artist and a jack of all trades. More than just a sum of his skills, being a maker is all about perspective, said Dalton, founder of Hammerspace Community Workshop. And when a friend dared him to give his tip jar an upgrade, Dalton…
Innovation Stockyard selects first St. Joe startup for Digital Sandbox
A curbside recycling service is expected to be the first startup to receive Digital Sandbox KC proof-of-concept funding through the Innovation Stockyard incubator. Toss it Curbside, a service with which customers place unwanted items on their curbs to be recycled or donated, plans to use the funds and the St. Joseph-based incubator program to optimize…
Applications open: Sprint Accelerator dialing into ag tech, IoT with 2018 cohort
Investing in startups isn’t just about providing needed capital, Doug Dresslaer said. As the Sprint Accelerator gears up for its fifth year, Dresslaer, managing director of the program, said the accelerator’s 2017 cohort — the first since its move toward establishing corporate partnerships and pivot away from Techstars — proved industry relationships themselves create tremendous value.…
Entrepreneurial inspiration: How a wheelchair freed Wesley Hamilton
Editor’s note: Kansas City fitness and community advocate Wesley Hamilton offered four inspirational tips for entrepreneurs, illustrated by his own remarkable experiences overcoming adversity. Two bullets pierced Wesley Hamilton’s back, confining him to a wheelchair, but freeing his mind, the Kansas City adaptive athlete said. “I found that being shot by someone I never knew…