VIDEO: Startup leaders talk KC Startup Foundation (plus bloopers)
August 10, 2017 | Bobby Burch and Meghan LeVota
So, what exactly is the Kansas City Startup Foundation?
For one, it is a foundation. Secondly, it involves startups. And last but not least, it serves Kansas City.
If you have ever found yourself confused about what exactly the Kansas City Startup Foundation does and which programs it offers, then the video below is for you.
Since the foundation’s launch in 2016, it has undergone many pivots, shifts and changes.
As you may have read in the news earlier this week, the foundation has merged with Center for Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development, a for-profit community building organization spearheaded by Adam Arredondo. A former board member at the Kansas City Startup foundation, Arredondo will now serve as the executive director for the nonprofit.
It became clear to Arredondo that both organizations shared the same vision: “to create the most connected startup ecosystem in the world.”
And as Matthew Marcus, the Kansas City Startup Foundation’s director of operations, began to realize, “volunteer efforts alone were only going to take the foundation so far. We needed more resources and more support to champion our efforts.”
Former co-founders of the now-defunct local events startup Local Ruckus, Arredondo and Marcus have been through a lot with each other. The pair also served as integral community builders cultivating the Kansas City Startup Village since about 2012.
In the video below, Arredondo and Marcus share their entrepreneurial journey and detail what to expect from the foundation in the future.
Bloopers
Featured Business

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KC-built NFT startup merges with news outlet to ‘create clarity out of chaos’ in volatile industry
It’s time for the NFT industry and digital economy to grow up, said Randy Wasinger, announcing the merger of CryptoSlam and Forkast.News — a move meant to help tame a “Wild West” ecosystem “full of promise, glory and painful outcomes for many” via on-chain data analytics and journalism. “[The NFT industry] shouldn’t lose its fearless…
StratFit secures patent, flexes plans for explosive growth with platform built in Google Workspace
StratFit founder Daniel McKee powered into 2023 with the launch of StratFit Digital MVP, advanced training design software for personal trainers and coaches. Built in Google Workspace, StratFit Digital’s Strategy Design Drive integrates McKee’s “super-system” with advanced tools that make it easy to access and use. “[With StratFit Digital], I have been working on separate…
SpiderOak raises $16.4M for space cybersecurity tech to protect ‘soft underbelly’ of satellites
A Lenexa-based company’s industry-leading technology is taking orbit with new investments that validate SpiderOak’s end-to-end cybersecurity efforts — a “mission critical” platform that reduces the attack surface of satellites and damages the ability of adversaries to jam and disrupt space communications. “Today, space-based assets are mission essential in all civil and military operations and rapidly…
Wichita startup with growing KC team secures $10M from Koch Disruptive Technologies
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures (EGV), a business unit of NetWork Kansas supporting innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs in the State of Kansas. WICHITA — weavix is transforming…
