Fishtech, BacklotCars, Bardavon named to Forbes’ 2020 best startup employers list
March 10, 2020 | Startland News Staff
A trio of fast-growing Kansas City companies are among the 500 best startup employers in the nation, according to a new ranking from Forbes.
Gary Fish, Fishtech Group
Fishtech Group — one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020 — lead the local honorees at No. 277 on Forbes’ list.
BacklotCars was ranked at No. 339, followed by Bardavon Health Innovations at No. 439.
Click here to see the full list of America’s Best Startup Employers for 2020.
“Those who are drawn to [working at] early-stage companies may have different professional priorities than those at more established firms, but the qualities they value most in employers are surprisingly similar,” the Forbes report read.
Such values include a clear mission, learning and development opportunities, transparency, and a flexible structure, according to the report. The top 500 list was compiled by evaluating 2,500 American businesses with at least 50 employees on three criteria: employer reputation, employee satisfaction and growth.
High-end amenities and cutting-edge office space also likely help.
Fishtech, a rapidly growing cyber security firm, boasts a sprawling Martin City campus with a more than $10 million cyber defense center. BacklotCars, which offers a wholesale platform for auto dealers, relocated in 2019 to fill a full floor of the newly renovated Lightwell building in downtown Kansas City.
Click here to take a closer look at Fishtech’s headquarters.
Matt Condon, Bardavon
For Bardavon, the recognition was unexpected, said Matt Condon, the healthcare startup’s CEO.
“This was a surprise to us. However, we unapologetically expect that Bardavon will continue to be recognized as a national market force for evolving and improving healthcare,” he said. “Because of our unique mission to optimize outcomes by focusing on clinical data and disintermediating the claims process through technology and transparency, we have been able to recruit some of the best talent in the country to our Bardavon team.”
Bardavon is one of 62 healthcare startups and one of only nine healthcare startups in the Midwest; the rest are located on the east or west coasts, the company emphasized.
Bardavaon was named one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2018.
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Frustrated by the fit, this traveler-turned-swimwear founder crafted 10 pairs himself; now his trunk show is going global
Opening a popup swimwear store in one of Atlanta’s most upscale malls represented a surge of momentum for Tristan Davis’ high-end brand that began not on a beach or a runway, but in Kansas City’s tight-knit startup community. “We’ve gone from an idea in a handmade bathing suit to a high fashion mall in less…
Harvesting opportunity: How a KC chicken chain turned a strip of parking lot into its latest ingredient
Months before snow blanketed Kansas City this week, Todd Johnson transformed a weed-filled, unusable portion of parking lot at his Lenexa restaurant into a flourishing garden that serves up fresh produce used in kitchens at all three of his Strips Chicken and Brewing locations in Johnson County. In its first season, Moonglow Gardens — as…
AI evolved faster than rules to protect people; this founder wants to code ethics back into the tech
Amber Stewart sees what many overlook in artificial intelligence, she said: the human cost of unregulated technology that can manifest as anything from sexist and racist outcomes to outright theft from willing and unwilling members of the public. “I’m not afraid of the tech,” said Stewart, founder and CEO of GuardianSync. “I’m afraid of unfettered…
A romantic hideaway (for you and a book): Entrepreneur’s heart for reading opens store on Independence Square
America Fontenot didn’t plan to launch her new Independence bookstore on national Small Business Saturday — the busiest shopping weekend of the year — but renovation delays just kept pushing back the opening, she said. So while many small shops were offering Black Friday-adjacent deals to get customers in the front door, Fontenot’s The Littlest…