Letter from the editor: Help us Give A Start to KC innovators

October 6, 2020  |  Tommy Felts

Give A Start featured story

Editor’s note: The following kicks off Startland News’ Give A Start — an eight-week donor campaign seeking reader support for the nonprofit newsroom. Click here to donate.

It’s a big day. Startland News is launching its first-ever donor campaign — asking our readers to join in financially supporting a nonprofit newsroom that’s helped elevate Kansas City entrepreneurs for more than five years.

Tommy Felts, Startland News

Tommy Felts, Startland News

We’re calling it Give A Start.

The eight-week campaign runs today — National News Engagement Day — through Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1.

Independent newsrooms are more important than ever. Startland News now is a team of three full-time journalists, posting about 40 articles a month — nearly half of them about underserved or underrepresented entrepreneurs.

We’re shining a spotlight on Kansas City innovation with solutions-based, human-focused storytelling — as well as showcasing resiliency in a pandemic-struck world.

Click here to donate to keep Startland News scaling its storytelling.

Kansas City starts companies.
We start covering them.

Startland News is proud to be a discovery platform for a broad range of startups, disruptors, creatives, makers and risk-takers. Our readers value being among the first to learn about the bold new ideas fueling Kansas City businesses.

For the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves, an article in Startland News often helps lay the media groundwork for credibility and exposure to an audience of peers and potential customers and investors. We’re frequently the first step in getting covered by a national publication, gaining industry attention or landing a game-changing investment.

It’s about giving a start — but also context.

We must explore critically the challenges and even failures that go hand-in-hand with creativity and innovation. Learning from those setbacks — and inspiring others to keep pushing forward or make their own start — is key to strengthening Kansas City for generations to come.

In short: Your support will help us dig deeper.

Give what you can. Give A Start.

A monthly or one-time gift to Startland News (in whatever amount feels right) can help us keep our momentum moving alongside the people we cover — from solopreneurs and artists to startup founders with hundreds of workers — amplifying the stories of Kansas City innovation.

Today is Tuesday. Just another day, but for many entrepreneurs, it’s the start of a journey they’re counting on Startland News to share.

Give A Start and be part of their story.

— Tommy Felts,
editor, Startland News

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

Tagged ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder

      2020 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        Physician assistant, mom juggles healthy challenge: opening two Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchises

        By Tommy Felts | March 12, 2025

        A new Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchisee is opening not one, but two locations this spring — all while keeping her day job and raising twin 4-year-olds. Nikki Vogel is taking over 2,200-square-feet in the former Calibration Brewery building at 119 Armour Road in North Kansas City for a scheduled April 16 opening. (It will be…

        Roster filled: 32 Kansas startups march into Round 2 of tourney-style pitch competition

        By Tommy Felts | March 12, 2025

        WICHITA — Nearly three dozen Sunflower State startups are vying for $20,000 in prize money — and courting the attention of investors — as they advance to the second round of an innovative, state-backed pitch competition set amid the excitement of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. NXTUS on Tuesday announced the initial 32 companies advancing…

        Randy Wasinger wanted the 1952 Topps of NFTs; so the lifelong baseball card collector started coding (and Mark Cuban came calling)

        By Tommy Felts | March 11, 2025

        Editor’s note: The following includes excerpts from “The Corporate Couch” podcast as part of a collaboration between host Jeff Pelaccio and Startland News to highlight Web3 companies and founders in the space. The 15-year-old boy within Randy Wasinger — so obsessed with baseball cards that he opened a card shop in downtown Russell, Kansas, to sell…

        Kansas legislation banning DeepSeek passes to state Senate after swell of support in House

        By Tommy Felts | March 11, 2025

        Editor’s note: This article was written for a class at the University of Kansas’ William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and distributed through the Kansas Press Association. TOPEKA — A bill seeking to ban DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot, from state devices has advanced in the Kansas Legislature. HB 2313 passed…