2021 Startups to Watch: LaborChart constructs high-growth mindset built on value, resiliency
January 13, 2021 | Tommy Felts and Austin Barnes
Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2021’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch — presented by sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
LaborChart wants to be among Kansas City’s top-tier tech companies, said Ben Schultz, downloading reasons 2021 could be the year that puts the startup over the top in its home city and beyond.
Elevator pitch: LaborChart is a leading provider of workforce management software for the construction industry. The platform helps businesses manage employee scheduling, dispatching, forecasting and communication. Built from a unique blend of construction and software expertise, LaborChart helps contractors of all trades organize their largest and most valuable company asset — their workforce — into one secure and easy-to-manage platform.
• Founders: Ben Schultz, Hunter Browning
• Founding Year: 2015
• Amount Raised to Date: $7.05M
• Noteworthy Investors: Five Elms Capital and Perceptive Equity
• Programs Completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs
• Current Employee Count: 30
“We are building one of the most unique opportunities to work inside high-growth tech here in the Midwest,” Schultz, CEO and co-founder, said of the quiet-but-mighty high-growth small business’s mission and why its commitment to scaling responsibly is expected to pay off in 2021, teasing international market expansion and anticipated team growth.
“We just work our asses off and refuse to not make something of it. [In the early days] we made so many bad decisions, so many mistakes, we did so many things wrong — but we would just continue to go home and come back and do better,” he said of an attitude that’s helped the company become the leading construction workforce management platform in the United States.
Click here to read more about LaborChart and its mission to help businesses manage employee scheduling, dispatching, forecasting and communication.
Schultz and his team are determined to achieve the same status in a number of international markets in 2021.
“It sets us up to always make a right decision versus having some external or environmental factor coming in and changing our business overnight — which happens to so many tech companies anymore. The wind blows the wrong way and you’ll see a billion-dollar entity crumple in three months.”
Using such mistakes as examples, Labor Chart is expected to prioritize value as it expands its headcount, focusing its efforts on strategic hiring that positions the company to reach the next level.
“We’re growing the team aggressively across every department in our business. Finding those people who want to show up, want to focus on value, and want to get personally better every single day is huge for us,” he said, adding the hiring spree won’t be a game of optics, but rather an intentional effort to expand the company’s current skill set and provide valuable opportunities for growth within Kansas City’s tech sector.
“It’s very much about finding the right person — and if we can’t find the right person, we’re not going to fill roles. We’re keeping our eye on these things, not just trying to grow at all costs,” Schultz said.
The Kansas City Startups Watch in 2021 list is made possible by presenting sponsors Husch Blackwell, a value-driven law firm with offices in Kansas City, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, though independently produced by Startland News.
1) TripleBlind
2) LaborChart
3) Bar K
4) Ronawk
5) SureShow
6) Daupler
7) PMI Rate Pro
8) Scissors & Scotch
9) Replica
10) The Market Base
Startups to Watch is now in its sixth year, thanks to ongoing support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Destination espresso: Parisi Coffee spot pours from family, Union Station inspiration at new KCI
Travelers flying in and out of the Kansas City International Airport’s new terminal can experience the aroma and tastes of an Italian cafe — without leaving the States — when they stop by Parisi Coffee, said Joe Paris. “A core part of our branding has been taking the traditional Italian espresso and bringing it into…
This $250M bid to revive a Midtown historic landmark adds living spaces to Westport school campus
A newly announced development — the largest mixed-use project in Midtown — is expected to bring fresh activity to the vacant hallways of a historic Kansas City school, further anchoring community within a multi-building, street-spanning campus that already includes a Plexpod coworking and events venue. “Once home to students, athletes, and artists, the latest project…
New technology preserves speed, convenience KC air travelers have come to expect (in unexpected ways)
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Kansas City PBS/Flatland, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, The Kansas City Beacon, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story. You land at Kansas City International Airport a half hour early. Until now that…
Mizzou students started making real angel investments from campus a decade ago; now they need more capital
COLUMBIA, Missouri — The college-aged leaders of Mizzou’s AACE Venture Fund are learning as they go: not just how to invest in real startups across the region, but how to make the university’s long-running student investment program sustainable. “We’re having real-world experiences — such as getting on the phone with founders, doing due diligence and…