Meet 20 scaling companies making the leap with ScaleUP! KC’s latest small biz cohort
January 28, 2021 | Startland News Staff
Successfully scaling entrepreneurs take the time to work on their businesses — rather than just in them, Jill Hathaway said, emphasizing the transformative power ScaleUP! Kansas City brings to the 20 top-tier business owners newly participating in its 11th cohort.
“This intensive program has had a profound impact on the small businesses it serves during the 16 weeks and long after the course ends,” said Hathaway, program director for ScaleUP! KC. “The tools, coaching and connections help them navigate unexpected twists and turns with confidence and a clear plan.”
ScaleUP! KC, which is administered by the UMKC Innovation Center, provides direct support for growth-oriented entrepreneurs and firms — to include underserved and underrepresented communities/populations — and strengthens the entrepreneurial ecosystem by filling a gap for second-stage businesses, according to the program.
Click here to learn more about ScaleUP! KC, which is offered at no cost to participants thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The cohort’s latest additions from across the Kansas City region — each with revenues above $200,000 — represent such diverse industries as security, marketing, fitness, construction, insurance, tech, sanitation and education, according to ScaleUP! KC.
Members of the cohort include:
- Tony Blogumas — Green Resources Consulting, Cleveland, Missouri
- Brian Butner — NPB Companies Inc., Kansas City, Kansas
- David Chavez — INGEÑUITY, Olathe, Kansas
- Jocelyn Cohenour — Studio7 Pilates + Barre, Prairie Village, Kansas
- Isaac Collins — Yogurtini, Kansas City, Missouri
- Samantha Comer — Niftiest Construction Provider LLC, Kansas City, Kansas
- Nicole Feltz — Nicole L. Feltz Agency, American Family Insurance, Overland Park, Kansas
- Blair Hauser — Marquette Physical Therapy, Leawood, Kansas
- Renee Jones — Patrick’s Heating and Cooling Supply, Kansas City, Missouri
- Maria Kunstadter — The TeleDentists, Kansas City, Missouri
- Toni Laban — Pacific Sanitation Services, Kansas City, Missouri
- Audrey Mathis — Lumen Touch, Kansas City, Missouri
- Corey Phillips — Trilogy Sports & Fitness, Kansas City, Missouri
- Andrew Powell — State Line Door & Lift, Grain Valley, Missouri
- Kristen Rising — Rising Construction Services Inc., Grain Valley, Missouri
- Randy Robbins — J&C Auto Glass, Raytown, Missouri
- Von Walker — Clean It All, Independence, Missouri
- Caleb Walston — Walston Door Company LLC, North Kansas City, Missouri
- Sanford Willis — Willis Willis and Sons LLC, Kansas City, Missouri
- AbdulRasak Yahaya — Open Minds Child Development Center, Olathe, Kansas
Including the newest cohort, 175 Kansas City-area business owners have participated in ScaleUP! KC. The program helps them create the processes, strategies and long-term plans to not only grow but also to scale their businesses and be equipped and ready for shifts and opportunities, according to ScaleUP! KC.
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KC mom’s humble entrepreneurial journey draws on healing power of creativity
Huddled in her parents’ basement, between the cribs of her crying twin babies, Keliah Smith began to draw. She was unemployed and feeling emotionally drained. The relationship with her children’s father had soured. Her escape: the stylus and smartphone in her hands. The Kansas City mother drew what she didn’t see in the mirror, she…
Harvard University recognizes KCMO digital inclusion map
Kansas City’s geographic work to illustrate the area’s digital divide earned high praise from a prestigious university. Harvard University recently highlighted the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Digital Inclusion map, a tool that — at a block-by-block scale — detail residents’ access to internet connectivity overlaid with poverty levels. “This visualization was chosen as Harvard’s…
Study: Women angel investors more likely to give back to female-led startups
Women support women, a new study of 13,000 North American angel investors says. As more female entrepreneurs have entered the business field in the past few decades, women have begun to reshape the nature of angel investing, according to a report by the Overland Park-based Angel Capital Association. “Being an entrepreneur is one of the…
Bilingual startup Tico Productions brings energy to Chiefs’ Spanish broadcast
When the Chiefs and Raiders meet Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, more than the usual KC-versus-Oakland rivalry will be at play. The game also puts Kansas City-based Tico Sports’ two Spanish-language broadcast teams head-to-head for the first time. It’s not a competition, said CiCi Rojas, partner and president of Tico Productions, the company behind Tico Sports…