All Stories

Meet customers where they are (and they’re on TikTok): Marketing experts urge startups to invest in brand building

By Tommy Felts / January 24, 2024

Like it or not, “TikTok remains king,” said Mikita Burton, encouraging startup founders to balance negative headlines about the video-sharing social media platform with its incredible potential for reaching their most-sought-after audiences. “We don’t just get to pick our customers’ favorite platforms, so you need to be where they are,” Burton, a social media strategist…

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Bo Lings owners adapt to lifestyle trends with new fast casual concept in River Market 

By Tommy Felts / January 24, 2024

A new City Market dining option from the couple behind the Bo Lings restaurant chain is serving up fast casual Chinese dishes with authentic flavors and familiar tastes, said Richard Ng. “It’s a new concept, and we hope it takes off,” said Ng, co-owner of Bo’s Kitchen at 108 E. 5th St. in the River…

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Corral raises $1.38M to expand virtual fence solution’s US hoofprint; M25, Grit Road beef up deal

By Tommy Felts / January 24, 2024

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. LINCOLN, Nebraska — Agtech pioneered by a third-generation rancher-turned-startup founder has corralled an oversubscribed $1.38 million funding round with backing from a healthy herd of regional investors. Corral Technologies, a…

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These KC students just won $50K for their school’s STEM efforts — and exhibit space in Science City

By Tommy Felts / January 24, 2024

Winning the $50,000 grand prize at Burns & McDonnell’s Battle of the Brains competition made for the best school day ever, shared Reese Moreno, a member of the victorious Delta Woods Middle School team. “This is mind blowing,” she explained Tuesday after the awards ceremony at Union Station in Kansas City. “The moment they announced…

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Start from the top: How these newsmakers forged companies to watch (Event Photos) 

By Tommy Felts / January 22, 2024

Maybe it was an open opportunity in a market that couldn’t be ignored. Perhaps a calling to do something bigger than themselves. Or, for some, just a transparent bid to find profit in a world of problems waiting to be solved. Each of Startland News’ 10 Kansas City Startups to Watch launched with a motivation…

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WeCode KC, CAPA selected for free services from this Top 10 KC small business winner

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2024

A company lauded among Kansas City’s top small businesses for three consecutive years this week announced the nonprofit recipients of $100,000 in pro-bono marketing services through a first-time expansion of its annual Crux for a Cause initiative. WeCode KC and Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA) will each receive marketing investments of $50,000 for 2024, said…

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KC startup on a mission to show women’s health is more than a niche; a nationwide advocate could help

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2024

A women-led Kansas City health startup is among 10 companies chosen for a new innovation cohort from Springboard Enterprises, which made a name for itself locally in recent years through its popular Dolphin Tank pitch showcases. Marma was selected for the Springboard program — a comprehensive entrepreneurial bootcamp and an expansive workshop series — because the…

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Startup launches workforce readiness game, scaling its Kansas-built talent crisis solution national

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2024

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.  WICHITA — A newly opened, nationwide digital game tournament aims to help students adopt the life skills needed to start careers wherever they live, said Robert Feeney, describing how his…

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What if they connected: New leader wants to use puppets to give toddlers their first arts experience

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2024

Amanda Kibler has long admired What If Puppets, the nonprofit’s new executive director shared. “It’s a great company,” she said of the Kansas City arts institution known for years as the Mesner Puppet Theater. “I’m just over the moon to be involved. I’ve been saying for a long time, it’s the one company in town…

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Her fund targets investments for women of color; why this VC is fighting a lawsuit that would curb equity-focused funding 

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2024

The fight for equity — especially among Black and brown entrepreneurs — isn’t easily won, said Ayana Parsons, likening the setback-laden struggle to a boxing match that seemingly never ends. “There are many rounds,” Parsons recently told a Kansas City crowd gathered at Burns & McDonnell’s campus for an event to honor diverse legacies. Parsons’…

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