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Royals roll out the blue carpet for entrepreneurs with campaign focused on small businesses that define KC, its fandom

By Tommy Felts / March 16, 2023

Editor’s note: The Kansas City Royals is an advertiser with Startland News, although this report was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. Kansas City’s hometown baseball team is coming to the plate with a new pitch as opening day nears: a marketing campaign for the Royals that puts its city, fans and inspiring local…

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Made in KC reveals plans for Barrywoods shop in the Northland (and where it’ll open next)

By Tommy Felts / March 15, 2023

Made in KC is intentionally growing where local demand takes it, said Keith Bradley, detailing the brand’s expansion plans that hinge on customer convenience and include a new store in a prominent Northland shopping center.  “We realized that we don’t have a strong presence in the Northland,” said Bradley, a co-owner of Made in KC…

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Zach Anderson Pettet, Money 20/20, Cordell Carter II, Aspen Institute Socrates Program, Terri Bradford, Federal Reserve of Kansas City, and Donald Hawkins, kinly, at the C3KC “Fintech is Revolutionizing Banking” session

National pain points meet local solutions at C3KC; How ‘energy of the day’ can spark lasting change

By Tommy Felts / March 14, 2023

Editor’s note: The Junior League of Kansas City — through its C3KC conference — is an advertiser with Startland News. Fostering conversations about the most-pressing concerns facing communities not only helps expose the best of Kansas City innovation, said Becky Haddican, it also serves as a catalyst for even greater collaboration in the future. Now in…

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AI-generated bedtime stories are just the first chapter in JQ Sirls epic venture to make the publishing industry more inclusive

By Tommy Felts / March 14, 2023

Every great children’s story deserves the opportunity to be published, JQ Sirls said, adding his own footnote that more people are qualified than they think to create them.  “I could put 1,000 people in one room and tell them all to write a short story about their childhood. While many of them may have a…

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‘When puppets talk people listen’: It’s not just storytelling anymore for one of KC’s most beloved children’s theaters

By Tommy Felts / March 14, 2023

A Kansas City arts institution known for years as the Mesner Puppet Theater is animated with new life, said Meghann Henry, detailing a mission pivot for the freshly sewn and rebranded What If Puppets. Evolution at the nonprofit has taken a turn toward early childhood education since the retirement of Paul Mesner in 2016 —…

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M25 drops Midwest Madness bracket for best startup hub: 4-seed KC faces up-hill battle (Here’s how to vote)

By Tommy Felts / March 13, 2023

Bracket update: Since this story’s original publication, Kansas City has advanced to the Midwest Madness bracket’s Round of 32. Voting on Kansas City’s next match-up — against 5-seed Lafayette, Indiana — begins Tuesday, March 21. As sports fans fill out March Madness brackets this week, a Chicago-based venture capital firm is encouraging Midwestern founders, investors…

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Startups, investors on ‘red alert’ as Silicon Valley Bank collapse ripples into new tech downturn fears

By Tommy Felts / March 13, 2023

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Missouri Business Alert, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and The Kansas City Beacon. Click here to read the original story. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in rapid fashion on Friday to become the second-largest bank…

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Former C2FO manager creates AI data analyst to usher in a new way of making business decisions

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2023

Tyler Amundsen is set on building a future where every professional uses artificial intelligence to make better decisions, faster, he said. “With humans, AI and computers working together, we can achieve truly mind-blowing things, and we’re just at the beginning of it. … We’re at a point in the world where AI can tell whether…

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KC, Wichita, Topeka startups earn share of $100K as K-State accelerator spreads prize money across region

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2023

MANHATTAN — A demo day with $100,000 on the line culminated in a Kansas City startup leaving the stage with the event’s second-highest winnings. Poshed on the Go earned $23,500 in funding Thursday from the Kansas State University Accelerator program, coming in just behind the grand-prize winner, PillReady, Wichita, with $36,000. The Shawnee-based company is…

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Fresh start: Selfie studio goes mobile, reimagining its FOMO factory as a custom experience

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2023

Fresh Factory KC is evolving, founder India Wells-Carter shared, embracing change as she re-evaluates where and how her camera-ready venture can help shine the brightest light on Kansas City. After a year and a half in its brick-and-mortar location at the Zona Rosa shopping center, Fresh Factory KC has uprooted and gone mobile, bringing the…

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