All Stories

Culinary Center cooking with plans to expand from Overland Park into Northland shops

By Tommy Felts / July 9, 2025

After nearly 30 years in downtown Overland Park, The Culinary Center of Kansas City is expanding with a second location. It plans a late 2025 or an early 2026 opening in the former Ombra small plates + librations spot in The Village at Briarcliff, 4161 N. Mulberry St. in the Northland. The space will be…

Read More >

Small Biz to Watch: Chick-In Waffle scales its cleverly KC-sauced identity, tapping Gen Z soul, God’s blessings

By Tommy Felts / July 9, 2025

Editor’s note: Startland News is showcasing five Kansas City small businesses this week through the newsroom’s first-ever Small Biz to Watch series, presented by Bank of America. The following highlights one of the 2025 honorees, curated by editors from Kansas City’s wide array of hard-working entrepreneurs and business owners. Selection criteria is based on factors…

Read More >

How Boddle’s product-driven approach built educational games that kids ask their parents to buy

By Tommy Felts / July 8, 2025

Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Serial entrepreneur and three-peat exited founder Matt Watson is the host of Product Driven and co-founder of Full Scale, a global staffing company. Click here to subscribe to the free Product Driven newsletter.  [divide] What if the way you’re building your product is the…

Read More >

Small Biz to Watch: Someday Sunday opens the door to me-time without guilt (or toxins)

By Tommy Felts / July 8, 2025

Editor’s note: Startland News is showcasing five Kansas City small businesses this week through the newsroom’s first-ever Small Biz to Watch series, presented by Bank of America. The following highlights one of the 2025 honorees, curated by editors from Kansas City’s wide array of hard-working entrepreneurs and business owners. Selection criteria is based on factors…

Read More >

Fund Me, KC: ULAH asks Kansas City to help save Westwood menswear store as pandemic debt looms

By Tommy Felts / July 7, 2025

Startland News is continuing its long-running “Fund Me, KC” series to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses or lend a helping hand to others. This is an opportunity for business owners and innovators — like menswear retailers and trendsetters Joey Mendez and Buck Wimberly — to share their crowdfunding stories and potentially gain…

Read More >

These 15 KCMO projects just got a $19M+ boost; funding focused on inclusive community investments

By Tommy Felts / July 7, 2025

A pair of high-profile projects at 18th and Vine — restoring the Boone Theater and its Kansas City jazz legacy, along with transforming the long-vacant Workhouse Castle into a boutique hotel — offer just a few notes from a chorus of just-funded redevelopment initiatives aimed at buoying small business and tackling challenges in Kansas City’s urban core.…

Read More >

Meet 7 startups just funded to turn potential into Kansas City-built tech innovation

By Tommy Felts / July 7, 2025

The latest crop of Digital Sandbox KC companies — earning up to $20,000 in project funding for their concepts — are poised to make significant impacts within their industries, said Jill Meyer, noting a through-line from digital health to AI-powered construction and fantasy sports solutions. “These exciting innovations show some great promise, and we’re honored…

Read More >

Cosmo Burger brings its mouth-watering tots, boozy milkshakes to East Crossroads’ bustling streets of eats

By Tommy Felts / July 3, 2025

Bringing Cosmo Burger to the Crossroads required cousins Atit and Jugal Patel to cook their plans to perfection, serving up the brand’s first full-service brick-and-mortar location after years of trial by griddle. The result: a beefed up version of the owners’ original concept in one of the city’s most popular dining and entertainment districts. “This…

Read More >

Independence day: Flipping from side-hustle to full-time requires grind behind glory 

By Tommy Felts / July 3, 2025

Founders found freedom in the journey (but they’re grateful for what they didn’t know was ahead) Jason Taylor walked away from big tech for good in January — leaving behind a dream résumé that included a long engineering career at Microsoft, then Google, for the freedom to pursue what had once been just a passion…

Read More >

Family history, franchise model help second-chapter entrepreneur jump business obstacles

By Tommy Felts / July 3, 2025

Throughout his career as a car salesman and mortgage broker, Brad Staples felt a calling toward entrepreneurship, he said. And when those industries ran dry, the Missouri native realized it was time to try on a familiar hat: running a family business. His venture, USA Ninja Challenge — a franchise kids’ fitness gym inspired by…

Read More >
1MC-Digital-Attend-2460x318px-v1
Founders-Club-Banner-Ad-2

Join Founder's Club – Support Our Mission

Enjoy access to our email newsletter, members only Slack community, exclusive events and other member perks.