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Small Business Superstars reception

Small Business Superstars in photos: When people belong, ‘the possibilities are endless’

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2022

Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program. A celebration Wednesday for the Chamber’s new class of Small Business Superstars came with a message for entrepreneurs of all kinds, said Vicky Kulikov. You belong. “That…

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Jake Calhoun, Soya

Pipeline, NXTUS drive exposure for entrepreneur’s on-demand fuel delivery startup

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2022

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. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. WICHITA…

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John Boucard, Tesseract Ventures

Tesseract taps into KC’s sticky innovation culture with homegrown partnership to build IoT tools

By Tommy Felts / March 10, 2022

A new partnership between a leading robotics creator and one of its fellow Kansas City tech innovators showcases the founder’s longstanding commitment to harnessing the region’s potential as a collaboration powerhouse.  “When I moved back to Kansas City to start Tesseract, I made up my mind to lead by example and attempt to build close…

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Neal Sharma, DEG exit

A weakness today can be KC’s superpower tomorrow: Call for corporate engagement begins with CEOs

By Tommy Felts / March 8, 2022

Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity.  Successful entrepreneurial ecosystems require a certain level of corporate engagement — and even stewardship — said Neal Sharma, noting the…

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Willa Robsinson, Willa’s Books & Vinyl, at H&R Block

‘Supplier diversity is deceptively difficult’: How to boost diverse small businesses without tokenizing them

By Tommy Felts / March 8, 2022

Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity.  Successful efforts to promote increased, consistent spending with more diverse small businesses must start with C-Suite buy-in, Christine Kelly said,…

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Rich Smith, president-emeritus, and Kevin Lewis, CEO and president, Henderson Engineers — one of 12 companies in the first cohort of the CEO-to-CEO Challenge

Meet the 12 KC companies pledging to buy from diverse vendors; Join them in the CEO-to-CEO Challenge

By Tommy Felts / March 8, 2022

Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity.  A dozen high-profile Kansas City companies are at the vanguard of a new regional effort to boost supplier diversity programs…

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Kharissa Forte, Holistic Hustle, Grace & Grind

We all need help, honey: Nearly 3/4 of entrepreneurs are haunted by depression (Holistic Hustle)

By Tommy Felts / March 8, 2022

Kharissa Forte is a writer, certified health coach, and columnist for Startland News. For more of her self-care tips on how to keep your cup full, visit graceandgrind.co. You did it. After all the nights dreaming about how amazing it could be and overcoming the endless stream of what-ifs that stopped you from moving forward…

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Primary Color Music, Post Haus

Earworms to the Oscars: They’ve redefined jingle writing, now composing music for motion (pictures)

By Tommy Felts / March 5, 2022

Notes of passion are composed throughout every piece of Sam Billen’s entrepreneurial melody. But it’s the most recent crescendo in his career that has him thanking the Academy.  “It sounds cheesy, but it’s actually pretty cool,” said Billen, composer and founding partner of Primary Color Music, detailing the experience of guests who step foot inside…

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Maggie Kenefake, Royal Street Ventures, Clarence Tan, Boddle, and John Thomson, PayIt, during a previous C3KC conference at Union Station

Innovators can’t do it alone; C3KC conference calls for cross-sector attack on wealth gap, KC’s biggest pain points

By Tommy Felts / March 4, 2022

Editor’s note: Startland News is a media sponsor for the Junior League of Kansas City’s C3KC conference. Click here for tickets to the event, which features a keynote address by best-selling author Adam Grant. Challenges abound in Kansas City, Kimberlee Ried acknowledged, but opportunities for innovation to push change are even more plentiful. An in-person conference…

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Matt Baysinger, Sinkers Lounge, Swell Spark

Roll over, Wordle: Tabletop golf, cocktail bar tee’d up as KC’s next big game experience with Power and Light opening

By Tommy Felts / March 4, 2022

Sinkers Lounge is reinventing mini golf in the same way Top Golf reinvented the driving range, said Matt Baysinger. “With all the ideas we have in our heads about what mini golf is, I think Sinkers Lounge will far surpass that. Tabletop golf is this combination of shuffleboard, mini golf and pool that doesn’t quite…

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