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Exterior view of T-Mobile Center prior to the Hall of Fame Classic game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini on Nov. 22, 2021 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. (Photo by Nick Tre, Smith/Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

T-Mobile sprints ahead: KC tech leader held the line on local jobs (and offers a glimpse at Cerner’s possible future)

By Tommy Felts / January 5, 2022

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by Flatland, the digital magazine of Kansas City PBS and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly Flatland email newsletter. T-Mobile in Kansas City has been as quiet as a pin drop since it merged…

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Diana Kander and Jessie Jacob, JD Insights

The problem with asking customers what they want? They lie (but not to this KC data duo)

By Tommy Felts / January 4, 2022

For years, Diana Kander has researched how to interview customers — specifically how to get the truth from them, she said. It’s been key to helping her work with companies to innovate and grow. But in early 2021 the consultant and author of “All In Startup” and “The Curiosity Muscle” was perplexed by a problem…

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Co-founders Kyle Manera and Maddie Shonka, Co-Immunity

Their diagnoses were just the beginning: How tech app, community tap into co-founders’ own chronic illnesses

By Tommy Felts / January 4, 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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Digital Sandbox KC recipients: Jaqwan Sirls, PageMaster; Aishah Augusta-Parham, SEPOW; Brandon Fuhr and Joel Stephens, XReps; David Roberson, AZELLA; Eliot Arnold, MoodSpark; and Nikil Ragav, InventXYZ

Just funded: Digital Sandbox KC starts new year with six new startups on its roster

By Tommy Felts / January 4, 2022

Digital Sandbox KC’s latest round of startup funding reflects the emergence of more Kansas City-built, scalable tech in the new year, said Jill Meyer, announcing the fourth-quarter roster of companies bringing innovative ideas to life in the region. “These six companies demonstrate the creativity and diversity of our region’s technology founders and problem solvers,” said…

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KC Bizcare

By Tommy Felts / January 1, 2022
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Merger alert: ‘Shark Tank’ star teams with Gary Fish, Fishtech to form new cybersecurity powerhouse

By Tommy Felts / December 30, 2021

A merger announced today between award-winning cybersecurity solutions providers Fishtech Group  and Herjavec Group will unite the companies as a single entity under a new brand to be announced in early 2022.  The deal — backed by funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (The Apax Funds), which will hold a majority stake in the new…

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Olive Cooke, Sylvia Metta, and Kim Conyers Cauldron Collective

Vegan spell falls over West Bottoms restaurant as this trio’s plant-based potions ring in a new year

By Tommy Felts / December 29, 2021

Every witch needs a coven, said Olive Cooke, Sylvia Metta and Kim Conyers; so they conjured a community in the West Bottoms to serve their vegan bites.  Cauldron Collective — a plant-based, comfort food venture co-founded by self-proclaimed “cooking witches” Cooke, Metta and Conyers in January 2021 — made its mark in Kansas City through…

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Michael Odupitan, Omni Circle Group; photo by @BriJoRaePusch-Zuniga

Topeka is building its own startup hub; a new group is pushing those left out from survival mode to creation

By Tommy Felts / December 29, 2021

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. The…

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Ben Chaverin, from Behind the Sunset - Apparition

Trade to troubadour: Ben Chaverin finds his hook, but just sampling KC’s music scene might not be enough

By Tommy Felts / December 29, 2021

Entering the job market amid a global pandemic isn’t ideal, Ben Chaverin admits, but its challenges can become opportunities for those creative (and willing) enough to turn adversity into a new playlist.  “I’ve learned so much in the last couple of years — and grown so much as a human being,” Chaverin said, recalling his December…

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Long Lost Cold Brew; Startland News photo

Why the ‘best cold brew you’ve ever tasted’ (and it’s brewer) are found only in KC

By Tommy Felts / December 29, 2021

Tucked in your neighborhood grocer’s cooler waits an otherworldly cold brew — the smoothest this side of the twilight zone. And it can only be found in Kansas City. For now. “I take my craft really seriously and I taste every batch. If it’s not right, it doesn’t go out. It’s really important to me…

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