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Tohi Ventures is on a quest to save the planet — one rare-berry infused beverage at a time. “I was literally doing Google research on unique ingredients, specialty crops … these one-ingredient wonders,” explained Shari Coulter Ford, CEO and co-founder of Tohi Ventures — maker of Tohi, an antioxidant-rich beverage available in four, all-natural flavors. …
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‘Not a good look’: Amid budget cut criticism, Mayor Q shuffles $25K between small biz support groups
Editor’s note: Startland News is a program of STARTLAND, an ecosystem-building organization that is among the participants in an informal coalition of entrepreneur support groups hoping to increase funding for small business support in the 2020-2021 Kansas City, Missouri, budget. This story was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. Responding to sharp criticism of…
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Editor’s note: Startland News is a program of STARTLAND, an ecosystem-building organization that is among the participants in an informal coalition of entrepreneur support groups hoping to increase funding for small business support in the 2020-2021 Kansas City, Missouri, budget. This story was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. Financial backing for entrepreneur support…
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Editor’s note: Startland News is a program of STARTLAND, an ecosystem-building organization that is among the participants in an informal coalition of entrepreneur support groups hoping to increase funding for startup support in the 2020-2021 Kansas City, Missouri, budget. This story was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. The impact is in the numbers,…
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Holed up at home, recovering from a broken ankle, Kevin Ritz started to toy with the idea of launching a KC-centric podcast — despite living in a city rich with audio storytellers, he noted. “I did a lot of research as far as seeing if there was a podcast [about Kansas City] out there already…
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Not enough founders in the pre-seed funding stage get the help they need to successfully build their emerging startups, said Toby Rush. “How can you find, focus and accelerate people before they’ve raised money, before they’ve built their team, before they’ve made all of the mistakes that I’ve made plenty of times and that most…
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A move to the Lightwell building signals more than continued growth for Kansas City-based PayIt: it’s the beginning of the company’s transition from startup to scaleup, revealed John Thomson. “We’re scrappy underdogs in this big market of big players and I don’t want us to lose that,” Thomson, co-founder and CEO, told Startland News of…
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Serial entrepreneur Tim Barton is bringing his “chef collective” concept from downtown Overland Park to the heart of KCMO, the founder of Edison District announced Thursday, teasing the first details of a new development at the in-progress Lightwell building. “It’ll be a 13,500 square-foot food hall with five chef concepts,” Barton, whose Johnson County Strang…
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Startup support is an investment — not just a cost to the city, a leading ecosystem builder said Thursday following a proposed KCMO budget that would reduce funding for groups aiding KC’s emerging innovators and risk-takers. “Go around to meet the entrepreneurs, understand their stories — see how we max out our credit cards to hire…
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College curriculum often falls short of the crucial soft skills to get young entrepreneurs from coffee chats to the head of the table, said Kaylee Chappelow. “I don’t want to say college sucks … but I think we all agree that it doesn’t touch on the soft skills,” laughed Chappelow, customer success manager at insurtech…
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