All Stories
Don’t ignore magical timing within the entrepreneur community, said marketing manager-turned-children’s book author Audrey Masoner. “Kansas City is a place where anything can happen, and you really want to keep your eyes open for connections,” Masoner told a crowd gathered Wednesday for Rockhurst University’s Meet the Makers speaker series. “It’s small enough to be very…
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Sitting down to discuss her career a few hours before a Thursday evening rush at The Belfry, celebrity chef and entrepreneur Celina Tio is all business. She’s heard (and answered) every biographical question before. Yet Tio’s eyes gleam and a smile quickly spreads across her face when the conversation turns to her customers at the…
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It began like any other startup, said Clifton Pemble, Garmin’s sixth employee and now CEO of the $11 billion GPS tech firm. “I joined Garmin and it was literally just days later that we were gathered in a little place over at 95th and Pflumm — two rooms in a small strip mall kind of…
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The following is a letter to the editor written by former Kansas City, Missouri, chief innovation officer Ashley Z. Hand in response to a recent series of Startland articles focused on Kansas City’s new short-term rental regulations. All opinions in the commentary are the author’s alone. I find it interesting that there is no discussion…
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Celebrating differences strengthens everyone, a white 1 Million Cups volunteer told a room full of black entrepreneurs and business owners Wednesday evening. “Diversity and inclusion are important to us year-round here at 1 Million Cups,” said Kyle Smith, communications coordinator at KCSourceLink and a 1MC Kansas City community organizer. “And I am very well aware…
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In what is believed to be the largest venture-backed funding round in the Kansas City area’s history, C2FO is lighting the fuse on its global expansion with a $100 million capital raise. The Leawood-based financial tech firm’s round was led by Munich-based Allianz X and Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company, and included participation from Temasek,…
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One of Kansas City’s biggest conference series for entrepreneurs is returning in October alongside some of KC’s most premier accelerator programs, said Amanda Signorelli, CEO of Techweek KC. Demo days for Techstars KC and BetaBlox will join LaunchKC as signature events during the Oct. 8-12 conference, she said. “Combined with the nationally recognized LaunchKC competition…
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Reality is starting to sink in for Grit Virtual, said co-founder Chris Callen. “It’s exciting to finally be able to talk about our funding rounds and the successes we have had,” Callen said. “It’s been an exciting ride so far, and we’re kind of gearing up to make it a real company, not just an R&D…
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Entrepreneurship rates are half of what they were a generation ago, and although the U.S. population is increasingly diverse, educated and older, the nation’s entrepreneurial population isn’t changing at the same pace, Wendy Guillies said. Founders face too many barriers, said Guillies, president and chief executive officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Wednesday morning…
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So … What’s your spirit animal? Eleven startup founders and leaders joined Startland News and the Kansas City Startup Foundation on stage Tuesday for a rebooted Innovation Exchange experience — complete with casual conversation, jazz and few unexpected queries. Saluting the Top Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2018, the rapid-fire, Q&A-style event showcased the…
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