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Kansas City Mayor Sly James

KC Mayor Sly James: FCC must focus on digital inclusion, preserve net neutrality

By Tommy Felts / December 12, 2017

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the commentary are the author’s alone. Startland News welcomes opinion pieces from community leaders on subjects that affect the entrepreneurial community. Email news[at]startlandnews.com for more information. In Kansas City, we have a vibrant technology and entrepreneurial community. Our Smart City program is among the best in the nation, distinguished…

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Keliah Smith

KC mom’s humble entrepreneurial journey draws on healing power of creativity

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2017

Huddled in her parents’ basement, between the cribs of her crying twin babies, Keliah Smith began to draw. She was unemployed and feeling emotionally drained. The relationship with her children’s father had soured. Her escape: the stylus and smartphone in her hands. The Kansas City mother drew what she didn’t see in the mirror, she…

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Harvard University recognizes KCMO digital inclusion map

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2017

Kansas City’s geographic work to illustrate the area’s digital divide earned high praise from a prestigious university. Harvard University recently highlighted the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Digital Inclusion map, a tool that — at a block-by-block scale — detail residents’ access to internet connectivity overlaid with poverty levels. “This visualization was chosen as Harvard’s…

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Darcy Howe, American angel

Study: Women angel investors more likely to give back to female-led startups

By Tommy Felts / December 8, 2017

Women support women, a new study of 13,000 North American angel investors says. As more female entrepreneurs have entered the business field in the past few decades, women have begun to reshape the nature of angel investing, according to a report by the Overland Park-based Angel Capital Association. “Being an entrepreneur is one of the…

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Bilingual startup Tico Productions brings energy to Chiefs’ Spanish broadcast

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

When the Chiefs and Raiders meet Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, more than the usual KC-versus-Oakland rivalry will be at play. The game also puts Kansas City-based Tico Sports’ two Spanish-language broadcast teams head-to-head for the first time. It’s not a competition, said CiCi Rojas, partner and president of Tico Productions, the company behind Tico Sports…

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Kansas City Crossroads District

California retail tech firm opens Crossroads office, hiring 20

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

Retail technology firm  PriceSpider is citing the area’s vibrant tech community as the reason behind rooting a new office in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. Headquartered in Irvine, California, PriceSpider said the burgeoning startup community, deep pool of tech talent and Google Fiber’s arrival in 2012 helped push the company to choose the City of Fountains.…

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Heart and soul: UMKC celebrates Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (photos)

By Tommy Felts / December 6, 2017

Convening students, entrepreneurs and top civic leaders, the 32nd annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards on Tuesday recognized some of the area’s top innovators, including the creative mind behind one of Kansas City’s most iconic structures. The University of Missouri Kansas City’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management presented its International Entrepreneur of the Year…

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Women investors create intentional connections with female founders

By Tommy Felts / December 5, 2017

Female entrepreneurs receive only about 2 percent of all venture capital but own 38 percent of businesses in the United States, the Harvard Business Review reports. That’s in part why a group of women investors in Kansas City is planning to meet with women entrepreneurs to foster better relationships. Investors from the KCRise Fund, Royal…

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MCPL tools

Not just for students: MCPL expands digital tool set for entrepreneurs

By Tommy Felts / December 5, 2017

Editor’s note: The following content is sponsored by Mid-Continent Public Library but independently produced by Startland News. Dusty books. Tedious silence. Cranky shushers. Many stereotypes come to mind when one thinks of a library. But for those who haven’t recently visited these sanctums of knowledge, you might be surprised to see their transformations from canvas…

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Mayor Sly

Children’s book turns KC’s Mayor Sly into time-traveling history buff

By Tommy Felts / December 5, 2017

Kansas City’s colorful mayor was made for the pages of a children’s book, Audrey Masoner said. He gets his hand-drawn debut in “Mayor Sly and the Magic Bow Tie,” a project co-authored by Masoner and Mayor Sly James’ daughter, Aja James. The book is featured in Startland News’ 2017 Made in Kansas City Gift Guide.…

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