All Stories

Minddrive fuels youth development through hands-on STEM

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2017

Carlos Alonzo, a 15-year-old engineer at Minddrive, was always good at math. In the seventh grade, Alonzo’s teachers gave him the opportunity to skip ahead and take algebra. Although he enjoyed it and did well in the class, he ran into a problem: His school didn’t offer him an advanced class for eighth grade. That one-year…

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KC Chamber

Entrepreneur, startup advocate becomes new KC Chamber chair

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2017

A prominent Kansas City entrepreneur with some serious startup chops is now serving as the new chair of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Matt Condon, CEO of Bardavon Health Innovations and ARC Physical Therapy, was unanimously voted to serve at the helm of the chamber’s board of directors as its chairman. Condon, 42,…

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Video: Healthy workplace culture begins with intention, communication

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2017

Editor’s note: This content was sponsored by Mid-Continent Public Library but independently produced by Startland News. Creating a healthy workplace culture must be done early and with intention, said Adrienne Haynes and Dwayne Lewis. To help startups develop a strategic human resource plan, Haynes, managing partner of SEED Law, and Dwayne Lewis, president of Lewis…

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From Google to KC, Beth Ellyn McClendon’s advice to startups: Test everything

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2017

Don’t fall in love with an idea, Beth Ellyn McClendon said. “Test everything, especially your assumptions, and allow yourself to be persuaded by data,” said McClendon, a seed investor who formerly worked with Google, Android, YouTube, Cisco and Netscape. “Try to remember — tattoo it on your eyelids if you have to – anecdotes are not…

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Flo and Jamil Nelson, Bodyrite Fitness KC

Bodyrite duo cooks meal prep into personal training concept

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2017

Don’t just go with the flow at a traditional gym, Jamil Nelson said. Go with Flo. “Treadmills and ellipticals are pretty archaic to us,” said Nelson — or “Mr. Bodyrite” to his wife, Florese. “A jump rope is way better because it’s going to blow up your heart rate.” Modern workouts are all about functional,…

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Denise Kruse

Denise Kruse: So your startup wants to be acquired – now what?

By Tommy Felts / October 25, 2017

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. In the first column this three-part series, I discussed how a stellar strategy only gets your company halfway, but executing can take you to the finish line. Next, we took a deep dive into what startups should do after landing a first big…

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Tech tracks workplace bias: It exists ‘whether you want to face it or not’

By Tommy Felts / October 24, 2017

During a summer internship with a large Kansas City corporation, college student Louis Byrd was unexpectedly called into the HR office. Although the incident was about 10 years ago today, it has not yet left his mind, Byrd said. “I’ll never forget this,” he said. “HR told me that the people on my team had…

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EyeVerify explains why it changed name to Zoloz

By Tommy Felts / October 24, 2017

More than two months after revealing a curious name change, EyeVerify is offering details behind its evolution to become “Zoloz.” The fast-growing biometrics tech firm announced in August that it was rebranding as Zoloz, but initially offered little information about the reason for or meaning behind the name change. Headquartered in downtown Kansas City, a…

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Sandy Kemper-led YEP KC primes teen entrepreneurs for success

By Tommy Felts / October 24, 2017

If all extraordinary students knew they were exceptional, the world would be a much more entrepreneurial place, said Sandy Kemper. “It’s the future of our city,” said Kemper, co-founder of YEP KC, about young talent. “If we can capture them early, before they go to college, we can create a network that can sustain them…

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Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation startup growth

Kauffman: Going digital allows FastTrac to expand, remove financial barriers

By Tommy Felts / October 24, 2017

Access to entrepreneurship education should be a fundamental human right, said Michele Markey, Kauffman FastTrac spokesperson. A program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, FastTrac has equipped more than 350,000 aspiring entrepreneurs with business skills they need during its nearly 25 years of service, Markey said. To further expand its reach, the program launched a…

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