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Startland

Readers’ Choice: Peek at Startland’s most-popular stories

By Tommy Felts / May 4, 2016

The votes are in — and they arrived via page views. And in case you didn’t know: Kansas City produces a ton of startup news. A year ago today, we published our very first digest, and it’s been a fantastically hectic ride ever since. As a startup ourselves, watching the ticker count on story page…

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Happy birthday! Startland recalls 10 memorable entrepreneurial stories

By Tommy Felts / May 4, 2016

It’s been a year since Startland News spread its journalistic wings. And that presents us an opportunity to reflect on the flood of stories that Kansas City stirred up in the last 12 months. We’ve published more than 400 stories in the last 365 days. Although they detail a myriad of subjects in  on the…

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Fund me, KC: Leka robot teaches kids with developmental disorders

By Tommy Felts / May 3, 2016

Startland News is continuing its segment to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs — like Leka CEO Ladislas de Toldi — to share their stories to gain a little help from their supporters. If you or your startup is running a crowdfunding campaign, let us know by…

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The WTF Series: Chatbots to anticipate your needs

By Tommy Felts / May 3, 2016

On a daily basis, Ben Kittrell translates the jargon-filled world of technology for clients of his tech consultancy. The Words that Frustrate (WTF) series aims to offer readers some clarity in an industry dominated by techies’ confusing argot. At Facebook’s latest developer conference, F8, Mark Zuckerberg announced they are adding Application Programming Interfaces to Facebook…

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Report: Missouri boasts three, top-20 startup cities

By Tommy Felts / May 2, 2016

Kansas City is a top-20 destination to start a business, according to a recent WalletHub report. A study released Monday by the personal finance website ranked the City of Fountains as the No. 16 best city to launch a business. WalletHub compared the relative startup opportunities in the 150 most populated U.S. cities., looking at metrics such…

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Bipartisan support sends Kansas’ angel tax credits to governor’s desk

By Tommy Felts / May 2, 2016

After months of lobbying Kansas lawmakers, Kansas City area entrepreneurs are celebrating a legislative victory Monday that will extend a popular tax credit program for five more years. While now awaiting Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature, Kansas Senate Bill 149 will extend the life of the Angel Investor Tax Credits program through 2021. The $6 million…

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Mobility Designed to ‘bottle lightning’ from viral video success

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2016

The international spotlight is shining bright on Mobility Designed, a Kansas City startup that’s snagged tens-of-millions of viewers interested in their futuristic crutches. Last week, Mobility Designed’s ergonomic crutch was featured in a Tech Insider video that’s now attracted more than 38 million views around the world. That particular video has now been re-edited and…

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women entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial lessons from the girls of Malawi, Africa

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2016

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.   While the Kansas City entrepreneurial community continued to percolate in April, I spent two and a half weeks in the poorest country in Africa. Malawi is known as “The Warm Heart of Africa,” and with an average annual income of $255 per…

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corporate innovation

Byrd: What we can learn from 5 corporate innovation blunders

By Tommy Felts / April 28, 2016

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Most corporations don’t want innovation, they just say they do. Corporate leaders talk about radical and disruptive ideas, but is that truly all that innovation is? In it’s purest form, innovation creates more effective processes, products and ideas that will in turn increase…

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Hallmark

106-years-young Hallmark is evolving with the collaborative economy

By Tommy Felts / April 28, 2016

The collaborative economy is everywhere. You may have heard it by another name — like the sharing, on-demand, access, peer, freelance or gig economy. You’ve definitely heard of its national headliners Uber and Airbnb, but it also has a local presence with firms like PopBookings, Farmobile and MachineryLink. Since first showing up on radars eight…

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