Storytailor
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. Techstars…
Brown Suga Bakes began modestly — selling cookies out of lunch bags mid-pandemic, said Ebony Paul-Harris, detailing a strategy of starting small to achieve big results. In her case: opening the oven to a brick-and-mortar bakery and storefront in Olathe. “In the beginning, we used to make really small cookies. We also had a sample…
FireBoard is smoking toward its seventh office in seven years as hiring and product development heat up for the ever-expanding Kansas City-based maker of cloud-connected digital thermometers — a staple tool of many BBQ enthusiasts and restauranteurs. It’s latest addition: the FireBoard Spark, an entry-level meat thermometer with a lower price point than previous models,…
When Sonia Sandoval moved to America from Venezuela, language was a barrier, she recalled. Rather than keep to herself, Sandoval found a more meaningful form of communication: food. “I started [cooking] when I was 11 years old,” said Sandoval, who co-founded the pop-up Venezuelan food concept, Happy Tummy, with her husband, Juan Paredes. “I…
Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program. The Small Business Superstar program did more than convert Jannae Gammage into a new Chamber member, she said; it exposed her to the power of opening doors…
Keep it simple and smashed, said Jacob Kruger. “I have always been a big fan of restaurants and businesses that have a very simplistic approach,” said Kruger, who serves as the head chef (or “Burger Boy”) at Cosmo Burger, located within Dodson’s Bar and Commons in Waldo — and coming soon to Lenexa Public Market.…
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by CityScene KC, an online news source focused on Greater Downtown Kansas City. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly CityScene KC email review. An ambitious proposal for a Keystone Innovation District campus on East 18th Street has experienced a major setback with…
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon, a non-profit online news outlet focused on in-depth journalism in the public interest, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the twice-weekly Kansas City Beacon email newsletter. With winter in Kansas…
Banking a $9 million round — including the backing of billionaire Mark Cuban, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, the co-founders of Rotten Tomatoes and regional venture capital firm KCRise Fund — CryptoSlam announced Wednesday a new wave of support for blockchain technology and a Kansas City startup operating within the open metaverse. Overland Park-based CryptoSlam, a leading…
Editor’s note: New in KC is an ongoing profile series that highlights newly relocated members of the Kansas City startup community, their reasons for a change of scenery, and what they’ve found so far in KC. This series is sponsored by C2FO, a Leawood-based, global financial services company. Click here to read more New in KC profiles. Nikil Ragav’s journey to…