Education

UMKC top student entrepreneur’s refrain: It isn’t how many ideas you have, it’s what you do with them

By Tommy Felts / October 29, 2022

Improvising is vital in jazz and entrepreneurship, noted Tate Berry, UMKC Student Entrepreneur of the Year. A double major in jazz studies and business administration, Berry is well-versed in both. “Composing music is a very long collaborative creative process, which has given me the skills to look at intricate problems from a distance and develop…

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Build Trybe outgrows incubator mode, taking over Maker Village KC to train at-risk youth in trades

By Tommy Felts / October 11, 2022

When Nick Ward-Bopp launched Maker Village KC more than five years ago near Martini Corner, he never dreamed the maker space would incubate a program for at-risk youth that ultimately would build beyond it. Set up in a once-vacant Midtown building he rehabbed with co-founder and longtime friend Sam Green, the space started as a…

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Tech piloted in KC classrooms went viral, now Boddle has raised $3M in seed funding

By Tommy Felts / September 23, 2022

TULSA — Funding for its rapidly scaling education gaming platform is expected to fuel Boddle Learning’s nationwide growth, as well as help the startup expand its product offerings outside of math and develop new interactive multiplayer experiences. “It’s always been one of our goals to inspire learning anywhere,” said Edna Martinson, co-founder of Boddle, describing…

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Google’s $100K ‘stamp of approval’ for PlaBook reads like validation for KC-built edtech startup

By Tommy Felts / September 16, 2022

Kansas City expatriate PlaBook is set to receive $100,000 from Google’s initiative to provide funding to Black-led startups. But for Philip Hickman, it’s not just about the funding, he said. It’s also a credibility boost. “We were happy to receive an investment from Google,” the edtech startup founder said. “It’s a stamp of approval to…

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$2M federal grant boosts K-State efforts to expand region’s digital manufacturing capabilities

By Tommy Felts / August 19, 2022

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. [divide]…

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