Minority-Led

People’s Choice startup Bar K Dog Bar planning new locations across the Midwest (and beyond)

By Tommy Felts / July 5, 2019

After less than a year serving Frisbees and drinks along Kansas City’s riverfront, Bar K Dog Bar has a treat for two other Midwest markets: plans to expand the premier pet experience space to St. Louis and Oklahoma City. “Our ultimate goal is to be in five markets in the next three years and 10…

Tech pioneer Don Peterson to guide new LaunchKC-Nueterra health accelerator

By Tommy Felts / June 29, 2019

Leading the new LaunchKC Health Accelerator is Don Peterson’s way of giving back to a community that opened its arms to his family nearly 30 years ago, he said.  “I’m proof that we can accomplish the entrepreneurial dream right here in KC and feel like it’s my duty to pay that forward,” said Peterson, a…

Trust yourself and make your own everything: Hear the artist hustle of Amado Espinoza

By Tommy Felts / June 27, 2019

Whether directing a contemporary indigenous stage performance, covering the Beatles classic Elanor Rigby with a pan flute and charango for TEDxKC or creating a diatonically-tuned bendy-straw, Amado Espinoza understands the importance of fully committing to a pursuit. “For me, being a professional musician means when you dedicate your entire life to music,” he said. A…

Q&A: Founder Jy Maze on the industry that runs the world (and delivers the toilet paper)

By Tommy Felts / June 24, 2019

Everything has to ship, said Jy Maze. From the microphone in her hand to the stool where she sat to the shoes on the Maze Freight Solutions founder’s feet, it all comes with mileage and a cost, she said. Her woman-owned, Overland Park-based, third-party freight logistics startup itself was packed in 2017 when Maze decided…

Why are college students dropping out? EdSights targets higher ed retention rates

By Tommy Felts / June 21, 2019

Only 56 percent of students who began college in 2012 actually graduated within the next six years, said startup founders Claudia Recchi and Carolina Recchi. The sisters’ own struggles as first-generation U.S. college students reinforced the challenge posed by such statistics, they said, prompting them to found EdSights, a startup using artificial intelligence to collect…