News

Real-world working: Relaunched initiative will put 500 paid teen interns into KC workplaces

By Tommy Felts / April 6, 2022

A coalition of funders and employers are teaming up to provide 500 high school students across the Kansas City metro with paid summer professional experiences. “It’s really important that we come together as a community for these types of initiatives to make sure our young people are really connecting the dots and moving onto the…

Startup embraces ‘digital labor’, creating personalized robots for tedious tasks — beginning with cold calls

By Tommy Felts / April 2, 2022

Salespeople spend too much time searching for emails, making cold calls and setting up meetings — leaving less energy for comprehensive conversations and closing deals, said Nick Smith. His solution: robots for salespeople or, as he calls them, “Sailebots.”  “One day I had a revelation that there could be a tool for these mundane tasks.…

Forbes names EquipmentShare to list of best startup employers for third straight year

By Tommy Felts / April 2, 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. COLUMBIA,…

Meet the people-first small biz advocate helping decode the language of entrepreneurship for KCMO

By Tommy Felts / April 1, 2022

Editor’s note: The following profile on Samuel Morris, small business advocate for Kansas City, Missouri’s, KC BizCare Office is made possible by the office’s financial and programmatic partnership with Startland News. When the bell rang on Samuel Morris’ Kansas City teaching career, he knew he had to do something big as he stepped back out…

Warren ‘Stylez’ Harvey paints film legends set for induction into KC’s new Black Movie Hall of Fame

By Tommy Felts / April 1, 2022

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. Making careful brush strokes, Warren “Stylez” Harvey uses bold shades of blue in his bright Midtown studio. He’s painting a young…