News

New investor report: Women-led startups more likely to get angel support than VC backing

By Tommy Felts / October 30, 2018

Angel investors support 10-times more women-led companies than venture capital-backed investors, revealed a first-of-its-kind report by the Kansas City-based Angel Capital Association. “It didn’t shock us,” said Marianne Hudson, executive director of the ACA, the world’s largest cohort of angel investors. Hudson cited previous ACA research that indicated 21 percent of angel investors had been…

KC Bier Co. brewing regional expansion one tap handle at a time, founder says

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2018

Rapid growth in the craft brewing market has tapped out, said Steve Holle, founder of KC Bier Co. A solid understanding of the reasons behind such an overdraught industry has so-far saved the Kansas City-based, German-style brewing company from being caught in the same weeds as recently closed Manhattan-brewed competitor, Tallgrass Brewing Co., Holle said.…

Former school principal’s SafeDefend active shooter system installed at Jewish Community Center, target of 2014 Overland Park shootings

By Tommy Felts / October 27, 2018

Every student, teacher and staff member deserves the greatest opportunity to get home from school safely, said Jeff Green, founder of SafeDefend. Green’s security solution — an active shooter response system that sends alerts throughout a school community, as well as detailed information to law enforcement, within seconds of an incident — recently was installed…

H&R Block must reconnect with startup energy, innovation, CEO Jeff Jones says

By Tommy Felts / October 26, 2018

Jeff Jones’ journey to Kansas City — winding through hangouts with popstar Justin Timberlake, dinner with Oprah, and a stint driving one of the world’s most dominant sharing economy companies — has been transformative, the H&R Block CEO said. And if the homegrown corporate juggernaut he now leads is to meet its stretch potential, the…

From Cake to Google: Musician-turned-tech leader composes career between keyboards

By Tommy Felts / October 25, 2018

Well into a music career — but noticing friends who were still trying to find gigs to make ends meet — Ben Morss faced a life-altering pivot. “I got sick of it and I turned to programming full time,” said Morss, a developer advocate at Google. “As a musician, I was trying to call people…