Profiles

Ian Whitehill

KC Tech Council program preps veterans to face new battle: Kansas City’s workforce

Ian Whitehill went from military deployment to software bootcamp, waging a new career as a software engineering technologist at Lenexa-based Genuen thanks to KC Tech Council’s emerging apprenticeship program. “I always wanted to do something where I felt like I was contributing to society and the world around me. When I heard about the opportunity…

Aaron Stohs, Martin City Animal Hospital

Dogged by pandemic, one KC veterinarian diagnosed potential to expand without just mooving

Editor’s note: The following story is sponsored by Academy Bank, a Kansas City based community bank, and is part of a series of features spotlighting some of the bank’s startup and small business partners. When Dr. Aaron Stohs left Kansas State University in 2004, ready to practice veterinary medicine, his sights were set on a…

Parker Graham, Finotta

How Finotta emerged from 2020’s perils with a leap of faith, $3M investment banked

The through line of Parker Graham’s startup journey so far: resiliency. “People like to joke that cockroaches just don’t die,” laughed Graham, reflecting after his fintech company, Finotta — more pheonix rising than cockroach surviving — recently closed a $3 million seed funding round and completely changed the makeup of its team. “I feel like…

Lisa Nguyen, Telehue Food

New in KC: Wichita-grown foodie whips up 4.5M TikTok, Youtube users with passion (and ramen) as her only guides

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. Lisa Nguyen was five…

Roman Raya, Taco Tank

Streets to tableside eats: Taco Tank gets off the ground, rolling into Crossroads food hall

Streetside tacos are a thing of the past for Kansas City-stuffed Taco Tank, but a brick-and-mortar expansion into Parlor’s Crossroads food hall means the potential of its authentic, Mexican street food is just hitting the grill, Roman Raya said.  “We were sharing a kitchen before with four other food trucks as our commissary. It was…