Profiles

Video: Foosball and whimsy are integral to the RFP365 ethos

By Tommy Felts / April 4, 2016

  Kansas City foosball virtuoso Stuart Ludlow knows his way around the fútbol table. With a strike rivaling a Black Mamba’s, Ludlow’s instincts and supple wrist on the foosball pitch puts to shame most any adversary. But perhaps equally as cunning is Ludlow’s savvy to integrate the table game into the workplace culture of RFP365, of which he’s a co-founder. Founded in 2012,…

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This Kansas City startup is in the world’s best accelerator: Y Combinator

By Tommy Felts / February 10, 2016

Acre Designs, a net-zero, home-building startup that found its start in Kansas City, is now honing its model in arguably the world’s top business accelerator. San Francisco-based Y Combinator in January welcomed Acre into its 2016 accelerator program. Y Combinator — an early investor in such companies as Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, Disqus and others —…

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RiskGenius Chris Cheatham

Kansas City’s “Dr. Dre of Insurance” aims to remix industry

By Tommy Felts / January 29, 2016

Overland Park-based ClaimKit is planning to drop the beat on the insurance industry thanks to a new round of financing. The self-proclaimed “Dr. Dre of insurance policies,” ClaimKit CEO Chris Cheatham says the company’s $1.8 million round of financing will boost development of its second software product, RiskGenius. ClaimKit was able to lean heavily on…

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Facing his daughter’s near-death sparked life in George Brooks’ business

By Tommy Felts / January 27, 2016

Nine years ago, Avalie was born. My first kiddo. She had already had a number of procedures in the womb to address the cyst growing in her chest and neck. An emergency C-section eight weeks early brought her into a world of tubes, ventilators, needles and an entire staff of amazing nurses and doctors trying…

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‘I’ve been breaking bureaucracies for 24 years’ Kansas City’s new CIO opens up

By Tommy Felts / January 12, 2016

There’s a new hand at the helm of Kansas City innovation, and it belongs to that of Bob Bennett. A 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army, Bennett kicked off his tenure as the second-ever chief innovation officer of the City of Kansas City, Mo. on Jan. 1, taking the lead on an array of civic…

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