Profiles

Herd that beef was grass-fed? KC inventor’s cattle facial ID could drive steak through origin uncertainty

By Tommy Felts / February 16, 2021

One of Kansas City’s most active serial inventors recently harvested his 88th patent, but it’s the revolutionary new way he’s using blockchain technology and augmented reality that’s turning heads (of cattle) down on the farm. Shekhar Gupta’s latest reveal: a facial recognition platform specifically designed to identify and track bovine for the bottom line — reducing…

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Liza Thomas and Brian Thomas, Coruzant Technologies

Fund Me, KC: Overland Park couple takes on TechCrunch with women-focused digital tech publication

By Tommy Felts / February 15, 2021

Startland News is continuing its “Fund Me, KC” series to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses or lend a helping hand to others. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs — like Liza and Brian Thomas whose campaign supports funding the digital publication Coruzant Technologies — to share their crowdfunding stories in a simple…

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Hank Breckenridge, NAMA

Real-time translator: Shawnee Mission East grad uses Reddit to launch language-learning messaging app 

By Tommy Felts / February 13, 2021

A family move to Mumbai in his early teens gave Hank Breckenridge an appreciation for unfamiliar surroundings, the young entrepreneur from Leawood said. “While I lived in India, I got super interested in learning about different cultures and little bits of different languages. I had friends from 13 different countries and actually learned how to…

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West Bottoms Whiskey

Destination whiskey: A newly bottled West Bottoms distillery sees KC barreling toward old fashioned fame

By Tommy Felts / February 12, 2021

Innovation is intoxicating, Michael Hopkins said, pouring the story behind a newly-distilled whiskey company that hopes to do its part to put Kansas City grains on the maker’s map.  “The more distilleries, the more Kansas City is going to get recognized for [its whiskey],” said Hopkins, one of three business partners behind West Bottoms Whiskey,…

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Colleen Monroe, Floraloom

Floraloom’s Colleen Monroe put her green thumb on the steering wheel, leaving LA for KC sunshine

By Tommy Felts / February 12, 2021

Quarantine changed people — including Colleen Monroe, the serial entrepreneur said, looking back on the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles and the day she loaded her car with a few personal belongings and as many vases as it could hold. Uprooting her once-busy life, she hoped growth opportunities might bloom in…

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