Profiles
Startup veteran pilots Air Traffic Awareness, wants ‘Silicon Valley of Aviation’ to truly take flight
A climbing Kansas City startup could save lives by bridging technology gaps in air travel, said Kashif Hasnie. “Collisions are among the top causes of aircraft accidents in the world,” explained Hasnie, CEO of Air Traffic Awareness. First launched as a class project at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Air Traffic Awareness has developed patent-pending,…
Young agency bottles digital savvy for startup where co-founder brewed booch
From booch bottler to boss, Zack Schneller isn’t forgetting his Tea-Biotics roots as he embarks on his own startup journey — which has him helping his former employer with an eCommerce emergence and social media scale up. “We did a free trial for them, which happened to fall on National Kombucha Day,” Schneller, co-founder of Oak…
I’m black and a Plaza business owner — in that order; why a Main Street entrepreneur joined KC’s protests
Isaac Collins is exhausted, but he can’t sleep. His wife and mother are both worried about the 31-year-old community entrepreneur whose business is just blocks away from the scene of late-night mayhem and unrest following peaceful protests on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza. But it isn’t rioters and looters that have Collins on edge, he…
COVID-19 opened door for to-go cocktails; KC Daiquiri duo wants to keep sales flowing permanently
If Missouri and Kansas City leaders want to help small businesses recoup lost cash after weeks of shutdown, they’d be wise to take a cue from the Big Easy, said owners of KC Daiquiri Shop. “The restaurant industry I’m seeing right now is kind of suffering,” explained Calvin Vick, who co-owns the New Orleans-inspired KC…
Dart pedals more than a prototype: E-bikes as a route to equitable employment access
Free bus rides aren’t the only solution to a lack of equity in Kansas City’s transportation options, explained Thomas Murphy. “Only 18 percent of jobs here in the metro are available via 90-minute commute via public transit,” Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Dart, explained of the startup’s commitment to outfitting under-resourced pockets of the metro…
