Startups

Hailee Bland Walsh, City Gym

A place to belong: Business model built to shatter intimidation lifted City Gym through COVID’s heaviest season yet

By Tommy Felts / October 1, 2020

Ahead-of-the-curve thinking helped keep City Gym strong in the early days of COVID-19 when the weight of the pandemic dropped on people-focused industries.  “We lost a fair amount of members — maybe they couldn’t  financially afford it anymore, maybe they didn’t feel safe,” said Hailee Bland Walsh, founder and owner of City Gym in Waldo.…

Read More >
Chris Mathia, Innara Health

Timing ‘couldn’t be better’ for scaling Innara Health’s solution for preemies, CEO says

By Tommy Felts / September 30, 2020

One of Kansas City’s most under the radar startups is scaling up amid COVID-19 — thanks in part to a share of $250 thousand in non-dilutive funding from a Los Angeles-based accelerator and FDA sponsored pediatric device consortia. “When COVID hit, one of the things I took from that was, ‘When you’re not selling, your process better…

Read More >
Sheila Monroe, TrueAccord

TrueAccord exceeds growth projections, boosting hiring at its Lenexa second headquarters

By Tommy Felts / September 30, 2020

What began as 12 new employees in an empty office space has now become a booming hub of activity with 118 full-time members — and growing — said Sheila Monroe. “We really blew away our growth projections,” said Monroe, general manager of collections for TrueAccord. “We’ll likely sign a lease for some additional office space…

Read More >

BacklotCars developer balances work, school and helping recover 33,000 pounds of food for the hungry 

By Tommy Felts / September 30, 2020

Behind the scenes of BacklotCars’ historic $425 million exit deal, one of the Kansas City company’s top developers is feeding innovation in his home country, said Josh Parsons. Pablo Ulguin — a full-time senior software developer at BacklotCars who also is completing night school in Uruguay to earn a degree in computer science and learn…

Read More >
Kevin Garrison, Risotopia

Passion on paper: How decades-old tech helped ink creative ownership for a trendsetting designer

By Tommy Felts / September 29, 2020

Kevin Garrison stockpiles canisters of ink like he collects cans of limited edition SPAM flavors — feeding a passion for vintage-inspired design that overflows from his Waldo home studio. “Some men get to a certain age and go buy a motorcycle or boats, and I went out and bought a Risograph printer,” the veteran graphic…

Read More >