Startups

Roy Scott, Healthy Hip Hop; Ina Montgomery, Urban TEC; Tammy Buckner, WeCode KC; and Edgar Palacios, Latinx Education Collaborative

LEANLAB awards $50K in seed grants to 19 Black and Latinx innovators in education

By Tommy Felts / August 28, 2020

Entrepreneurs should reflect the communities they serve, said Katie Boody — a charge even more critical when innovative work touches Kansas City’s diverse public school systems, she added. “I know firsthand how challenging launching a startup can be for anyone, and especially for founders of color,” said Boody, co-founder and CEO of LEANLAB Education, announcing the…

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Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars, author, serial entrepreneur; Techstars Kansas City virtual demo day 2020

Diversity is a ‘culture add’ — not a quota to be ‘fit’ within a startup, Brad Feld tells Techstars KC demo day 

By Tommy Felts / August 28, 2020

Inserting diverse individuals into an existing startup culture might seem like a step toward inclusive team building, but it can actually hurt scalability if that diversity is treated like a bug, not a feature, said Lesa Mitchell, referencing a new book by the co-founder of Techstars. Celebrating the culmination of Techstars Kansas City’s relaunched accelerator…

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Danny Caine, Raven Book Store

Bookstore owner saved by USPS during COVID: Cuts to post office are an attack on small business

By Tommy Felts / August 27, 2020

COVID-19 could’ve closed the book on Danny Caine’s entrepreneurial journey, the literature lover said, but while the pandemic rages, the U.S. Postal Service is keeping him moving to the next chapter. As a small business owner, his story is like many across the country, said Caine, owner and operator of Raven Book Store in Lawrence.…

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Eric Buckley, EB's PB

Laid-off tech worker pivots to custom peanut butter, spreading a not-just-nuts venture across social media

By Tommy Felts / August 27, 2020

Eric Buckley is smoothing out a less-than-ideal 2020 — grinding pandemic-fueled misfortune into flavorful opportunity.  “I just kind of started getting creative,” Buckley said of his experimentation with a nutty pantry staple since losing a software sales job at a local tech company in March, a setback that inspired a path forward through entrepreneurship. “I’ve…

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Goodwill

No Coast names finalists for KC’s premier tech champions; winners revealed Sept. 16

By Tommy Felts / August 26, 2020

Inspirational leaders impacting tech aren’t confined to the coasts — nor to a pre- or post-pandemic world, said organizers of the No Coast awards, pushing forward with plans to honor significant contributions to Kansas City’s tech community virtually this fall. “We all know someone who makes waves everywhere they go — someone who, whether they’re…

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