Startups

Photo by Dan Gold

Eliminate the wait: JoCo-based DashNow offers diners mobile pay, check-splitting tech

By Tommy Felts / October 18, 2019

Joseph Layne was tired of waiting. Seated at a busy restaurant, he stirred the mental ingredients for DashNow, a mobile-based service allowing diners to pay-and-go without waiting on a server to swipe a credit card or make change. “I realized I had been sitting there 10 minutes [waiting for the bill], while there was a…

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War-torn Myanmar to North KC: Documentary gives taste of immigrant entrepreneur’s refugee journey

By Tommy Felts / October 18, 2019

Kansas City’s culture is increasingly shifting to include and highlight immigrant entrepreneurship, said Danielle Lehman, though the true impact is still largely unappreciated. “I think there’s a disconnect between people who are enjoying the food [from immigrant-owned restaurants] and you’ll see a picture on instagram, but they never get to know the people that make…

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Pure Pitch Rally 2019; photo by Mikaela Wendel

Baiting the sharks: How much on-the-spot funding did founders catch at Pure Pitch Rally?

By Tommy Felts / October 18, 2019

A diverse group of entrepreneurs took home $43,000 in cash prizes from Tuesday’s Pure Pitch Rally at The American restaurant. Emulating the popular TV show “Shark Tank,” about 45 investors — or “land sharks” — evaluated presentations from eight Kansas City tech startups and donated $1,000 to one of the companies at the conclusion of…

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Nick Wehrle and Greg Blome, Omega Power Creamer

KC-frothed Omega Power Creamer wins supermarket sweep with Walmart distribution deal

By Tommy Felts / October 15, 2019

Welcome the unexpected, Greg Blome said in reflection of the pitch that landed Omega Power Creamer a supermarket sweep: a 224-store distribution deal with Walmart.  “[Walmart] reached out to us and they were interested in carrying our products — or at least in us pitching them — and we were already selling on Walmart.com ……

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Evan Brown, Doodle Dood

Doodle Dood paints between lines of business and art with Iron District mural, apparel

By Tommy Felts / October 14, 2019

Evan Brown refuses to draw out his accomplishments — or even the failures behind them — as he paints the career of a budding illustrator and muralist, he said. “I don’t really dwell. … That might be the reason I’ve been getting more and more projects within the past year,” said Brown, KC-based maker and…

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