Startups
KCMO adds $350K for entrepreneurs to proposed city budget after advocates’ last-minute push
Kansas City entrepreneur advocates gained more momentum Thursday in their bid to receive greater civic support for startups and small businesses. “Entrepreneurs and small businesses are the driver of the Kansas City economy,” KCMO councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner told Startland Thursday afternoon, following the approval of the city’s $1.73 billion budget. An…
Ties meet rocket tech: Crooked Branch refines bow ties with carbon fiber, urging fearlessness
Capitalize on what’s trendy, find a way to make it better, and the work will do itself, Paul Kaster said of his fresh-out-of-high school startup journey. Such a mindset has only elevated business for Kaster, founder of Crooked Branch Studio. The entrepreneur recently launched a line of bow ties made from carbon fiber — a…
Freightquote, Edison Factory founder-turned-investor touts ‘work ethic worth investing in’
Raise and raise relentlessly. Because in business, the sun won’t shine every day, Tim Barton told a room filled Wednesday morning with entrepreneurs and investors eagerly seeking support and insight at the 20th InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum. The former CEO of Freightquote, who saw a $365 million exit for the company in 2014 before launching…
Liberty screen printer brings Hustle + Heart in the face of early-stage failure
Liberty-based apparel company Hustle + Heart wouldn’t have found success without failure, said Serena Kotalik. “[You should] never give up whether you’re starting a business like mine or any other,” said Kotalik, founder of the primarily wholesale, online company, which sells many of its wares through a VIP Facebook group. “With each [failure] I have…
Mom-and-popping it: Nounou platform curates trusted babysitters for JoCo families
Nounou Neighbors takes the fear out of the surprisingly cutthroat babysitting industry, said Molly Smalley, noting her online platform raised 200 percent client base growth in 2018. “As a mom, finding [a babysitter] is exhausting and friends never want to give you their sitter,” laughed Molly, founder of the Kansas-based babysitting service with her husband,…
