Startups

Carlanda McKinney, Raaxo

Founder facing gender bias: Don’t call me a victim; call me investors

By Tommy Felts / March 6, 2019

It’s like pulling teeth to get key investors and resource organizations to help push female entrepreneurs forward, said Carlanda McKinney, citing implicit bias and a lack of effective support mechanisms. “I don’t think it’s intentional at all. I think it’s a byproduct,” said McKinney, co-founder of Raaxo, an online tech platform used to design and…

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Darcy Howe, KCRise Fund; Lesa Mitchell, Techstars KC; Melissa Roberts, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, female entrepreneurs Kansas City

Even gatekeepers struggle to bring KC’s women-led companies in from the cold

By Tommy Felts / March 6, 2019

Female entrepreneurs are falling behind as a new generation of highly-scalable startups rises in the Kansas City, said Darcy Howe, reporting too few women-led firms even approaching KCRise Fund for investment. “My experience with those ‘Hey, I hear you have money’ calls that I do get [from female entrepreneurs] — many of them are not…

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ScaleUP! Kansas City ninth cohort

ScaleUP! KC reveals new 15-member cohort of growing businesses; touts alumni successes

By Tommy Felts / March 5, 2019

Entrepreneurs joining the latest ScaleUP! Kansas City cohort represent ventures from such varied business sectors as photography, construction, design, counseling, film and engineering, said Jill Meyer. An ability to scale knows no single industry, emphasized Meyer, program director of ScaleUP! KC. “This program has shown us, time and time again, that not only can you…

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Chris Brown and Steve Brown, Brownie's Barbecue

Sweet & Sassy side hustle: Father-son duo behind Brownie’s bottles a venture to savor

By Tommy Felts / March 5, 2019

Side hustles of any flavor can provide relief from the daily grind of a stressful startup, said Venture Legal’s Chris Brown of his “hobby” — delivering the homemade Sweet & Sassy Brownie’s Barbecue sauce. “Whether you like hiking or making barbecue sauce or riding horses or doing whatever … I think it’s important for people…

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Kelli and Glen Dakan, Liquify Group

Prestio founder dissolves headaches of business closings, pivots with Liquify Group

By Tommy Felts / March 5, 2019

Closing a brick-and-mortar space is difficult enough, said Glen Dakan. Why should entrepreneurs be forced to endure the pains of offloading expensive equipment too? Such a predicament prompted Dakan and his partners to create a remedy for the common pain point: Liquify Group, a newly launched service that helps businesses liquidate their assets through a simple,…

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