Startups

Made in KC Creative Studios

First look: Creative Studios concept expands Made in KC’s view of brands as partners

By Tommy Felts / May 11, 2018

Warm sunlight bathes a future ceramics shop. A vintage Thomas Cusack Co. mural advertisement peeks from behind the plaster wall of an in-the-works photography space. Views from the second and third floors reveal a city skyline in creative transition. Amid the freshly hung drywall and still-curing, stained hardwood staircases, Tyler Enders steps quickly between rooms…

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Ernest Pereira, Duinodrive

Teenage inventor creates retro game console that fits in your palm

By Tommy Felts / May 11, 2018

For teenage entrepreneur Ernest Pereira, gaming is going small. The 18-year-old innovator is releasing a limited run of his retro game console, the Duinodrive, before shipping off to the Naval Academy in the summer. The Duinodrive — which can fit in the palm of your hand — comes in a kit that users assemble themselves…

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Beth Ellyn McClendon: If you want investors, skip LLCs and form a C-Corp

By Tommy Felts / May 11, 2018

Editor’s note: Beth Ellyn McClendon is a seed-stage investor with board and advisory board experience. She previously worked in design and product management for Google Mapping, Android, YouTube, Cisco and Netscape. The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. So, you’re planning a startup, you’ve got a good lawyer and now you’re thinking…

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Sickweather team

Fitbit integrating Sickweather illness forecasting into new wearables

By Tommy Felts / May 10, 2018

Sickweather is stepping into the wearables market. A new partnership with industry leader Fitbit is expected to see the Kansas City-based startup’s illness forecasting technology integrated into Fitbit’s new products. “Smartwatches provide a powerful platform to deliver important health tools that help our users manage conditions more conveniently than ever before,” said James Park, co-founder…

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Matthew Korte, Tapyness

Surveys, rewards dying: Tapyness scores customer feedback with one-tap, 3-second experience

By Tommy Felts / May 9, 2018

No one takes 15-minute surveys anymore, said Matthew Korte, co-founder of Tapyness, a Lawrence-based customer experience platform that provides real-time feedback via kiosks in client businesses. A typical Tapyness interaction takes three seconds, he said. “We’re down to the millisecond, and we’re aggregating hundreds of tablets simultaneously within one brand to go: ‘Here’s the health…

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