Startups

I-70 wage gap? Kansas City lags St. Louis on tech pay, snapshot analysis says

By Tommy Felts / April 10, 2018

St. Louis might be the gateway to higher tech pay — but not by much, according to a new nationwide snapshot analysis of tech industry jobs. The Kansas City metro logged an average tech wage of $90,940 in 2017, falling slightly behind the St. Louis metro at $96,370, based on data released in the Cyberstates…

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Winco Fireworks' Firefly

Prairie Village company’s Firefly lends serenity, tech to backyard fireworks

By Tommy Felts / April 9, 2018

Prairie Village-based Winco Fireworks is officially launching Firefly, a remote firework firing system, introducing a tech blend to the formerly traditional firework industry and backyard Fourth of July celebrations. “It’s a really neat invention,” said Michael Collar, president of Winco Fireworks, which focuses on consumer fireworks. “There’s a lot of commercial firework companies that do…

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We Create KC report, KCSourceLink

We Create KC report: Startup investment soared to $540M in 2017

By Tommy Felts / April 6, 2018

A startling statistic for those who think capital merely flies over the Midwest: Kansas City saw a 69 percent increase in startup investment from 2016 to 2017, according to KCSourceLink’s We Create KC report. All told, early-stage businesses classified by KCSourceLink as startups — typically defined as those with 20 or fewer employees — nabbed…

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John Coler

KCultivator Q&A: John Coler champions making a quick impact, packs of dolphins

By Tommy Felts / April 6, 2018

Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today Startland takes a closer look at startup ecosystem champion John Coler. Check out our features on Made in KC’s Tyler Enders, Hispanic business builder Pedro Zamora, ‘fashionpreneur’ Jordan Williams, Plexpod founder Gerald Smith, innovation coach Diana…

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Backed by $4M round, Hilary’s Eat Well expanding organic food line, hiring 10-15 workers

By Tommy Felts / April 5, 2018

Hilary’s Eat Well is growing its plant-based food line, company leaders said. The move to diversify the company’s offerings — as well as to more efficiently produce larger quantities of its free-from (dairy- and gluten-free) products — comes as the Lawrence-based operation moves its storage to an off-site facility, freeing up manufacturing space, said Lydia…

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