Startups

Keliah Smith

KC mom’s humble entrepreneurial journey draws on healing power of creativity

By Tommy Felts / December 11, 2017

Huddled in her parents’ basement, between the cribs of her crying twin babies, Keliah Smith began to draw. She was unemployed and feeling emotionally drained. The relationship with her children’s father had soured. Her escape: the stylus and smartphone in her hands. The Kansas City mother drew what she didn’t see in the mirror, she…

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Bilingual startup Tico Productions brings energy to Chiefs’ Spanish broadcast

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

When the Chiefs and Raiders meet Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, more than the usual KC-versus-Oakland rivalry will be at play. The game also puts Kansas City-based Tico Sports’ two Spanish-language broadcast teams head-to-head for the first time. It’s not a competition, said CiCi Rojas, partner and president of Tico Productions, the company behind Tico Sports…

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Kansas City Crossroads District

California retail tech firm opens Crossroads office, hiring 20

By Tommy Felts / December 7, 2017

Retail technology firm  PriceSpider is citing the area’s vibrant tech community as the reason behind rooting a new office in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. Headquartered in Irvine, California, PriceSpider said the burgeoning startup community, deep pool of tech talent and Google Fiber’s arrival in 2012 helped push the company to choose the City of Fountains.…

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Heart and soul: UMKC celebrates Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (photos)

By Tommy Felts / December 6, 2017

Convening students, entrepreneurs and top civic leaders, the 32nd annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards on Tuesday recognized some of the area’s top innovators, including the creative mind behind one of Kansas City’s most iconic structures. The University of Missouri Kansas City’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management presented its International Entrepreneur of the Year…

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Women investors create intentional connections with female founders

By Tommy Felts / December 5, 2017

Female entrepreneurs receive only about 2 percent of all venture capital but own 38 percent of businesses in the United States, the Harvard Business Review reports. That’s in part why a group of women investors in Kansas City is planning to meet with women entrepreneurs to foster better relationships. Investors from the KCRise Fund, Royal…

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