Changes here and on the horizon for Startland

You don’t have to be a fan of 1970s rock legend David Bowie for these Changes.

Startland News is in the midst of an evolution to better serve readers and to maximize its impact in Kansas City. A number of changes have already taken place, and many more are on the horizon.

[pullquote]“We’re fortunate to interact with so many sharp, passionate people in our storytelling, and many of their ideas and strategies rub off on us as we develop our identity and hone our approach.”[/pullquote]

We’re a startup, covering startups and entrepreneurs. And like those that we cover, we’re learning a lot along the way and are adapting to the interests of our audience. We’re fortunate to interact with so many sharp, passionate people in our storytelling, and many of their ideas and strategies rub off on us as we develop our identity and hone our approach.

I’m so thankful for the welcome Kansas City has offered us in the brief six months we’ve been covering innovation news, and we want to grow our reach to further support this community.

So with that in mind, let me share with you some of our ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

1) We’re shifting our editorial focus. Don’t worry — we’ll still be covering news. But in addition to news, we’ll be featuring more opinion content that aims to create a dialogue amongst Kansas City innovators.

You may have seen this piece already from our own Adam Arredondo — ‘Kansas City nice’ is stifling innovation — which is an example of content that hopes to inspire conversation on the most important topics facing Kansas City today. Regardless of your views on a particular issue, a more engaged community undoubtedly makes it stronger. We want to help foster a civil, constructive conversation about subjects vital to the area’s future.

Along with opinion content, we plan to better highlight the personality of Kansas City’s entrepreneurial community. That means more profiles on innovators and pieces expounding on Kansas City’s entrepreneurial attributes, trends and issues.

2) We’ve got guidance. Startland recently assembled a rockstar board of local and national advisors to assist with direction as we navigate our evolution. This board will help identify subject matter, hold us accountable to our goals and connect us with prospective opportunities.

Each member is committed to Kansas City and believes in our mission to cover an innovative community that’s creating stories worthy of being shared with the world. Stayed tuned for our introduction of these folks.

3) We’ve updated our site. If you’re a frequent reader, you’ve probably already seen this. The strategy behind the redesign was to make more content readily accessible to readers once they land on the homepage. Along with this, we’ve implemented infinite scrolling on the homepage and a way to see our most popular content.

4) More story formats are on the way. Startland will soon be partnering with Lectios, a startup based in Venice, Italy, as part of a pilot program.

Lectios created a tech tool that quickly transforms text into audio stories that will allow you to hear our written pieces when you’re on the go. We were astonished by the technology’s accuracy, and are excited to deliver another way to consume Startland content. We want to offer you more value and demonstrate that we’re not afraid to try something new in that mission.

5) You can soon support us. As already mentioned, we’ve been extremely fortunate to have received such a warm reception from Kansas City.

Thousands of people around the world read Startland each week, and we’re thankful to have the opportunity to not only share those stories, but also to bring the local community together. And while our content is (and always will be) free, maintaining our operation is not. We’ll soon be implementing a pay-what-you-want subscription offer if you feel compelled to support our mission to educate, engage and grow Kansas City.

That’s all for now. Please feel free to drop me a line offering thoughts on any of the above changes. As always, thank you for reading.

Happy holidays!

Bobby