Schukman: 5 ways to fuse a social mission in your company

I’ve recently been exploring ways in which traditional companies have been retroactively becoming social entrepreneurs. Recall from my last piece that social entrepreneurship is a businessperson that creates a profit and purpose-driven organization in which the business and social missions run in tandem. Our social mission, therefore, becomes a key component of our marketing, branding,…

David Hulsen and Stuart Ludlow, co-founders of RFP365, Client Discovery

KCK tech firm RFP365 named ‘new small business’ of the year

The wins are stacking up for RFP365. Now weeks after scoring a contract with the City of Kansas City, Mo., the tech company was named the 2015 “New Small Business of the Year” Friday by the Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce. A member of the Kansas City Startup Village, RFP365 created software that eases…

Gallery: Sprint Accelerator Demo Day

The Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator held its Demo Day event Thursday at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Ten startups that specialize in mobile health technology graduated from the Techstars-led accelerator, which conducts a three-month, mentor-led program designed to quickly advance businesses.  Check out photos from the event by scrolling below. 

Think IP: 3 IP rights your startup should know

In this Think column, Venture Legal attorney Andrew McGhie explores the complex world of intellectual property and how to protect your company. The Think column helps entrepreneurs to stop and think about the various aspects of starting and running a business. The most valuable assets for startups often include some type of intellectual property. What protection is…

UMKC, Digital Sandbox KC partnership to maximize resources, create jobs

The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s E-Scholars program has partnered with a business incubator program to provide resources and capital to student entrepreneurs. The program has partnered with Digital Sandbox KC to offer inroads to students to further develop their business projects with additional funding. “The UMKC Entrepreneurship Scholars program has a very specific goal –…

KC smart city ‘an invitation’ to innovators, entrepreneurs

The City of Kansas City, Mo., has signed an agreement with Sprint and Cisco to create the largest smart city in North America in the City of Fountains. Sprint will be building a network of connectivity worth up to $7 million dollars while Cisco will be providing smart city infrastructure worth upwards of $5 million. The…

Startup Little Hoots working with Today Show, Huffington Post

Kansas City-based Little Hoots has scored two high-profile partnerships that are scoring its memory-saving app thousands of additional downloads. The tech firm is working with the Today Show and the Huffington Post to provide snippets from its memory-keeping platform that captures youngsters’ memorable quotations to share with friends and family. “Whenever they publish one of these Little Hoots…

RECAP: 1 Million Cups panel offers decision-making advice

Three entrepreneurs took the stage at 1 Million Cups this week to offer advice on navigating the tough world of entrepreneurship. Alex Altomare, co-founder of BetaBlox, Linda Buchner, co-founder and president of Minddrive, and Ben Kittrell, co-founder and CTO of Doodlekit, all spoke about the variety of hard choices entrepreneurs face. On handling tough decisions……

Sprint Accelerator startup raises $85K (and counting)

Hidrate, a startup at the Kansas City-based Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator, rapidly surpassed its fundraising goal before a pitch to investors and nearly 2,000 Kansas Citians. The Minneapolis-based company’s Kickstarter campaign has already raised nearly $85,000 in two days, which more than doubles its goal to fundraise $35,000 in 42 days. Hidrate created a Bluetooth-enabled water bottle that tracks…

Sprint Accelerator Demo Day preview (part III)

The second class of the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator is gearing up for its much-anticipated Demo Day, which serves as a culminating event and is expected to draw a crowd of nearly 2,000 people. Led by Boulder-based Techstars, the Kansas City-based accelerator is now hosting 10 mobile health tech startups from around the world for its…