Regional Roundup: VC valuations, bootstrapping

Welcome to our new series called Regional Roundup.

Every couple weeks we’ll pull together compelling articles, podcasts, videos and more related to startups and innovation in the region.

Let us know what you think, and send us any ideas or content that you’d like to share.

Sit back and read (or listen or watch) some of the latest stuff the Internet has to offer.

Silicon Prairie: Mercury Fund’s Blair Garrou predicts a “soft landing” for Midwest venture capital as valuations fall — What’s going to happen for the Midwest after the unicorns fall? Garrou tells us in this article.

Inside/Outside: “Bootstrapping” with Rafael Corrales, partner at CRV — There’s raising capital, and then there’s bootstrapping. Which one is best? The Inside/Outside team discusses in this podcast.

TechCrunch: How Early Exit Disease Stunts The Growth Of Midwest Startup Communities — We’ve talked a lot about challenges facing Kansas City’s startup community. This article takes a look at how the “end game” of going public too soon and too small impacts the “start game” of new startups in the Midwest.

Kauffman Foundation: Dept. of Labor Announces $100 Million TechHire Competition — This article highlights that Kansas City isn’t the only place feeling the tech labor crunch: Silicon Valley might be doing just fine on filling tech jobs, but the rest of the U.S. is hurting for talent.

Computerworld: Just what is a Smart City? — With all the news surrounding the Kansas City streetcar/smart city project, we thought it might be helpful to take a step back and explore what the concept means and how far it can go.Read more in the article.