How this Top 10 small biz says ScaleUP! KC kept her company on the right path amid growth spurts

Entrepreneurs tout business program’s impact as it hits 10-year mark

Over the course of a decade, ScaleUP! Kansas City not only has helped develop a foundation of success for dozens of companies; the acclaimed initiative built a legion of champions from within 14 cohorts of growth-minded small business owners.

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ScaleUP! KC helps Kansas City business owners prepare their businesses for scalable growth with a 16-week program that blends comprehensive training with expert speakers, peer mentoring and one-on-one business coaching.

To be eligible for ScaleUP! Kansas City, applicants must have:

• led a company that’s been in business for multiple years
• the ability to generate more than $1 million in revenue
• the drive to lead the next generation of business leaders in Kansas City

The program targets firms that already have a strong foothold, with special emphasis on recruiting under-resourced communities and populations.

ScaleUP! KC is funded by the Missouri SBDC, a program of the UMKC Innovation Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

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“There’s no other program like it,” said Brittany Fugate, president and CEO of Cenetric, an IT company selected for ScaleUP! KC’s 12th cohort in 2022. “ScaleUP! gives you a fast-track to finding the resources that fit your business, surrounds you with a supportive group of like-minded business leaders and teaches you business concepts that elevate your leadership capabilities — all in a matter of a few months.”

“It’s like an accelerated MBA,” continued Fugate, whose Olathe-based company was selected as a Top 10 finalist for the 2025 Small Business of the Year award by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. “And the ScaleUP! KC support, mentorship and guidance do not end when you graduate the program. All of the same resources available to you while in the cohort, are still available to you on an ongoing basis. The team truly cares about seeing your success. They continue to advocate for you, encourage cohort gatherings, offer mentorship and cheerlead for you.”

ScaleUP! KC celebrated its 10th anniversary Tuesday with a full-day alumni retreat at the Linda Hall Library. The event brought together graduates from all 14 program cohorts — an industry agnostic spectrum of Kansas City businesses — for a day of workshops, networking, and strategy.

The program’s success dovetails with the hard work of alumni who’ve expanded nationally, acquired competitors and built award-winning teams, said Jill Hathaway, senior director for entrepreneurial education at the UMKC Innovation Center.

“ScaleUP! Kansas City has helped hundreds of local business owners break barriers and reach remarkable new heights,” said Hathaway, who facilitates the 16-week ScaleUP! KC curriculum, along with leading other growth programs for the Missouri Small Business Development Center.

“From expanding facilities and growing teams to surpassing the million-dollar revenue mark and earning prestigious recognition, these entrepreneurs are reshaping our region’s economic landscape,” she continued. “We can’t wait to see our 15th Cohort lead the charge and bring even more momentum to Kansas City’s business community.”

Click here to apply for the next cohort of ScaleUP! Kansas City. The deadline is Monday, July 21.

Cohorts typically boast about 20 “Scaler” entrepreneurs, including in recent years the leaders of such wide-ranging companies as RK Contractors, Savvy Salon, NvisionKC, The Next Paige Talent Agency, Grad Cap Remix, West Bottoms Whiskey, and Blackhole Bakery, among dozens of others.

An ongoing, core element of the decade-long program: Understanding that scaling is different from simply growing a business.

“Scaling is about creating systems that make your business unstoppable,” Hathaway said through a press release. “Scaling means increasing revenue without expenses rising at the same rate, leading to greater profits. It also means streamlining operations so you can increase profits, even if revenue doesn’t increase. At its core, scaling is about creating a business that can handle more and operate more efficiently.”

Brendan O’Shaughnessy, Ocean and Sea

For Brendan O’Shaughnessy, founder of Mission-based Ocean and Sea, those lessons translated into a significant pivot after joining Cohort 6 in 2017.

O’Shaughnessy and his team had been predominately focused on product sales for the business’s revenue; with ScaleUP! KC’s guidance, they shifted to a service-based business-to-business model that now prioritizes helping clients in the in food/beverage, hospitality and health industries with branding and marketing.

The change provides Ocean and Sea a more sustainable growth trajectory, he said.

“ScaleUP! KC was a huge boost to our businesses overall, giving us confidence and helping us grow into this next season of our company,” O’Shaughnessy said.

But it’s not just about pushing companies to shift gears. Cenetric’s Fugate said the program helped her business stay on track during the first of many growth spurts it hit during her time as part of the cohort.

“The support the program offered was a game-changer for us,” said Fugate, lauding mentor Mark Calhoun, a consultant with the Missouri SBDC and co-founder of PerfectCube. “His support through this major transitional period helped us to have some grounding, some new ideas and kept us from taking paths that would have impacted our operational efficiency at a time when we needed these things most.”

Fugate emphasized ScaleUP! KC’s efforts to connect business leaders — at all stages of growth — to the right resources; an effort fueled by a curated crew of experts like Hathaway and Calhoun.

“The whole team is so talented and knowledgeable; they work hard to identify areas within each Scaler’s business to offer that necessary support,” she said. “Kansas City has so many great programs, but learning who to reach out to or where to go takes time (one the most valuable assets for an entrepreneur). When I found ScaleUP! KC, all of the resources of Kansas City were available to me — and they showed me how to make them work for my business.”