ScaleUP! KC welcomes 16 new entrepreneurs to the program
June 7, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
On Wednesday ScaleUP! KC welcomed 16 new entrepreneurs into its incubator program’s sixth cohort.
To qualify, ScaleUP! companies must be in business for at least two years, generate annual sales of between $150,000 and $750,000 and have the potential to reach to $1 million in sales. Startups from the latest cohort represent industries such as software development, healthcare, construction, consulting, cleaning services and more.
Since its launch in 2015, the program has cultivated 77 business owners’ skills. Alumni have gone on to expand facilities, raise capital, launch products and hire more employees.
Jill Meyer, program director of ScaleUP! KC, said that the program has proven to be impactful for the Kansas City entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“ScaleUP! KC has been—and continues to be—such a critical program for Kansas City’s small business entrepreneurs, those businesses, research shows us, that create jobs and fortify our local economy,” Meyer said in a release. “It provides already successful business owners with the tools, coaching, peer mentors—and especially the time and guidance—to focus on effective strategies that will help them scale their businesses.”
Funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, ScaleUP! America awarded the University of Missouri-Kansas City one of the first program contracts nationwide.
On May 30, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced that ScaleUP! KC was one of the eight recipients of its KC Accelerator Challenge, awarding a grant to the program.
“Winning this award will help ScaleUP! further strengthen the success of our alumni with continued coaching and peer mentoring and help us reach deeper into the KC community to support the growth of KC’s small businesses,” Meyer said in a release.
Here are the members of ScaleUP!’s sixth cohort:
- Thomas Assel, Assel Consulting LLC,
- Chris Ayala, First Response Construction LLC
- Cristina Betts, MD HomeCare, LLC
- Sheryl Briggs, ClassApps LLC
- Dawn Cramer, Cramer Capital Management,
- John Crum, Crum Cleaning
- Kathy Gates, The Running Well Store
- Chris Goodwin, Insurance Pros
- April Kramer, Apple Pie Painting
- Nick Lewman, Matai Services
- Elizabeth McFadden, Novella Brandhouse Group, Inc,
- Mani Raman, Yotabites Consulting LLC
- Sara Noble, Noble Designs, Inc.
- Brendan O’Shaunghessy, Ocean & Sea
- Jennifer Rosenblatt, MusicSpoke
- Lori Worthington, Right Angle Advisors
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
‘Night Without Borders’ opens coffee house doors to honor heritage through harmony
Culture transcends borders, said Danny Soriano, surrounded Friday night in a popular Crossroads coffee shop by music, dance, art, food, and drinks that all shared a common link: Latino flavor. “Whether it’s Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina, we all come together as Latinos, as Hispanics, and celebrate our heritage,” said Soriano, who organized a…
GEWKC returning to familiar venue (but its new destinations might surprise ticket holders)
When Global Entrepreneurship Week pulls into the station later this fall, Kansas City participants can expect a fresh experience inside one of the region’s most iconic landmarks, said Callie England, noting an intentional effort behind the scenes should help reroute the “best of the best” events onto custom agendas. “While you’ll see a few familiar…
Wichita program drives highway of resources to more KC startups; founders tout who they met along the way
Opening its doors to Midwest companies outside Kansas for the first time, a Wichita-based program that connects startups with the tools to better engage enterprise partners offered an added benefit to Kansas City entrepreneurs: a new ecosystem of support just a few hours from home. “The program’s Wichita location inspired us to broaden our outreach…