Tag: COVID-19

Toby Rush and Carl Wasinger, Smart Warehousing

Veteran founder unboxes startup smarts as new CEO, eyeing logistics company as KC’s next billion-dollar biz

By Tommy Felts / September 10, 2020

Toby Rush enjoys disrupting the status quo, he said, questioning market strategies with the startup sensibilities that made him one of the region’s most successful entrepreneurs. As the new CEO of Smart Warehousing — an established, Kansas City-based logistics and supply chain company — the veteran startup founder plans to apply the same innovation-focused lens to…

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Tealbottom shoes by Tealhouse

Tealbottom heels might just save the planet, says tech founder-turned-luxury shoemaker

By Tommy Felts / September 10, 2020

Globetrotter Jaqui McCarthy always travels in style, the serial entrepreneur-influencer said, detailing a journey that led her to develop a distinctive, fashion-forward shoe line made from eco-friendly bio materials. It begins with an unwanted fellow passenger: metal in the heels of her high-heeled pumps. “As an avid traveler with TSA precheck, I should be able…

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Photo by Tiffany Tertipes Curbside Notary

Voting by mail? Curbside Notary bringing ballot service to coffee shops, restaurants

By Tommy Felts / September 8, 2020

Everyone deserves the right to vote safely, said Danielle Lehman, steering her innovative mind toward Curbside Notary — an effort to connect Missouri mail-in voters with notaries at easy-to-access locations like coffee shops and restaurants. “I started thinking about, ‘Where are people visiting every day?’ A lot of people go get their coffee in the…

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Strang Hall Edison District

‘Perfect weather’ helping Strang Hall stay open today, but success requires a longer view, says Tim Barton

By Tommy Felts / September 3, 2020

Mild summer temperatures have fed Strang Hall’s bottom line, said Tim Barton, even as a persistent pandemic keeps the downtown Overland Park food hall hungry for its full potential. “Having the outdoor space and the roll-up garage door bar area has been very good for us,” said Tim Barton, the serial entrepreneur and mind behind…

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$100K in microgrants awarded across 23 struggling, but resilient minority businesses

By Tommy Felts / September 2, 2020

Editor’s note: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a financial sponsor of Startland News. This report was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. A COVID-era resiliency fund that quickly closed applications after receiving a deluge of response from entrepreneurs in need has awarded microgrants to 23 minority businesses on both sides of the state…

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