Digital Sandbox KC mixes in Carroll’s Irish Bitters, TravelHive, iSocial and Grant Company

Kim Naramore and Jillian Carlile, TravelHive

After more than five years, Digital Sandbox KC’s proof-of-concept program continues to see a high volume of quality applicants with a wide range of concepts, said Jeff Shackelford. Four startups receiving project funding from Digital Sandbox KC were announced Thursday. Two of those awards are in partnership with Innovation Stockyard in St. Joseph, said Shackelford,…

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Techweek 100 list released: Dozens of KC’s top cultivators, ambassadors and innovators

Techweek 100 list

Techweek Kansas City on Friday released its Techweek 100 list of the premier leaders pushing innovation in Kansas City. The collection of cultivators, ambassadors and innovators is a who’s who of familiar names across the startup, entrepreneurship and tech communities. Released in the runup to Techweek KC’s Oct. 8-12 festivities, the list isn’t a ranking,…

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In talent showdown with corporate neighbors, startups must hire smarter, say Digital Sandbox experts

Claude Harris, College Coaching Network; Gabby Wallace, Go Natural English; Brody Dorland, DivvyHQ; Digital Sandbox: Summer in the Sand, talent showdown

Kansas City heavy-weights like Garmin and Cerner court developers at the student level, said Brody Dorland, discussing a talent showdown seen by startups across the metro. “How am I supposed to compete with that?” asked Dorland, co-founder of marketing tech firm DivvyHQ, during a recent Digital Sandbox: Summer in the Sand panel about growing startup…

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Digital Sandbox startup Fast Democracy building non-partisan social database for tracking legislation

Anatolij Gelimson, Sara Baker, and Jill Cline, Fast Democracy

Today’s political climate demands not only a better-informed public, but accurate tools to help voters arm themselves with timely information, said Sara Baker, co-founder of Fast Democracy. The Kansas City-based startup — one of four early-stage businesses recently accepted into Digital Sandbox KC — aims to help people “touch their democracy” through its non-partisan web…

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