Built on speed, grown through community: The Kansas City Startup Village marks 4 years

By Tommy Felts | December 15, 2016

Editor’s note: St. Louis-based magazine EQ invited Startland News to write a feature story about one of the Kansas City’s innovation districts, Kansas City Startup Village, on the heels of its fourth anniversary. This story was originally published in EQ. As many entrepreneurs can attest, inspiration strikes anytime — including a late Sunday night. “This is going…

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Dying schools taught Katie Boody how to build

By Tommy Felts | June 10, 2016
Katie Boody Carrie Markel Lean Lab

Editor’s note: Katie Boody is a co-founder of The Lean Lab, a Kansas City-based education incubator that helps educators create and implement innovative ideas in schools to help students. The Lean Lab co-founder Carrie Markel contributed to this piece. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Both the schools I taught at are…

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‘Kansas City Startup House’ aims to be smart home incubator

By Tommy Felts | June 9, 2016

A local tech founder is transforming his Kansas City, Kan., home to eventually become the area’s next incubator program. Sports Photos founder Brandon Schatz recently launched the “Kansas City Startup Home” to host entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world. While it’s now serving as an Airbnb destination for techies, Schatz said in the next…

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Entrepreneurial foundation names local ‘startup champion’ as director

By Tommy Felts | April 26, 2016

The Kansas City Startup Foundation’s year-long search for a new executive director ended right where it began. The foundation — whose mission is to unify Kansas City’s startup and entrepreneur community — recently hired Matthew Marcus as its executive director. Marcus, who most recently served as the foundation’s chairman, will begin his tenure in May. “It’s…

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