Vetrepreneur event Purple Connection taking flight in KC
March 20, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
An event connecting veteran entrepreneurs is making waves in Kansas City.
Led by the Veteran Leadership Network and other local organizations, the next the Purple Connection will be held April 12 at the GRID Collaborative Workspaces. Community organizer Jesse Beaudin said this is the third iteration of the event series, and he was surprised by the turnout — which exceeded 75 people last month.
A veteran himself, Beaudin is also the founder of Teir 1 Performance, a government sales resource firm. Beaudin said that veterans are taught leadership skills at a young age and he wanted to connect with a group of likeminded individuals.
“The cool thing about the veteran community is that if you meet another veteran, there is a common bond there,” Beaudin said. “It’s important for us to work together and help each other. Since we share common experience, we speak the same language.”
Beaudin has large visions for what the Purple Connection could turn into, but it initially includes networking, veteran entrepreneur expos and panel discussions.
The upcoming panel on April 12 will feature: Maj. Wade Abel, an administrator from the veteran student department at Park University, David Bann, vice president of sales and operations at StreetShares; Ray Dick, vice president of technology innovation programs at the National Security Technology Accelerator; Mark Naster, Bunker Labs consultant; and Jordan Svancara, a Microsoft startup technical evangelist.
Local firms including KC Drone Company, Veteran Community Project and Liberty Candles will be showcasing their business.
Beaudin said that the veteran entrepreneurial community currently exists in a silo. He hopes that events such as this one will help “vetrepreneurs” such as himself connect with the greater Kansas City startup ecosystem.
“We’re a part of the Kansas City fabric and we add value in our own colorful way,” Beaudin said. “We don’t want to be seen as different we don’t want special treatment — we want to show you that we’re a premiere group of people and we intend to try and give back to the city as much as any other group.”
To RSVP to the event, click here.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
TEDx ‘breaks through’ in Wyandotte County
This year, TEDxWyandotte seeks to break down barriers in their urban community. Wyandotte County, Kan., a community known for its diversity and urban challenges, is currently in a state of transition. The county as a whole is working towards neighborhood and school improvements, ultimately hoping to claim a new position in the Kansas City metropolitan.…
KC firm Handy Camel raising $600K for invention workshop
What do sheep farming and innovation have to do with one another? Quite a lot, if North Kansas City-based Handy Camel is any indication. Since he was a boy, Handy Camel CEO Tom Gray has fostered an innovative ethos, creating a number of doodads to make his work easier as a sheep farmer in New Zealand.…
Rawxies founder: ‘I didn’t give up’ on fundraising in KC
Vegan snack manufacturer Rawxies is en route to closing a funding round that will significantly increase its production. The Kansas City-based company has now raised $512,000 of its seed round, which will boost manufacturing of its raw, vegan snacks by roughly 400 percent. Investors thus far include England’s family, Liz and Brian Kelly, the Women’s…
Meet KC’s Cisco Smart City leaders
Kansas City Mayor Sly James announced on Friday 11 people to serve on the city’s Smart City Advisory Board. With a mixture of corporate, non-profit and civic experience, the board will manage and guide policies for Kansas City’s public-private Smart City project. Announced in the summer of 2014, the project will turn downtown into a…