Bobby Burch
Recent Articles by Bobby Burch
Neighborly nabs $5.5M from Formation 8, Ashton Kutcher
Neighborly, a San Francisco-based startup with an office in Kansas City, recently landed a multi-million dollar investment for its community investment marketplace. The company, which relocated its headquarters from Kansas City to San Francisco after struggling to raise local capital, raised $5.5 million from venture capital firms Formation 8 and Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, according…
5 takeaways from most entrepreneurial city report
A report analyzing progress on Kansas City’s goal to become America’s most entrepreneurial city highlighted a trove of information on the area’s early-stage business community. KCSourceLink’s second-annual “We Create KC” report dissects the metro’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including its headway toward realizing a challenge to become the nation’s most entrepreneurial city. Expounding on such metrics as…
Pipeline accepting applications, heading abroad
Pipeline Entrepreneurs is welcoming applicants for its 10th fellowship class, which is now gearing up for a lively year of entrepreneurial education. Pipeline, an organization of powerful Midwestern entrepreneurs that conducts a fellowship each year, will be holding its development courses in Kansas City, St. Louis, Nebraska and Ireland. Pipeline CEO Joni Cobb said the…
Cisco makes KC Smart City leadership change
The local man leading Cisco’s efforts with Kansas City’s Smart City project is moving on to a startup firm. Isaiah Blackburn, chief strategist for Connected and Innovative Kansas City, has departed Cisco to serve as chief strategy officer at Xaqt, a Kansas City-based data analytics firm, according to a report from the Kansas City Business Journal….
Popular ScaleUp! KC program welcoming area applicants
ScaleUp! Kansas City is now accepting applications from area entrepreneurs that hope to boost their businesses through mentorship and a strong network of peers. The program, which is now in the midst of its second class, welcomes about 15 businesspeople that aim to push their firm’s revenue past $1 million annually. ScaleUp! KC connects entrepreneurs…
5 KC startups make national contest
Kansas City is well represented in a national competition in which startups have a shot at winning $10,000. Five Kansas City companies were recently announced among 40 contestants in the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s “One in a Million” competition. The competition, which received 377 applicants, challenges startups that have presented at the foundation’s 1 Million…
‘No regrets’: KC startup Knoda closing its doors
Rather than lamenting the death of their company, a team of startup founders is drawing valuable lessons from their entrepreneurial experience and forging ahead. Kansas City-based Knoda — which created a social platform allowing users to make, track and rank various predictions — recently announced to users that it was going to shut down operations….
Sprint Accelerator opens applications, dons new name
Kansas City’s top business accelerator is now accepting applications for a wider applicant pool after a recent — albeit minimal — name change. The Sprint Mobile Accelerator — formerly the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator — lightened up its name to better reflect its broader focus on boosting mobile-centric startups. Led by Boulder-based Techstars, the accelerator…
Sherry Turner talks diversity, funding landscape
There are few people in Kansas City that have worked harder than Sherry Turner to increase women’s engagement in entrepreneurship. Founder of OneKC for Women, Turner works to help women in the area find jobs, start businesses, get financing or invest in other businesses through a variety of organizations. After years leading large corporate teams,…
Drones, fashion, parties, more in Techweek queue
Techweek Kansas City released its full schedule Wednesday, revealing a jam-packed agenda with a variety of tech-oriented events to connect and inspire. The tech conference — which will be in Kansas City from Sept. 14 to Sept. 19 — will feature more than 40 events around the Kansas City area. Ranging from chats on drones…