Meghan LeVota
Recent Articles by Meghan LeVota
With traction in tow, Super Dispatch is a model ‘lean startup’
Super Dispatch began like every tech startup: with a good idea. But as founder Bek Abdullayev will tell you, it takes more than that to be successful. In 2013, Abdullayev founded Super Dispatch, a software-as-a-service platform for the trucking industry intended to eliminate paperwork. Super Dispatch streamlines the communication of documents between truckers and their…
‘Makerspace in the ‘Hood’ wants to smother poverty and crime with creativity
Every successful entrepreneur is born with a seed of opportunity. It is impossible for one person to be successful on their own; whether you extend gratitude to your family for their support, your university for its resources, or the angel investor who believed in you when nobody else did. Now imagine you grew up in…
KC-made card game Mixtape makes a ‘soundtrack for your life’
If your life was a movie, what song would you play in the background? A fast paced techno montage? A jazzy love story? Perhaps a dreary ballad? Regardless of the tune, music is intimately connected with the special moments in life, according to Joel Johnson, who’s set out to prove that with Mixtape, a board…
Entrepreneurs to disrupt KC’s divisions with unifying banner
The Kansas City metro area is one rife with borders. Geographically, it’s cut in half by a river that runs west and east. Economically, there’s a state border that runs north and south. Racially, Kansas City is divided by Troost Ave. Collegiately, the University of Missouri spars with the University of Kansas in a rivalry whose…
TEDxKC offers 5 inspirational musings for entrepreneurs
From poets and inventors to musicians and activists, the eighth-annual TEDxKC on Friday challenged attendees to “question everything.” And in that questioning, 13 presenters offered an assortment of inspiring thoughts from which entrepreneurs can learn. Here are five takeaways from the event, which was hosted at the Kauffman Center of Performing Arts and presented by…
Silicon Valley vet Jason Anderson makes a game out of data collection
As a 4-year-old, Jason Anderson was captivated by the Atari classic Pong. He gawked at the game for hours after his dad brought one home in 1978. Four years later, he was so inspired by Pong that he decided to create his own game — a text adventure on the family’s Timex Sinclair 1000. Anderson…
Backstitch wants to fix a billion-dollar communication dilemma
With the cost of poor business communication climbing as high as $37 billion a year, Backstitch founders Jordan and Stefanie Warzecha saw an opportunity to clear the air. The married couple — who say communication has never been a problem for them — founded their corporate communications platform in 2012. Backstitch aims to mitigate the…
GUILDit feeds starving artists with tools to monetize their crafts
If good entrepreneurs are money-motivated, great ones know that it’s going to take more than that to be successful. In contrast, artists oftentimes develop a “love-hate relationship” with money. As anyone who has seen a “starving artists” moving van can attest, an artist’s passion doesn’t always lead to food on the table. For artists whose…
Political tech vet to lead KCK innovation efforts
A political tech vet is leading new innovation efforts in Kansas City, Kan. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas on Monday welcomed Alan Howze on board as their first chief knowledge officer to oversee the government’s IT Department, the 311 service center and mapping group. A former Virginia gubernatorial director and…
Pennez wants to turn the page on youth illiteracy with AI app
If you’re reading this, congratulations, you’re literate. Statistically, this is something to be proud of as 773.5 million people are illiterate around the world. It also means that you’re more likely to have a higher-paying job and be able to more fully participate in society. Rebecca Dove, a former elementary school teacher, saw first-hand that…