Melissa Roberts

president of Free State Strategy Group

Recent Articles by Melissa Roberts

Melissa Roberts: How an Olathe hate crime affects your tech business

Editor’s note: The opinions in this commentary are the author’s alone. In the startup world, outside the Facebook echo chamber, it can be hard to see how political trends impact your business. I understand why. When you’re struggling to weed through the constant churn of working the problem, identifying a new problem and working that…

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Roberts: Court action to make KC a patent troll haven will squash innovation

Editor’s note: Melissa Roberts is urging the Kansas City business community to sign a petition that aims to halt an effort to establish Kansas City as an area friendly to “patent trolls.” The commenting period on the proposed changes closes 5 p.m., Nov. 26. The opinions in the commentary are the author’s alone.  I used…

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Melissa Roberts on what the Kansas budget crunch means for area startups

The opinions expressed in the commentary are the author’s alone.    Kansas is in the midst of a budget crunch of epic proportions — and we all know how and why we got here and who led the charge. We’ve finally reached the moment when all of our dirty jeans’ pockets have been turned out,…

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Roberts: Can’t stand the options? Disrupt elections with a vote for nobody

Editor’s Note: The following piece was written by Melissa Roberts on how voters who have made the decision not to vote for the available candidates should still submit a ballot — even if it’s blank. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. It’s election season, which means it’s probably best to avoid Facebook altogether. Despite…

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Roberts: Goal-setting is more than making a plan

I recently wrote a post about why I’m not setting a New Year’s resolution for 2016. In that post, I wondered if it’s time to try setting some real goals again after years of superficial goal setting and performance reviews left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I…

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Roberts: My New Year’s resolution is a lie

Someone recently asked me what my New Year’s resolution was. I panicked and made one up on the spot. It was about learning to bake. I feel badly about that for a few reasons: It was inane; It was a lie—nothing short of a psychotic break could change my personality to give me the patience…

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