Tommy Felts
Editor-In-Chief, Startland News
Tommy is editor-in-chief for Startland News, a Kansas City-based nonprofit newsroom that uses storytelling to elevate the region’s startup community of entrepreneurs, innovators, hustlers, creatives and risk-takers.
Under Tommy’s leadership, Startland News has expanded its coverage from a primarily high-tech, high-growth focus to a more wide-ranging and inclusive look at the faces of entrepreneurism, innovation and business.
Before joining Startland News in 2017, Tommy worked for 12 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist, designer, editor and publisher. He was named one of Editor & Publisher magazine’s top “25 Under 35” in 2014.
Recent Articles by Tommy Felts
Peek inside Tesseract HQ: Robotics startup builds future in real time (with humans on the brain)
As an intentionally lowered screen begins to lift on Tesseract Ventures, once-seemingly-wild ideas that lived only in tech inventor John Boucard’s head are being realized. With them, the future of work is taking shape — 3D-printed piece by 3D-printed piece — hardwired in the suburbs of Kansas City. “We were a bit mysterious in the…
Marketing voice joins STARTLAND to amplify ecosystem builders’ impact, culture of innovation
A mainstay of the Kansas City creative scene hopes to compose messaging harmony as the new force behind STARTLAND’s events and marketing efforts. “One of my dreams is just to see people coming together and working — not really thinking about their differences, but understanding we have more in common than what we don’t and,…
TheraWe exits: Pandemic opens pipeline for KC health tech startup, catching eye of NY buyer
Kirby Montgomery announced the acquisition of TheraWe earlier this week, but — in a nod to “evening entrepreneurism” — the founder won’t actually go full-time with the startup he created three years ago until Monday. TheraWe — a HIPAA-compliant mobile video platform that bridges the gap between pediatric therapy centers and families at home — recently…
MADE to order: How KC’s top streetwear brand plans to fund therapy sessions for ‘our brothers and sisters’
No health, no hustle, said Vu Radley, detailing MADE MOBB’s recently launched effort to fund free therapy sessions for members of the Black community. “Mental health isn’t something that’s talked about a lot within minority groups. For me, growing up, it wasn’t,” said Radley, co-founder of MADE, emphasizing newly heightened stress and super-charged anxiety for…
Neelima Parasker planned for snow days — COVID came instead; How SnapIT is weathering the pandemic in a new space
More than 20,000 square feet of silence greeted Neelima Parasker as she returned to work this week after Stay at Home orders lifted. “Monday we opened up, but really, to very few people,” Parasker, CEO of SnapIT Solutions, said of the startup’s reentry to the traditional workforce — this time, inside a new office space…
I’m black and a Plaza business owner — in that order; why a Main Street entrepreneur joined KC’s protests
Isaac Collins is exhausted, but he can’t sleep. His wife and mother are both worried about the 31-year-old community entrepreneur whose business is just blocks away from the scene of late-night mayhem and unrest following peaceful protests on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza. But it isn’t rioters and looters that have Collins on edge, he…
Techstars KC returns: Meet 10 startups bringing diverse solutions to the rebooted accelerator
The hotly anticipated Techstars Kansas City 2020 accelerator class features startups enabling greater transparency and access in healthcare, the food supply, and justice for all, said Lesa Mitchell. Two of the ventures are based in St. Louis. “We’re also welcoming companies with new platforms and new business models that will attract and facilitate broader talent…
$26K in prizes: Sidelined students pitch entrepreneurial empathy in COVID-19 virtual competition
Editor’s note: STARTLAND is the parent organization of Startland News, though this report was produced independently by Startland News’ non-profit newsroom. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a financial supporter of Startland News A month ago, few students could’ve imagined pitching real-world solutions to COVID-19 challenges in front of a panel of Kansas City celebrity judges,…
Dapper rapper, ‘SNL’ star, top CEOs join student pitch competition as KC celebrity judges
Editor’s note: The following is part of Startland News’ ongoing coverage of the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Kansas City’s entrepreneur community, as well as how innovation is helping to drive a new normal in the ecosystem. Click here to follow related stories as they develop. STARTLAND is the parent organization of Startland News, though this report was produced…
Already slashed to $1M, MTC funding for startups, innovation centers could hinge on COVID-19
Editor’s note: The following is part of Startland News’ ongoing coverage of the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Kansas City’s entrepreneur community, as well as how innovation is helping to drive a new normal in the ecosystem. Click here to follow related stories as they develop. A years-long effort to scale back Missouri’s funding for startup investment — coupled…