‘This is a different type of founder’: LaunchKC reveals latest social venture cohort
May 1, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Organizers and members of the 2026 LaunchKC Social Venture Studio; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Kansas City’s startup community has helped Trina Nudson feel seen and understood as an emerging entrepreneur, the Be Aligned founder shared. A spot in this year’s Social Venture Studio cohort could help her dig even deeper into the business realities of the unknown, she said.
“I’m an attorney, and if you turn to a fellow attorney and say, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,’” Nudson explained. “They’re going to report you to the disciplinary board. If you turn to a fellow founder and you say, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.’ They look at you and they say, ‘None of us do. We’re just trying to figure this out.’”
Trina Nudson, Be Aligned; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Inspired by her stepdaughter, Nudson launched Be Aligned in January 2025 to help parents and professionals turn conflict into collaboration — safeguarding childhoods by using evidence-based training and AI-supported technology.
“I’ve fallen down so many damn times,” she continued of her startup journey. “I don’t even know how I’m still standing. But I do know it’s because of this community. I have learned so much from this community, and hopefully one day — sooner than later — I will be able to give back tenfold.”
Be Aligned was one of seven social ventures announced Wednesday by LaunchKC — an initiative of the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri (EDCKC) and the Downtown Council (DTC) — at the Keystone CoLab space in the East Crossroads.
LaunchKC’s Social Venture Studio connects business solutions rooted in solving social, environmental or racial issues, with the firepower necessary to thrive, according to the program.
Nudson is excited to make even more connections in the ecosystem and to learn from her fellow cohort members, she said.
“I’ve had a small business, but I never had a startup, which is completely different,” Nudson continued. “I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know anything.”
Now in its fifth year, Social Venture Studio has graduated 28 companies from its previous four cohorts and received the IEDC Excellence in Economic Development Award for work in promoting economic equity and inclusion in 2022.
“We believe this class of companies deserves the policy support, the funding support, the regulatory support, really the ecosystem support, because this is a different type of entrepreneur,” noted Kevin McGinnis, president and CEO of the Keystone Innovation District, which leads the programming with consulting from Jacqueline Erickson Russell, founder and CEO of Social Impact Advising Group. “This is a different type of founder.”
Brandon Taylor and Lindsey Taylor, Beyond This; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The seven selected companies will participate in a three-month program receiving professional support, a $20,000 grant award, temporary office space, mentoring and network connections to strengthen their social venture business concepts. A culmination event in August will be an opportunity for the companies to reveal their pitches to potential funders and supporters.
“We’re most excited about the resources that we have access to through this program to help us move forward faster and build our partnerships with facilities all around the region,” said Lindsey Taylor, who co-founded Beyond This with her husband, Brandon.
This mission of helping individuals and couples reclaim Identity, intimacy, and connection after major stroke or disability is deeply personal for Brandon Taylor, he shared. After surviving a stroke, he realized firsthand that while clinical care is vital, there is a massive gap when transitioning back home.
“Trauma tries to steal your person or your identity,” he said. “So love and intimacy are the only things that heal it.”
Two cohort members — AMP Beauty and Biospoke + Lumo — were not represented at the announcement as their founders will be relocating to Kansas City from Los Angeles and Detroit, respectively, for the program.
Cohort members include:
- AMP Beauty, Montre Moore and Angel Lenise Pyles — Commerce and technology platform helping emerging beauty brands scale through retail access, data-driven insights, and multi-channel distribution.
- Be Aligned by The Layne Project, Trina Nudson and Tyler Klug — Evidence-based training and AI-supported technology helping parents and professionals turn conflict into collaboration to safeguard childhoods.
“Twenty-two million children in the United States go back and forth between two homes each day,” Nudson explained, “and the conflict between those parents doesn’t stay within the parents. It seeps in the schools and childcare. It seeps into healthcare. And those professionals, they’re not able to focus on what they’re good at because they’re caught in the middle of the conflict.”
- Beyond This, Brandon Taylor and Lindsey Taylor — Coaching and support platform helping individuals and couples reclaim Identity, intimacy, and connection after major stroke or disability.
“It’s tremendously difficult to go through the recovery process and then leave discharge and have no support for how to become the person you’re supposed to be in your new life,” Lindsey Taylor explained. “So we founded Beyond This to create an ecosystem of support for people who are navigating this journey together with strong conviction that their relationship is so critical to the recovery process that it must be treated as a unit of ongoing care after folks get out of treatment.”
- Biospoke + Lumo, Nadia Boone — Biodegradable textile materials and waste-tracking tools helping the fashion industry transition toward circular, sustainable production.
Rosana Polanco, KC Micro Campers; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
- KC Micro Campers, Rosana Polanco — For-profit arm of Embrace Your Shine with pre-sold, off-site fabricated starter homes using agile construction to address the affordability gap in under invested Kansas City neighborhoods.
“We’re a nonprofit creating transitional housing for young adults facing hidden homelessness while they pursue education or workforce development,” Polanco explained. “So our goal with the Social Venture Studio is to have Embrace Your Shine be the social enterprise of KC Micro Campers and be the development arm.”
Courtney Wachal and Thad Diamond, Magis; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
- Magis, Courtney Wachal and Thad Diamond — AI-powered court analytics platform that helps courts reduce recidivism and secure sustainable funding through evidence-based decision making.
“What Courtney’s courtroom does is it treats the whole person if they have a substance use issue or they have a mental health disorder,” Diamond noted of the Wellness Court run by Wachal, who is the presiding judge of Kansas City’s Municipal Court. “It surrounds them with resources for the community.”
“But when we were paired up,” he added, “Judge Wachal was having a really hard time measuring what actually was effective in a courtroom, and what kind of interventions might have the most impact in reducing recidivism or just improving the health that the whole person should receive. So that’s what our software does.”
Elvis Eneh and Reda Ibrahim, RK Contractors; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
- RK Contractors, Reda Ibrahim and Elvis Eneh — Certified, minority-owned general contractor integrating workforce development and case management into construction operations to create career pathways for immigrants and refugees.
“We have a vision of creating a training center in the Northeast to help people not only to face challenges but educate them through it and try to help them to have a skill in hand,” said Ibrahim, whose business is a finalist for KC Chamber Small Business of the Year. Because with job security, you can fix the economy in the community.”
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