Guest Authors Stories
Help wanted: Addressing KC’s (big) techie shortage
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Kansas City posted nearly 7,700 STEM job openings in 2015 — but only filled 2,550 of them. That means that for every STEM job candidate, there were three job openings. That’s great for job searchers, but terrible for Kansas City business and…
The red carpet, garageband and laboratory of funding models
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. “Funding! Funding! Funding!” It’s the warrior’s cry of the startup community. In the world of entrepreneurship, there’s an incredible amount of pressure to run a startup that can be described as “disruptive,” “innovative” and “scalable.” Those descriptions come with a hefty price tag,…
Kohrs: Genesis matters in the startup vs. small business debate
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. What’s the real difference between a startup and a small business? There’s been a lot of people talking about this since the term “startup” first joined our vernacular during the dot-com bubble. I think it’s because our brains are wired to categorize…
Kean: From Hong Kong to Kansas City, coffee’s the constant in startup life
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. My story began in 2012 as the startup scene in Kansas City was just blossoming. An ever-expanding group of motivated individuals from diverse backgrounds were launching awesome companies, and tech events were occurring more often and with bigger turnouts. When Matt Berkland…
Gooding: Narrow your focus to win on an exit
At the time it wasn’t quite so obvious, but now I realize that I was incredibly fortunate to spend the first part of my career in small-market mergers and acquisitions. Turns out it’s an arena where one can acquire an incredible depth and breadth of business knowledge. On an almost daily basis, I was learning…
