Minority-Led Stories
KCMO adds $350K for entrepreneurs to proposed city budget after advocates’ last-minute push
Kansas City entrepreneur advocates gained more momentum Thursday in their bid to receive greater civic support for startups and small businesses. “Entrepreneurs and small businesses are the driver of the Kansas City economy,” KCMO councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner told Startland Thursday afternoon, following the approval of the city’s $1.73 billion budget. An…
Liberty screen printer brings Hustle + Heart in the face of early-stage failure
Liberty-based apparel company Hustle + Heart wouldn’t have found success without failure, said Serena Kotalik. “[You should] never give up whether you’re starting a business like mine or any other,” said Kotalik, founder of the primarily wholesale, online company, which sells many of its wares through a VIP Facebook group. “With each [failure] I have…
Doob in doubt: 3D-printed action figures fighting to secure a paying audience in KC
Business isn’t what it should be for a company as innovative as Doob 3D, Nick Nikkhah said openly, seated on a leather couch that looked out across the Overland Park retail store’s showroom. “People don’t know what to do with [Doob]. They’re just like, ‘Whoa, what is that?’ … It’s a new thing for me….
Wooing a NextGen workforce? Millennials, Gen-Z will turn down jobs missing these 3 elements
Employment is always a give-and-take scenario, said Ross Quinn, but today’s complex NextGen workforce wants more than a paycheck for time spent on the clock. Millennials and Gen-Z workers often won’t feel satisfied with a position or a potential job if they aren’t given significant freedom and trust in exchange for the skill sets and…
DEG execs reflect on $100M+ exit: Join an armada before success puts a target on your back
Riding into battle solo won’t help a company win the war that is business, Neal Sharma told a crowd of ACG Kansas City members gathered to hear details behind the exit of homegrown marketing giant DEG. “One of the things we realized three years ago — about DEG — is it was a completely successful, self…
