News Stories

Patrick Klima, WyCo Vintage

WyCo Vintage — boasting world’s largest collection of vintage tees — opens second sister-shop on Broadway

Patrick Klima likely does more laundry than anyone else in Kansas City, he said, half-joking.  “The WyCo Vintage inventory is constantly being updated. We’ve been doing weekly drops of about 75 or so vintage shirts for the past four years — which means a lot of washing, shooting, SEO stuff and social media,” explained Klima,…

Conner Hazelrigg, 1773 Innovation Co., the Sunshine Box

‘Sunshine Box’ inventor earns $25K prize in pitch competition for women-led social ventures

The woman behind a solar-paneled electric charging station built to overcome challenges found in developing nations earned the spotlight herself as Thursday’s big winner in the inaugural HI-HERImpact Kansas City pitch competition. Conner Hazelrigg, founder of 1773 Innovation Co. — the maker of the Sunshine Box — was awarded the contest’s $25,000 prize in the…

More than $10K raised for Operation Breakthrough after podcast host’s sudden death

A recording studio in Operation Breakthrough’s soon-to-debut Ignition Lab on Troost Avenue will pay tribute to Mathew George after fans, friends and family of the late podcast host made more than $10,000 in donations in his name.  “I didn’t even realize how many people Mathew affected or was friends with,” said Mary Ann George, mother…

Tiny TV Classics by Basic Fun!

KC inventor, toy maker put classic TV shows, movies at your fingertips

Makers and inventors only have an instant to capture the public’s imagination and pull them into a product, John Boucard said.  “I gravitate toward working on things that haven’t been done before,” the founder and CEO of Tesseract Ventures shared. “There’s the ‘moment of astonishment’ for children and consumers who are delighted by our tech….

Image illustrates a pre-production Mark II, the Mark II is not yet in production

Fund Me, KC: Invest in Mycroft’s open-sourced, privacy-respecting voice assistant

Startland News is continuing its “Fund Me, KC” series to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses or lend a helping hand to others. This is an opportunity for business owners and innovators — like Kansas City artificial intelligence startup Mycroft AI — to share their crowdfunding stories and potentially gain backing from new…