News Stories

Wave team with Jeff Jones, H&R Block CEO

How can KC get to a $400M+ exit? Hire smart and just survive, says founder of startup acquired by H&R Block

A year after Wave’s $405 million acquisition by H&R Block, the company’s co-founder acknowledges the Toronto startup’s story seems like something of a fintech fairytale — with the happy end of one chapter perhaps overshadowing the struggles in the pages before it. “This won’t be true for everybody, but what we found was — just stay…

Kemet Coleman, STARTLAND

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,…

AbdulRasheed Yahaya, Unified Esports Association

Esports group acquires Local Legends, signaling gaming growth in flyover country

A pipeline for Plains states gamers has been opened with the acquisition of Local Legends Gaming by the Unified Esports Association (UEA).  “We’ve been working Esports together for about a year and a half and kind of just realized that we have the exact same goals,” AbdulRasheed Yahaya, founder of Local Legends, said of the…

Kaitlin Doyle, Kevin Montanez, Kirby Montgomery, and Simone Astra Louise Montgomery; photo courtesy of Maria Butz

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…

Gerald Smith, Plexpod

Created for collisions, coworking spaces adapt to a socially distant return to flexible offices

Typically focused on in-person collaboration and interaction, coworking spaces are adapting to the realities of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — and seeing some unexpected opportunities, said Gerald Smith. “Corporate inquiries just went through the roof because suddenly they’re now looking to de-densify their corporate headquarters,” said Smith, founder of Plexpod, a progressive coworking community with four…