Opinion Stories

John Fein

Raising a round in the Midwest? 3 tips from investor John Fein

Editor’s note: This column was originally posted by Medium, and is republished with permission of the author, John Fein. The Midwest is a great place to live, sure, but is it a great place to grow a startup? The answer may surprise you: an unequivocal yes. Here’s what you may not know about the American…

CoreBuild

Frank Keck: Building a strong workplace culture starts today with values, behavior

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary about workplace culture are the author’s alone. Check out a previous column by Frank Keck here. Only 33 percent of employees are actively engaged in the workplace 51 percent are simply not engaged 16 percent are actively disengaged — Gallup’s ‘State of the American Workplace’ study, 2017…

The city of Medellin, Colombia, as seen from the coffee fields of La Sierra. Photo by Megan Finck

Startup newbie: How researching entrepreneurship in Medellin led me to Kansas City

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. When my wife Megan and I visited Kansas City this past January as part of our “city shopping tour,” there was much that impressed us and led to our decision to make it our new home.  In many respects, we chose Kansas City…

Bobby Burch: ‘The mountains are calling, and I must go’ — farewell and thank you

Editor’s Note: Startland News co-founder and editor-in-chief Bobby Burch will depart the storytelling organization at the end of July. Tommy Felts will assume leadership of Startland effective immediately. It was three-and-a-half years ago when Kansas City Startup Foundation CEO Adam Arredondo approached me with a “what if” scheme to start a publication focused on entrepreneurship….

CAPS Network

CAPS leader Corey Mohn: Remaking education starts with experiential learning

The Center for Advanced Professional Studies model was a solution to a single school district’s senioritis problem. Blue Valley Schools created CAPS and launched a small cohort of early-adopter students into this new program in 2009. Taking the chance that students would be responsible, professional and innovative when given freedom, CAPS connected students directly to…