Startups Stories

Niall goes ‘all in’ on new retail location, high-tech pen

Well-known in Kansas City for gifting Royals manager Ned Yost a snazzy timepiece, Niall will soon be offering a host of new luxury products — including a high-tech pen — and a new store to feature them. Led by CEO Mike Wilson, Niall on Wednesday announced an expansion of its product line to include a…

2016 Sprint Accelerator

Sprint Accelerator firms hiring, offering meet-and-greet

The new firms at the Techstars-led Sprint Accelerator program are already growing. While many are looking for interns, seven of the 10 mobile tech companies in the three-month accelerator are looking to hire staff. The companies, which entered the Kansas City-based accelerator on Feb. 22, each nabbed $120,000 in capital as part of the program,…

autism behavioral therapy Pathfinder Health Services

Behavioral health startup announces acquisition, name change

Behavioral health tech firm ABPathfinder is blazing a new path thanks to a recent acquisition. In addition to a name change, the Overland Park-based firm announced Thursday that it purchased Phoenix-based Ensure Billing to beef up the company’s services. The new entity has rebranded to become Pathfinder Health Innovations. Acquiring an insurance billing company allows…

Cut the crap: How to discern worthwhile advice

In my early days as an entrepreneur, I ran into a lot of consultants who claimed to be “experts” and guaranteed they could help me out. Then I’d do some fact-checking and discover they were neither reliable nor experts, and their advice wasn’t worth the space in our email inboxes. In the last few years,…

Pinsight Media wants to build your startup’s app for free

A new program at one of Kansas City top mobile tech firms plans to build dozens of mobile apps for as many as 70 startups around the nation. Kansas City-based Pinsight Media+ recently launched its “Rollout” program, which will develop a firm’s Android or iOS app — for free — with the intention of it…