Woman-led Stories

Come on (down) Now! AltCap Your Biz awards $37K in prizes with a familiar face earning biggest win of the night

The founder’s story can be the most important part of a startup’s pitch, Dr. Shelley Cooper shared after clinching the $25,000 grand prize at Thursday’s AltCap Your Biz: Pitch Competition. “Everybody else had a lot more financials in their pitch, and I took all that stuff out. I focused on telling my story the way…

Panel: Teachers can’t just ‘fail fast’ with students, but plugging entrepreneurship into classrooms builds agility in both

As someone with a hand in both education and entrepreneurship, Tiffany Dixon recognizes that a gap between the two is limiting potential in Kansas City schools. “There is an ecosystem that teachers don’t realize exists around their classroom,” she explained during a “Youth: Our Future Entrepreneurs” panel discussion for Global Entrepreneurship Week – Kansas City….

City zoning change melts barriers for artisanal makers building businesses in KCMO

Editor’s note: KC BizCare is a financial supporter of Startland News. This story was produced through a paid partnership. Birdie Hansen started making candles as a hobby during the pandemic, and the business quickly grew to a level beyond what she and her husband David’s home in Midtown could accommodate. Scaling operations for Effing Candle…

Winners revealed: LaunchKC awards $300K in rebooted grants competition

LaunchKC’s cornerstone grants celebration returned Tuesday after a four-year hiatus, awarding six Kansas City startups — from gaming and edtech to IoT and healthcare — with $50,000 each in non-dilutive grants. “A win for these companies is a win for Kansas City,” said Becca Castro, strategic initiatives manager for the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas…

‘Perfect is the enemy of progress’: KC founders say the right time for entrepreneurship is now — even if mistakes are inevitable

Early in John Thomson’s entrepreneurial journey, the PayIt co-founder realized no one had all the answers, he shared; and anyone who waits until they feel comfortable enough to start a business will be waiting forever.  “We’re all imperfect, certainly fallible. You’ve got to keep going and not worry about perfect. Perfect is the enemy of…