Explore perspectives on the issues impacting business in Kansas City.
Hear from local entrepreneurs, innovators and community leaders as they share insights and commentary on topics impacting business and innovation.
The TAM Scam: Why the next economy won’t need your pitch deck’s market-size slide
For most of modern business history, directly observing economic activity was slow, expensive, or impossible. We developed proxies to compress uncertainty into numbers that executives, lenders, and investors could use. But as technology makes economic activity more observable, the proxies we built for an earlier era become harder to defend.
I was wrong about sports: Why KC’s ‘escape velocity’ keeps pointing back to 18th and Vine
Sports, music, and barbecue are not three separate Kansas City brands, writes urbanist and entrepreneur Kemet Coleman. “They are one story, and it starts at 18th and Vine,” the Vine Street Brewing co-founder explained.
300 pitches later, GIFT founder offers a cheat sheet for selling your vision (hint: it starts with the pitch deck)
“What does your business do? Tell me directly, clearly, and avoid unnecessary fluff,” writes Brandon Calloway in an open letter to entrepreneurs. “As someone making a snap judgment about your business, I need to quickly understand what it offers.”
Smart glasses at work: How employers using (or banning) the tech could face legal challenges
AI-enabled smart glasses take a step further than the traditional “body camera” surveillance footage, given the technology’s ability to retain and assess information, such as biometric information. That creates new concerns for employers who might want to implement the devices — or even keep them out of the workplace altogether, writes a team of attorneys from Polsinelli.
Missouri founders need rules for crypto, digital assets that protect infrastructure and consumers, advocate says
Congress should act quickly, writes Ryan Wright. If the United States waits too long, other countries will continue setting the standards for digital assets, AI provenance, and the next generation of financial infrastructure. Missouri should not be left reacting to that future. We should help build it.
Royals chose Crown Center; KC now must decide how 18th & Vine stays in the game
The Royals ballpark announcement was still eye-opening, because moments like this reveal what a city is actually willing to organize itself around, writes Kemet Coleman.
How can 90 days fix 18 months of revenue? Make trust and consistency your currency
Many leaders start buying marketing the same way they buy any other solution .. one need at a time. It’s not uncommon for one company to have a web vendor, a PR partner, a graphic designer, an email vendor, and so on. The hire is based on need, not strategy; and the real cost shows up in places most leadership teams don’t calculate.
Startup life and your marriage: Dan Schmidt dives in
Editor’s Note: Dan and Gina Schmidt agreed to share their experience of how startup life has changed their relationship and family. Check in Thursday to hear Gina’s perspective. Opinions expressed this commentary are the author’s alone. Being a husband, father and founder has stretched me in ways I never would have imagined. At…
Dying schools taught Katie Boody how to build
Editor’s note: Katie Boody is a co-founder of The Lean Lab, a Kansas City-based education incubator that helps educators create and implement innovative ideas in schools to help students. The Lean Lab co-founder Carrie Markel contributed to this piece. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Both the schools I taught at are…
Laura Gilchrist: What KC can learn from Silicon Valley education
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. A few weeks ago, several of my fellow educators and I toured five innovative Bay Area schools. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, it’s no surprise that educators there understand the importance of finding new ways to engage and educate kids in…
Coty Beasley consoles dystopic critics of artificial intelligence
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Artificial intelligence has a lot of misconceptions. The first images that come to mind are the dystopian classics: Hal locking Dave out of the airlock, terminators shooting machine guns into a crowd, or (one of my favorites) V’ger taking pot-shots at the Federation….
New STEM leader Martha McCabe wants to prioritize diversity
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Kansas City cannot continue to grow as a tech hub without first establishing a vibrant — and diverse — local STEM talent pipeline. As a community, we’ve put the wheels in motion. For example, about half of metro school districts now offer the…
Connecting For Good CEO analyzes the area digital divide
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. After my first four months as CEO of Connecting For Good, I’m compelled to share a viewpoint on what the Kansas City digital divide looks like. Knowing the answer to this question is only the first step to tackling digital inclusion efforts, but…