10-year-old Leawood inventor in the running for $250K

Chucker, Julia and Susan Luetje

Kansas City entrepreneurs are known for their Midwestern hospitality, collaborative nature and humility. And each of those traits are expressed by 10-year-old inventor Julia Luetje of Leawood, whose entrepreneurial spirit is now on the national stage as part of a Frito-Lay’s Dreamvention competition. “I invented the Storm Sleeper because I used to be afraid of…

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Face it: Zoloz tech lets you to pay with a smile

With a recently revealed new brand and broader strategic focus, Kansas City-based Zoloz is expanding its biometrics security offerings to include another unique human attribute: a user’s face. Formerly known as EyeVerify, Zoloz unveiled three new products — Zoloz Connect, Real ID and Smile — that CEO Toby Rush said will ensure trust and security…

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Minddrive fuels youth development through hands-on STEM

Carlos Alonzo, a 15-year-old engineer at Minddrive, was always good at math. In the seventh grade, Alonzo’s teachers gave him the opportunity to skip ahead and take algebra. Although he enjoyed it and did well in the class, he ran into a problem: His school didn’t offer him an advanced class for eighth grade. That one-year…

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Entrepreneur, startup advocate becomes new KC Chamber chair

KC Chamber

A prominent Kansas City entrepreneur with some serious startup chops is now serving as the new chair of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Matt Condon, CEO of Bardavon Health Innovations and ARC Physical Therapy, was unanimously voted to serve at the helm of the chamber’s board of directors as its chairman. Condon, 42,…

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Video: Healthy workplace culture begins with intention, communication

Editor’s note: This content was sponsored by Mid-Continent Public Library but independently produced by Startland News. Creating a healthy workplace culture must be done early and with intention, said Adrienne Haynes and Dwayne Lewis. To help startups develop a strategic human resource plan, Haynes, managing partner of SEED Law, and Dwayne Lewis, president of Lewis…

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