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Kindred illustration by Elyssa Bezner

Shop small: Five designer gifts at Kindred celebrating KC’s fashionpreneurs, winning vibes

Editor’s note: Startland News shopped Kindred’s Oak Park Mall store as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. Local designers always have a spot on the rack within the Kindred Shops. …

Mid Coast Modern illustration by Elyssa Bezner

Shop small: Five buys at Westport’s Mid Coast Modern to help support KC makers

Editor’s note: Startland News explored Mid Coast Modern’s Westport storefront as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. Westport streets aren’t filled with as much cheer in 2020, Matt Bramlette said, entering…

Courtney Lane, Never Forgotten

Victorian hair artist resurrects dead art form; talks representation for asexual, disabled communities

For as long as Courtney Lane can remember, she’s had a fascination with the ways people memorialize their deceased loved ones, the Kansas City hair artist said. “I had a family who didn’t shelter me from the concept of death,” Lane recalled. “When I was 5 or 6 years old, my grandmother took me on…

Riddhiman Das, TripleBlind

TripleBlind earns strategic investment from Accenture to jump into $500B market faster

A newly announced strategic investment is expected to boost a high-profile, pre-seed Kansas City startup’s bid to help enterprises harness the potential of sensitive data. Terms of the deal between Dublin-based Accenture and TripleBlind were not disclosed Wednesday, but the investment by the global professional services firm marks a significant step forward for TripleBlind as…

Tesseract Ventures interactive T-shirts

Off the rack: Tesseract’s next wearable robot tech — interactive tees with embedded intelligence

It wouldn’t be a Tesseract Ventures original if it lacked hard-wired flair, John Boucard said, showing off the metro’s leading robotics startup’s newest creation — interactive tees.  “What we’ve developed is some embedded intelligence inside the textiles,” Boucard, founder and CEO, said in a recently released video showing four T-shirt styles — which represent the…

Only made in KC: Sandlot Goods revives iconic ‘KC hat’ with 25-step, felt-to-field production

The classic, Baldwin-style KC hat is back in the game — boasting a newly drafted team of makers and a modern twist on its otherwise traditional look, Sandlot Goods announced.  “With most major hat manufacturers moving their production overseas, there is a space and a need for a classic, American-made ball cap,” said Chad Hickman, founder…

Chris Bohannon, Artist KC

Fur-miliar faces: Teacher-turned-entrepreneur captures pet personalities through custom art

Combining her love for art and animals, Chris Bohannon is happily letting pets and passion guide her entrepreneur journey. “I absolutely adore animals,” said Bohannon, the artist behind Artist KC — a Waldo-based small business specializing in custom pet art. “I am a crazy cat lady. I love dogs. I think hedgehogs are super weird…

Shelley Cooper, co-founder of SureShow; Jannae Gammage, CEO of The Market Base; Tammy Buckner, founder of Techquity Digital; and Carlanda McKinney, founder of Bodify

GEWKC conversation: Black women are building tech — but are we building them?

A coalition of organizations working to connect early-stage founders to critical resources — with an emphasis on equitable access — is shining the spotlight on Black women in tech during this week’s premier entrepreneurship event series, Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City. “Black women are launching businesses at the fastest clip of any racial group. Despite…

Dave Alburty, CEO of InnovaPrep

InnovaPrep CEO honored as an ‘inspiration’ among Pipeline fellows

COVID-19 couldn’t stop the steady flow of innovation through the Pipeline Entrepreneurs Fellowship.  The organization crowned a series of winners through its (virtual) Innovator Awards on Thursday — a testament to its commitment to entrepreneurs weathering unprecedented times, said David Alburty.  “Pipeline has been absolutely mission-critical in my evolution as a scaling CEO,” Alburty, CEO of…

Quinton Lucas, KCMO mayor

KCMO mayor: New ‘slowdown’ rules for businesses as COVID intensifies across metro

Kansas City residents and workers are safer at home, Mayor Quinton Lucas said Monday, announcing new KCMO guidelines aimed at mitigating the spread of the Coronavirus and decreasing the strain on the region’s hospitals and health care workers. Lucas also urged families to cancel “the normal version of their Thanksgiving plans.” “Like many, I have…