Black business advocate GIFT wraps holiday markets to close visibility gap for entrepreneurs
The holiday shopping season offers many retail-focused entrepreneurs a gift of their own, said Kharissa Parker, describing opportunities for emerging Black business owners to meet customers in-person at events like Kansas City G.I.F.T.’s Small Business Saturday Black Business Market.
How Polsinelli stepped onto the national stage without walking away from its KC roots
“We’re not just a national law firm that happens to have an office in Kansas City,” said Greg Kratofil. “We’ve been helping build this city’s technology ecosystem for decades while also building a national practice capable of representing some of the most innovative companies in the world.”
GEWKC returns to Union Station with maker fair, packed lineup of startup, small biz speakers
“Every year, we think we can’t possibly top the previous year; and yet every year, our attendees, speakers, makers and supporters blow us away,” said Callie England, director of GEWKC. “This event is one of the highlights of our year because it shows everything the Innovation Center and our partners do for entrepreneurs, all in one place.”
Sports-wellness tech cohort adds two more Kansas City companies in time for tip off
An intensive week of programming opened Monday at ShotTracker’s headquarters in Overland Park as a small cohort of founders — including two just-added Kansas City area innovators — began an immersive new experience led by Endeavor Heartland an Keystone Innovation District.
Hydrangea House grows into long-vacant, Tudor-style Brookside police and fire station
Mother-daughter duo Jessica Carpenter and Abigail Gaughan have been deep cleaning the 6,265-square-foot space — putting in new ceiling and floor tiles, upgrading plumbing, and hanging one-of-a-kind chandeliers. Three trucks of merchandise await, filled with homegoods and vintage and antique furniture.
‘Shark Tank’ is TV (not reality), founders say; Students urged to prepare for the grind, think like entrepreneurs
“You can work for the biggest company in the United States and can still be an entrepreneur within those walls of that company,” said Mathes, a namesake for the Mathes Innovation Center at William Jewell College. “So, if you want to be successful in whatever career you’re in, you need to at least think like an entrepreneur.”
How this KC-area college turned entrepreneurs’ ventures into a fast-growing MBA program
“People don’t want to study theory,” said Taras Polik, founder of London-based startup OneDay. “They can watch videos online on YouTube. They really want to do practical things with their own hands and learn this way.”
AI makes it easy to start, but that’s not the hard part; tech builders forecast job shifts, product hiccups
The AI conversation was part of a broader day of Back2KC activities aimed at showcasing innovation, culture and upward mobility in Kansas City — all as a means to lure former Heartland entrepreneurs and tech workers back to the region.
Can a machine buy it? Why your business model might already say ‘legacy’
Businesses will soon compete for machine discovery much as they competed for search rankings, Amazon shelf space, or app store placements. A human-facing website asks: Can the customer understand us? A machine-facing endpoint seeks different answers.
NXSTAGE grad: Getting in the room with the big guys can ‘change the whole trajectory’ for a startup
A Kansas-built program designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs woo future enterprise-level partners is already proving it was worth the mileage to Wichita, said Connor Borrego, noting the just-wrapped cohort gave him the tools to insert his startup into the buying processes larger organizations actually use.
Daiquiri District chills fresh-squeezed spot for hot chicken, cold drinks near Martini Corner
James Thomas spent years taking his mobile daiquiri shop to wherever the party popped up — hauling rented machines and setting up a mobile operation that gave customers around Kansas City, Lawrence, and Topeka a place to grab one of his frozen drinks. Now he’s letting thirsty customers come to him.
Report: Tech jobs are growing faster in KC than across US; why that workforce win requires action
A new report shows Kansas City’s tech job postings are growing nearly five times faster than the national average, said Kara Lowe, noting the real headline isn’t just in the numbers, it’s in what Kansas City does with them next.
His battle royale ends with a cash-out; Overland Park game designer launches Prize Brawl
Players purchase coins through the game’s online shop, then earn coins through gameplay, Mark Menke explained. Competitors can ultimately cash those coins out through PayPal. “You’re not playing against the house,” he noted.