Dan Linhart

These two Small Biz of the Year finalists are among the half-dozen KC firms honored as Inc.’s ‘Best Workplaces’

A workplace in the era of talent shortages and a hyper-competitive jobs market is only as good as its ability to meet employees’ nuanced needs, said Melea McRae, a top founder whose marketing company was among six Kansas City firms selected for Inc. magazine’s Best Workplaces list. “Through our un-agency business model, we’ve built a…

George Brooks, Crema Venture Lab

Grown in a lab: Kansas City digital product agency Crema sells plant-care app to Bloomscape 

Sprouted from Venture Lab Fridays, Crema’s plant-care app Vera illustrated the possibilities of what setting aside work to grow creative and educational skills can bring, said George Brooks. The idea behind Venture Lab: use every other Friday at Crema as a time for the digital agency’s staff to temporarily step away from client work and…

George Brooks, Crema startup

Value rich: Crema shifts gears in startup support approach as agency evolves

Providing scaling companies with new pathways to learning is the latest objective for Crema, said George Brooks, detailing the digital agency’s constant evolution.  “We had this opportunity with the brands that we’ve been working with over the past few years to basically figure out, ‘Hey, how do we increase the value of your company?’” explained…

George Brooks, Crema

Crema co-founder details expansion experiment at Thinking Bigger breakfast

Crema’s work is all about proximity, said George Brooks, seeking to clarify potential misperceptions about the digital product agency’s foray into markets outside Kansas City. “We’ve been running an experiment,” the Crema co-founder told a crowd at Thinking Bigger Business Media’s recent Big Breakfast. “We’re from Kansas City, but probably 80 percent of our clients…

Crema co-founder Dan Linhart: Effective company culture is more than just beer on tap

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the commentary are the author’s alone.  Collaborating with a team is the most rewarding aspect of my work. There is just something awesome about doing great work with individuals that are diverse in skill and perspective and are aligned with the purpose behind the endeavor. Getting to that point,…