Keystone Innovation District

Image courtesy of KCSourceLink

KCSourceLink’s budget clapback: Startups generated $37.6M in KCMO earnings taxes

Editor’s note: Startland News is a program of STARTLAND, an ecosystem-building organization that is among the participants in an informal coalition of entrepreneur support groups hoping to increase funding for small business support in the 2020-2021 Kansas City, Missouri, budget. This story was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. Financial backing for entrepreneur support…

Donald Hawkins, KC Collective; STARTLAND's Innovation Exchange

Ecosystem builder on Mayor Q’s budget cuts: Startup support helps fill potholes too

Startup support is an investment — not just a cost to the city, a leading ecosystem builder said Thursday following a proposed KCMO budget that would reduce funding for groups aiding KC’s emerging innovators and risk-takers. “Go around to meet the entrepreneurs, understand their stories — see how we max out our credit cards to hire…

Keystone Innovation Center, image courtesy of BNIM

Mayor’s budget nixes $300K for Keystone innovation development at 18th and Troost

A proposed city budget for 2020-2021 signals a further shift in perspective for the Kansas City mayor’s office, removing significant funding for the planned Keystone innovation district project at 18th Street and Troost Avenue. KCMO would decrease the amount slated for the Keystone Development District by $300,000, if the submitted budget is approved, according to…

Keystone Kevin McGinnis

KCultivator Q&A: Kevin McGinnis talks Keystone innovation, best steaks in KC, the word he hates most

Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The KCultivator Series is sponsored by Plexpod, a progressive coworking platform offering next generation workspace for entrepreneurs, startups, and growth-stage companies of all sizes. Years before his tenure as a Sprint executive-turned-startup leader, Kevin McGinnis was…

Ron LeMay, Main Street Data, Open Air Equity Partners

Startup, investor, corporate worlds collide; Ron LeMay’s message for KC: Sit down and talk

Ron LeMay wasn’t willing to watch entrepreneurs flee Kansas City to build their game-changing companies on the coasts, he recalled. “That’s a prescription for disaster over time,” LeMay, CEO of Main Street Data and managing director of Open Air Equity Partners, said of the way he viewed entrepreneurial progress in the City of Fountains as…