Tag: Laura Steward

Strength in numbers: Chamber’s Superstars bench surges to 2,500 KC small businesses

By Tommy Felts / February 7, 2023

Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program. A new round of nominations and submissions have brought the KC Chamber’s roster of Small Business Superstars to more than double its initial size — further amplifying…

Startup’s tech hits Hallmark shelves with video greeting cards; partnership ‘worth the wait’

By Tommy Felts / November 4, 2021

Kansas City creative giant Hallmark’s newly announced line of video greeting cards is more than a one-of-a-kind product innovation — it’s the outcome of an extended startup partnership that was years in the making, Laura Steward said. “In 2015, we won a Launch KC grant,” recalled Steward, founder and CEO of Kearney, Missouri-based VideoFizz, describing the…

VideoFizz adapts greeting card app for real estate listings, closes $500K deal

By Tommy Felts / February 17, 2018

Don’t miss your customers’ cues, said Laura Steward, founder of VideoFizz. Though the Kansas City-based startup originally developed its mobile app as a tool to help individuals create video compilations of their personal photos and videos, Steward and her team noticed a growing number of real estate agents using the technology to stitch together video…

With fund now slashed, LaunchKC alumni say MTC vital to early success

By Tommy Felts / September 12, 2017

PopBookings probably wouldn’t be in business today without the early support — and more critically the investment dollars — of the Missouri Technology Corporation, Erika Klotz said. “It really allowed us to do more quicker,” the PopBookings co-founder and CEO said. “For any startup, speed is everything. It allowed us to get credibility right out…

The impact and challenges of cultivating champions of your startup

By Tommy Felts / February 22, 2016

I recently wrote about the importance of building a close relationship with a champion of your company. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor, notes that “women have twice as many mentors as men, but half as many sponsors.” A mentor can provide advice and perspective, but a sponsor or champion…

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