Lesa Mitchell

KC’s SaRA Health tapping cross-country, international resources for startup’s acceleration

Techstars Kansas City graduate, SaRa Health is cutting through the noise of the San Diego startup scene, already shining bright among the healthtech mecca’s competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem, CEO Steven Coen said proudly. The metro-grown company recently joined the Nex Cubed Digital Healthcare accelerator — a semi-remote program that promises to drive commercial exposure and prepare founders…

Darcy Howe, KCRise Fund; Lesa Mitchell, Techstars KC; Melissa Roberts, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, female entrepreneurs Kansas City

Even gatekeepers struggle to bring KC’s women-led companies in from the cold

Female entrepreneurs are falling behind as a new generation of highly-scalable startups rises in the Kansas City, said Darcy Howe, reporting too few women-led firms even approaching KCRise Fund for investment. “My experience with those ‘Hey, I hear you have money’ calls that I do get [from female entrepreneurs] — many of them are not…

startups kcmo budget

Startup advocates rally, demand KCMO invest more of its $1.73B budget in entrepreneurs

If Kansas City leaders want to build a stronger community, they should start by supporting early stage entrepreneurs, said Lesa Mitchell. “I’m simply here to say — we’re not spending enough money … and we need to look at it,” Mitchell, managing director of Techstars Kansas City, told KCMO city council members Saturday during a public…

Techweek 100 list

Techweek 100 list released: Dozens of KC’s top cultivators, ambassadors and innovators

Techweek Kansas City on Friday released its Techweek 100 list of the premier leaders pushing innovation in Kansas City. The collection of cultivators, ambassadors and innovators is a who’s who of familiar names across the startup, entrepreneurship and tech communities. Released in the runup to Techweek KC’s Oct. 8-12 festivities, the list isn’t a ranking,…

Digital crossroads

Digital Crossroads: Techstars sees hints of KC’s future in its history as a collision point of ideas

Techstars’ Oct. 11 programming during Techweek Kansas City finds inspiration in the past, Lesa Mitchell said, but it focuses on the metro’s future at a digital crossroads. “In the old days, it was called the crossroads because this was actually where all the trains were going through from Mexico to Canada, and east and west…