UMKC
UMKC top student entrepreneur’s refrain: It isn’t how many ideas you have, it’s what you do with them
Improvising is vital in jazz and entrepreneurship, noted Tate Berry, UMKC Student Entrepreneur of the Year. A double major in jazz studies and business administration, Berry is well-versed in both. “Composing music is a very long collaborative creative process, which has given me the skills to look at intricate problems from a distance and develop…
Entrepreneur of the Year: Zig when others are zagging — and don’t be afraid of the word ‘no’
Bold strategies helped lead BacklotCars to one of Kansas City’s biggest-ever startup exits, said Justin Davis, and ultimately brought the lauded founder to the stage Wednesday to accept one of UMKC’s Entrepreneur of the Year honors. “Taking ‘no’ for an answer wasn’t an option,” the co-founder and CEO of BacklotCars, a web-based, dealer-to-dealer automotive platform, told…
Splitting time between student, entrepreneur lives earns Splitsy co-founder top UMKC honor
Recognition as UMKC’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year is a reminder that innovators often begin early, said Brad Starnes, one of Kansas City’s most-talked-about emerging young startup founders. “When I was about 8 years old, I submitted a drawing to an engineering firm,” said the co-founder of Splitsy, a bill splitting app that launched its…
Demo Day: UMKC E-Scholars partners with KC Arts Institute for more authentic entrepreneurial representation, director says
Art and entrepreneurship so often go hand-in-hand, noted Alex Krause Matlack. “Many artists will inevitably become entrepreneurs because they can create their own brand or business to showcase their craft,” explained Krause Matlack, the director of Entrepreneurship Scholars (E-Scholars) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “This semester, E-Scholars has a new partnership with Kansas City…
UMKC unveils innovation studio, inviting students, entrepreneurs to collaborate within $32M research center
In a hiring environment where college graduates are expected to possess honed skills for even entry-level positions, a state-of-the-art innovation studio in the heart of Kansas City allows students access to technology to actually build products within their chosen professions. “We have never had a facility like this — with the diversity of equipment and…






