Tommy Felts
Editor-In-Chief, Startland News
Tommy is editor-in-chief for Startland News, a Kansas City-based nonprofit newsroom that uses storytelling to elevate the region’s startup community of entrepreneurs, innovators, hustlers, creatives and risk-takers.
Under Tommy’s leadership, Startland News has expanded its coverage from a primarily high-tech, high-growth focus to a more wide-ranging and inclusive look at the faces of entrepreneurism, innovation and business.
Before joining Startland News in 2017, Tommy worked for 12 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist, designer, editor and publisher. He was named one of Editor & Publisher magazine’s top “25 Under 35” in 2014.
Recent Stories by Tommy Felts
More than statues: 3D printer on the Plaza showcases Urban TEC opportunity amid BLM movement
Just a couple blocks west of Mill Creek Park — the center of recent Black Lives Matter protests near the Country Club Plaza — 3DHQ hopes youth tech outreach now can build a more inclusive future for creative problem solvers in Kansas City’s Black and urban communities, said Fabian Conde. “We want to be more intentional…
Thou Mayest closes Crossroads shop: How a gritty, COVID-proof cafe on casters could be coffee’s future
Bo Nelson might’ve already perfected the roasts at Thou Mayest, but he’s still percolating on what the coffee experience of the 21st Century will look, feel and taste like, he said. The roaster retailer closed its Crossroads coffee shop June 30 — just a year after reopening Thou Mayest at a new home in the…
Overland Park startup among half-dozen companies selected for KC’s new insurtech accelerator
A new insurtech accelerator is ready to launch virtually, Brush Creek Partners announced this week, revealing the first cohort for bcp tech. “Despite the challenges of COVID-19, bcp tech attracted an incredible group of applicants, all with unique broker-focused insurtech solutions,” said Travis Holt, CEO and co-founder of bcp tech and Brush Creek Partners, reflecting…
Pure Pitch Rally opens applications, plans for in-person fall event at new Loews hotel
The best way to create more opportunity — and equity — is to push forward, said Karen Fenaroli. Competition applications are open for the first major in-person startup event announced since COVID-19 shut down many Kansas City workplaces and brought traditional networking to a standstill. The invite-only Pure Pitch Rally is set for Oct. 12…
First look: Excitement builds as Spark KC nears summer coworking debut at Two Light
As Kyla Bradley closed the door to a 22-person suite within the new Spark Kansas City coworking space, the sound of ongoing construction on the first two floors of Two Light nearly vanished. “It’s not technically ‘sound-proofed’ in here,” she said with a smile, noting a dramatic reduction in noise within the customizable, three-room office…
Peek inside Tesseract HQ: Robotics startup builds future in real time (with humans on the brain)
As an intentionally lowered screen begins to lift on Tesseract Ventures, once-seemingly-wild ideas that lived only in tech inventor John Boucard’s head are being realized. With them, the future of work is taking shape — 3D-printed piece by 3D-printed piece — hardwired in the suburbs of Kansas City. “We were a bit mysterious in the…
Marketing voice joins STARTLAND to amplify ecosystem builders’ impact, culture of innovation
A mainstay of the Kansas City creative scene hopes to compose messaging harmony as the new force behind STARTLAND’s events and marketing efforts. “One of my dreams is just to see people coming together and working — not really thinking about their differences, but understanding we have more in common than what we don’t and,…
TheraWe exits: Pandemic opens pipeline for KC health tech startup, catching eye of NY buyer
Kirby Montgomery announced the acquisition of TheraWe earlier this week, but — in a nod to “evening entrepreneurism” — the founder won’t actually go full-time with the startup he created three years ago until Monday. TheraWe — a HIPAA-compliant mobile video platform that bridges the gap between pediatric therapy centers and families at home — recently…
MADE to order: How KC’s top streetwear brand plans to fund therapy sessions for ‘our brothers and sisters’
No health, no hustle, said Vu Radley, detailing MADE MOBB’s recently launched effort to fund free therapy sessions for members of the Black community. “Mental health isn’t something that’s talked about a lot within minority groups. For me, growing up, it wasn’t,” said Radley, co-founder of MADE, emphasizing newly heightened stress and super-charged anxiety for…
Neelima Parasker planned for snow days — COVID came instead; How SnapIT is weathering the pandemic in a new space
More than 20,000 square feet of silence greeted Neelima Parasker as she returned to work this week after Stay at Home orders lifted. “Monday we opened up, but really, to very few people,” Parasker, CEO of SnapIT Solutions, said of the startup’s reentry to the traditional workforce — this time, inside a new office space…