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
Competition opening its call for startups to pitch at UMKC (founders who’ve finished growing need not apply)
UMKC’s support for entrepreneurship doesn’t stop at the edge of campus, said Adam Larson, detailing plans for another startup competition between established Kansas City companies during this spring’s Regnier Venture Creation Challenge. Non-student-led companies with headquarters in Kansas City are eligible to compete in the James and Rae Block Kansas City Startup Awards. Applications open…
Three-peat threads: 30+ Super Bowl-bound Chiefs fan fits (haters will say the refs wrote this)
With the Chiefs ready to stand on business in the Big Easy, Kansas City fans — at home or at the big game — will need to dress for the win they want. Here’s how small business owners from across the region stand ready to help them suit up ahead of the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl…
KC-based Jayhawk startups earn cut of $570K from Oread Angel Investors pitch event
LAWRENCE, Kansas — Four Kansas City-area startups with ties to the University of Kansas recently took home funding infusions from a newly formed network of Sunflower State investors — part of a rapidly advancing initiative led by KU Innovation Park. Members of the Oread Angel Investors network, which launched in September and now has about…
10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2025
It’ll be a year for entrepreneurs on a mission. Many of the startups poised to make eye-catching headlines in 2025 also are working toward a better future — for the earth, for mothers, for people who love their pets, for Kansas Citians who’ve embraced the city’s craft community, and even for sports enthusiasts honing their…
Skip shopping and shipping: Your guide to last-minute, KC-made gifts you can still get in stores
Forget naughty and nice: one Kansas City-pieced business has a puzzling present for each person on Santa’s “weird and mellow” list. Locals can still find them on KC-area store shelves — while they last. Birdie — a sister company to Stefanie and Tim Ekeren’s popular Kansas City Puzzle Company — packs each eye-catching box with…
Where to (pop-up) shop: Your guide to KC holiday markets featuring local makers
The impact of shopping local from Kansas City makers — especially during the holiday season — can be distilled down to one simple word, said Katie Mabry van Dieren: joy. “The look on the faces of the makers when someone finds the most special gift to give their loved one — a gift that the…
Downtown food hall hits closing time; Strang’s chef-driven concept leaving lightwell
Strang Chef Collective is serving its final customers within the food hall’s downtown space, said CEO Shawn Craft, announcing the lightwell location would close Tuesday “despite the company’s best efforts over the past year to keep it open.” The chef-driven concept — through which diners experience a mix of global and elevated comfort flavors —…
KC Daiquiri Shop closing Dec. 1; iconic duo behind the party vibes plans to ‘regroup, reflect, and rebuild’
The good times roll through the weekend at KC Daiquiri Shop as the well-known Mardi Gras-themed getaway on Grand Boulevard shuts down its years-long revelry. “This decision has not come lightly,” Kinley Strickland and Calvin Vick, owners of KC Daiquiri Shop, said Monday in a social media post announcing the business’ plans to close Dec….
Black Ambition fund’s $50K gives KC healthech startup the ‘jet fuel we need to propel into 2025’
An initiative led by musician-turned-philanthropist Pharrell Williams to help close the opportunity and wealth gap for Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs has selected Kansas City-based AskSAMIE for its latest cohort of funding, training and mentorship. Through the just-announced Black Ambition cohort, 30 founders are receiving awards between $25,000 and $1 million, totalling $2.7 million. AskSAMIE earned…
Proptech startup Particle Space acquired by LA real estate marketing software firm
The acquisition of a Kansas City proptech startup by one of its first — and biggest — customers offers founder David Biga the opportunity to pivot back to his entrepreneurial roadmap, he said, reflecting on next steps once Particle Space’s technology is fully integrated into its new home. “Build, give back, build, give back,” Biga…