News Stories

Nick Smith, Saile

Startup embraces ‘digital labor’, creating personalized robots for tedious tasks — beginning with cold calls

Salespeople spend too much time searching for emails, making cold calls and setting up meetings — leaving less energy for comprehensive conversations and closing deals, said Nick Smith. His solution: robots for salespeople or, as he calls them, “Sailebots.”  “One day I had a revelation that there could be a tool for these mundane tasks….

EquipmentShare, Columbia, Missouri

Forbes names EquipmentShare to list of best startup employers for third straight year

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. COLUMBIA,…

Samuel Morris, KC BizCare

Meet the people-first small biz advocate helping decode the language of entrepreneurship for KCMO

Editor’s note: The following profile on Samuel Morris, small business advocate for Kansas City, Missouri’s, KC BizCare Office is made possible by the office’s financial and programmatic partnership with Startland News. When the bell rang on Samuel Morris’ Kansas City teaching career, he knew he had to do something big as he stepped back out…

Getting the style just right for actor Harry Belafonte was a challenge for Warren "Stylez" Harvey. Belafonte portrayed the gangster Seldom Seen from Robert Altman's 1996 film "Kansas City"; photo by Julie Denesha

Warren ‘Stylez’ Harvey paints film legends set for induction into KC’s new Black Movie Hall of Fame

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. Making careful brush strokes, Warren “Stylez” Harvey uses bold shades of blue in his bright Midtown studio. He’s painting a young…

BUBBA Tidal Rods

Missouri-caught outdoor brand angles for bait-to-plate allure with non-slip grip fishing rods

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. COLUMBIA,…