Startups Stories
‘Scrappy underdogs’ scale up as PayIt announces move downtown to Lightwell
A move to the Lightwell building signals more than continued growth for Kansas City-based PayIt: it’s the beginning of the company’s transition from startup to scaleup, revealed John Thomson. “We’re scrappy underdogs in this big market of big players and I don’t want us to lose that,” Thomson, co-founder and CEO, told Startland News of…
Five-chef food hall concept headed downtown thanks to one of KC’s most successful founders
Serial entrepreneur Tim Barton is bringing his “chef collective” concept from downtown Overland Park to the heart of KCMO, the founder of Edison District announced Thursday, teasing the first details of a new development at the in-progress Lightwell building. “It’ll be a 13,500 square-foot food hall with five chef concepts,” Barton, whose Johnson County Strang…
Ecosystem builder on Mayor Q’s budget cuts: Startup support helps fill potholes too
Startup support is an investment — not just a cost to the city, a leading ecosystem builder said Thursday following a proposed KCMO budget that would reduce funding for groups aiding KC’s emerging innovators and risk-takers. “Go around to meet the entrepreneurs, understand their stories — see how we max out our credit cards to hire…
Chit chat on the elevator? RiskGenius targets missing ‘adulting’ soft skills with event series
College curriculum often falls short of the crucial soft skills to get young entrepreneurs from coffee chats to the head of the table, said Kaylee Chappelow. “I don’t want to say college sucks … but I think we all agree that it doesn’t touch on the soft skills,” laughed Chappelow, customer success manager at insurtech…
High demand, low profits: Happy Food Co pulls meal kits from stores, pivots to catering
Love wasn’t enough to sustain the original model of Happy Food Co., but the meal kit company’s ability to pivot opens new doors, said Kiersten Firquain. “For a startup in Kansas City … it is difficult,” Firquain, head chef and co-founder of Happy Food Co., said of geographical challenges that contributed to its restructuring, a…
