Woman-led Stories
Check out the entrepreneur winners of this library pitch competition (and beyond-the-shelf resources)
Overwhelmed and excited to make a bigger impact, Rasheedah Villarreal expressed joy and gratitude Thursday after her name was announced as the top winner among a wide-ranging catalog of entrepreneurs pitching for cash prizes, community support, and serious momentum. Her business, Social Emotional Yoga with Mrs. V, also earned “Crowd Favorite” honors, sending the founder…
Photos: Founders plug into vibrant Startup Crawl energy as Startland celebrates decade of storytelling
Startland News’ one-night, rolling innovation showcase Friday served as a launch for select founders — capitalizing on a crowd of 500-plus Startup Crawl participants to bring their emerging companies into the Kansas City spotlight, one conversation at a time. “I love that we got to share Portrayals XR with Kansas City first,” said Tricia Keightley,…
Annie Austen’s newest store opens, building around ‘an actual human being’ and her gut instincts
That glow within downtown Overland Park isn’t just coming from the freshly stocked shelves at the new Annie Austen storefront; it’s yet another product of the pandemic-pivot entrepreneur’s contagious positivity — lightening the mood just steps away from a massive farmers market overhaul. “There really aren’t any safe options in life. Sometimes the rug gets…
Meet the competition: AltCap Your Biz unveils finalists for pitch event, $60K in awards
A popular fall pitch competition for emerging entrepreneurs is returning to Union Station in November with AltCap today announcing 10 finalists for $60,000 in cash prizes — ranging from Kansas City’s first mobile matcha cart to specialty wellness retailers and a dog toy innovator. “The AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition is so much more than…
Roz audits its path to $2.15M in early funding; how KC helped this AI startup scale its potential
A series of funding wins is boosting a Kansas City startup’s efforts to automate the most complex — and tedious — parts of compliance work, drawing from the co-founder’s own pain points and resources from a server-full of local entrepreneur support initiatives. With $2.15 million in funding under its belt so far, Olathe-based Roz — which…