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Photos: ARtechBBQ party gets the beer cheese flowing with a salted pretzel tech twist

Sweater weather returned Friday night alongside Kansas City’s premiere after-hours celebration of tech, and ARtechBBQ organizer Greg Kratofil couldn’t have been happier, he said. “How about this being back in the fall?” Kratofil asked a crowd of well-fed revelers at the party within the party on the grounds of the Kansas Speedway. ARtechBBQ — now…

ARtechBBQ is back, bringing Oktoberfest vibes to KC’s best-smelling celebration of tech

While the party has grown larger each year, Greg Kratofil said, the goal of the ARtechBBQ remains the same: to highlight Kansas City’s tech community at what he calls the closest thing the city has to Mardi Gras. The hotly-anticipated, one-night-only event returns 6 p.m. to midnight Nov. 1 at the Kansas Speedway during the…

KC is capitalizing on recent wins: Here’s how it’s paying off for tech, biologics startups (and investors) 

Dan Kerr joined a chorus of area officials and investment leaders singing the praises of a region on the rise Tuesday during a Midwest-focused venture conference in downtown Kansas City. “I hope you engage with the city and see some of the awesome stuff going on here locally,” the event co-founder and partner at Flyover…

VC summit: It’s a great place to ‘keep your head down and build’ — but is ‘KC nice’ slowing potential?

Building a startup in Kansas City comes with a mix of unique benefits and challenges, said serial entrepreneurs Riddhiman Das and Toby Rush, who both agreed the local ecosystem is enjoying “significant” momentum — while pushing the startup scene to be “more aggressive and more brutally honest.” “When you’re on an exponential growth curve, whenever…

Music no, murals a go: Your fall events calendar won’t look the same as festivals grapple with COVID reality

With summer winding to an anticlimactic end amid COVID-19 restrictions, outdoor festivals aren’t immune to the pandemic’s impact, organizers said, noting high-profile changes and cancelations for Kansas City’s annual fall events lineup. Among the 2020 festivals going silent: the original PorchFestKC. “I dragged my feet saying it out loud just because I hated that it…