-
Fast Company co-founder talks innovation, leadership at Fast KC
The Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC) had its annual luncheon, Fast KC, last Friday and shared progress on regional commerce and plans for the future of Kansas City region. The progress report indicated Kansas City has fostered significant job creation, with the expansion of companies like Cerner boosting the regional economy. Bill Taylor, co-founder…
-
Thinc Iowa: Ben Milne – ‘Think bigger than your parents are comfortable with’
Thinc Iowa’s afternoon session Friday began with Ben Milne, who is (or should be) a known name to Silicon Prairie News readers. Milne is the CEO and co-founder of Dwolla. He started the company based on a problem he had with his previous startup: high interchange fees. With an understanding of interchange fees, a term…
-
Thinc Iowa: Andy Murray on overcoming ‘poverty of creativity’
Andy Murray, the founder and chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi X, kicked off Thinc Iowa as the first speaker today at the Temple for Performing Arts in Des Moines. Murray discussed the common challenges that both corporations and startups share and focused the rest of his talk on the five themes that make entrepreneurship in…
-
EcoFit CEO Coplin talks ‘overlooked questions’ at KCnext event
Cason Coplin, the CEO of Lenexa, Kan.-based EcoFit Lighting, spoke Tuesday at KC Next’s Technology Entrepreneur Speaker Program, shedding light on important information for entrepreneurs. After talking briefly about his company’s LED-based technology, he discussed frequently overlooked questions that …
-
Local Ruckus looks to get people off computers, into community
No matter how in tune you are to the social calendar, there’s always something going on in your town that you miss simply because you didn’t know about it …
-
On heels of Ruxter 2.0 release, a Q&A with co-founder John Epperson
When doing business these days, it’s all about mobility. Ask John Epperson of Ruxter how companies can make their business mobile, and he’ll tell you it’s simple: by using Ruxter 2.0. Ruxter aims to help businesses reach mobile customers and bring in new ones with the mobile web — QR codes, text messaging, mobile coupons…
-
Handmark founder Grasis gives view from ‘the bleeding edge of technology’
Handmark founder and chairman, Augie Grasis knows a thing or two about staying on the bleeding edge of technology. Back when the Android Marketplace and Apple’s app store didn’t exist, Grasis was making a living on $29.99 apps like Tela Atlas and app suites such as PocketExpress. Nowadays, I would think long and hard before…
-
H&R Block co-founder provides perspective at Innovation Conference
The slate of speakers at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Innovation Conference, held July 14 at H&R Block’s world headquarters, helped illustrate the sort of innovation present in the city today. But the event’s midday keynote provided a different perspective on innovation in the city, taking a look back. H&R Bloch co-founder Henry…
-
Nate Allen of Vicinity Games talks developing local, multi-player games
In May, I wrote an article about Vicinity Games, a game development company located in Kansas City. In that article, co-founders Nate Allen and Mike Koporc introduced Paper Craft, a multi-player shooting game for XBox, and shared a sneak preview of the game. Paper Craft launched in late May and since then has accrued over…
-
Life Equals looks to create a better world one ‘better you’ at a time
We live in an age of energy drinks. Red Bull, 5-hour Energy or insert your energy drink of the week here have been proven and sometimes disproven to help languid geeks stay awake in the wee hours of night hacking away on the next big thing. What we sometimes misunderstand is that a boost of…