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Ben Barreth

  • The Kansas City Startup Village permit issue: explained

    The Kansas City Startup Village permit issue: explained

    Two weeks ago, a small army of Kansas City entrepreneurs descended on the Planning Commission meeting in Kansas City, Kansas. Here’s why. Entrepreneurs are not known for their patience, and a room full of them listening through appeals on sign location was a strange sight. Their sudden interest in the zoning laws, however, was the…

  • Two Kansas City Startup Village leaders reflect on its first birthday

    There have been plenty of heart-to-heart conversations between Adam Arredondo and Matthew Marcus over the last year about balancing work on their startup with a new startup. The Local Ruckus co-founders—and now, Hoopla.io executives …

  • FBI pays a friendly visit to Homes for Hackers, Kansas City Startup Village

    It’s not every day the FBI comes a-knocking. So it’s understandable that Ben Barreth was unnerved when a Homes for Hackers tenant from the startup TravelingNuker.com sent him a message that a special agent had stopped by: “Nothing to worry about though, he’s just reaching out…

  • Take a stroll through Ben Barreth’s Hacker House in Kansas City

    Homes for Hackers founder Ben Barreth (above right, in cardboard cutout form) recently opened up the pad with the help of Google Street View Business Photos. The Hacker House rents space to developers, providing access to high-speed Google Fiber (and complementary towels, among other things) in the Kansas City Startup Village …

  • Homes for Hackers founder lands on Government Technology cover

    Kansas City Startup Village has been covered by media far and wide, but it has yet to land on a magazine cover. Ben Barreth, creator of the Homes for Hackers program, did just that this week, making it onto the front of Government Technology magazine, a publication focused on information …

  • How Handprint landed in KC and won free rent in Feld’s Fiberhouse

    Handprint, a 3D printing software startup, recently put down roots in Brad Feld’s Fiberhouse in Kansas City Startup Village, but how did the four-person team land here and why did the Boulder, Colo.-based investor choose them? The team—Mike Demarais, Alexa Nguyen, Jack Franzen and Derek Caneja—initially met in Boston. Its presence in Kansas City began…

  • Local entrepreneurs give inaugural Big Kansas City a lift

    Midwestern hospitality takes many forms, like a home-cooked meal or a “What can I get you?” Our inaugural Big Kansas City event last month was welcomed into the community by a group of entrepreneurs who wanted to get the local Big Series event off to a rousing start. Weeks before the event, Claude Aldridge (right),…

  • Google Fiber to the Pole answers gigabit need outside the home

    Kansas Citians with Google Fiber are spoiled by gigabit speeds when they’re at home, but how do they access the ultrafast internet connection when they’re on the go? “We realized that the answer was all around us—utility poles,” Michael Plump, product lead for Fiber to the Pole, said today on the Google Fiber …

  • Feld on Fiber: “I want to see what people come up with!”

    Following Wednesday’s news that Brad Feld purchased a home in Kansas City’s first “Fiberhood,” we reached out to the notable venture capitalist to learn more about the backstory of his purchase and his interest in Google Fiber. “I met Ben Barreth at Thinc Iowa. I loved his story and the Hacker House idea,” Feld said…

  • Grassroots KC Startup Village fuels high hopes amid uncertain outcomes

    Mike Farmer has spent time in Silicon Valley and New York, but he says he hasn’t seen anything quite like what’s springing up along State Line Road in Kansas City. Farmer is the founder and CEO of Kansas City, Kan.-based mobile search startup Leap2, and his company is part of Kansas City Startup Village (KCSV),…