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Big Kansas City

  • Five open-ended questions with the man behind CES, Gary Shapiro

    Five open-ended questions with the man behind CES, Gary Shapiro

    KANSAS CITY— Gary Shapiro is the CEO of Consumer Electronics Association, producers of the world’s largest innovation event, International CES. The International CES is also home to Eureka Park, a village of hundreds of startups showcasing their work. Shapiro is also the best-selling author of Ninja Innovation and The Comeback and has been honored as…

  • Black Girls Code is out to change the face of the tech industry

    Black Girls Code is out to change the face of the tech industry

    KANSAS CITY—Kimberly Bryant founded Black Girls Code in 2011 to introduce programming to girls of color, hoping to create a more diverse next generation in tech.

  • Neil Blumenthal: Everything at Warby Parker starts with our values

    Neil Blumenthal: Everything at Warby Parker starts with our values

    KANSAS CITY—Transparency continues to serve as one of Warby Parker’s core values. Blumenthal wanted to treat people the way he wanted to be treated.

  • Anita Newton shares her three marketing truths that work anywhere

    Anita Newton shares her three marketing truths that work anywhere

    KANSAS CITY— Anita NewtonAnita Newton has worked in almost every situation, marketing for academia to tech, big brands and even startups. There aren’t many places she hasn’t been and with that much experience she has came up with a few marketing truths:

  • Marc Hemeon: “That little play button on YouTube videos? That was me.”

    Marc Hemeon: “That little play button on YouTube videos? That was me.”

    KANSAS CITY— Those who stuck around for the last speaker of Big Kansas City were in for a major treat: Marc Hemeon, who brought laughs by the dozen sprinkled with earnest stories and thoughtful insights.

  • Shradha Agarwal: Entrepreneurship is a practice & you have to ask why

    KANSAS CITY—When Shradha Agarwal was in fourth grade, she started a secret classroom book club. After she’d devoured all of her parents’ books and been refused an increase in allowance to buy more, Agarwal got entrepreneurial. She decided to charge her classmates to borrow her already-read books to earn money to buy more books. Even…

  • Mike Johnston marches to his own drum in the online education industry

    Mike Johnston marches to his own drum in the online education industry

    KANSAS CITY—Mike Johnston brought the beat to Big Kansas City with a live demo of just how legit a drummer he is. Not that his craft needed validation. Johnston started playing the drums when he was five, and with drumming instructors such as Pete Magadini and Steve Ferrone, he was sure to get the hang…

  • The (toy) robot revolution is here, thanks to Modular Robotics

    The (toy) robot revolution is here, thanks to Modular Robotics

    KANSAS CITY—Eric Schweikardt got his Ph.D from Carnegie Melon University in the computational design lab, then founded Modular Robotics to help children learn about robots, patterns and other computational projects.

  • Want to relive Big Kansas City? Here’s our Day One wrapup

    Want to relive Big Kansas City? Here’s our Day One wrapup

    KANSAS CITY—We kicked off our second year of Big Kansas City at Hangar 9 on Oct. 9. Despite some serious rain (and a few leaks) more than 300 attendees gathered…

  • Marissa Sackler: Profit the world through nonprofits

    Marissa Sackler: Profit the world through nonprofits

    KANSAS CITY— Marissa Sackler has the entrepreneurial spirit running through her veins. Her father was an successful entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical space. He set out to make people feel better and she is continuing that by making the world a better place.