KCKCC was joined by Sprint, Google fiber and Think Big Coworking as platinum sponsors of Kansas City Startup Weekend, which was held at the KCKCC-Technical Education Center.
The goal of the entrepreneur-based event is to help entrepreneurs meet and network with people who can help turn that small idea into reality.
During the three-day event, individuals pitched their startup ideas and received feedback from peers. After a vote by the participants, teams formed around the top ideas to create business models, designs and marketing plans. At the end of the weekend, final presentations were made in front of local business leaders for another opportunity for useful feedback as well as to earn prizes.
“KCKCC sees great value in events that bring together diverse groups who excel from combining each person’s different skills sets and experiences in an effort to achieve a common goal,” said Jay Matlack, Workforce Development coordinator at KCKCC. “The startup weekend was just that, a diverse pool of people who were motivated and driven to launch companies in just 54 hours. KCKCC looks forward to continuing the support of these entrepreneurs and many more like them as Kansas City becomes the most entrepreneurial city in America.”
Seventy-four people attended Kansas City Startup Weekend, pitching 36 ideas. From these ideas, 13 teams were formed. The winning ideas included:
- 1st Place: Pijjin, a social game that helps lost pijjins find their way home. https://twitter.com/pijjinapp
- 2nd Place: EqueSmart, Horse health records for horse owners, veterinarians and competitors. equesmart.co/ or https://twitter.com/EqueSmart.
- 3rd Place: Pearing, Photo-dating mobile app built on Instagram. https://twitter.com/pearingapp
- Community Favorite: Harp Health. Harp Health connects first responders to doctors with real time video conferencing using Google Glass for faster acute care that saves lives. https://harphealth.co/ or https://twitter.com/HarpHealth.
The series is sponsored by KCKCC, the Leavenworth County Development Corp. Port Authority, The Unified Government, the Wyandotte Economic Development Council, the Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas Black Chamber of Commerce.
Five of Kansas City’s business and entrepreneurship leaders will be in attendance at the breakfast event. The panel consists of Claude Aldridge, co-founder of Trellie; Laura Lee Jones, CEO of Lion Share Marketing; Thad Langford, co-founder of Black Ops Development; Stuart Ludlow, co-founder of RFP365 and Danny O’Neill, founder and CEO of The Roasterie.
The CEO’s and founders of each company will share the story of their journey on the way to finding business success. There will also be time for questions and answers as well as the opportunity to meet each. The event is free for students and $10 for all other attendees.
This is the sixth year for GEW, which has now expanded to 139 countries. The week-long recognition of entrepreneurs worldwide is sponsored by Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Activities are scheduled throughout the Kansas City area as part of GEW. For more information, visit www.kcsourcelink.com/docs/default-source/sourcelink-documents/gew-kc-calendar-full-versiond6af351b667d.pdf?sfvrsn=0.
For more information or to make a reservation for the Entrepreneur Spotlight event, contact Jay Matlack at jmatlack@kckcc.edu or by calling 913-288-7210.
Information on Kansas City Startup Weekend is available at kansascity.startupweekend.org.
