A stop in Kansas City, 3 very cool tech stories and more – September 4, 2019
Everything's up to date ... Today’s itinerary: Wheels Down in Kansas City; Indy company makes its mark in tech consulting; boosting boardroom diversity; Cincy’s buses go high-tech; and more!
September 4, 2019
WHEELS DOWN: KANSAS CITY
Kansas City is startup friendly Image via Pixabay
Kansas City has emerged as a major player in the startup realm. In fact, its entrepreneurial ecosystem is bursting with new projects and initiatives, funding, and community support. Founders, investors, makers, educators, corporate leaders, and innovators of all persuasions are discovering that the city offers one of the most dynamic startup cultures in the country.
That’s a lot of inspiration, education, and encouragement.
Kansas City Startup Foundation (working with Startland, a digital publication and website) is also building ties among entrepreneurs, helping fuel innovation in various ways, such as by curating events like Startup Crawl KC, a free tour of the KC startup community scheduled for early October. If you go, you can chat with founders, investors, and customers—and partake of “craft cocktails, live music, delicious snacks,” which is, after all, part of the KC vibe. And speaking of that vibe…
What is it about Kansas City?
How about flourishing communities, established and up-and-coming businesses, technology initiatives, affordability, support for SMBs, and tons of startup resources and opportunities?
That’s a quick summation, but here’s the takeaway: Kansas City is humming with growth, innovation, diversity, and cultural vitality.
To put all that in perspective, let's take a KC pop quiz:
Kansas City by the numbers
Source: City Data
HIGH FLYING TECH
Bus rides in Cincinnati go online
First, in an effort to emphasize customer safety and security on board, each bus comes with video surveillance systems. They also include customer-facing screens that will broadcast a live feed of the on-board security cameras.
Second, each bus also has Wi-Fi and on-board charging ports for electronic devices. The new buses, along with 27 new buses placed into service in late 2018, were purchased with $26.1 million in federal grants awarded through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI).
IU student creates metrics software for basketball Nothing cab make you feel like an underachiever than reading about a guy who founded a company around metrics-driven analysis software he created—and he’s a junior in college. But we’re going to talk about it anyway.
Indy's BitLoft: Making its mark on tech consulting
Developers are some of the smartest people you will meet. But often there seems to a large divide between the developer’s world and the business people who need their services.
Indy-based BitLoft, which began life in 2009 as a single-service company that focused on text messaging, has reinvented itself as a technical consulting firm.
Its goal is to leverage technology in order to drive positive business outcomes. It pairs a strong business mindset with technical expertise. Its services include:
The work environment also gives employees as much creative latitude as possible.
““We’re accepting of people’s uniqueness, but we also hold people accountable and want them to be their best selves. From a leadership perspective, it’s a balance of nurturing and challenging,” said Travis Lynch, executive vice president of business development.
BitLoft’s clientele consists of around 40 organizations, as varied as the City of Carmel, College Humor, and the Indiana Pacers.
PUDDLE HOPS
FINAL APPROACHES
“Rooney Rule” is boosting boardroom diversity in the Midwest Image courtesy rawpixel on Pixabay
Not everyone gets to have a rule named after them. Murphy got his law, of course, and Occam got his razor. But have you ever heard of the Rooney Rule? It was created by the NFL and named after Dan Rooney, who at the time was Pittsburgh Steelers’ chairman and head of the NFL’s Diversity Committee.
The rule was designed to promote inclusivity when searching for candidates to fill a vacant head coaching spot and now covers executive positions as well.
Over the years, the Rooney Rule has been adopted by those trying to improve the diversity of their hiring practices—like Facebook, Intel, Xerox, and Amazon—and even the US Senate.
The rule also has a champion in the heartland: the Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative (MIDI). The group—a coalition of investors from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin—was founded in 2016 and has been helping companies increase their boardroom diversity. As part of that effort, MIDI asks companies to adopt the Rooney Rule—and it’s making headway. A recent three-year progress report indicated that 24 Midwest companies have adopted the Rooney Rule and 10 companies have added 12 diverse directors.
A bit more about Kansas City
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