October 18, 2012 by Amanda Schnieders, Kauffman Foundation

Kansas City Startup Community Begins in Startup Village

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If you build it, they will come. Interestingly enough, this Field of Dreams saying no longer applies just to baseball fields in Iowa. It also has a place in entrepreneurship here in Kansas City. One startup’s presence in Hanover Heights has now drawn several other entrepreneurial endeavors, leading the area to be called the KC Startup Village.

Some say it’s best for a subculture of a society to begin organically, whether it’s an arts district, bar scene or a community of entrepreneurs. And that’s exactly what has started in Kansas City.

With Google promising Google Fiber to the Hanover Heights fiberhood first, it’s no wonder that this might be a good place to locate or relocate a startup endeavor. With Leap2, a mobile search app, and Local Ruckus, a site for discovering and sharing local events going on in the area, making their home in Hanover Heights, it was only a matter of time before word of this activity got out. And got out it did, indeed. Now two other startups, Form Zapper and EyeVerify, have bunkered down in the same area, and SquareOffs will be joining them soon.

Startup Village is welcoming other like-minded startups to “join the movement and help build the community” of entrepreneurs in Kansas City.  You can check out their website in order to get in contact with the group, and learn more information.

With Google Fiber construction starting sometime this month, it’s only a matter of time before more startups make their way over to Startup Village. If you build it, they will come.

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  • Great job... you now made it so ONLY Google can provide service over the fiber lines!!! And yet, you try to say this “join the movement and help build the community”. How does this promote other ISP's desire to use the fiber optic lines in Kansas City?

    You arent honestly supporting ANY form of entrepenuership, unless they want to build apps and add-ons service(s); while Google just made a Monopoly for being a fiber Internet Service Provider.

    We have FTTH in my town, but the way its set up is a COMMUNITY EFFORT; becuase lets face it the community of a town is MUCH more involved with helping to create REAL ENTREPENUERSHIP, and as an Infastructure leaving the viber lines AVAILABLE to ANY ISP that wishes to participate...

    Wouldn't you know it... we invited Comcast (a pre-existing monopoloy for cable service in my town) and Qwest (Century Link) and both declined becuase they couldnt monopolizer the fiber and be the ONLY ONES to make money on it. Poor Comcast!!! Poor Century Link!!! GOOD RIDENCE!!! Now I have five choices in case one of them has support worse than Comcast... that'd be pretty tough though!!!

    So good on ya... you've made it so anyone with the skills and know-how for being an ISP entrepenuer has to leave town to fullfill their dreams!!! But hey, at least Sprint is happy, eh.

    posted by: YTMarrow10/21/2012 5:29:48 AM