KCRag Forum

earthling wrote:Oakland CA Solar company opening downtown KC office starting with about 50 jobs, to eventually add nearly 600 jobs, including design engineering...
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... l?page=all

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Curious they make the selection just days after Google Fiber announces small/med biz class Gigabit service in KC for only $100. Hopefully we'll see more SMBs and startups moving into KC. The Star article says KC drew 4 SF Bay Area companies to KC within last year.

They are moving into City Center Square at 12th and Main.

Adding Nerdery's 100+ job growth for downtown to the thread. They mention Google Fiber as an attraction...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... l?page=all

This is a good message that is getting out around the intertubes. The local ecodev people need to keep the message alive out there...

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/google- ... iness-news

Local competition to give $50K each and free office space to 10 startups that move to KC (not sure if KCMO only or MO side of metro)...
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/b ... rtups.html

If incentives are going to be given, instead of cross-state moving, would like to see incentives for local companies that acquire outside companies rather than being acquired - as long as it brings more jobs to KC area. KC seems to be losing the acquired/acquirer game and in this age of M&As down to a science for improved economies of scale, many more will be coming.

Local competition to give $50K each and free office space to 10 startups that move to KC (not sure if KCMO only or MO side of metro)...

Assuming because the EDC is involved it will be KCMO only.

sounds like this is working on one half of the chicken/egg equation to bring talent into the metro. and, of course, when there's lots of talent businesses want to locate nearby

and I notice that $50,000 + free stuff is easily more per person than large companies get in tax incentives to move across the state line.
KC should put more money into this basket and grow the program.

Sounds like most of funding came from State of MO, so was wondering if applies to MO side of KC metro. But the free office space is downtown, so is likely where most will go downtown anyway. This may not improve border war as most may simply come from KS, unless the selection committee looks for outsiders with higher priority - if enough apply.

This may not improve border war as most may simply come from KS, unless the selection committee looks for outsiders with higher priority - if enough apply.

For this to be considered a success, in my eyes, it CANNOT pull companies across the State Line from metro KC. From Lawrence, Topeka, fine. But ideally we'd be looking at small companies outside the metro but still regional - Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines, Tulsa, STL, etc.

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This is kind of a big deal Ron Burgandy style. TechWeek is holding a conference in KC. They tend to only hold these in the largest markets. NYC, LA, Chicago, Detroit and Miami are the only other conferences. Techweek is also a partner in the LaunchKC competition mentioned above.

http://techweek.com/kansascity/

"Kansas City is particularly exciting right now for the nationally significant technology initiatives that have begun here, such as Cisco's Smart City effort and the Google Fiber project," Kennedy said. "There are many globally significant tech companies based here,

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... l?page=all

Of course a tech conference would announce its date via a countdown, including seconds, but not the actual date.

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http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... a7245120-1

Pretty good Star article on KC's challenges to becoming a tech 'hub'. I don't think KC can become a notable one until UMKC and/or KU become research universities, but KC has built enough momentum where tech is a major category employer for KC and per cap is higher than many other cities. KC's raw sci/tech/telcom/eng and related services employment is higher than Portland, STL, Austin and others - though Austin has very close ties to Silicon Valley. Per cap employment wise, KC's sci/tech/telcom employment is 11% of total employment, Minneapolis and STL are about 8%, Denver is 12%. Although this is partly happening because most other industries aren't growing in KC as well as others.

So even if KC isn't ever _recognized_ for its tech/telcom presence, that doesn't change the fact it's becoming relatively higher portion of KC economy than other cities. Would help if KC gets to point of being recognized but it doesn't matter if it keeps growing anyway. Sprint's turn around might boost the telcom side back as well (eventually). Cerner is just kicking into gear. There are more startups than ever.

Drawing more venture capital seems to be happening often now, which while not on par with research universities, it has a good direction. Being between 2 perceived 'backwards red states' may make it harder to draw creative types, but Austin and NC have managed to. Need a major research university though.

Hype might be KC's best tool. Keeping the Google Fiber angle in the news is something to continue as it seems to be helping boost venture capital and is highly unlikely Cisco's downtown project would've happened w/out Google presence. It also helps that AT&T is putting Gigabit rollout on hold.



Employment by industry (click Information or Pro Biz Service and then Sci/Tech services)...
http://data.bls.gov/pdq/querytool.jsp?survey=sm

KC hits book about 7 cities for tech startups...

http://tech.co/top-cities-for-startups- ... ey-2015-01

From this book..
http://www.amazon.com/Screw-Valley-Coas ... 1396626877

earthling wrote:KC hits book about 7 cities for tech startups...

http://tech.co/top-cities-for-startups- ... ey-2015-01

From this book..
http://www.amazon.com/Screw-Valley-Coas ... 1396626877

They cite its 'startup village near downtown.'
The proximity to downtown is untrue. Google Fiber also goes unmentioned.
I'm not in the industry, but from a cultural, observational perspective, the kcsv seems to be a non-starter. Perhaps that'll change once their event space opens.

That's a tiny excerpt. I bought the ebook. There is a very large chapter on each city, about 300 hardback pages total. I just read half of KC part so far and skimmed through rest - Startup Village is just one portion talked about. Google Fiber is another focus and a major focus is on Kauffman Foundation as well as the incubators in Xroads. It even goes into the data center space in largest underground commercial space. Also talks about KC's strength as railroad center gave it major telcom infrastructure following it. Lots of startup testimonials and mentions KC is strong in animal healthcare research, rail and telcom. I'm very impressed how thorough the book is on KC, with very little misinformation (a major issue with media coming to town reporting on Google Fiber). As far as saying KCSV being near downtown, you have to realize most think what we call downtown to Plaza is all of downtown to many. I would expect Xroads to eventually become the next startup village and become larger, though the original will always be lower rent.

Am impressed with the comprehensive research so far, worth a read, though is a pricey read - $12 on Kindle. While KC lacks a major research university (probably KC's biggest deterrent from becoming a tech 'hub'), the book does a good job pointing out the major resources available and how well local orgs support local startups - Kaufmann, incubators and UMKC entrepreneurial program especially.

The books implies what separates KC from the others are the cheap/free resources available and the attitude of share, share, share and pay it forward.

http://www.amazon.com/Screw-Valley-Coas ... 1396626877

BTW, here's an indie music service based in KC (moved from Chicago). Read about them in the book. Apparently using Google Fiber to host their servers. Curious Google allows them to. Guy said he came to KC for GF, stayed because he liked KC.

http://newappetite.com/

earthling wrote:I would expect Xroads to eventually become the next startup village and become larger, though the original will always be lower rent.

I was just going to post this. KCSV is/was a great idea, but as someone in the tech/startup industry, the crossroads seems like the place to be right now for tech. I hope KCSV keeps going strong though.

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