KCRag Forum

Tech Cities: From Silicon Valley to Silicon Prairie
http://urbanland.uli.org/development-bu ... n-prairie/

Westport Middle & High school being converted into world's largest coworking space.

http://www.startlandnews.com/2015/11/th ... nsas-city/

I have no idea how they're going to fill all of that space, but I'm really looking forward to seeing their plans.

Startup Village in KCK starting to shrink for obvious reasons now that Google Fiber is available much more broadly around KC and Gigabit is growing nationwide. It won't go away but no longer a standout...

http://www.startlandnews.com/2016/01/am ... shrinking/

Xroads seems to be taking away some of its steam too now that it has GFiber.

These 10 cities have the fastest-growing startup scenes — and neither New York nor Silicon Valley made the cut

10. Kansas City, MO: 31.56% deal growth in 2015, 9.61% average growth since 2012.

Other cities on the list:

Dallas
Washington, D.C.
Austin, Texas
Nashville, Tenn.
Boulder, Colo.
Raleigh, N.C.
Seattle
Salt Lake City
St. Louis

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-citie ... nes-2016-1

PC Mag: "14 High-Tech Cities You'll Want to Call Home"

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/32 ... ll-home/11

Not really meaningful but KC showing up on the tech related media radar more often thanks to Google Fiber and 'smart city' attention. KC and MSP only two Midwest cities listed.

Can anyone link to a story, essay, recollection of the Startup Village experience? Its a fascinating concept, curious to know more. I'm not in Tech and couldn't find a way to utilize the place. I thought the day fees were too high

KC ranks among top 20 tech momentum markets

http://tinyurl.com/hr5q9wv

Tech company from LA area (automotive data mining and analysis) moving HQ to downtown KC, 300 high paying jobs. Downtown location not determined yet...

California tech firm will move HQ, create 300 jobs in downtown KC
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... -jobs.html

Gotta wonder how much free streetcar was a factor, outside of course KC's low cost of living..

After a comprehensive evaluation of major markets, AutoAlert said in the release, it selected Kansas City due to its revitalized and growing downtown area, access to tech talent and convenient transportation options.

This is great news, but it makes me sick that Greitens is trying to take credit for this.

It was also just announced that Code Koalas will be adding 88 more jobs Downtown:
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... ob-kc.html

KCtoBrooklyn wrote:but it makes me sick that Greitens is trying to take credit for this.

lol. a tech firm is definitely basing its decisions off the Right to Work legislation...

kboish wrote:

KCtoBrooklyn wrote:but it makes me sick that Greitens is trying to take credit for this.

lol. a tech firm is definitely basing its decisions off the Right to Work legislation...

You forgot sarcasm font. But seriously, it's total bullshit. Does the tech sector even have a heavy union presence? When are these new tech companies going to call Greitens out on his bullshit?

KC ranks 29th according to this tech talent index, so basically about same ranking as market size. It claims a significant 39% increase of tech talent in KC since 2011...
https://mapping.cbre.com/maps/Scoring-Tech-Talent-2017/

STL ranked 35th, Columbus 28th.

This report claims KC ranks 22nd in 'tech sector'...
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... as.html#g1

earthling wrote:KC ranks 29th according to this tech talent index, so basically about same ranking as market size. It claims a significant 39% increase of tech talent in KC since 2011...
https://mapping.cbre.com/maps/Scoring-Tech-Talent-2017/

STL ranked 35th, Columbus 28th.

I'm not exactly sure of their methodology, but looking at the map, it looks like KC had the best "Brain Gain" in the Midwest by a fair margin at 11.3k. Indy at 6.9k, MSP 5.2k, Chicago 4.3k appear to be the next 3. STL and the Ohio cities were all negative numbers. We even had better numbers than Austin and Nashville combined.

^Not too shabby if their numbers are right. But it's odd that it shows 29th ranking after all that when I've never seen a list with KC not already in top 30, more often ranking low-mid 20s.

KC tops in growing tech labor force from 2011-2016 according to this. Not bad considering no major tech university in metro.


Full report is here...
https://www.cbre.us/research-and-report ... -Book-2017



Found this too with raw numbers. KC in top 25 in North America, about to pass up STL...

The above are tech jobs only. When including other STEM scientific/engineering/tech services jobs, KC has jumped too, around same level as Austin. There are about 100K total Sci/Tech Services jobs in both KC and Austin.

KC Sci/Tech/Engineering Services jobs...


Austin...


STL...


Source: Click Metro>Pro and Biz Services>Science and Tech Services...
https://data.bls.gov/pdq/querytool.jsp?survey=sm

STL study that shows various stats about top 50 markets...

Some KC Rankings that are higher than KC's market size (US, Midwest). KC metro ranks about 30th in population.

Manufacturing/Tech Startups (16th in US, 1st in Midwest)
Manufacturing Productivity (16, 3)
Adults with Bachelors (18, 3)
STEM Jobs (20, 4)
Small Biz Startups (21, 2)
Adults with Advanced Degrees (21, 3)
Patents (26, 7)
Self Employment (28, 2)

KC is below avg for Venture Capital and a few others. VC is something KC needs to focus on to take startups to next level. Is impressive KC area ranks relatively high with Bachelors+ degrees given no major universities directly in metro. Surprisingly higher than Columbus, which has one of largest schools.

http://www.ewgateway.org/wp-content/upl ... 7EdNo5.pdf

Report highlights 4 metros that have developed 'Internet economies' - KC, Columbus, Phoenix and Pittsburgh.

https://internetassociation.org/reports ... ernet-age/

"Internet jobs", % of metro employment...
KC 45K 5%
Phoenix 46K 2.9%
Pittsburgh 26K 2.4%
Columbus 25K 3.1%
US Avg 3.3%

Kansas City and the region surrounding it have gone to great lengths to promote STEM fields and bring new technology companies through coordinated efforts. Currently approximately 94,000 area workers are employed in tech-related jobs with about half of those working in the internet sector. The city has been one of the fastest growing tech scenes of the past decade according to Forbes magazine. And the tech companies, such as Garmin, that have set up shop there and several other companies from the San Francisco Bay area are flocking to the burgeoning tech community, in part due to economic incentives offered by the city and the state of Missouri.

This news is a few weeks old, but I don't think it's been posted here:

Music festival pub FestPop relocating to KC, plans to create 50 jobs

Music festival, travel and news site FestPop is moving its San Diego headquarters to the City of Fountains with big job creation plans.

FestPop plans to create 50 jobs in Kansas City for its platform that helps users plan trips to music festivals and discover music news, said founder and CEO Scotty Moore.

...

Moore, who has family in St. Louis, is moving the firm to access Kansas City’s culture of innovation and talent pool, he said. FestPop is opening a downtown office at 110 W. 9th St. this summer, Moore said.

“Kansas City is a creative, innovative city that’s untapped,” Moore said. “It’s an innovative city that’s a bit off the grid for a lot of people.”

http://www.startlandnews.com/2018/05/fe ... ing-to-kc/