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I've been working as the Social Media Editor and a staff writer at Forbes since October 2011. Prior to that, I worked as a freelance writer and contributor here. On this blog, I focus on futurism, cutting edge technology, and breaking research. Follow me on Twitter - @thealexknapp. You can email me at aknapp@forbes.com
Kansas City Is Boosting Its Tech Startups With Launch KC
This is a web-only companion piece to “The Startup Riding Google’s Fiber-Optic Superhighway,” which appears in the October 22, 2012 issue of Forbes. One of the best kept secrets of the Midwest is that Kansas City, Missouri is home to a thriving entrepreneurial community. But thanks to the launch of Google Fiber, Kansas City is making sure that it’s ready for its moment in the spotlight. Indeed, the City’s willingness to boost local entrepreneurs is one of the reasons why Google chose Kansas City to launch its fiber project there in the first place. “We think gigabit speeds will lead to the applications of the future,” a Google spokesperson told me. “If you think back to dial-up, you couldn’t imagine having a company like Netflix. With higher speeds comes the next wave of applications, and one of the reasons we’re building in Kansas City is because there are a lot of entrepreneurs excited about that next generation.” Local businesses are thrilled by the new opportunities being brought to bear by both Google and the city. “The development of Google Fiber is exciting for Kansas City because it is opening doors for new tech businesses,” said Austin Brown, CMO of local social media marketer Hurrdat. “Community leaders and start-up entrepreneurs are all taking advantage of this opportunity.” To help both its existing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs interested in moving to Kansas City, the City is making sure that it can definiteively answer this question: what can the City do to help out tech startups? The answer to that question is Launch KC – a series of initiatives by the City in partnership with local businesses to develop tech and arts startups in downtown Kansas City. Its task force is made up of local leaders in both business and government, which spent months deliberating the best way to foster small business growth to take advantage of Google Fiber. One of the key aspects of Launch KC is helping to reduce the cost constraints on launching tech companies. To that end, several major local companies will be collaborating with entrepreneurs to help them build their businesses. They’ve donated office space for startups, either for free or at reduced rates. And more than office space, they’ll also be providing resources and mentorship. To further reduce costs for startups, the City is also exploring its options to purchase a data center. The data center will be used to provide server space for tech startups at lower rates to help them keep costs down. Another focus of Launch KC is the City’s plan to build a wireless district in downtown Kansas City, MO. Area entrepreneurs will be provided with access to this high bandwidth network. The goal of this aspect is to help foster a mobile, collaborative community of entrepreneurs in the downtown area. “We want to look at social capital as well as financial capital,” said Drew Solomon, a Launch KC task force member. Most traditional municipal incentives are geared towards large, brick and mortar facilities. But those incentives are generally involving real estate – tax incentives and subsidies for building factories, warehouses. etc. But tech startups don’t need that large scale real estate. To that end, as part of the Launch KC initiative, the City is considering a subsidy on business equipment that’s better suited to tech startups. Such equipment will be made available on a sales/leaseback basis, and other incentives are being considered as well. The idea behind these incentives is that companies grown locally are more likely to stay within the city than an incentive for a non-local company to build something in the area. “It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to have more allegiance to the areas they come out of,” said another task force member. “If you help grow them, not just providing them a place to do business but also a place to live, work, and play. There’s a higher level of allegiance with those locally grown companies than those you recruit one day, then the next day they make a decision to pull back. They can pull out pretty easily. The first companies we reached out to with Launch KC were successful large corporations that got started out here.” Finally, the City plans to establish a tech laboratory housed in its Union Station, where entrepreneurs can collaborate and test IT concepts. The $2 million facility will be established in the City’s Union Station building. Funding is coming from $1 million in federal grants and the other $1 million from local businesses. The laboratory is being spearheaded by the University of Missouri-Kansas City based on their successful “Whiteboard to Boardroom” program, which helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into businesses. The goal of the laboratory is to build a “digital sandbox” that turns ideas for businesses into moneymaking companies. “That might involve additional research to make a product market ready,” said Maria Myers from UMKC. “Or it might involve helping a young entrepreneur learn the business skills they need to move their idea forward.” Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.
The Startup Riding Google's Fiber-Optic Superhighway
There are already nearly 3000 IT/tech shops in KC, more than any metro of similar size except Austin.
We are excited to be a KC based startup and to be part of this! Thanks, Matt Watson, Founder of Stackify http://www.stackify.com