Kansas City Startup Inspirations!

photo by psoup216 

Wouldn’t it be great if Kansas City could get an extra $20 Million or so in Federal or State funding right now when times are really tough?

It turns out we can!  There was a recent and successful effort to challenge the US Census numbers for Kansas City and there are ~ 25,000 more residents in KC MO than the previous census indicated – and at $2,200 per household that equates to $20,000,000 in additional funding!

While I think that’s a pretty cool story in and of itself, what makes it even better (for me at least) is that a big driver for the success of that census challenge was due to the hard work and expertise of one of my clients.  There’s a great write-up in the Kansas City Star this week (Tech Startup assists in KC Census Revision) that will give you more of the background, but this is the outcome of not only a lot of hard work by Dan and many other people, but the use of technology and a new way of looking at things to find a better solution.

I wish I could take some of the credit, but the reality is that Dan Melton (my client) from NptLabs is a pretty amazing guy and this effort with the city is only one of the really cool things he’s got going on.

If you’re looking for some inspiration on how and why we collectively are going to get out of this rough economy, take some time to meet and talk to Dan or some of the other amazing entrepreneurs that are out there.  A good place to catch a lot of them (and maybe join in yourself) would be at the Kansas City Startup weekend in April.

Do you have some stories about inspirational stuff going on in Kansas City – share them here!

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach