Communities are built by starters — innovators, creators, and

Introduction entrepreneurs — but this opportunity is not available to everyone.

By making innovation accessible and approachable to all, we

unlock the potential in individuals and their communities. We do
this through education, journalism, and events. We are starting
in Kansas City.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2021 in Review  5
STARTLAND NEWS  6
Startups to Watch  8
OUR MISSION
VC-Backed Companies  9
Community Builders to Watch  10
Unlock the starter in everyone.
Fundraising Campaign  11
Innovation Exchange  12
STARTLAND EDUCATION  13 OUR VISION
Youth Programming   15
Social Change Internship  16
We imagine vibrant, prosperous communities
Back to School Innovation Challenge  17
where everyone has the confidence, skills, and
Professional Development  18 opportunity to innovate and create.
Burns & McDonnell Early Educator Fellowship  19
RWL Teacher Accelerator  20
Supporters & Clients  21 OUR CORE VALUES
Financials  22
Our Team  23 Authenticity.
Board and Advisors  24 Community.
Our History  25 Impact.

2
 Startland´s Unique Value Prosperity & Vibrancy

Creation & Innovation

ECONOMIC
PROSPERITY &
Capacity Building CULTURAL VIBRANCY

CAPITAL ACCESS

Traditional entrepreneurial ecosystem-building

models focus on three layers of work: capital BUSINESS CREATION &
access, business creation & growth, and idea GROWTH
validation & implementation.

IDEA VALIDATION &

IMPLEMENTATION

CONNECTIONS TO
OPPORTUNITES & MENTORS
But economic prosperity is not equal opportunity.
Inclusive ecosystem building requires a focus on
capacity building to reach those historically CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
left behind. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
UNIQUE VALUE

Startland adds three foundational layers EXPOSURE TO STARTERS - INNOVATORS,

of work: exposure, skills development, CREATORS, & ENTREPRENEURS
and connections. These additional
layers act as an engine that broadens the
participation in creation and innovation, fueling more
inclusive economic prosperity and cultural vibrancy.

3
The Startland Approach

EXPOSURE TO INNOVATORS,
CREATORS, & ENTREPRENEURS
Fueling an ecosystem of innovation and creativity
requires a broad awareness of the people and efforts CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
that drive that culture. Startland shows everyone
what’s possible.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
People must develop creative problem-solving skills in
order to contribute to more thriving communities.

It is especially critical that we aid youth and

marginalized communities in developing these skills to
bridge the opportunity gap. This makes our education
CONNECTIONS TO system central in the effort to nurture and develop
OPPORTUNITIES & MENTORS creative problem-solving skills.

Connections to opportunities and mentors are

necessary for anyone to realize their innovative
and creative potential.

4
2021 IN REVIEW

Dear Kansas City,

Well, year two of the pandemic is now behind Our mission is to unlock the starter in
us. It’s hard to believe that we’re still in the everyone. We do that through Startland
thick of it but hopefully the clouds are finally News and Startland Education.
parting. First off, I hope you are doing well I would be remiss not to celebrate the
and thriving despite covid’s best efforts. 2021 success of others … Major kudos to
As for Startland, 2021 proved to be a banner Dan and The Porter House KC team on the
year thanks to the drive, passion, and talent momentous year and new Alchemy Sandbox
of our growing team — which grew from 10 program; Meghan and Junior Achievement
to 14 and drove 93% revenue growth. More KC on the opening of JA BizTown; Jim and
importantly, as you’ll see by the numbers, we the LaunchKC team on launching the Social
substantially grew our impact. Venture Studio; and Aaron, Jill, and the Digital
By honing our focus and scaling educator Drive and UMKC Tech Venture Studio teams
professional development — our train-the- on the rollout of Comeback KC Ventures. If
trainer approach to scaling experiential you aren’t familiar, check them out.
learning — and rolling our community Thanks as always for all the feedback,
events under Startland News as an extension encouragement, and support! Keep it
of storytelling, we made a bet that by all coming.
concentrating and consolidating our efforts As they say, it takes a village!
we would drive more impact. It’s working.
Despite all that, confusion around Startland’s
why and what continues to be an issue. That’s
why we are excited to enter 2022 with a fresh
ADAM ARREDONDO
new website along with the forthcoming roll
out of the Startland Education brand. This CEO
should create some much-needed clarity.

5
 StartlandNews.com

“Startland News has been a part of our startup

journey from the beginning — before we even had
walls up! Their commitment to amplifying Kansas City’s
Black-owned, women-owned businesses has helped us
discover the stories of so many other entrepreneurs in
our community and has elevated our brand through their
OVERVIEW:
coverage. The team is personable and genuinely interested
Startland News continues to report in the success of local creatives and startups. Thank you
bold, untold stories of entrepreneurship Startland News for believing in our business and being a
in Kansas City. In 2021, Startland News voice for so many others!”
readers were hungry for news about
small businesses — and notably
entrepreneurs of color.

INDIA WELLS-CARTER
founder of Fresh Factory KC

6
STARTLAND NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

Number Subscriber increase

of subscribers 36,174 78.9% from 2020-2021

820,492 Total page views

26.7% increase over 2020, which hit 647,621

513,924 Total website audience

42.1% increase over 2020, which hit 361,566

Total social followers

across all networks 23,642

Total stories Total job

written
526 221 postings

$2.63M Total earned media value

as set by a Jan. 2020 media analysis determining the value of a story at,
on average, $5,000 in terms of exposure and SEO

7
 OVERVIEW:
STARTUPS TO WATCH The Startups to Watch Celebration is an annual event at the end of
January celebrating some of Kansas City’s fastest-growing startups
anticipated to have banner years.

Total number of
startups featured FEATURED STARTUP TO WATCH

10 TripleBlind technology is the

state-of-the-art solution in privacy.
TripleBlind’s suite of tools enables
companies to safely provide and consume
extremely sensitive data and algorithms in
encrypted space, in the most private and
ATTENDEES: secure setting that has existed.
45+
1,400 INTRODUCTIONS
were made between the
startup founders featured
and program managers
and investors across
the country

98%
OF ATTENDEES
who said they were
likely or highly likely to
recommend Startups to
Watch - NPS 96

8
 OVERVIEW:
VC-BACKED COMPANIES Venture-Capital Backed Companies is an annual report celebrating
some of Kansas City’s fastest-growing startups, anticipated to have a
banner year.

FEATURED VC-BACKED COMPANY:

LaborChart is a leading provider of
workforce management software for the
TOTAL NUMBER construction industry. The platform helps
OF COMPANIES businesses manage employee scheduling,
dispatching, forecasting and communication.
66 Built from a unique blend of construction and software
expertise, LaborChart helps contractors of all trades organize
their largest and most valuable company asset — their
ATTENDEES workforce — into one secure and easy-to-manage platform.
398
FOUNDERS: NOTEWORTHY INVESTORS:
Ben Schultz, Five Elms Capital and
Hunter Browning Perceptive Equity

86% FOUNDING YEAR:

2015
PROGRAMS COMPLETED:
Pipeline Entrepreneurs
OF ATTENDEES
AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE: CURRENT EMPLOYEE COUNT:
who said they were
likely or highly likely to $7.05M 30
recommend VC-Backed
Companies - NPS 79

9
 OVERVIEW:
COMMUNITY BUILDERS Kansas City Community Builders to Watch is a limited
TO WATCH feature series in its first year, recognizing a curated group of
Kansas Citians with exceptional stories of community impact
and honored for their work to build a Kansas City where
entrepreneurs, innovators, makers, creatives, risk-takers, leaders,
learners, teachers, and builders thrive together.

ATTENDEES

445 FEATURED COMMUNITY BUILDER:

“Still unreal. The fact a phenomenal news outlet mentioned
TOTAL NUMBER
[and] recognized LAF is beyond unbelievable. This means OF COMMUNITY
so much [because] I literally shouted from the rooftops — BUILDERS

89%
on one of their [panels] I was invited to speak on — about
6
how our Latino/a/x Chicano/a/x artists, communities, leaders,
OF ATTENDEES organizers can be — ARE — forgotten when writing and
polled said they were telling stories about the art ecosystem in KC. Startland
likely or highly likely to
recommend Community News listened. They changed the narrative
Builders to immediately. I have the most respect for
Watch - NPS 89
this dynamic team.”

91% DEANNA MUNOZ

OF ATTENDEES 2021 Community Builders
polled said they found
to Watch honoree
the program to have
significant impact on
the Greater Kansas
City Community
10
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Every story starts somewhere.

Startland News is continuing its

mission in 2022 and we asked
readers for their support as we
KCRISE FUND
continue to tell hundreds of stories TOTAL
about Kansas City entrepreneurs, NUMBER OF $10,000
makers, creatives, risk-takers, and DONORS
innovators in the year ahead. 88

$224
AVERAGE
TOTAL DONATION
DONATIONS excluding matching
donors
$54,053

11
INNOVATION EXCHANGE

“My goodness, the

panelists and moderator
were amazing. Ridiculously
wise and well versed. So much
TOTAL PANELISTS insight and compassion
17 shared by all of them. Really
well done.”

TOTAL EVENTS
4
“Wow! I’ve attended
TOTAL REGISTRANTS several DEI panels in the
past year and these speakers
487 were by far the most inspiring
with some really great
reminders and pieces
TOTAL VIEWS of advice.”
1,892
2021 TOPICS

NPS COVID Resilience: Comeback

Stories in the Face of a Pandemic
85 How to Boost Business Growth with
All This Data
Black Entrepreneurship and The
Importance of Giving Black
Nothing to Fear
12
OVERVIEW:
Channeling empathy and keeping
real-world learning at its core, Startland
“One of the things that you hear in education is
Education brings human-centered
design thinking to the classroom that our kids aren’t problem solvers. I think [Startland]
in order to create a Kansas City is the backbone for helping us really developing those
community that values our youth and critical thinkers.”
inspires them as future change leaders
and entrepreneurs.
DON BICKHAM
Educator, Hogan Preparatory Academy

13
STARTLAND EDUCATION BY THE NUMBERS

Total educators we’ve

directly worked with 334

Total indirect
student reach
25,050

79% of educators from Title 1 schools

Total students directly

worked with
1,014

of Title 1 New school districts

46% students
11 we worked with

14
YOUTH PROGRAMMING

Total youth
experiences/ events
Startland hosted/
delivered

16

Students are at the core of everything we do

in education. Our programs give youth the
opportunity to learn about and implement
the design thinking process in their schooling
and daily lives. Working beyond the traditional
engineering framework, our process brings
students through real-world learning scenarios
and grounds students in human-centric 100%
behavior—ensuring students tap into their of youth programming
that included youth
audiences empathically to create effective from Title 1 schools
solutions and societal change.
AVERAGE
NET PROMOTER
SCORE

75

15
 OVERVIEW:
SOCIAL CHANGE The Social Change Internship (SCI) is an immersive, virtual 8-week program that
INTERNSHIP challenges students to inspire, encourage, and create social change. Working in
teams, students are led through a deep dive in design thinking and work together
to create viable solutions for various social issues, including but not limited to areas
of public health, political issues, racial injustice, climate change, and education. We
also believe these examples and stories of student-led learning serve as models for
TOTAL teachers to follow in the classroom.
STUDENTS
54
“Eye of an Immigrant was a passion project for us.
TOTAL Through our work with the internship, that’s where we
COHORTS really started getting momentum and put down the

3
foundation for what we wanted to do. We published the
website and started getting a lot of traction through the
94% internship[…]We couldn’t have done it without the help
of Cohort 3 of Startland and all our community members.”
interns agreed the
internship helped Jasmeet Kaur, Social Change Intern and Founder,
improve their ability Eye of an Immigrant
to transform an idea
into something
real.

Download Impact Reports

16
 OVERVIEW:
BACK TO SCHOOL In this program, students addressed a real-world problem, ideated
INNOVATION CHALLENGE solutions and pitched their ideas to peers and key stakeholders.
Working in teams and with local mentors, students created their
concept and prepared to deliver a final pitch. Throughout the process,
students fine-tuned their concepts and created a public-facing
prototype to be presented at the end of the design sprint.
TOTAL
STUDENTS

156 STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

“[My favorite part of the experience was] being able to

work with other people on a real world problem that is
affecting humans.]”
Participant, KC metro student

“I think the pitching was really important. That

TOTAL was nothing like I’d ever experienced, and it’ll be
SCHOOLS important later on.”

11 Participant, KC metro student

TEACHER TESTIMONIAL

“Participating in -- and winning -- the Innovation

Challenge has been one of the biggest thrills of my
80% career! I am so proud of my 9th grade girls and how
hard they worked. They are all chomping at the bit and
of students rated
their ability to create excited to get started on bringing our project to life.”
solutions for others as Ashleigh Green, teacher, Fort Osage
“highly confident” at
completion of the
event.
17
 OVERVIEW:
PROFESSIONAL Educators are key in helping us achieve our mission for student success, and
DEVELOPMENT central to our theory of change and the way this movement scales. We believe
that teachers are the gatekeepers in student experience. Our programs focus
on experiential training in design thinking and tactical coaching, equipping
and empowering educators as they design and implement authentic learning
experiences for youth, as well as spearheading these initiatives in their contexts.
TOTAL
SCHOOLS

97 “I just want to take a moment to express my love,

respect and admiration for the teacher support group at
Startland. Over the last several months, this team has provided
our school district with instruction and constant support for our
teachers in career and technical education. As a veteran teacher,
I am so thankful for the team at Startland, who have re-energized
my teaching and expanded my potential for engaging students in
an entirely new way.
This team and organization is passionate about my success and
I can not wait to see how I can become a better educator for my
school and my students in the work that they have provided to me.
You all have opened my eyes to connecting my lessons at a level
that I have never really thought could be achieved.
You are a real inspiration to me. Its been the best PD I have had
in years.”
E. Gunter, teacher,
Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, 25,050
Google Review
of indirect
student
reach

18
 OVERVIEW:
BURNS & MCDONNELL The Burns & McDonnell Early Educator Fellowship is a two-
EARLY EDUCATOR FELLOWSHIP semester program where K-5 educators learn how to leverage
design thinking for impactful project-based learning and how
to infuse problem-solving across the curriculum. The program
culminates with teachers earning a design thinking certificate
and receiving a stipend upon completion.

TOTAL
TEACHERS

20

“This is not just another PD. If you

really believe that you want to innovate
TEACHERS in your classroom, and you want to... not
just make your kids marketable for a job
ACROSS
one day, but make them marketable for the
5 planet, this is a start for you. I’ve been doing
DIFFERENT this 20 years; I needed something that’s a
DISTRICTS little more relevant, a little more now. And
this is a very good start.”
Amanda Dimino,
Educator

88%
of Fellows agreed
“all kids are innate
creators and starters”
mid-way through
the program.
19
 OVERVIEW:
RWL TEACHER The RWL Teacher Accelerator is a collaboration between Kauffman and
ACCELERATOR Startland that aims to seed and strengthen a regional community of practice
among teachers implementing Real World Learning (client-connected
projects or entrepreneurial experiences) in their schools. The program was
created specifically for high school teachers, and as a response to low student
TEACHERS engagement via virtual learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ACROSS
11
DIFFERENT
DISTRICTS “Shout out to Startland for being willing to invest in
teachers and to do things that aren’t really “normal”. I’ve been
teaching 9 years, and I don’t think anyone has been willing to get
teachers from all over the city and get into some practical projects. […]
I took away a lot of things I can implement for my students – and right,
away, first-day kind of stuff too. So thank you to [Startland]
TOTAL for investing in education and our teachers.”
TEACHERS
Jeremy Todd,
100%
18 Educator at Sumner Academy of educators agreed
the Accelerator
was useful in
“accelerating” the
success of their
“The accelerator gave me the tools and the support CCP.
to make the process of implementing this type of project for
the first time less scary. I felt like I was prepared to guide my
students through this process and I only felt that way because
of this accelerator and the people who were part of it.”
Adam Vaughn,
80%
of attendees were
Educator at Summit Technology Academy highly likely to
recommend the
RWL Teacher
Accelerator.
NPS: 73.3
20
SUPPORTERS & CLIENTS

SUPPORTERS: CLIENTS:

$50,000+ $25,000+ Shawnee Mission School District

Ewing Marion Kauffman The Debruce Foundation
Kansas City Kansas Public Schools
Foundation Bank of America
Enid & Crosby Kemper Hogan Preparatory Academy
Sherman Family Foundation
Foundation
University Academy

Guadalupe Centers
$10,000+ $5,000+ Missouri Chamber of Commerce
Burns & McDonnell Foundation Hallmark Corporate Foundation
KC STEM Alliance
C2FO Evergy
Entrepreneurship KC
Husch Blackwell Fishtech Group LLC
Pipeline Entrepreneurs Google Inc. Mark Twain Regional Council
of Governments
UMKC Mylo
Career Education Consortium

OTHER SUPPORT
Spark Kansas City

21
FINANCIALS
2021 REVENUE BREAKDOWN
Startland organized as a 501(c)3 in 2015. Since that
time, we have sought to consistently increase revenues
and attract a diverse mix of clients, donors, corporate Advertising Sales
partners, and funders. $56,078

Covid Relief Funding

In 2021, our revenues increased to $1,261,473 - That’s a $95,565
$608,673 (93.2%) increase from 2020.

Total revenue in 2022 is projected to increase to over Program Service Fees

$1.3 million. $232,175

ANNUAL REVENUE GROWTH

Sponsorships
$110,088 Donations
$42,047
2019
$590,339

2020
$652,800

2021 Grants
92% Increase $661,750
$1,261,473

2022
Projected Revenue
$1,300,000
Note that a large part of 2021 revenue growth was due to a shift in grant cycle
from a major funder. Without that shift, revenue growth would have been 37%.

22
OUR TEAM
Vincent Alexis-Laona Veronica Alvidrez
Educator Support Specialist Experience Manager

Adam Arredondo Austin Barnes Tommy Felts

CEO Special Projects Editor Editor-in-Chief

Christina Hocker Katie Kimbrell Danielle Lehman

Educator Support Specialist Director of Education Director of Marketing

Matthew Mellor Nasir Anthony Montalvo Izsie Robinson

Strategy & Development Marketing Manager Product Manager

Channa Steinmetz Christy Vincent

Reporter Operations Manager

23
BOARD AND ADVISORS

OUR BOARD OUR ADVISORS

Davin Gordon Co-Chair Quinncy McNeal Bill Gautreaux Micheal Lawrence

Hall Family Foundation Pro Bono Counsel, Business Partner, CEO,
Husch Blackwell MLP Holdings Big Brothers
Doranne Hudson Co-Chair Big Sisters KC
Board Member, Edgar Palacios Sheri Gonzalez
UMKC and SchoolSmartKC President & CEO, VP & KC Rising Director, Leo Morton
Latinx Education Civic Council of Greater KC COO,
Adam Arredondo Collaborative DeBruce Companies
CEO, Victor Hwang
Startland Anurag Patel Founder & CEO, David Oliver
Founder & CEO, Right to Start Attorney,
Chris Barton Abada Health Berkowitz Oliver LLP
Sr. Director, Corporate David Larrabee
Development & Capital Shawnee Retired Senior VP,
Venture, Cerner Peterson-Caruthers American Century
Director, Investments
Darcy Howe Getting Smart
Founder & Managing
Director, KCRise Fund Karen Sandnes
Vice President of
Martha McCabe Operations, C2FO
Executive Director,
KC STEM Alliance Leigh Anne Taylor Knight
Executive Director & COO,
The DeBruce Foundation

24
OUR HISTORY

The Kansas City Startup

KC becomes the first city to Foundation officially forms
receive Google Fiber — gigabit as a 501c3.
Kansas City
residential internet — and the CEED launches MECA Startup
Kansas City Startup Village Challenge, Startland News, Foundation
(KCSV) is formed, led by Adam and Village Square — a rebrands to
Arredondo and Matthew Marcus. coworking space in KCSV. Startland.

2012 2015 2019

2014 2017

The Startup Village reaches 14 properties All CEED assets and

and 32 startups; welcomes 1,000s of visitors. programs are donated to
the Kansas City Startup
Adam Arredondo shuts down his startup Foundation forming the
and co-founds the Center of Entrepreneurial core of the company we
Ecosystem Development (CEED); starts know today.
community building full-time.

25