A few years ago, Kansas City began making headlines as the place to be if you worked in or desired to start your career in technology. One of the top headliner articles was Jason Grill’s piece written for the Huffington Post, “Kansas City Is Becoming a Mecca for Big Technology Names,” which looked into the city’s thriving startup community. Almost two-and-a-half years later, Kansas City is still a top destination in tech and is only getting larger. So what is it about the City of Fountains that makes it so popular?
Kansas City’s popularity includes a skilled talent pool, a supportive startup community and its location right in the heart of Silicon Prairie. Home to the Kansas City Startup Village, the Sprint Accelerator, Think Big Partners, Digital Sandbox, the Kauffman Foundation, 1 Million Cups and other startup incubators and investors, Kansas City has an entrepreneurial spirit that just won’t quit.
Steve Roatch, CEO of Twentyseven Global, offered his insight. Roatch said, “Throughout its history, Kansas City has always been a great place for entrepreneurs. Over the past five years we’ve seen entrepreneurs in technology simply because that’s the tech sector of the economy that is the most robust. Add a skilled workforce, great universities, a supportive city backing everything from Google Fiber to the Smart Cities initiative and suddenly you have a movement.”
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon offered up these insights into Kansas City’s tech scene in the Kansas City Star, “The burgeoning technology scene here in Kansas City’s Crossroads is a big reason why Missouri is a nationally recognized leader in high-tech jobs and innovation.” He added, “By balancing budgets and making smart investments in education and entrepreneurship, we will continue to move Kansas City and the entire state forward.”
