Recently, Kansas City has been gaining more and more national attention and credit must be given to Google Fiber’s impact on the startup scene. In the past two months, CNN highlighted Kansas City Startup Village and Google Fiber in this segment of Anderson Cooper, while Kansas City’s entrepreneurial scene was in the spotlight of the Huffington Post.
The Associated Press highlighted the ultra-fast internet that only Kansas City is so lucky to have and the positive effects it has for startups in the article Google’s Ultrafast Internet Draws Startups to KC.
Down on State Line Road lies a “fiberhood” of startup friendly homes including Kansas City Startup Village and Home for Hackers, a home that allows startups to live rent-free while they develop their business plans. While the home is currently full, there is one room reserved for fiber tourists who want a place for a day or two where they can download anything faster than they could elsewhere.
Startups are flocking from across the nation, solely to take advantage ofGoogle Fiber. The high speed internet has proven to be very successful among startups.
Synthia Payne, a Denver native, moved to Kansas City in December to develop her startup, CyberJammer.
Google’s network was attractive, Payne said, because her business plan “is dependent upon really good, really fast Internet.”
“The hope is that these startups will move their operations to Kansas City,” said Ben Barreth, web developer and owner of Hackers for Homes. It would really “Bless Kansas City, bring jobs and taxes and we’ll build a really cool tech scene.”
