Andy Reid isn't the only big thing to hit to Kansas City recently. Selected from over 1,000 applicants, Kansas City, Missouri became the first official google fiber community back in September 2012 (Kansas City, Kansas was subsequently added a few weeks later). For further explanation behind Google Fiber & Kansas city, check out this brief WSJ Video. The presence of an all-fiber internet network delivering super high speed connection to the community has been a direct catalyst driving the emergence of Kansas City's budding startup community (along with comparatively low levels of rent of costs of living).
Intended or not, the presence of Google fiber has lead some residents to open their doors to those looking utilize such crazy fast internet speeds to get their companies off the group. "Home for Hackers" (not a habitat for humanity for down on their luck programmers) is a program where startup founders can live rent free in the fiber-wired houses as they develop their businesses and hopefully move on to bigger locations in downtown Kansas City.
Startups looking to call Kansas City their home need to look no further than the Kansas City Startup Village. KCSV provides a community for startup founders to work side by side with other entrepreneurs and share resources and space in a collaborative and welcoming environment. Click here for a list of startups currently in KCSV. Tyler Van Winkle, Director of Product Development at KCSV's hometown hero Leap2, summarizes the benefit of KCSV nicely:
Intended or not, the presence of Google fiber has lead some residents to open their doors to those looking utilize such crazy fast internet speeds to get their companies off the group. "Home for Hackers" (not a habitat for humanity for down on their luck programmers) is a program where startup founders can live rent free in the fiber-wired houses as they develop their businesses and hopefully move on to bigger locations in downtown Kansas City.
Startups looking to call Kansas City their home need to look no further than the Kansas City Startup Village. KCSV provides a community for startup founders to work side by side with other entrepreneurs and share resources and space in a collaborative and welcoming environment. Click here for a list of startups currently in KCSV. Tyler Van Winkle, Director of Product Development at KCSV's hometown hero Leap2, summarizes the benefit of KCSV nicely:
Access to the gigabit network is nice," he said. "But it's more about the community that has grown up around the network. It's really helpful to be around a lot of like minded people who support each other."
While Kansas City does provide a less cutthroat and competitive community for startups to develop, the city is not without challenges to its many entrepreneurs. The area lacks the kind of VC capital and local talent seen in San Francisco or New York; consequently, many startups emerged as spin offs of large, established institutions (Sprint, Marion Laboratories, MRI Global). It will be interesting to see if a strong sense of community support along with wicked fast internet speeds will allow Kansas City to emerge as the proud and hotly debated owner of the title "Silicon Prarie".
Share your thoughts on Kansas City's startup culture in the comments section below.
Share your thoughts on Kansas City's startup culture in the comments section below.
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