For the second year in a row, Techweek comes to Kansas City.
For five days, tech gurus, entrepreneurs, startups, mentors and financial backers gather to talk all things tech.
41 Action News spoke with the CEO of Techweek, which actually takes place in eight cities across the nation. Organizers hope to add two more cities to the roster by next year.
The KC Techweek Need-to-Know with Amanda Signorelli
What is Techweek Kansas City?
We provide the knowledge sharing platform that allows entrepreneurs, tech visionaries, investors, co-founders to meet each other, actually have an opportunity to learn about specific trends that are pertinent to their industry and also be able to understand the state of capital. What are they doing, what do they need to provide to the table to build and grow their businesses.
What’s the benefit of Techweek for participants?
Capital is your biggest gap to getting there and being able to grow. When you are able to get this and especially in the form of a grant you're able to get a direct investment to actually build your business, along with resources that come with the grant foundation in terms of mentorship to key industries. At the end of the day, you may have a passionate idea, but if you don't have the money to get your business off the ground it's not going to happen. That's a huge barrier for people.
What do you hope participants take away from Techweek?
It's three pieces: first is education, second the awareness and third the connections. I want them to walk away and say I learned something I did not know a lot about and now I understand what it means for my industry. Or I met someone that is going to take my business to the next level. There's a lot of great ideas out there. A great idea does not mean it is a great business. You need someone to guide you and help you think through business implications.
Techweek goes from Monday, Sept. 12 until Saturday, Sept. 17. See the full schedule, who will be speaking and how to buy tickets on the Techweek website.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
