Lee’s Summit plans to enter high-tech race with business incubator on Market Street
When Mark Dickey visited several Kansas City facilities devoted to helping entrepreneurs start high-tech businesses, he repeatedly met Lee’s Summit residents who were following their dreams.
He’d ask if they were going to start a business in Lee’s Summit. But they planned to stay in the bigger city, using facilities like KC Startup Village or Think Big Partners where they had found their support system.
Dickey, vice-president of the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce, and other Lee’s Summit leaders realized that to compete for jobs and 21st century startups, the city needed to start a business incubator/accelerator of its own.
They’re undertaking an effort to create “The Marketplace of Ideas.”
The plan is to take an idle city building on Market Street, renovate it and offer reduced rates to startup businesses that could share resources.
Dickey said the plan is to build an independent organization that will be self-supporting, after an initial investment by the city.
The City Council on Sept. 25 approved a task force to work on making it a reality. Councilwoman Diane Seif will be its liaison to the task force. It includes a pantheon of Lee’s Summit business owners who know how to start an enterprise, Dickey said.
Members are: JoAnn Gabbert, Mike Atcheson, Bob Gourley, Ken Stremming, DJ Good, Jeff Danley, David Gale, Vicky Cundiff, Chuck Cooper, Chip Moxley, Alex Altomare, Rosalie Newkirk, Jon Ellis, Jon Cundiff, Rick Viar, Rick McDowell, Stephen Gentry, Keith Asel and Dickey.
The hope is for the task force to present the council with a business plan early in 2015.
The facility would provide high-speed, high-capacity Internet connections, devices such as 3-D printers, plus connections with experienced businessmen and services such as accountants and lawyers.
Established business can help the new entrepreneurs with startups, and in return get a pipeline to new clients.
Working together in one building favors creative people trading skills and offering encouragement to each other.
“We want to bring people together, creating collisions that spark new innovations and devices,” Dickey said. “By having a physical presence in your community, it gives a strong ‘We’re in the game’ message to attract and grow business.”
Dickey said the city is home to many employees of large corporations like Cerner or Sprint who have ideas they’d like to launch for themselves.
Jon Cundiff, president of Weed Man, said Lee’s Summit also has a lot of young talent coming out of schools and universities. The center would help keep young talent engaged in the Lee’s Summit community, he said.
When Jon and Vicky Cundiff started their company in 1987, they had many questions.
“We learned a lot from a lot of people,” Jon Cundiff said. “We asked a lot of questions. It’s a powerful thing when you can ask people who have been down the path ... it will streamline their growth.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Lee’s Summit plans to enter high-tech race with business incubator on Market Street."