Flint Hills Business Launch Celebrates Fall 2023 Graduation, Pitch Competition
Flint Hills Business Launch proudly presents the Fall 2023 class of current and future entrepreneurs who have successfully completed Spark’s core business fundamental class, a 9-week program. The graduation ceremony and pitch competition, featuring 15 participating entrepreneurs and 12 businesses, took place Thursday, November 9, 2023, at the Union Pacific Depot in downtown Manhattan.
This season’s cohort was comprised of entrepreneurs from across Pottawatomie, Riley, and Geary counties in Kansas, who engaged in the twice-annual, virtual class designed for entrepreneurs who are pre-launch through the first three years of operations. The class was facilitated by serial entrepreneur, owner of MHK Caravan Co and K-State Entrepreneurship Instructor, Tara Geiber.
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Veteran Returns Home to Rural Community, Marching to a 'Route Step' as Farm and Coffee Shop Grow
Nearly 25 years ago, Gail Wege joined the military to see the world. Growing up on a farm in Onaga, Kansas, Gail recalls, “I wanted to get out, I wanted to explore, I wanted to see something new.” After she graduated from K-State, she was excited to see where her first duty station would be, only to discover she would not be going far. “My first duty station was in Fort Riley, Kansas.” Her 20-year military career did take her around the world, but as her military service came to a close, Gail decided to return home to Onaga. Yet she never imagined her next career steps would lead to entrepreneurship.
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They told him to build it in California; this agtech founder came back to Kansas instead
When it came time to plant Trevor McKeeman’s agtech startup, he refused to farm the groundbreaking company’s future out to the coasts — specifically California where potential funders said he could find “money and talent.”
“I was actually in Boston at the time,” explained McKeeman, founder and CEO of HitchPin, a digital marketplace for farmers and ranchers to buy and sell their products and services. “I met with some investors, and they said, ‘This is awesome. We love the idea. We don’t understand agriculture, but it’s going to be huge.’”
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Veteran-Owned Route Step Farm Coffee Barn Brings Business to Rural Community
Route Step Farm Coffee Barn provides sustainably sourced food and locally roasted coffee to the rural community of Onaga, Kansas. Open for under a year, Gail Wege’s veteran-owned and woman-owned business is creating a new hangout for her town and the surrounding area, with plans and opportunities for growth and additional product distribution.
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