#USTrip #IVLP #Day13 #Kansas
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Kauffman, UMKC, Google, KC Startup Village, Home Hospitality
We started the day in Kauffman, attending One Million Cups event. It’s similar with #Startuplokal meetup that we have in Jakarta. There are 300++ people in one big room having coffee and networking. Then two startups present their businesses for 15 minutes followed by 15 minutes for questions and answers. We had a warm welcome when Mark Allen from UMKC on stage introduced all of us to the audience ^.^
I regret that we didn’t have a chance to have a meeting nor a tour while we were in Kauffman Foundation. I specifically requested that on the questionnaire before we came. On the venue I requested our local host to have a quick tour of the building. But we didn’t have enough time to do so :( But at least someone from Kauffman was kind to explain to us a bit about the foundation and its history.
We had lunch in Country Club Plaza and did a bit shopping. Got myself a new black stocking in Victoria’s Secret ^.^
Next meeting was: Google Fiber! It is a project that has created an experimental broadband internet network infrastructure using fiber-optic communication in two bordering states, Kansas and Missouri.* We had a thoroughly tour about the services and facilities, got some souvenirs and did crazy photobox session there :D Aand, checkout how fast the internet connection there using Google fiber!
After Google, we had a tour in Kansas City Startup Village, a grassroot initiative helping to bolster the Kansas City entrepreneur and startup scene by creating a concentrated and collaborative community of startups.* There are several houses that turned into startups basecamp there managed by locals and rent for a very minimum fee but with maximum supports and facilities including Google Fiber services.
We met with the founders of Leap2.com - the next generation of Google search engine; LocalRuckus.com - local search for events; TravelingNuker.com - location based nuclear spot; EyeVerify - personal identification access based on eyes.
Went back to hotel for a while to change clothes and prepare for home hospitality. Mrs. Toni picked us up at the hotel at 6pm and drove us to her home. I love the details in every corner of the house, it was all so beautiful. There were her husband Ray and a couple of their friends. We had delicious dinner in their lovely garden, talked about traveling and marriage advise. Ray & Toni has been married for 33 years, it’s the 2nd marriage for both of them, and they enjoy traveling together. Toni is an independent travel professional, that’s why I can see so many books about traveling there. Their friends, also a couple on senior age, has been married for 25 years. It’s also a 2nd marriage for both of them; before that the lady was married to previous husband for 29 years. They both also loves traveling and just back from trip to several countries in Europe. Their kids are already have their own families, they have financial freedom, and free time to explore the world. I told them: you’re all living in my kind of dream life!
Sometimes God can be so funny by giving us serendipity :))
Cheers,
Nuniek