Fresh off the start of a crowdfunding campaign to help accelerate its local growth, technology startup Knowledge As A Service Inc. has made its first hires in Wichita.
KAAS has hired Shae Blevins, formerly of Greteman Group, Textron Aviation and Fidelity Bank, as marketing director. It has also hired four additional staff members through Wichita State University.
The company in June announced plans to locate all its operations in Wichita, where it plans to hire 40 people over the next 12 months. It concurrently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise capital to help it make the hires.
“Crowdfunding gives any person — not just angels, not just venture capitalists — any person the ability to invest in a company at the ground floor,” COO and co-founder B.W. Barkley says in a press release. “Shae will focus on raising the crowd that we and other startups need to grow in Wichita.”
KAAS, which has developed an employee training app called Ringorang, expects to invest $4 million in its local operations.
“We feel amazing about what we’re building in Wichita,” says co-founder and chief vision officer Robert Feeney. “The talented people of this community have a wealth of experience and knowledge, and partnering with WSU allows us to share our own knowledge and experience with future business professionals ready to take technology to the next level in Wichita.”
The employees from WSU come to KAAS as part of the school’s Shocker Career Accelerator.
“What KAAS and their leadership are doing, through partnership with the community and by leveraging relationships with local institutions like WSU, will serve as a model to other technology startups, riding the tech wave here in Wichita,” says Brian Austin, director of applied and experiential learning for the program.
