ADAM COOMES | Infegy

Thanks to technology, says 25-year-old Adam Coomes, “most people can now start a company, on scraps and a small savings, out of their basement.” With the barrier to entry thus lowered, he says, the risk/reward calculus changes in favor of the entrepreneur, and “the only roadblock left is the decision to go for it.” That’s just what he’s done with partner Justin Graves at the social media-monitoring site Infegy. Coomes is president of a company that offers a product increasingly in demand from corporations: The ability to monitor millions of messages posted on Web sites, blogs, news sites and more. That, he said, gives businesses “an on-demand research platform to instantly listen and understand what people are saying about brands, competitors, political candidates, issues” and more. Launched with important guidance from the Kauffman Foundation, Infegy itself is attempting to pay it forward by housing three other startups from its Kansas City, North, offices. But it remains focused on its goal of becoming a leader in social Web analytics.

LAURA CROWLEY | Crowley Furniture

Laura Crowley is the walking definition of an entrepreneurial bloodline. In 1954, her grandparents used $500—less than $4,000 by today’s measure—to launch the family’s furniture store. It was built, she says, on hard work and treating people right. In its sixth decade, it continues to grow, with Laura now general manager. One of the unique challenges of entrepreneurship is being able to meet a broad range of challenges, as Crowley has learned. “No two days are alike,” she says, and that has meant learning new skills along the way. At 29, she’s been with the company for seven years, and in that time it has opened two new stores, doubled its warehouse and delivery capacity, and raised annual sales from $6 million to $11 million. No small achievements when you’re trying to survive in what she calls “a dynamic, cannibalistic market and an increasingly volatile supply chain.” True to the entrepreneur’s spirit, though, the company has successfully altered its business model to meet those challenges.

JON DAVIS | Cinephile Films

Remember your parents’ advice about finding something you love to do, and building a career on it? Jon Davis, 27, had that figured out long before he established Cinephile Films last year. (For those of us who had to look it up, “cinephile” means someone who’s nuts about movies. Davis is.) Now, whether in the director’s chair or as producer on short films, documentaries, corporate training videos and the like, he’s committed to building Kansas City’s video assets. “We want to promote innovative film marketing” here, and that means tapping into a large supply of under-used talent. “I am committed to a ‘buy local’ business model; we hire Kansas City-based talent and expertise to serve Kansas City companies” with the goal of bringing big-market ad campaigns to this region. “To me, entrepreneurship means creativity blended with hard work, prudent risk-taking and self-determination,” he says. “I plan to methodically growth the company and to add feature-length films produced in Kansas City to my resume within the next five years.”

BRIAN FATE | Dogdration

Launching a business says something about the level of faith you have in your own abilities. Getting Dad to sign off on a loan for the startup financing says something about the faith that others have in you. But it’s additional motivation for Brian Fate, now three years into his efforts to plumb a niche market with a specialty product designed to protect Fido from dehydration. The genesis for dogdration came on a hot day when he grabbed a cool drink after running his chocolate Lab at the park, and gazed into baleful eyes that suggested: Where’s mine?, Now that he’s made it through the concept, launch and early production phases, Fate, 26, is knee-deep in efforts to extend sales beyond the toehold markets he’s opened in Kansas City and a half-dozen communities in Colorado. Just getting to this point, though, has been an education in itself, he said. After three name changes and a strategic packaging switch, his product is being blended (Fate’s own formulation), bottled and shipped from a plant in Santa Cruz, Calif. His over-the-horizon view? Adding different flavor lines and branching into dog treats. “Five years from now, we want to be able to be purchased at every Whole Foods and pet store across the U.S.,” he declares. Woof.