Start something… and here’s who can help.
Startup Lifecycle (thanks YallaStartup for the image!)
See the image to the left? If you’ve drawn this on a paper napkin, and then scratched your head at the checklist…
Chances are: you need this list.
Over the last few days, there have been multiple meetups, CED Cafes and TiE Carolina events that have offered opportunities for entrepreneurs like you to connect with the Research Triangle region’s rich resources of support organizations to help make that light bulb idea of yours a reality.
A huge thanks to CED for starting this list, and the many more who pinged me with others. As they say, I only know what I know. SO. If you want to be included on the list, leave a comment with your organization’s name, description, and contact information and any special packages you have to support our entrepreneurs.
And now… the list:
Entrepreneur Support Organizations
Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) - The Association for Corporate Growth® (ACG®) is the global community for middle market business leaders and M&A dealmakers who are focused on driving growth. ACG members have access to data, content and networking to access capital, make deals and drive corporate growth. Founded in 1954, ACG has grown to more than 13,000 members organized in 55 chapters throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) - The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) is the leading global professional association dedicated to the formation and practice of strategic alliances. We provide a forum to exchange alliance best practices and resources.
www.strategic-alliances.org/chapter/rtp-carolina
Bull City Co+Working - Brand new to the startup scene, Bull City Co+Working offers convenient, comfortable workspace at a competitive prices with free wi-fi, free coffee, free water and free parking. Connect with others here in Durham.
Bull City Forward - Bull City Forward is a community and economic development initiative to advance social innovation and entrepreneurship in Durham and the region. From the social innovation campus in downtown Durham, Bull City Forward enables social enterprises to launch, grow, and thrive through capacity-building programs, subsidized co-working space, discounted business services, connections to local talent, and robust measurement tools that supply clear metrics for success.
CED – CED (formerly The Council for Entrepreneurial Development) was founded in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high-growth, high-impact companies and accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED has helped entrepreneurs in a myriad of industries and at all stages of development – from high-tech, life sciences, and service companies, from one-person start-ups to 1000-person businesses. With more than 5,500 active members representing over 1,100 companies, CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization of its kind in the United States.
Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE at Duke) – Based at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, CASE promotes the entrepreneurial pursuit of social impact through the thoughtful adaptation of business expertise. Founded in 2001 by Professor J. Gregory Dees, globally recognized as the academic pioneer of the study of social entrepreneurship, CASE prepares current and emerging leaders, and the organizations that support them, to achieve real and lasting social change through education, research, and field-building activities. Our partnerships in the Triangle and around the world position us at the unique intersection of theory and practice on emerging issues of social entrepreneurship, scaling social impact, social venture business models, impact investing, corporate social entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial philanthropy.
Cleanlinks - CleanLinks is a networking platform for creating high-value interactions between business professionals in the fields of cleantech, renewable energy, energy efficiency and related environmental sectors. Participants include entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, law firms, investment banks and other community business leaders interested in promoting cleantech business growth. SJF established CleanLinks, in partnership with CED, to provide regional opportunities for professional networking, collaboration, education and business development to support and grow entrepreneurship in clean industries.
COIN – NC Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology - COIN is a nonprofit organization that promotes innovation and commercialization in the fields of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine to enable future economic growth and improve human life.
Drug Discovery Center of Innovation (DDCOI) - The Drug Discovery Center of Innovation (DDCOI) is a non-profit, comprehensive drug discovery and development organization. Our mission is twofold: 1) to develop and use our supercomputer-based, deep search engine to identify cutting-edge drug discovery opportunities for pharmaceutical industry collaboration, and 2) to provide public/private sector partnerships with industry-standard project management to support translation of discoveries into effective new medicines.
First Flight Venture Center (FFVC) – The First Flight Venture Center (FFVC) has been offering incubation of technology and life science companies since 1991. We have acted as host to over 250 companies with approximately $900M in economic impact. The program at FFVC is unique in terms of the programs and facilities offered to entrepreneurs. Our goal is to provide assistance in terms of mentorship and subject matter expertise, and also offer extremely affordable space with flexible and cost-effective lease terms. First Flight provides leading edge technology to each tenant including access to high-bandwidth data, video conferencing, and wet laboratories for life science research.
Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce – The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce is Durham County’s leading business organization, serving more than 1,000 business, government agency and non-profit member firms. The Chamber serves as the economic development entity for Durham County, assisting a range of businesses from startup phase to major corporations. Recently, the Chamber launched the Bull City Startup Stampede which gave 15 startups free, fully furnished office space in the heart of downtown Durham for 60 days. The effort is helping to position Durham as the hub for entrepreneurship in the Southeast and will launch again this fall. In addition, the Chamber’s economic development efforts have assisted numerous companies with relocation of operations or expansion of current operations in Durham, resulting in more than $3.3 billion of investment in the community and thousands of jobs.
www.durhamchamber.org | www.startupstampede.com
Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce - The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce is the Triangle’s largest business membership organization — made up of more than 2,500 member firms representing two-thirds of the private sector employment in Wake County. Check out our online guide which outlines several resources to help you get started, including information on business planning to financial programs and site selection.
ibiliti - Exclusively dedicated to North Carolina’s advanced medical technology community, ibiliti provides a robust network of resources that links med tech entrepreneurs to the talent, funding and expertise they need to accelerate the development and commercialization process.
Joystick Labs - Joystick Labs is a first of its kind seed-stage accelerator program focused exclusively on identifying and launching the next generation of digitally distributed video game companies.
LaunchBox - LaunchBox Digital, an early stage investment firm, is focused on helping entrepreneurs get through those challenging early days by bringing capital, advice, and practical guidance to help early stage businesses succeed.
Licensing Executives Society (LES) - Established in 1965, the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc. (LES) is a professional society comprised of nearly 5,000 members members engaged in the transfer, use, development, manufacture and marketing of intellectual property.
Mobile Apps RTP Meetup - The mobile app market is exploding in numbers and sales but not isolated to just the iPhone. Mobile Apps RTP is meetup group is for technologists (app developers) and business leaders (currently marketing an app and those seeking to bring their ideas for new apps to market). Meetups will include presentations and discussions around developing successful mobile applications including: industry trends, app development, current and future market opportunities, and technology and business hurdles.
www.meetup.com/Mobile-Apps-RTP
National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) - Research Triangle Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD)-Founded in March 1998 with the vision of serving the local community as a source of educational programs and guidance for improving the performance and governance knowledge of local boards of directors.
National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) - The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) propels a diverse group of women entrepreneurs into economic, social, and political spheres of power by promoting economic development, creating innovative and effective change, building strategic alliances, and influencing public policy.
NC Department of Commerce – International Trade – The International Trade Division offers services to help North Carolina companies increase international sales. The division supports industries such as Information Technology, Clean Tech, Biotech, Nanotechnology, Telecom, Furniture, Textiles and more.
www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/InternationalBusiness
NC IDEA - NC IDEA targets promising technology companies that need help bridging the gap between initial product development and venture capital funding. The organization helps young, innovative companies mainly by providing early financing in the form of grants, accelerating the creation of new North Carolina companies and jobs. NC IDEA further supports its grant winning companies by leveraging the organization’s solid partnerships and strategic alliances to assist companies through research phases, business challenges and growth goals. Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grants program has awarded approximately $1.7M to forty-seven companies across the state.
North Carolina Biosciences Organization (NCBIO) - The North Carolina Biosciences Organization (NCBIO) is the State level affiliate of the national Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Although focused primarily on legislative monitoring and lobbying activities at the state and federal level, NCBIO also offers a variety of other membership benefits, including discounted purchasing opportunities from life science vendors and networking meetings for life science executives.
North Carolina Biotechnology Center - The state legislatures established the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, as the world’s first government-sponsored organization dedicated to developing the biotechnology industry. The 79-member staff seeks to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide.
North Carolina Chinese Business Association (NCCBA) - North Carolina Chinese Business Association (NCCBA), founded in 2005, is an organization of individuals and businesses intrested in promoting business and cooperation between North Carolina and China. We do this through educational seminars, speakers series, networking, bridging cultures, assisting individuals.
North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development (NCIMED) - The North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development is a statewide nonprofit organization representing the interest of underdeveloped and underutilized sectors of the state’s economic base. The Institute’s working philosophy is that information and business development are critical to wealth creation and to building the asset base among low-wealth sectors of the population.
North Carolina Spark - NC Spark is a group that consists of local entrepreneurs and Founders/CEOs of North Carolina fastgrowing technology companies. Our members are passionate about improving the local business environment for entrepreneurial, high-growth technology companies. We are getting together once a month for networking, peer support and mentoring.
www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=130860
North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) - The North Carolina Technology Association’s mission is Making North Carolina Number One in Technology and Technology Number One in North Carolina. The organization does this through three main focus areas: executive engagement, public affairs and knowledge workforce.
Park Research Center (PRC) – The Park Research Center is an aggressively priced, competitive choice for start-up space in the Research Triangle Park. The thirteen buildings on the campus offer both office and lab space for lease on flexible, cost-efficient terms.
www.rtp.org/choose-rtp/accelerator-and-incubator-space
Research Triangle Foundation – The Research Triangle Park (RTP) is managed by The Research Triangle Foundation, which works to attract quality jobs, foster collaboration with universities, industry and government, and sustain RTP as a continued engine for the region and state’s economic growth.
RTP is not just a home for large operations. More than 50% of the Park’s 170+ companies have fewer than 10 employees. To further build the start-up and entrepreneur community within the Park, RTP boasts five incubators and business accelerators, where currently more than 80 start-up companies are nurtured. Amenities in these facilities include a variety of administrative and facilities services and offer flexibility in tenant improvement and terms of lease.
- Alexandria Innovation Center
- BD BioVenture Center
- First Flight Venture Center
- Park Research Center
- The Accelerator for Translational Biosciences at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences
Conference and meeting room facilities are also available for rent at the RTP Headquarter building, centrally located off Davis/I-40.
RTP Hackers and Founders – A meetup for hackers and founders to mingle and network with each other… If you’re interested in technology startups, either as a hacker or as a founder, or both, you’ve found the right meetup. If you regularly read Hackers News (http://news.ycominator.com), have been to a Startup Weekend, have wanted an Open Coffee Club in the Triangle area, are building – or want to build a tech starup, if you’re a VC, andgel investor, or anyone else with an interest in the starup community; then this group is for you.
www.meetup.com/RTP-Hackers-Founders
RTP New Tech - The event is designed to provide a time and place for technologists and entrepreneurs to showcase new technology in the Triangle tech community (geeks, investors, entrepreneurs, hackers, business people, etc).
Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) - The North Carolina SBTDC has over 25 years of experience providing high-quality counseling, management education, and technical assistance to small businesses. The SBTDC, through our statewide network of 18 university-affiliated offices, is committed to providing knowledge, education and other supportive resources that enable emerging entrepreneurs and existing small and mid-sized businesses to innovate and succeed.
TiE Carolinas - The Carolinas chapter of TiE was founded in 1999 by successful entrepreneurs and professionals with roots in the Indus region. Recently TiE has launched a TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneur) which is an entrepreneurial coaching program that is specifically designed for high school students with cash prizes for the winning teams and an opportunity to compete at MIT with other chapter winners.
Today, TiE has 53 Chapters globally in 12 countries, spread across 5 continents. The TiE ecosystem comprises 11,000 members and 2,500 charter members, who are the top entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, lawyers and management professionals in their chosen field.
Triangle Gaming Initiative (TGI) - Triangle Game Initiative is the trade association for the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina interactive entertainment industry. Our members are market-leading companies and prominent industry figures who have gathered here, at the Research Triangle, to master the arts and sciences of gaming. Our mission is to build a thriving community of companies and professionals dedicated to the advancement of the interactive entertainment industry in the Triangle region.
www.trianglegameinitiative.org
Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA) - A professional organization of the marketing and design industries in digital media, based in the Triangle area of North Carolina. TIMA focuses on education and networking for its members as well as the promotion of the Interactive Marketing industry.
US Commercial Service, US Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration - Amongst the 165 offices in 82 countries throughout the world, US Commercial Service provides a global network of Trade Specialists that assist U.S. firms to export products and services by identifying qualified international buyers and representatives, advocating on their behalf, and providing comprehensive solutions to whatever international challenges they may encounter.
Wake Tech Small Business Center - The Center provides small business owners with information they need for starting or expanding their small business through confidential, one-on-one counseling with the Small Business Center Director along with various seminars, workshops, and classes at no cost or minimum cost to you.
smallbusinesscenter.waketech.edu
Wake Tech/Wachovia Wells Fargo Center for Entrepreneurship - The purpose of the Center is to make a significant contribution to economic and workforce growth in the Wake county area by serving as a resource for teaching, training, developing, and growing present and potential entrepreneurs the Wake Tech Way.
Women in Bio RTP Chapter (WIB) - Women in Bio is an organization of professionals committed to fostering and encouraging entrepreneurship and career development of women active in the life science industry.
Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) - The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) is a non-profit group for women who own and run multimillion-dollar companies. WPO members meet monthly for peer roundtable sessions that enable them to resolve business problems and capitalize on opportunities. Chapter membership is limited to 20 members; no competitors are allowed. The average WPO business has $13MM in annual revenue and 97 employees.
World Trade Association (WTA) - WTA promotes the growth of international commerce between North Carolina and the world. Recognized as the “voice of international trade for businesses of all types, the WTA acts as a nerve-center for individuals, companies, and organizations that seek trade expansion.
Comments
In 2009 I had started to set up a wiki for triangle area entrepreneurs on all the resources and people available to help with startups in the area. I ended up moth balling it last year when it got over run by spammers. If there is renewed interest I’ll set it back up.
Hey there! That would be quite a task to take on! I know CED keeps a running list, there are multiple Linked-In and Meetup groups with various postings, and now TiE Carolina has also a list of support organizations… The good thing is there a many support resources and organizations helping to provide answers. The greater opportunity that I’ve heard from many other entrepreneurs would be to have some sort of centralized and marketed regional resource with social features for organizations/individuals to be able to add their own listings and others comment/rate.