March Madness is in the air! While we love college basketball here in the Triangle, we also love startups!
On March 14th (the day before March Madness), 19 of the best student entrepreneurial teams from ACC schools will converge in American Tobacco in a bracket style competition. At the end of the day, one team will emerge as the best student entrepreneur in the ACC and take home the $5,000 prize.
Check out the Startup Madness video below & join the Madness by registering here.
by Scott Kelly, RTP Guest Blogger from Startup High
Imagine a summer camp where CEOs and entrepreneurial leaders teach high schoolers how to build and grow companies. What if each day the students had the chance to visit a different company and interact personally with business leaders?
At some point during our life all of us will get out of the shower and say, “I know how I can make millions!” If the idea gets off the ground it usually fails when it goes to market. However, a recent methodology called Lean Startup (see Eric Ries’s book The Lean Startup) teaches a scientific approach to test ideas for market fit and can help increase the chance of success when launching a new venture.
Lean Startup will be part of the curriculum Startup High and help students understand how to test those crazy startup ideas. Also, instead of each business leader delivering a one way lecture to students, Startup High will utilize a question based approach. Before each company visit, students will craft appropriate questions for leader to better understand how the company grew.
This morning I googled: [where is the right place to incubate startup]. Or at least I thought I did. IE automatically placed my search in Bing. Perplexed with the results, I opened up Chrome and searched Google. Here is the side-by-side comparison of the results of each search:
While Google returned what I expected to find, Bing introduced me to a multitude of results. Curious, I decided to click on ‘How to Hatch a Goose Egg without an Incubator.’ Surprisingly, there were a lot of similarities in growing a startup to a fully fledged business.
Goose eggs must be incubated in order to hatch.
A business incubator is more than just a place that offers what most startups need initially: cheap rent. Incubators are focused on helping to launch and grow successful businesses.
You can approximate the effects of an incubator, but even with close supervision, only about half of birds hatched without a proper incubator survive.
Starting up inside an incubator with collaborative programs can really help entrepreneurs take that great idea and enthusiasm and combine it with essential business know-how, work space, support services, and provide connections to the right contacts and mentors. And often of greater importance, offer legitimacy for venture funds looking to invest.
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging.
Let’s face it. Starting up a business is hard. And first-time entrepreneurs need all the help they can get.
Andy Schwab, President of First Flight Venture Center – a business incubator located in the Research Triangle Park, shares his thoughts on the Research Triangle Region and how FFVC helps people think through their ideas, form companies, and grow them into businesses. (Thanks to our marketing intern, Ross Maloney, UNC ’12)
Bottom-line: Are you getting the right resources you need for the business you’re trying to do?
Learn more about the invaluable resources and support organizations in the Research Triangle Region to help you startup.
Here’s an idea. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a fund that provides grants for high-tech start-up companies and doesn’t ask for any equity in return?
There is such an organization: NC IDEA
NC IDEA realizes the powerful role that small grants can play in further developing high-tech start-up companies. With many new technologies not successfully transferred out of universities and research institutions because of a funding gap between government and private equity support, NC IDEA implements its grants program to help fill the gap.
Because its grants are relatively small (in the range of $10,000 – $50,000) NC IDEA grants are targeted at companies where the grant funds can make a significant impact on the company’s progress. Read more »
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.
On the heels of President Obama’s and the White House Jobs and Competitiveness Council’s visit to the RTP and the Triangle region, it struck me as I listened in on the entrepreneurship and innovation/biotechnology sessions with corporate executives: one thing is clear, access to capital is critical. And investors aren’t investing. And if they are, they’re difficult to find.
To Ted Zoller of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flager School of Business and Director for the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, creating new jobs and companies goes beyond great ideas and ample capital.
“If we’re able to figure out where the opportunities lie and use networking as a tool, that will broaden the ability to focus each venture to the group of people that would best positioned to support that venture through success,” said Zoller.
His research relates to entrepreneurial networks. Dealmakers, as Zoller defines, are investors who have equity in three or more companies concurrently, are an part of the critical catalyst to bring entrepreneurs and investors together. Read more »
Last weekend, CED was one of the hosts for Triangle Startup Weekend – an event to build a company in 54 hours. According to Joan Siefert Rose of CED, there where nearly 200 people for the kickoff, and more than 100 people worked over throughout the weekend in the American Underground to create their companies. Eighteen teams presented the result of their concentrated efforts Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Joan for sharing news of the winners:
First Place: YardSprout, a company matching homeowners with master gardeners to help cultivate part of their lawn to grow food
Second Place: DoTheData, a company founded by Jenny Eigenrauch and Wendy Lybrand, counselors in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. The technology is designed to help counselors manage student records in a more efficient and actionable way.
Third Place: Knackeo, a company dedicated to helping individuals develop the “knack” for certain skills by linking them with the right people and resources.
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has committed $3.6 million in 2011 to support the formation of The Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, a dense network of entrepreneurial support in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park (RTP). Working in partnership with Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, this five year initiative will help the RTP become headquarters for America’s next high-growth companies. Watch the video about the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network. Read more »
