Posts Tagged ‘NC’
Friday, January 27th, 2012
By Joe Procopio
 Joe Procopio In my last installment of this 2011 review of the RTP startup ecosystem, I went back over some of the companies I hung out with last year. Some. Just a few. Mostly the ones who did big, huge, extraordinary things. But of course that leaves out the hundreds (and yes, there are hundreds) of equally likeable and viable companies who did not do big, huge, extraordinary things last year.
I hung out with them too, just in groups and a lot of times with drinks.
And there were groups everywhere. If 2011 was the year the RTP startup ecosystem organized, it got most of that organization done at meetups, events, users groups, conferences, and galas. If it seemed like there was something startup-related going on every single week that’s because there was, and 2012 looks to be no different, just better.
There’s been no better time to be an entrepreneur in the RTP. Here’s why:
Foot on the Accelerator
2011 started off and ended with announcements from two completely different accelerators.
 Artist's rendering of the American Underground space LaunchBox Digital graduated its first class to come out of Durham in January 2011, with a big event at Bay 7 at American Tobacco (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/01/90-days-work-in-eight-minutes-launchbox-digital-2010-demo-day/) (where it’s falsely rumored that I keep a secret sleeping quarters – I actually just sleep in Square 1 Bank’s conference room… don’t tell them). Seven companies held court for eight minutes apiece in front of brave ice-conquering crowd of hundreds.
Then in November, rumor turned into reality when Capitol Broadcasting and NC IDEA announced that new accelerator Groundwork Labs would be taking applications, well, now (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/11/new-startup-accelerator-groundwork-labs-launching-in-durham/).
Groundwork will be run by John Austin, and if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s also running Joystick Labs, the gaming accelerator (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/04/gaming-for-everyone-john-austin-joystick-labs-the-east-coast-game-conference/). They held their first successful session in the summer of 2011, and will be ramping up again in 2012.
And it should be noted that while LaunchBox closed up shop in 2011, out of the ashes rose the homegrown Triangle Startup Factory (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2012/01/return-of-the-triangle-startup-factory-and-why-its-huge-for-the-rtp/). Also taking applications. Also now.
That means there are three “new” programs in the RTP for aspiring entrepreneurs to get their product from concept to reality with more help than should be legal. If you don’t apply to at least one of them, you have no one to blame.
Out of the Garage
Beyond the proliferation of accelerators in the area (and honestly, how often do you get to read a sentence like that), there were literally dozens of events in 2011 that highlighted, supported, or celebrated startups. And if you know me, you know I’m all about the grass roots.
In March, I wrote about Startup Madness, the second in a series of homegrown events from Scott Kelly that announce and market the launch of local tech startups (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/03/startup-madness-it%E2%80%99s-not-as-crazy-as-you-might-think/). Kelly just held another Launch Days very early this year, and has two startup events on the calendar for Spring and Summer that focus on high school and college entrepreneurs.
In June, Triangle Startup Weekend (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/06/try-before-you-buy-triangle-startup-weekend/) made a welcome return to the area with over 100 entrepreneurs spending three straight, sleepless days and nights building a company from scratch. TSW makes a repeat engagement in April this year, and will be very interesting as some of those folks ran with their companies and likely still haven’t slept.
Not to be outdone, the gamers put on their own party, Raleigh Game On (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/08/game-on-rtp-indie-game-companies-take-matters-into-their-own-hands/) packed 150 game developers and gaming enthusiasts into the Hive in downtown Raleigh in August. I, for one, have always felt like the gamers should and could be more visible in the RTP startup ecosystem. Between Joystick, Game On, and other recurring events like the TGI Social, 2011 was a big step in the right direction.
Even if you didn’t have a startup or even an idea in 2011, Tech Jobs Under the Big Top (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/05/tech-jobs-under-the-big-top-hot-dogs-beer-jugglers-jobs/) provided a real opportunity for getting in on the ground floor of a startup just by going to work for one.
And let’s just pretend I already talked about ExitEvent.
Oh, Yeah, There are VCs Too
I’ve always been amazed at how accessible the local VCs are and how few startups and wanna-be startups take advantage of that accessibility. Here are two ends of the spectrum I talked about in 2011.
 Jason Caplain Jason Caplain from Southern Capitol Ventures is involved with a lot of events, meetings, get-togethers, and so on, probably more so than any single local investor.
In January, we sat down and talked about one of the more intriguing (at least to me) things he does. Once a month (maybe every other month when he’s busy), Jason hosts breakfast for any entrepreneur who wants to get or give advice (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/01/jason-caplain-builds-better-entrepreneurs-over-bagels/).
But maybe one-on-one isn’t your thing.
In April, I wrote about the, get this, 28th annual CED Venture Conference (http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/04/ced-venture-2011-mission-accomplished-now-what/), where for a small price (in terms of value), you can catch up with a keg of VCs, angels, and dozens of funded and unfunded startups. Watching and learning from the public pitches alone is worth the price of admission.
And by the way, that was on the heels of the SouthEast Venture Conference and the East Coast Game Conference, both of which are coming up again in 2012.
If anything, 2012 is going to build on this strong support structure that sprung up in 2011. So if you ever, ever thought about ditching it all and starting a company, well, my friend, this is your year. Apply, attend, meet-up, discuss, engage and party. Of course, there’s all that hard work and risk, but at least you’ll have hundreds of others slogging it out with you.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for automated content startup Automated Insights. He also founded and runs startup network ExitEvent, consulting marketplace Intrepid Company, and the Intrepid Media writers network (http://IntrepidMedia.com). You can read him athttp://joeprocopio.com and follow him at http://twitter.com/jproco.
Tags: American Tobacco Campus, CED, ExitEvent, Game On, Groundwork Labs, Joe Procopio, John Austin, Joystick Labs, LaunchBox Digital, NC, NC IDEA, Research Triangle, SEVC, Square 1 Bank, startup accelerators, TGI Social, Triangle Startup Weekend
Posted in Columns, entrepreneurship, Internet/New Media, IT, Tech Culture, TechLife | Comments Off
Friday, January 20th, 2012
 Apple’s recent entry into the educational textbook market with highly interactive digital textbooks available on the iPhone and iPad and the updated version of its iTunes U, which offers teachers digital tools, is its latest effort to modernize the U.S. education system.
A pet project of the late Steve Jobs, the digital textbook move is only Apple’s latest foray into the education field. Apple Marketing VP Phil Schiller says the company owes much of its early success to education, where its Mac computers were often standard equipment.
We’re not sure Apple can rescue education from its mounting woes, many worsening because of the economic distress of recent years, but technology can certainly help. Jobs isn’t the only tech titan who wanted to revolutionize education. Jim Goodnight, founder and CEO of Cary, NC-based SAS, has also promoted the idea of using technology to improve schooling and even supports a North Carolina high school putting some of his ideas to work.
OnlineEducation.net created this infographic asking, “Can Apple Save Education?”
Tags: Apple Inc., Apple textbooks, Can Apple save education, Cary, iPad, iTunes, Jim Goodnight, Macs, NC, SAS, Steve Jobs
Posted in Apple, Education, infographic, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
 Google is the best company to work in 2012, displacing Cary, NC-based SAS, according to Fortune Magazine.
Fortune said, “Everything was up at Google last year revenue, profits, share price, paid search clicks, hiring,” and “employee love.”
Boston Consulting Group claimed the number 2 spot on Fortune’s list, while SAS Institute slipped to third.
Facebook adds Timeline apps
 Facebook has released more than 60 new apps to help members share more of their lives on its Timeline.
They range from apps that assist users in “telling their story,” whether it’s about cooking, travel, movies, or going for a run.
“Apps bring your Timeline to life,” the social network says.
“Once you’ve added an app, you can begin updating your timeline with your activities as they happen. For example, if you love design, shopping or fashion, you can add the Pinterest or Pose apps to make your favorite items part of your timeline,” it adds in a blog entry.
“If you love to cook, you can add the Foodily app to your timeline and share your latest dishes. If your friends have added the Foodily app, you can discover new recipes with each other, as you’ll see their updates in the ticker and their timeline, and possibly News Feed.”
The apps include Rotten Tomato (movie reviews), Pinterest, a virtual pinboard where people can pin things they collect online, and more. Facebook says developers will create thousands more in coming months. Just what we need, more ways to lose hours to Facebook, huh?
Personally, we’re not so crazy about Facebook’s whole Timeline thing, but some users seem to love it.
GPS industry rigs evidence, Lightsquared says
Gigaom.com reports that LightSquared has accused the commercial GPS industry of “rigging” government tests on potential GPS interference from Lightsquared’s proposed nationwide LTE network.
The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee, or PNT-ExComm decided last week that Lightsquared could not build such a national network without interfering with GPS navigation devices.
LIghtsquared believes their are serious flaws in PNT-ExComm’s test process and is calling on the agency to conduct a new round of testing.
Lightsquared needs FCC approval to build its network, but the approval depends on the firm’s ability to show the LTE network will not overpower GPS signals.
Tags: Boston Consulting Group, Cary, Facebook Timeline apps, Fortune Magazine, Google best place to work, GPS interference, Lightsquared, national LTE network, NC, SAS
Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, IT, Legal, Mobile, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio Go big or go home.
I hear this phrase a lot lately. In some circles, it could be seen as a bubblicious mantra of a bunch of crazy kids looking to hit home runs by selling their social network startup to Facebook. In others, namely here in the RTP, it’s a battle cry for survival against the long odds of starting a company in this talent-rich, cash-strapped area.
But those odds just got a whole lot better.
Last night, longtime RTP startup ecosystem guru, former LaunchBox Director, and current TriangleTechTalk and TechJobs Under the Big Top founder Chris Heivly announced that a nice big bow had been put on a reboot of Triangle Startup Factory, the accelerator he merged into LaunchBox Digital when that accelerator swung south from DC back in 2010.
TSF will now host between five and seven startups twice a year, starting this spring, for intensive three-month programs chock full of capital, mentoring, connections, infrastructure, and, most importantly, a sizeable post-program runway.
That last one is the big news.
The Long Tail
I first met Chris back in 2009, looking for synergies between ExitEvent (at the idea stage) and the original TSF (pre-LaunchBox). We were both trying to solve the same problem: Baking a startup for three months, no matter how high the heat or how closely you watch it, was awesome, but didn’t account for the abrupt exit out into the real world of sustainability and customers. Especially not here, where the support structure was, at the time, non-existent, and even now, fledgling.
He had a much better handle on it, and talked about the creation of the long tail. In order for an accelerator to succeed here, there needs to be a much longer runway with a different-but-equal kind of support in place until the startup gets solidly onto its feet.
He’s still talking about it as of last night when we broke down the philosophy behind the new TSF. That long tail is what will differentiate the TSF program.
Going Big So They Don’t Go Home
Each startup gets the proper kickoff fuel: $50K in investment, access to a whole bunch of mentors and connections, space in Durham (TBD, by the way), and a big day at the end to show the world (and that’s the world, not just the RTP), what they’ve got.
But as a formal part of the program, TSF will offer a convertible note on the back end between $20K and $150K.
The sheer size of the initial investment figure and the convertible note puts TSF in the same stratosphere as TechStars and YCombinator. This will allow TSF to attract top-tier talent from around the country (maybe around the world) and, most importantly, keep them here.
And while the money is great, it’s up to us in the RTP to match that A-level program with the time, effort, and serious skills that make up the mentoring and the connections. In 2012, I believe we’re up for it. Finally.
Stay Hungry
Apart from the unique philosophy, another big difference will be the emphasis on a lean and agile methodology. In what Chris calls a 30% incremental difference from LaunchBox, the TSF program will run product focused, not business focused, and thus the messaging will be like very few accelerator programs as they are today.
Advice is what it is: Advice. I give it all the time, yet very few of my friends are rich enough to pay me back in Ferraris. Also, you don’t have to get too many mentors and entrepreneurs in a room before they start disagreeing about how to get to the next level. Usually these disagreements are solved on the ping pong table, but who has time for that?
The remedy for conflicting advice, repeats Heivly, is build, test, and iterate. It’s what the startup does with the advice that the startup can control and where TSF can assist. Chris feels like they did a good job of this with LaunchBox, but they need to do a great job of this with TSF.
Start Your Engines
Although there isn’t a focus on where the selected applicants will come from (although there is a limit on the type: no pharma, no medical devices, etc, we’re talking traditional tech plays), it’s certainly a boon for local entrepreneurs. It’s a huge incremental step forward for the area, and every single pre-funded startup should apply. It’s like you’re getting a head start on the rest of the country.
For once.
The application process is underway now at http://www.trianglestartupfactory.com and runs until they get their initial class, which begins on March 19th.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for automated content startup Automated Insights. He also founded and runs startup network ExitEvent, consulting marketplace Intrepid Company, and the Intrepid Media writers network (http://IntrepidMedia.com). You can read him athttp://joeprocopio.com and follow him at http://twitter.com/jproco.
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Tags: Chris Heivly, Durham, Joe Procopio, LaunchBox Digital, NC, Triangle Startup Factory restarts
Posted in entrepreneurship, Events, Internet/New Media | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
 Samantha McCollough By Samantha McCollough, iDatix
A successful company strives to keep employees productive, and a knowledgeable business knows that happy people are more productive. Happiness at work can increase productivity by as much as 12% in fact, according to a study at University of Warwick.1
A story in CMS Wire quotes Paul Murphy, national sales director of Spire Investment Partners, who said technology such as an electronic document management system can make work easier and people happier.
“If employees are more efficient, they’re happier. If they’re happier, they’re more productive. If they’re more productive, you’re more profitable,” Murphy said.
Enterprise content management systems can make life easier for employees by cutting down on time needed to search through file cabinets, improve communication and collaboration with co-workers and automate repetitive tasks.
CMS Wire said that internal customers, or employees, matter the most in the quality and quantity of work output. According to the source, a satisfied employee is more creative, productive and dependable, which generates work that can make customers happy and encourage them to stay loyal to a brand or company.
Even though in the long run it can make people happy, Ed Yonker, CIO of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, warned that people get agitated when new changes come down at a company. It is important to reduce the level of frustration and dissatisfaction in the early stages to cultivate happiness with the new system.
Gaston County, North Carolina helped quell the impatience of the integration with education and training, CMS Wire said.
“Although the resistance to change has been far less than for ECM than other applications or new business processes, there are always people who want to continue doing things the way they’ve always been done,” says Brandon Jackson, CIO of Gaston County.
“However, the more we publicized the success of the departments that were our early ECM adopters, the more people began to realize how tedious working with paper actually is.”
Rochelle Waldoch, compliance and records manager of Ramsey County, Minnesota, told CMS Wire that they started watching training videos that featured characters from The Flintstones. She said just because something is technical doesn’t mean employees can’t have fun with it.
CMS also stated that the most effective change to a content management system brings a sense of togetherness for something everyone has in common, which in this case is becoming educated on a new form of technology.
On Inside Counsel, a website designed for law department leaders, Dennis Kiker, a partner at LeClairRyan in Richmond, Virginia, said that understanding and acceptance of a new program should come through training on the document management program. He said this also lets workers know that the new program is a priority for the company.
“Employees should be trained when they are hired, whenever the program is significantly updated and on a periodic basis thereafter,” Kiker said. “If possible, the training should be interactive and include a testing component to increase the likelihood that information will be retained.”
The direct benefits of a content management system, such as reduced paper costs and increased efficiency, are often clear improvements in obtaining a new system. Yet the indirect cause of employee happiness, and the increased productivity as a result of it, is another measurable impact that such a solution can have on an organization. With proper training and a simple transition, the company and employees stand to gain considerable advantages.
Samantha McCollough is PR director at iDatix, a Clearwater based small business and a leader in the development of ECM software.
Tags: CMS Wire, content management systems, Gaston County, Inside Counsel, MN, NC, Ramsey County
Posted in best practices, Business advice, Columns, Internet/New Media, IT, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, January 6th, 2012
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio I’ll start off 2012 with two disclaimers.
One: Apologies to you Mayan calendar believers, I didn’t mean to alarm you with the title. 2012 won’t be the year that random Durham entrepreneurs spontaneously combust – although that could happen, it’s highly unlikely. I’ll make it up to you by not making an easy joke at your expense.
Two: I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know what’s going to happen to the RTP Startup Ecosystem this year. I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my time here. For all I know, Durham could become the food truck capital of the world, pushing technology, bio, and gaming aside, and prompting food truck tourism and a Food Truck Alley along Jackie Robinson drive.
For all I know.
But I can tell you this. What happens in the oh-twelve is going to build off of what happened in 2011. And if you have to put a single word on what the RTP did to justify its position in the startup universe relative to Silicon Valley, New York, Boulder, etc., that word would be: Organization.
Note that it’s not: Money. That’s what 2012 needs to be about.
In 2011, the RTP startup ecosystem finally took it upon itself to connect its various garages, coffee shops, and secret evil lairs in an effort to combine strengths, learn from one another, and sort out who is who and who is working on what. It was 99% a grass roots effort, which is good, in that it was very inclusive, but not so good, in the sense that the movement is still pretty underpowered. All in all, it was a measurable jump-start, but there’s a lot left to do.
So let’s take a look back over the year that was and make some assumptions about the year that is.
Hey! I’ve got an idea! Let’s do this via a collection of 2011 highlights from my column.
At least it’s not a top 10 list. Happy New Year.
Doing It Right
Several RTP companies landed major funding in 2011. Having walked that walk as part of the management team of Automated Insights/StatSheet (another disclosure), I can tell you that raising money last year wasn’t easy. But that also means that the companies that did receive funds are solid.
In Rabid Wolverines: Why Argyle Social is the Test Case for Durham 2.0, I talked about the aggressive, confident approach of Argyle and Eric Boggs, a refreshing attitude as Durham 2.0 started to spring up.
The Underground Got Relevant
Then in July, I sat down with James Avery and came out the other side with Adzerk’s No-BS Approach Results in $650K. Adzerk was proving the Durham startup thesis, founded by pivoting an existing business in RTP, moving into American Underground, taking advantage of the support groups springing up throughout the area, and ultimately running the gauntlet of both local and national VC raises. Successfully, as it turned out.
Launch Party? How About Launch Festival
Later that same month, I told you about a product launch that turned into an old-school dot-com style party in Bringing Sexy Back: Why deja Fest Is More Than a Launch Party. deja mi’s founder Justin Miller organized (there’s that word again) a two-day, 26-band event to prove out his venue-based media sharing application before it got the live customer treatment at the Hopscotch Festival in September.
All Work and No Play
By the way, those three companies were in attendance, along with about a dozen others, at Pongageddon: The RTP Startup Ecosystem Goes Rogue in March, a day of pizza, beer, and local startups competing for a ping-pong trophy hosted by StatSheet. This was one of the first formal get-togethers of some of the local entrepreneurs, but it would definitely not be the last.
The Graduating Class
But 2011 wasn’t just about the established and funded. In December, I got the chance to judge a UNC-hosted startup event and wrote about Ten Promising Rookie Startups from the Carolina Challenge. This included $1000 winner (and established though not funded) YardSprout and 47 other startups, most of whom I had not heard of before that night but will keep an eye on this year.
So yeah, that was 2011, but that was just the stuff I wrote about startups, and those few companies I got to are just the tip of the iceberg that is the 200+ tech startups in RTP. In a future installment, I’ll reminisce about the explosion of support organizations and how even those organizations got more organized.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for automated content startup Automated Insights. He also founded and runs startup network ExitEvent, consulting marketplace Intrepid Company, and the Intrepid Media writers network (http://IntrepidMedia.com). You can read him at http://joeprocopio.com and follow him at http://twitter.com/jproco.
Tags: Argyle Social, Carolina Challenge, Durham, Joe Procopio, Launch Party, NC, Pongageddon, Research Triangle, startup ecosystem in the RTP
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, entrepreneurship, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Monday, December 12th, 2011
Artist's rendering of the American Underground space The technology scene moves fast, but which innovations and trends have the staying power to change the way we live? Startup CEOs at Durham, North Carolina’s American Underground weigh in on the question below.
Gaming Transforms Learning – Jason Massey, Sustainable Industrial Solutions
“In 2012, we’ll see a focus on technology driving breakthroughs in our educational process…from early childhood development to college. That will range from early intervention for learning disabilities to the college textbook racket going the way of the dodo. For evidence, just look to Chegg or Kno on iPads
Technology, tools and models developed around the explosion of online gaming with companies like Zynga, the power of social networks like Facebook and the time/location shifting tutorials of Khan Academy are creating opportunities for highly scalable but highly personalized educational experiences.
We are seeing amazing breakthroughs in understanding the mind and learning patterns.
Now, we can leverage the engagement and stickiness of online games to achieve a ‘game-ification’ of the learning process that will allow for more meaningful, measurable successes. Great North Carolina companies like Lexercise are tackling dyslexia via online technologies.”
Trends in “behavior modification” via online games and experiences have the ability to transform our diets, smoking habits and treat our learning disabilities…go figure! Once a “bubble technology” deemed a “time waster,” these platforms will transform our educational experience.”
Blazing Access Everywhere – Keval Mehta, Jaargon
“LTE (Long Term Evolution) will revolutionize the next few years. Remember how great wireless was the first time you experienced it? You could take your laptop anywhere you wanted, except too far outside. LTE will allow you to finally stay connected anywhere you are with blazing speed.
LTE will disrupt broadband, cable, satellite and the way media is consumed. We will use LTE to tether internet to our cars and even homes, which will replace our broadband subscription.
Video and audio can be streamed without skipping and new heavy bandwidth applications can be created to push the limit of high speed connections.
Buffering would be a thing of the past. LTE would allow content developers to create even richer mobile and web applications that take advantage of this higher bandwidth user access.
For example, a user could download a Blu-Ray DVD in a few minutes at the airport before taking off on a flight. Most importantly, it will open up possibilities for entrepreneurs to create new ideas that may have not been feasible due to bandwidth constraints in the past.
Verizon and other providers are spending heavily and betting that LTE will be the disruptor that they expect it to be. Get ready to get on the autobahn of informational superhighways! Hope your battery can keep up.
De-Centralization Opens Up Innovation – Nick Jordan, Smashing Boxes
“De-centralization of information will be an important result we will hopefully see in the next three to five years as a result of large organizations embracing new technology and thus opening many more channels for people to use to communicate and contribute.
Savvy users have already embraced news ways in which to consume and create content , through hardware innovation like smart phones and tablets, and the platforms that are used to distribute content like Twitter and Facebook.
What we will see in the near future is more adoption of these trends from habitual laggards such as government and politics. Technology provides us the ability to learn about the issues, take action, be educated, and know that what we do and think matters.
I hope that politicians and government bodies embrace the possibilities for mass input on a large scale.
When they do, our country will see greater participation in public life, which will lead to more innovation, more dialogue, more accountability, and eventually a more prosperous nation and economy. Imagine the possibilities!”
Tags: American Tobacco Campus, American Underground, De-Centralization, digital access everywhere, Durham, gaming transforms learning, Jaargon, Jason Massey Sustainable Industrial Solutions, Keval Mehta, NC, Nick Jordan, Smashing Boxes
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Joe Procopio By Joe Procopio
It’s always good to get a second chance.
Ask anyone involved in the startup game and they’ll tell you: Part of the makeup of a great entrepreneur is the ability to deal with failure. This ability usually comes, oddly enough, with actually having failed, at least once, on the way to success. It’s a conundrum of the game.
The North Carolina Research Triangle had an accelerator, very recently, and it was successful, and it closed up shop, which caused a lot of disappointment and heartbreak within the startup community. But it’s important to note that while Groundwork Labs will fill the void left by Launchbox in the American Underground in Durham, it’s not a replacement.
It’s something new, with new players, a new mission, and a new vision.
And the fact that the RTP gets another shot with the acceleration concept, that’s, well, lucky, to say the least.
How It Works
Groundwork Labs, much like your traditional accelerator, will select promising startups for a three month session and load them up with the standard foundational elements: space, advice, connections, mentoring, and the all-important $20,000 in walking around money.
They’re starting quickly out of the gate, Spring 2012, which means you should get your application in yesterday. They expect to work with between five and seven startups per session and run at least one and hopefully two sessions per year.
I actually got wind of the Groundwork Labs news about a week ago, but I had been sworn to secrecy. I’m not sure why they were so worried. I’m not that kind of journalist. I’m the other kind. The lazy kind.
Official word broke yesterday afternoon, which happened to be just hours before the monthly ExitEvent social I host for area entrepreneurs, which happened to coincide with the TechJournal Deck Party, in Raleigh, which happened to fall on the eve of Internet Summit 2011 at the Raleigh Convention Center, resulting in a Catalina Wine Mixer of startup tech marketing investor type people in one place. So I had access to a lot of opinion. Others I got to via emails. Disclaimer: There was no free beer involved in the solicitation of opinion.
And overall the opinion is very, very hopeful.
What Do You Think?
“Love it,” says iContact’s Aaron Houghton, “Durham deserves it and many passionate entrepreneurs will benefit from it.”
“Launchbox proved that having a local incubator is important to the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Robbie Allen, CEO of Automated Insights. “It really helps raise the profile of all startups in the area.”
James Avery, founder of Adzerk and a very passionate voice when Launchbox closed up shop is, well, excited again. “I am thrilled to see that Durham will once again host an accelerator. I love that John Austin is involved as I think he has done a great job with Joystick so far.”
John Who?
John Austin, Director of Joystick Labs, will also head the Groundwork effort. Before any of the gamers freak out, nothing is going to happen to Joystick. It will continue to operate independently, though it does get a boost in efficiency of shared resources. Joystick will get its next semester underway this summer, and the two efforts will continue to operate in leapfrog fashion.
I got a chance to sit down with John again yesterday. We hadn’t really caught up since he took the helm of Joystick right before this year’s East Coast Game Conference.
The two players in Groundwork Labs, Capitol Broadcasting and NC IDEA are very excited about it, according to Austin. There will be synergy between the entities with resources obviously coming from the Underground, as well as the possibility that some of the startups chosen for Groundwork will come from NC IDEA – even though there will be separation in the process, with two separate application programs, etc.
NC IDEA, the grant program that has a symbiotic relationship with VC firm Idea Fund Partners, and another organization I got to dig down into recently, is another positive. Beyond being the region’s best kept secret for early stage entrepreneurs, they’re entire mission is to aid the area in terms of building up a successful, thriving, early-stage ecosystem.
“I think this is an important piece of the puzzle for building a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in North Carolina,” says Lister Delgado, Founder and General Partner at Idea Fund Partners.
“It is another way to help attract entrepreneurial talent to the state, and to keep the resident talent here. Besides the money and the assistance that an accelerator can provide to the entrepreneurs participating, an accelerator is a great marketing tool for the community. That is why we are excited to be involved.”
Two Types of Investment
Austin backs this up, and notes that NC IDEA and Capitol Broadcasting, who owns and operates the American Tobacco Campus, have split the infrastructure costs from the investment in the companies. This model is much like how Joystick operates. The investors see the investment in the infrastructure of Joystick as an investment in the entrepreneurial community. Not a donation, per se, but with an expectation for a different kind of return.
This is the critical factor in the potential success of Groundwork. Capitol Broadcasting has a business interest in seeing it succeed, through the American Underground and several other initiatives they have operating in the startup ecosystem. As for NC IDEA, early-stage success here is what their mission is built upon. Groundwork is almost like an expansion of their program, a runway off of the grant money, or even just the runway when the money isn’t a critical factor.
This vested interest, skin in the game, if you will, from the funding parties, is designed to give Groundwork enough time to decide whether or not the accelerator will work. That, of course, is up to the companies selected, and in some sense the rest of here in the area already hard at work at making the region stick as an entrepreneurial hub.
So in that sense, Groundwork Labs is another good sign. Second chances are hard to come by, so you’ve got to jump on the opportunity when they do.
Zack Mansfield, VP at Square 1 Bank and manager of their startup assistance program Square Roots, sums it up nicely. “It’s exciting to see a new accelerator for a lot of reasons but the most significant is that if this region is serious about becoming a top hub for startups, we need more of just about everything – more capital, more entrepreneurs, and more people in the ecosystem supporting new ventures to help them grow.”
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup Automated Insights (formerly StatSheet). He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jprocoand read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Aaron Houghton, Adzerk, American Underground, Automated Insights, Capitol Broadcasting, Deck Party, Durham, East Coast Game Conference, Exit Event, Groundwork Labs, icontact, Internet Summit, Joe Procopio, John Austin, Joystick Labs, LaunchBox, NC, NC IDEA, Raleigh, Research Triangle, StatSheet
Posted in Columns, entrepreneurship, games, Internet/New Media, IT, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Monday, November 14th, 2011
 Just what are retailers using Facebook and Twitter for marketing doing succesfully?
We asked Link Walls, director of product management at ChannelAdvisor, a global e-commerce software provider that helps retailers sell more across online channels. Walls is hosting the social media marketing session at the Internet Summit Conference, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15-16, at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center.
Walls filled us in on some the trends ChannelAdvisor is seeing:
“Right now,” he says, “increasing brand recognition on Facebook and Twitter seems to be very valuable to retailers.”
He adds, “Since February, we’ve published the Facebook Commerce Index that tracks the fan counts of the top 500 online retailers that have Facebook pages. Through this we’ve been able to analyze how retailers are acquiring more fans and shoppers with a variety of promotions and campaigns. Retailers are really putting a lot of time and effort into engaging fans on Facebook, as Liking a brand gives them the ability to send you updates. ”
He also noted, “We’re closely watching Facebook and think that Facebook Commerce has great potential to become a new channel for online retailers.”
How Levi’s is belting its jeans on Facebook
We asked Walls what Facebook marketers are doing to sign up fans and keep them engaged.
“Within the Facebook Commerce Index (FBCI), we’ve been watching how retailers are campaigning to increase their fans, and each month it is interesting to evaluate the various ways that retailers are gaining attention—some focus on giveaways, others on community involvement and humanitarian efforts,” he said.
“One example that’s pretty interesting from the FBCI is Levi’s, which has secured a place in the Top 25 for months now. However, where most top social-savvy brands see a 1-5% increase each month, Levi’s clocked 9% growth in October.
“Whereas most Facebook pages are quickly becoming one-visit stops for users looking to score discounts or free products, Levi’s is setting itself apart by structuring its Facebook page around a global, long-term campaign to support Water.org, which has been the main focus of the page since it was created.
Narrowing page focus
“Narrowing its page focus has allowed Levi’s to build on its campaign with quality content, from lengthy documentaries of “Pioneers for Water” to celebrity endorsement videos and real-time pledges. By creating a movement to sustain customer engagement, Levi’s is more likely to increase brand awareness, and ultimately ROI, in the long-run.”
ChannelAdvisor helps more than 3,000 retailers, including renowned brands like Dell, Jockey and ULTA, sell more online with best-in-class software and services for eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, Google, shopping engines and more. It was recently recognized on Triangle Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work for 2011 and is a finalist for the North Carolina Technology Association Best Product/Service Technology Company Award.
To learn more about ChannelAdvisor’s global expansion, expert software offerings and career opportunities, visit booth #18 during the Internet Summit or visit www.channeladvisor.com.
ChannelAdvisor Director of Product Management Link Walls will host the Social Media Marketing session on November 16th at 4:20 p.m. EST.
Tags: ChannelAdvisor, Facebook marketing, Internet Summit, Link Walls, NC, Raleigh, social media marketing, social media marketing session, Twitter marketing
Posted in Carolinas, Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing, North Carolina, social media, Twitter | 2 Comments »
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Jason Caplain It isn’t the idea that’s paramount when it comes to investing in tech startups, says Jason Caplain, general partner with Southern Capitol Ventures. Management is paramount, he says, adding, “A great team wins.”
Raleigh-based Southern Capitol Ventures has invested in art.com, ChannelAdvisor, Batanga, DoublePositive, Reverb Nation, and eTix. Caplain is among the 120 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, digital media and marketing thought-leaders who will be presenting at the Internet Summit at the Raleigh Convention Center Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 15-16).
The Internet Summit, Caplain says, “Is unique. There really hasn’t been a national conference in our backyard. This is a national level conference you don’t have to fly to New York, Boston or the Valley to attend. It has a jam-packed lineup. People will hear a lot of good take-away tips on building their business. For us, it’s about building relationships and bringing them to our portfolio companies as potential partners or customers.”
Caplain is one of a handful of venture capitalists who will give entrepreneurs at the Internet Summit a chance for a fast five-minute one-on-one pitch.
Caplain offers the following tips for entrepreneurs making a fast pitch:
Explain what you do clearly and simply.
Talk about your background. Why of all the things you could be doing is this important?
Remember that the team is often more important than the idea.
He notes that the idea is to get the investor interested enough so that he says, “I want set up another time to meet with them.”
Caplain has heard fast-pitches before, if not ones limited to five minutes. He has participated in a number of “Calling All Entrepreneurs” events in which people get a fairly brief chunk of time to run ideas past real VCs looking for investment opportunities in the right companies.
In those, he says, “The ones who caught our attention talked about what prospects have said, or about customer feedback.”
Tags: five-minute fast pitch at Internet Summit, Internet Summit, Jason Caplain, NC, Raleigh, Southern Capitol Ventures, ways to do a fast pitch
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Money | Comments Off
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