Here are nine Twitter handles you should follow that will help you connect with the startup ecosystem. These people and organizations are active within Charlotte’s startup community making up a wide range of skills. If you are not already following them you’re missing huge resources to staying connected. Continue Reading →
Today we announce our updated Startup Resources. We will like to thank Cardinal Finance for sponsoring all of our Startup Tools. Greg Brown, the owner of Cardinal Finance, has many years of experience in accounting, private equity, venture capital and has been a CFO for many startups. He knows how to provide value to both entrepreneurs and funding sources. Below are some of the many changes to these resources. Continue Reading →
Southeast LinuxFest came to an end on Sunday. The three day event provided talks about Linux, general opensource topics, and software developer culture. On Saturday, Google provided a party which included nerd rap. In its 4th year, the event continues to grow. Check out more photos on our Facebook.
Update: Lenore, the founder/CEO of The Torch, says the company has not only finished developing their initial product but has 250 professionals using the product in private beta. After using feedback from the beta users, she will release the product to public beta later this year.
On the eve of Charlotte’s incubator demo day of this year, we have decided to look at the past class and see what the companies have been doing. We have previously posted about the needs of the newer class and what the current members have been doing the past few months. The past class was made up of Viddlz, Dataset.IO, Spatially, DogDashGame, The Torch, Flavma Inc. (iMedicare), and Autopilot. Unfortunately, Spatially and DogDashGame never made it out of the program. Below read what has happened to the rest of the startups. Continue Reading →
Big Council: Are You Building a Company of Endurance?: Will your company survive tough times? Are things enjoyable during the good times? Are company politics killing the fun of going to work daily? Company culture is an important topic that receives little discussion. Big Council brings together experienced presenters on June 4th to help you guide your company.
BuzZ June :: Selling Creative Concepts to C-suite Executives: Founders need selling skills, but designers as well. This month’s AIGA Charlotte Buzz event informs on how to sell to C-level executives. Early morning on June 5th it is time to learn. Continue Reading →
The demo day approaches for the organizations RevTech Labs and Queen City Forward’s inaugural Social Innovation Fellowship (SIF). For some, this is the first time they will pitch their companies in any public fashion and for others, they already have a refined message. At the beginning of the RevTech labs class, past and present members mentioned the benefit for having a dedicated point person through Kashea Hausler. Past members also mentioned the need for mentors to be more involved and connected. SIF companies benefited as well in having Christie Kahil as a point person. We will soon see whether these benefits will be realized. However, what have these businesses been doing? What are the weekly tasks that have led to this day? Continue Reading →
In a building sitting between Center City Charlotte and South End, lies a co-working space in an old warehouse where people silently build things. Tyler Ford, a past victim of downsizing, has created an climate where entrepreneurs can get things done. Located at 305 W Morehead Street, it resonates with the bustling of uptown and the design atmosphere of South End.
The desks placed here started from a need of Ford’s and today is called Industry Coworking. During the economic downturn, he decided to start a design firm Lightbulb Creative and needed a place to work. Tyler Ford opened Lightbulb Coworking four years ago, because he didn’t want to pay for office space and wanted to be in a place that inspired him. He combined his team from Lightbulb Creative plus used his network to rent a space in South End. That endeavor started the first sustainable co-working place in Charlotte. It had room for six offices and only ten people. Later he changed the name, outgrew that past space and now it lives with double the capacity. Industry Coworking has twelve offices and desk space for thirty people. This new co-working space opened in January and there is plenty of room for growth. Continue Reading →
A collection of tweets, links, and articles from Charlotte’s first two week Big Data themed hackathon.
HackathonCLT: The Big Data themed event that was a full two weeks in Charlotte comes to an end Sunday from 2PM to 5PM. Presentations and awards of projects will be at Packard Place. If you are not able to attend, keep track on Twitter via #HackathonCLT.
Big Council – “Developing Your Exit Strategy”: Terry Cox’s Big Council has a relevant event for entrepreneurs on May 20th at UNCC Center City building. Every high growth oriented entrepreneur should have an understanding of how their business may exit and this event provides that information. Prices range from $30 to $75, but this event will also have networking among like-minded founders. Continue Reading →
Southland conference in Nashville, TN has its last call for startup submissions for southeast startups. Southland is similar to SEVC because it allows entrepreneurs, tech media, and the investment community to network. Speakers of the event will be Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily, Fortune’s Shelley Dubois, and many more. There are more than 40 investment firms attending. Since it is in Nashville, there will also be BBQ, whiskey, and music.
Applications for startups close tomorrow May 15th. 20 companies will be chosen to pitch in front of investors while the rest will be part of “Startup Village”. The ticket price for the event is $300, if you would like to attend free of your startup. The event runs June 12th and June 13th. Detailed Block’s very own Steve Kwon will be attending so let him know if you will be there. We would love to see an entourage of Charlotte entrepreneurs attending.
If you have any questions or need more information, please email or call Special Projects Coordinator Maya Lochan at maya@launchtn.org.
HackathonCLT: The first two week big data hackathon in Charlotte has started. Team registration has closed, but the event still goes on. See what the teams create on May 19th or check out #HackathonCLT on Twitter.
Selling for Startups: A two part series “designed to help entrepreneurs who have passion and a product or service they need to take to market, but maybe feel a little unsure about the idea of going out and selling it.” It will be at Packard Place May 7th and May 8th. Continue Reading →
Last night developers, designers, presenters and onlookers packed into a room on the fourth floor of Packard Place to launch HackathonCLT. The event, created by Tresata founder Abhishek Mehta, will allow participants to utilize data from one of the event sponsors, Harris Teeter. For two weeks, teams of three will be creating tools that come from the company and presenting those projects on May 19th back at Packard Place. Mehta’s startup Tresata uses a lot of big data and says the goals of the Hackathon are to bring Charlotte’s talent together as well as highlight Charlotte as a big data hub.
In order to get started, potential teams must register, be no larger than three individuals, and use Harris Teeter data plus open source tools. Winners will be chosen on analysis of the data, corresponding visualization, and final day presentations. If you believe your team is up for the challenge, head over to the hackathon website.
[Photos from launch party captured by Steve Kwon]
Charlotte has a history of making unique decisions in order to provide education to its children. These decisions have forever shaped the city. Both Providence Day School and Charlotte Latin were founded on the same year as the controversial case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, which allowed busing. A more recent decision after busing has been closing down many failing schools and another is supporting the unique program Project L.I.F.T., which creates year-round education for children from the western part of Charlotte. The results of Project L.I.F.T. can only be guessed because the program starts this summer. Even local startups are joining the discussion with MyLearningID providing fraud prevention for online testing later this year.
Many startups continue to try to be the place online for local music events. Large organizations such as Live Nation continue to reign with very few companies growing beyond their local market. Scott Jermyn, believes the startup he founded, ShomoLive, can provide the winning formula for local music because he targets a different part of the music industry. Most businesses aspiring to solve the problem in the industry target the end of the funnel, the fans. Others aggregate the events and provide payment systems. ShomoLive is different because it supports the two essential characteristics of local music: the venue and the artist.
Connecting artists to venues is indispensable because both are what fans connect with most. Either fans check their local favorite venue or they attend to watch their favorite artist perform. Fans respond most to those great experiences – not the ticket buying process. Continue Reading →
E-commerce versus brick and mortar is still a reoccurring conversation on the web. Some venture capitalists say brick and mortar is dead or will be dead in ten years. Some retailers with brick locations such as JC Penney seem to support that view with their falling sales, revenue, and stock price. That company particularly attempted to bring in a retail expert, but fired him earlier this month. Other companies have gone against this investor sentiment with rising revenue and profits. Since its re-branding in 2010, Charlotte-based retailer Belk has seen its sales rise. The company also takes a unique approach by supporting new designers through contests. Crafting a unique identity seems to be working for the business. Belk does have an e-commerce website along with its many storefronts.
In the world of startups, clothing companies are sticking to e-commerce. Warby Parker, Etsy, and NastyGal are e-commerce first, with the first two recently experimenting with storefronts. NastyGal is valued at $100 million and will stay e-commerce only. Charlotte-based startup Abbeydale is creating its own path by creating the storefront first, but only now is it launching an e-commerce website. The company currently has a studio in Plaza Midwood and will launch a new store uptown and an e-commerce website in May. With sales and marketing experience, founder David Watkins feels a brick and mortar location is essential for his company’s culture. Continue Reading →
This Wednesday, I attended two events that provided platforms for founders to pitch their startups. The first event, TechBreakfastCLT, allowed startups to pitch for feedback before pitching to potential investors. The second event allowed startups to pitch directly to investors. I saw these tips in some form, after I reflected on these events. Investors were excited about current customers and the product demonstration or mentioned the need for more proof. Customers cooed over being connected with a story or speculated about the lack of understanding about their needs. Here are four helpful hints that can help make your pitches better. Continue Reading →
When one thinks about Charlotte’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, there are a few names that are immediately recognizable above the rest – Tim Cheadle’s technology consulting, Jim Van Fleet’s events and discussions, Bermon Painter’s ability to centralize designers and Terry Cox’s vast business knowledge and efforts with BIG have all been noticed in the community. Experienced entrepreneurs such as Hugh McColl, Igor Jablokov, Chris Halligan, Garth Moulton, and Jim Van Fleet still have a platform to talk about lessons learned instead of being criticized into silence by the internet mob. Essentially Charlotte’s startup ecosystem is in the fun stage where our consistent daily habits have a larger impact on defining the culture and direction of the community rather than the random opinions of “experts”.
As the most recent wave of Charlotte startups evolve, new faces will start voicing their views and having real impact on the direction of the ecosystem. Greg Brown is one of those voices that continues to add value after his actions have proven his effectiveness. Working with entrepreneurial-driven companies, Brown has taken roles as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO). For almost 20 years, Brown has provided knowledge and expertise to companies in various stages of development in order to encourage their growth. He hopes to continue applying his knowledge to startups in order to guide them through the phases that will help them develop. Continue Reading →
This is a map of more than 40 high growth companies and their locations in Charlotte. Clicking the startups tab will help you to see that most startups are located in Southend or Center City. The map automatically puts all startups without an address at the Square (Tryon and Trade intersection). Make sure to zoom in to see more business locations. If we could not verify addresses via online resources, we did not include the address hence so many being at the Square. Continue Reading →
This past Thursday after wrapping up the Southeast Venture Conference, two regional startup ecosystems came together and traded growlers of locally crafted beer to network. Bringing the Triangle’s relaxed energy to Charlotte’s startup community, Joe Procopio hosted an Exit Event Social at Charlotte’s Packard Place. The event was a success not only because it brought many regional startup communities together, but also allowed Charlotte’s local startups to network as well.
If you missed the event, check out the photos below and the Triangle’s review of the event. Continue Reading →
Though we’ve been silent since changing our focus to covering Charlotte high growth startups in February, it’s because we’ve started on an additional project to our writing. Quietly we have been working on creating a list of all the startups in Charlotte. The hope is to show that Charlotte has many new companies and an improving startup community, but we need your help. We have found lists and created our own, but it is a time consuming effort. To streamline the process, we have created a form. If you’re a Charlotte startup. please fill it out if you can. Continue Reading →
You may have noticed how quiet we have been over the past few weeks. Detailed Block is not dead. We have been working on a transition to a new focus. We care about improving how communities communicate and we want to do that in a way that has a meaningful impact. Many readers have told us that we have helped them find things to do and that the information we have shared on our website is relevant to them. However, we have seen very little meaningful impact. Through our articles, projects, and events we have neither “blown minds”, “turned worlds upside”, nor created a product a person needed. We have found the only correlation to increased readership and increased sharing has been writing more and for the inverse of that activity, writing less. Continue Reading →
The largest startup conference based in the southeastern part of the United States is coming to Charlotte March 13th and 14th. Southeast Venture Conference (SEVC) has grown significantly since its inception and next year it will be hosted at the Ritz Carlton. Going into its seventh year, SEVC offers the opportunity for 50 -60 southeastern startups to present themselves to venture capital and private equity investors. Early stage startups, pre-IPO late stage companies, and investors are not the only attendees to this conference. Previous speakers include business leaders such as CEO of SAS Jim Goodnight and Co-Founder of Netflix Marc Randolph. Continue Reading →
Last month there was a local food listening session at the Charlotte School of Law. The listening session was composed of three sections: Land Use & Zoning, Local Food Entrepreneurship, and Children Access to Local Food. Much was said at the Land Use & Zoning session, but a common thread was that North Carolina local food regulations are made for the rural parts of the state and less for urban areas such as Charlotte and the Triangle. These regulations would have to change in order for food systems to bloom.
In 2010, North Carolina was ranked the tenth most populous state and the eighth largest agricultural state. Even though that is a big opportunity for development, North Carolina regulators will continue to have a tough job ahead for making regulations for a local food system. The characteristics of such regulation will have to fit all geographical regions as well as strike a balance between urban and rural needs. Currently tax deferment laws are in favor of rural counties, but in order for cities to meet their local food system needs, these state laws will have to change. Continue Reading →
YouTube is the third most visited website on the web and users upload 72 hours of video every minute. Such activity resulted in more than 1 trillion views in 2011. Even though those statistics are striking, they do not include other top video sites such as MetaCafe, DailyMotion, or Hulu. Each video hosted on these websites must have video advertisements in order to monetize. Charlotte startup, Womadz, launched last week in order to keep pace with online video by providing the advertising from brands. Continue Reading →
Ultimately, we believe Charlotte residents need information before more business products and that is how we approached creating this company. We were not sure if Charlotte needed another news source so we focused on sharing great information to test that assumption. As Detailors, you responded by reading more and sharing our articles which means you like us. We are working hard behind the scenes providing the structure for a great company that will last longer than a few years and grow larger than the two of us.
Today, we launch our logo to support that long term goal of creating a lasting company. From day one, our mission has been to improve communication in communities and we believe our graphic represents that vision. Continue Reading →
This past weekend Charlotte Beer Blog teamed up with Historic South End to create the first Light Rail Beer Crawl. The event focused on four restaurants and breweries that support Charlotte craft beer. The event not only supported the local craft beer community, it also raised $500 for Friendship Trays. Beer was highlighted from Triple C Brewing Company, The Liberty with Olde Meck Brewery, as well as Four Friends Brewing Company. The crawl started at Triple C Brewing Company and included All American Pub and World of Beer while ending at Common Market.
The beer crawl drew many people from all over Charlotte. Rex Salisbury who lives and works uptown came to South End specifically to enjoy the craft beer. Ann Woo, a UNCC senior, has learned that Charlotte’s craft beer scene has grown in the past year and the beer crawl provided her the opportunity to learn more about the breweries’ beers. “I’ve wanted to try many of these beers and this is a good time. I want to be more knowledgeable in craft beer and this helps,” she said. Not only did the beer crawl allow for tasting many new beers, but it also allowed local residents to become acquainted with their local bars and restaurants. Continue Reading →
Hi Detailors,
The last 4 months have changed Detailed Block dramatically. Early in the year, this blog had a different name and a narrow vision. However, we have worked hard in transforming the blog and ourselves in order to provide you with useful information. Here is a quick progress report.
In August, Steve Kwon started writing for Detailed Block which has been great in transforming the vision and direction of the blog. Then September arrived and the DNC rolled through Charlotte. We made more changes which included changing the name from Detailed Culture and updating the website with functionality. This new functionality included a new theme, new events calendar, and new distribution tools. October was internally called “research month” because we tested many ideas to find out what you would respond to and what we could scale as a two-man team. You will see and hopefully enjoy the results over the next few weeks and months. Finally, this past month has been more strategic with planning and meetings, but no less important in providing you a great informative tool to use in Charlotte.
When coming up with financing to start a business some individuals turn to friends and family while others turn to business plan competitions. This initial pool of money gives entrepreneurs the ability to pay for supplies, leases, licenses and other startup necessities. For social entrepreneurs there are not many business plan options because their businesses focus on social benefits above financial and few financial backers see a benefit to that route. SEED20, short for Social Entrepreneurs Empowered, is a business plan competition created by Social Venture Partners Charlotte (SVPC) for entrepreneurs who want to create a socially driven business. SVPC is an organization who wants to commit to long-term social change in Charlotte and feels SEED20 is a step in that direction. Continue Reading →
Before the Democratic National Convention (DNC) multiple articles had similar themes that criticized the culture of Charlotte. Those writers essentially asked, “What is and where is Charlotte, North Carolina?” Many of the articles attempted to figure out what Charlotte was “known for”. The writers questioned whether this city had a recognizable music scene, food culture, or progressive viewpoint. Those writers could not latch on to something quickly and simply labeled us a banking town. Then that history had to be explained even though the city has moved past that phase. In a city with such a disconnected community, Charlotte is only now framing an identity. Three organizations – Charlotte Video Project, The PPL and Packard Place – stood out and started to frame that image during the DNC. They helped thousands of visitors feel welcomed while in Charlotte. They did it quietly with a large amount of hard work and unique thinking without fanfare. Continue Reading →
The energy industry is a big focus for Charlotte leaders. Charlotte is taking such a large interest in the sector that it is calling itself an energy hub. The city’s entrepreneurial community is not waiting to fall behind. CLT Joules, an energy startup accelerator, is now accepting applications for its inaugural class of Spring 2013. The application period is nearly halfway over. It opened November 15th and will run until December 15th. Continue Reading →
