I'm going to level with you. I've never really been too sure about what the deal was with Bull City Forward. BCF sprang up at a time when it seemed like every five minutes there was a new super-niche website with a focus on what was going on in Durham. In fact, it got so crowded that I put a fledgling ExitEvent on hold while I went and did other things until, legend has it, a joke brought it back to life one year ago.
It's not that I don't "like" Bull City Forward, I think it's awesome. All the people I've met there have been fantastic, I'm totally behind its mission -- “to enable entrepreneurs to create positive change” -- I mean, who isn't behind that (evil entrepreneurs, that's who). And Jon Leonardo, who is now working with them, is not only one of the nicest guys I know but also one of the hardest working.
I used to believe that the reason I never got Bull City Forward is that I never got social entrepreneurship, the do-gooder offshoot of startups. Again, don't picture me as the penultimate capitalist, I've always been a proponent of the argument that bootstrap and slow growth is much preferable to idiots in hoodies.
But to me, a mission of enabling entrepreneurs to create positive change is not social entrepreneurism, it's entrepreneurism -- minus porn startups, nuclear missile startups, and Klout. I've always thought the distinction to be superfluous.
Now I'm thinking that maybe the reason I don't get it is because I don't know anything about it. And go figure, because this is why I do 99% of what I do. I'm not much of a reader (I know, right?), I'm more of a doer. --Read On
When VCHub's Jeff Boardman was working on refining his startup back in October 2010, he happened on the RTP New Tech Meetup, itself a fledgling idea looking to take hold at a time when, if you can believe this, there weren't too many places to talk about your startup in the RTP.
What he got was a bunch of valuable feedback from a savvy audience (or so he says, I mean, I was there holding down the savvy curve), one that included technologists, entrepreneurs, marketers, and so on.
Started by Roger Smith while he was working on a SugarCRM, New Tech eventually grew into a series of speaking engagements -- I saw Southcap's Jason Caplain and Intersouth's John Glushik speak on separate occasions -- and public pitches/demos, with feedback given by anyone who attended.
Then, like a lot of startup related events, it kind of faded out over time.
It's back with a vengeance, as roughly 55 people showed up. Registration actually filled up pretty quickly, based some on the history of the event and some on Jeff's rebooting effort. --Read On
So twice last night at the ExitEvent Social I got pulled aside to have a quick and quiet conversation that boiled down to asking me if it was cool if such-and-such group held a get-together for entrepreneurs in the area.
My response: "I'll see you in court."
No. Honestly my response was somewhere between puzzled and excited.
Since ExitEvent is a labor of love, I have no qualms about others in the area doing the same thing. In fact, I'm sure I'm stepping on any number of toes in some theoretical sense every time we tap the kegs or I slap some new content on the site. It's human nature, especially in the throes of business, to identify and, I don't know, hate the competition.
You hear a lot about two types of startups in this town -- the young and scrappy early stagers, those who are just making their mark with a seed round and a dream, and successful exiters, the Red Hats and the iContacts and what have you.
It's rare that we shine a light on the hard-working money-makers, because those stories just aren't that sexy. Yet. Even in drama-starved RTP, where we're always caught somewhere between up-and-coming and best-place-to-quietly-grow-old, we still get our heads turned by new and flashy or huge wads of cash.
America!
But CED has an award program that portends to trump sexy, shining the proverbial spotlight (and celebrating with a fancy-pants $125 a plate dinner) on 25 North Carolina startups who are in the vaunted second stage. --Read On
The buzz keeps building around Matt Williamson and Windsor Circle. After a breakout performance and whirlwind afterglow at February's Southeast Venture Conference, the Durham eCommerce integration platform follows up on May 24th as one of 26 selected early-to-growth stage startups with a five-minute audience with a room full of investors and advisors.
Some big names are on the list to present at this year's Capitol Connection - including recent hype machines Sawbuck and Wedding Wire, but Windsor Circle is the only RTP area company in the mix. --Read On
Practice?!?
So twice last night at the ExitEvent Social I got pulled aside to have a quick and quiet conversation that boiled down to asking me if it was cool if such-and-such group held a get-together for entrepreneurs in the area. 
You hear a lot about two types of startups in this town -- the young and scrappy early stagers, those who are just making their mark with a seed round and a dream, and successful exiters, the Red Hats and the iContacts and what have you.
The buzz keeps building around Matt Williamson and Windsor Circle. After a breakout performance and whirlwind afterglow