Check out this final installment to test your knowledge of Nooners past, muse about plans for the holidays, and enjoy a certain someone being back on the air (ok fine, it was Pete). You’ll even be treated to some old holiday special snippets, all of which have unimpeachable production value.

(Important note: Despite the GrepBeat Godfather’s prediction that—as befits a series finale—someone involved would die before the end of the show, we all made it out okay.)

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

The main event was an interview with Victoria Fritz, who beamed in from D.C. Victoria is the Founder and CEO of Chapel Hill-based Baby Bumps—a startup that connects couples with surrogates (sort of like “Hinge for surrogacy,” as she once framed it for us). She filled us in on her personal journey, the need for Baby Bumps, and how the service is helping couples—with a brief foray into Friends talk in the middle.

Today’s main course was American Underground Executive Director Tim Scales. Tim spoke about the difference between AU and other “coworking” spaces like WeWork, indulged us in a place-of-origin guessing game, and filled us in on his journey from theater major (fun fact, yours truly was a theater studies minor, but this isn’t about me), to Duke MBA, to a career in Startupland.

Somehow this led to the revelations that Joe believes he’s going to die at 86 and Kaitlyn was a talented viola…ist… in high school. Evidently there’s now potential for a future musical episode on which Kaitlyn plans her instrument and I honk through an oboe reed.

Finally we got to the important part and welcomed this week’s guest: Emily Foster, the Founder and CEO of Alpacasews.

Emily took us through her journey: from a pursuit of meteorology driven by a love of clouds, through the Andrews Launch Accelerator program at NC State, and ultimately to adorable plushie designs that have fueled her startup (and earned her internet fame).

She also teased some Black Friday activity and an upcoming “12 Days of Plushies” promotion you’ll want to learn more about. It has to do with helping cats.

Then, our trio of co-hosts welcomed this week’s guest, Annie Combs. Annie is the Co-Founder and CEO of ECPC Travel, which she describes as the “eco-friendly, socially conscious Expedia.”

Annie filled us in on her startup’s mission to facilitate conscious travel in a way that simultaneously helps travelers find what they want and uplifts destination communities. From there, it was a four-way conversation covering all kinds of travel experiences and goals (including the “sick girls trips” Annie finds a chunk of her customer base enjoying!).

Last and most importantly, Joe and Melissa welcomed Heather McWhorter, who is the Director of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at UNC-Wilmington. Heather filled us in on the history of CIE and what it’s doing these days for the entrepreneurial community in and around Wilmington (including a focus on the blue economy). The group also worked in some conversation about ‘80s perm jobs and, naturally, Zanzibar.  

After that we got to the highlight of the episode as the hosts were joined by Jay Bigelow, the Head of Founder Engagement at CED. Fresh off CED’s aforementioned birthday bash, Jay discussed how the 40-year milestone applied not only to CED but to the entrepreneur community as a whole. Accordingly, he delivered a lot of interesting insights on how (and why) things have evolved over the years.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Then they welcomed this week’s guest: Wilmington entrepreneur and OpiAID Founder/CEO David Reeser (who joined us at our launch event in Wilmington Thursday evening!).

David filled us in on OpiAID’s ability to use data science to make addiction treatment safer and more effective. Built on the idea that everyone has “infinite and inherent worth,” the company combines electronic health records with real-time biometric data to provide clinicians with timely, actionable insights—leading to better outcomes for patients with substance use disorders.

Then yours truly popped in with a quick update on the week at GrepBeat.com. We touched on this week’s episodes of the Monday Mix and In The Soup, recapped our written features on local startups Brainery Labs and Roboro, and talked a bit about the Wednesday evening Happy Hour GrepBeat hosted alongside the American Underground.

Rounding into the heart of the episode, Joe and Melissa welcomed this week’s guest: Daniel Summers, the CEO and Founding Partner of Wilmington-based Electronic Lab Logs.

Joe and Melissa then welcomed this week’s guest: Atlanta-based David Cummings, who has founded or co-founded 10 startups, and is the CEO of Atlanta Ventures. He was also one of the first, lead angel investors in Calendly!

David—who fortunately managed to stay safe and dry as the storms rolled through Georgia—delivered some impromptu Atlanta history before talking us through some of his latest projects. Long story short, these involve buying up a significant portion of South Downtown Atlanta with the aim of turning it into a kind of sprawling startup campus. Somehow Melissa’s old punk rock-ish phase came up, too.

They also touched on a yoga studio sliding into some former Bronto space at the Tobacco Campus. (Joe seemed to have some thoughts.)

Once all that was done, they got to the heart of the episode and welcomed in Mark Littlewood, the Founder and CEO of the Business of Software (BoS) Conference.

(P.S: Mark was also generous enough to provide a discount code for our readers/audience...)

Then your friendly neighborhood editor popped in with a temperamental green-screen background and a brief update on all things GrepBeat.com. We covered the Monday Mix, our first Book Club recap, In The Soup, and, naturally, our (viral?) post on Taylor Swift update app Swift Alert.

Once we wrapped up the internal recap, Joe and Melissa welcomed this week’s guest, Ryan O’Donnell. Formerly Co-Founder and CEO of EmployUs, Ryan is now the Founder and CEO of Sunlight. This newly launched startup (which we wrote about recently) aims to “upgrade our social safety net’s operating system,” beginning with an effort to reduce the amount of time kids stay stuck in foster care. Ryan—a former foster parent himself—explained how attorneys, case workers, and parents can use Sunlight’s tool to navigate the process.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Joe and Melissa provided a general update on all things GrepBeat, a few takes on the news, and a bit of banter. Then they welcomed the season’s first guest, Chris Geiss of Seguno, who last Nooner‘d with us in 2021.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

For those who may not have heard, there will be a more extensive farewell party for Pete, dubbed GrepBeat Pete’s Irish Goodbye, at Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub on July 11 from 5-7pm. You can register here.

In the meantime, you can watch this latest episode of the Nooner on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Pete and Not Joe were then joined by Rob Creighton, the Founder and CEO of Windlift, who beamed in from his ocean sports equipment’s retirement suite. (It’s the equipment that’s retired, not Rob.) One of GrepBeat’s 2023 Startups to Watch—and the subject of a past feature—Raleigh-based Windlift is introducing a new approach to harnessing wind energy.

Specifically, the startup is using autonomous, tethered aircraft to fly hundreds of feet into the air and function somewhat like wind turbines—only without the giant, expensive pillars in the ocean. Rob filled us in on the journey up till now and what’s next for Windlift.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Then Joe and Pete welcomed Vince Beese, the Founder and CEO of Sales HQ. This RTP-based startup, which was the subject of a GrepBeat feature earlier this year, has developed a “co-selling” space as a twist on the co-working concept. Vince gave us a fresh update on Sales HQ and explained the need for a community for sellers today—particularly in the wake of the pandemic.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Once that was determined, Charles Douthitt joined in from the green room-slash-mythical nap studio downstairs. Charles is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chapel Hill-based Virnika, which is using an AI-powered call system to improve the restaurant ordering process. The startup, which received an investment from our sister company Primordial earlier this year and was the subject of a GrepBeat feature, is taking some of the weight off restaurant owners’ shoulders by providing a seamless way to handle high demand—without burdening employees.

To hear more about Virnika’s approach as it nears the launch of its beta customers, watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Then they welcomed Dr. Beth Goldstein and Elianna Goldstein to the show. This mother-daughter duo co-founded Modern Ritual Health, which applies a telehealth approach to dermatology. The Chapel Hill-based startup—which GrepBeat profiled earlier this year—uses a network of dermatologists to assess patients remotely and expedite care if recommended.

To learn more about the Goldsteins’ approach and hear the latest on Modern Ritual Health, watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

Once Joe got stretched out and he and Pete reflected on the (hopefully-not-too-prescient) 2013 Joaquin Phoenix movie Her, they brought Rob on to talk about the past and future of Organic Transit.

Rob recapped the story of how he sold and eventually reacquired Organic Transit. Then he delved into the ELF, with a particular emphasis on the safety of the unique vehicle. For bonus content, we also learned what defines a bike, and even heard teases of some new, forthcoming Organic Transit vehicles.

To hear those teases yourself, and get a full update on Organic Transit and the future of the ELF, watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or on Facebook here.

• He met his wife when they were both students at the North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics.
• He met his two Opine co-founders—Charlie Duong and Austin Kelleher—when they were all early employees at Morrisville-based unicorn JupiterOne.
• He and the other Opine-rs are the reason there are bottles of Solyent in the downstairs fridge at GrepBeat/Colopy Ventures/Primordial World HQ, which they work out of once or twice a week.

For much more on Akash and Opine—such as what the startup does—you should watch the full episode here.

Following said check-in, Joe and Pete welcomed Dr. Rachel Draelos, Duke’s first-ever dual MD/CompSci PhD and the Founder and CEO of Durham-based healthtech startup Cydoc.

Cydoc aims to enable AI in healthcare, with a specific goal of addressing the inefficiencies of outdated medical software. The startup’s first product is an AI tool that can save doctors more than 30 hours a month on history-taking and note-writing, and by extension improve the quality of patient care.

You can watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

It turned out that today’s guest—Ardis Kadiu, the Founder and CEO of Raleigh-based Element451—grew up on a farm in Albania that included some chickens. Though he wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t a “chicken farm” per se.

Element451 is a CRM (customer relationship management) and engagement platform for higher education, helping colleges and universities market themselves to and communicate with prospective and current students. 

You can watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

This week’s guest was Dr. Jared Pelo, a, ER doc by training and a serial entrepreneur with a successful exit under his belt from his previous startup, iScribes, which is what first brought him to the Triangle from Lynchburg, Va. He is now the Co-Founder of RTP-based Bionic Health alongside fellow serial entrepreneur (and Grep-a-palooza 3 panelist) Robbie Allen.

Bionic Health uses AI and other tech to help patients optimize their health, rather than just treat illness if it arises, like much of traditional health care. Of course, Dr. Pelo explains it much better than that, as you’ll see.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

After the break, Joe and Pete welcomed guest Will Bowen, the CEO of Raleigh-based Givebacks, a platform for schools and nonprofits to manage fundraising and charitable giving. We first profiled the startup (under its previous name, MemberHub) in November, 2019, and named it to our inaugural Startups To Watch list in 2021.

This week’s guest was Zakiya Alta Lee-Hill, a Senior Associate at Chapel Hill-based IDEA Fund Partners. We talked about how her varied background—everything from dancing for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks to running a business to train aspiring dancers for pro teams—affects the way she evaluates founders and their businesses.

We also talked about her (multiple) names and the names of Joe’s kids, her daughter and her soon-to-be-son scheduled for a June arrival.

Joe and Pete welcomed guest Archie O’Connor, the Co-Founder (with Chris Heivly) of Raleigh-Durham Startup Week. RDSW returns for Year Three next week as a four-day, all-free event from Tuesday-Friday, April 9-12. The first two days are in Durham before shifting to Raleigh for the last two days.

Archie recommends checking out the RDSW site and then downloading the event’s Whova app to make the most of your time. You can also check out our full preview of the event here.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Our guest was Susan Mahlburg, the Founder and CEO of Durham-based DiffyQ, an edtech platform that helps teachers better focus on the needs of individual students. We first profiled DiffyQ last October, shortly after she earned a $10K MICRO grant from NC DEA and shortly before we saw her pitch as part of CED’s GRO Incubator Demo Day.

Also in 2023: Mahlburg participated in the Launch Chapel Hill accelerator and finished her MBA at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler, to go with her doctorate in education. Big year!

That included with our guest Ivan Barajas Vargas, the CEO and Co-Founder of Raleigh-based MuukTest, which automates software testing for B2B customers; we first profiled them in August, 2019. Vargas was one of 120-some founders who pitched at Venture Connect. (See our Day One highlights stories from the morning session, including a picture of Vargas onstage; and the afternoon session.)

MyMatR Founder and CEO John Starke (briefly) played the bagpipes, which he does as part of two groups. This is their busiest season with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and then various Highland Games.

John also talked plenty about MyMatR, of course. The Raleigh-based startup (we first profiled them in June 2021) is putting the finishing touches on its next-generation version of its smart waste container that automatically separates recycling from regular trash while providing customers with valuable data. MyMatR is a cohort startup of GrepBeat sister company Primordial.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Fortunately, guest Nate Branscomb popped in shortly after that to get this episode of The Friday Nooner—sponsored by Whitley Recruiting—back on track.

Nate is the Co-Founder of Cary-based BCombs, which is a CRM (customer relationship management) software platform designed for nonprofits, especially those that mentor youth. BCombs has won both a MICRO ($10K) and SEED ($50K) grant from NC IDEA. We first profiled the startup in December, 2022.

Lee talked about how he first got into recruiting, then out of it, then back into it for good, as well as how his firm specializes in recruiting sales professionals for SaaS and technology companies in the Triangle and Southeast.

The fintech helps small businesses—especially those owned by minorities and women—access capital quickly. The startup was founded by Andrea’s husband, Charles, and his two sisters, Angel and Cheryl.

On this week's episode, they spoke with Matt Schmidt, the Founder and CEO of Durham-based Peoplelogic. Typically selling into the HR departments of organizations with between 100-1,000 employees, the startup bills itself as the AI for more effective scaling.

Matt was also a Co-Founder of Triangle-based DZone/Devada, where he spent 15+ years before leaving to start Peoplelogic.

For those who like something new and different each week, guest Dezbee McDaniel more than fits the bill. He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of RTP-based CliniSpan Health, a 2022 GrepBeat Startups To Watch selection that we first profiled in March of the same year.

Before coming back to work at his alma mater, Brennen previously lead research about dis/misinformation concerning coronavirus, 5G and AI at the University of Oxford.

You can watch the full live episode on Youtube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Before founding Arpio, Neumann previously worked for Cary-based Bandwidth and Microsoft.

You can watch the full live episode on YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

This show is also, sadly, Jackie (Sizing) from GrepBeat's last, as she ventures on to the next part of her career. The GrepBeat crew misses her already.

You watch the episode live on Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn.

Designed originally for scheduling staffs at music venues and restaurants, just before the pandemic the startup found a niche with senior care facilities that it has leaned into fully and now accounts for about 80 percent of SchedulePop’s revenue.

Ben’s career took plenty of twists and turns before then as well. We get into it all.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

The GrepBeat team put a lot of work into these and really hope you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed making them. Or even more!

You can watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

We also discussed last night’s GrepBeat Happy Hour held at Lonerider’s Durham location and sponsored by Fourscore Business Law; see pictures from the event and take a crack at our holiday-themed trivia questions here.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here and Facebook here.

GrepBeat Godfather Joe Colopy has souped up a program for our internal admin site that uses ChatGPT to summarize GrepBeat stories in a few bullet points that are set at a first-grade level of reading comprehension. The results can be pretty cute.

We then tried it live with the Sept. 21 profile story we wrote about Durham-based Keebler Health, the startup led by today’s guest, Isaac Park. In this case the summary was pretty far off what Keebler Health does, but that’s less because it wasn’t an accurate summary of the story and much more because Keebler Health—which is less than a year old—has already changed quite a bit in the past few months. For all the details, you’ll need to watch/listen to the episode.

You can watch on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Bernard discussed how LoanWell—which bills itself as the “Squarespace for lenders”—pivoted from its B2C roots to its current B2B SaaS solution for community-based lenders; how the startup has benefited from the support of NC IDEA and other ecosystem members; and whether he might buy GrepBeat gear from the ForeverGrep store as a birthday gift for his daughter, who is turning four tomorrow. (Spoiler: he was decidedly non-committal on that last point.)

You can watch the full live episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Eighteen years ago, Pater and Andy Ives met at a Fair Trade Club meeting at UNC-Chapel Hill. Much has happened to them since then including getting married and, over the past five years, turning their goal of creating ethically sourced goods into their own startup called Made Trade.

That all makes Austin an ideal guest for this week’s episode of the Friday Nooner, sponsored by Big Pixel. Of course before welcoming Austin, the GrepBeat team had to “settle” an in-office dispute over the recent creation of three new holidays: Grep-o-ween, Greps-giving, and Grep-mas.

Watch the full episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

John has been helping people shape their future for many years, working with esteemed companies such as Lenovo, Bose, GE and IBM to develop new strategies and open up new doors for their businesses.

They were joined by Keith Daniel, the co-founder and managing director at Resilient Ventures. It’s an early-stage capital fund that invests in African American founders of high-growth businesses. Based in Durham, Resilient Ventures’ mission is to close the wealth gap, achieve economic justice and racial equity in venture.

That was one big takeaway from this week’s Friday Nooner, sponsored by Triangle dev shop Big Pixeland hosted by Pete and two other people who don’t even have a Wikipedia page. (OK, their names are Joe and Jackie. And yes, Pete really does have a Wikipedia page.)

We were also reminded today that Joe certainly doesn’t lack for focus on Vespas. He spent most of yesterday picking up his second Vespa in Virginia; apparently he needed to drive out of state because it was one of only two available Vespas in the country in a new blood orange color.

You can—and should—learn about all about the above and much more by watching or listening to the full episode.

You can watch on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Meanwhile Pete was wearing a red GrepBeat T-shirt per usual, but this wasn’t one of “his” but rather a new shirt he took out our box of swag—and was planning to put back in after the show. That created all sorts of controversy.

Jackie had a cool-looking background that seemed random, but she somehow cleverly connected it to our guest: Henry Woodbridge, the Founder and CEO of the Undecided App. Undecided helps high school students and their parents navigate the college selection and application process. (We first profiled the Durham-based startup in June.)

You can watch the whole episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

Pete, Joe and Jackie welcomed guest Daisy Magnus-Aryitey, the Co-Executive Director of Durham-based nonprofit Code The Dream, which offers free coding classes to students from under-represented background and also operates as a dev shop. Daisy’s first connection to Code The Dream was as one of its early students in 2015 before returning several years later to help lead the organization.

One highlight: the quartet mused as to how they’d weather the (inevitable?) takeover by our robot overlords. Some are more confident than others on their ability to survive.

You can watch the whole episode on LinkedIn here or Facebook here.

We dive deep into BBQ sauce wars—Eastern vs. Western—and wonder why NC TECH revealed its 10 Startups To Watch on the same day we had scheduled our own list release. Hmmm.

This episode is sponsored by Big Pixel, a Triangle-based company that builds world class custom software and amazing apps.

Pete, Joe and Jackie were a little worried about potential rust from the summer break, but it didn’t take long before they were bantering-slash-bickering just like old times. Fortunately, Baxter joined about halfway through to elevate the proceedings.

DeShawn recounted some “glory days” as an undergrad at NC State as it spun up its entrepreneurship program, and later spun things forward by explaining how the ongoing shift toward hybrid work environments presents a major opportunity for Coworks’ software platform for managing shared work spaces.

Thanks again to our sponsor Hutchison law firm. The Friday Nooner will return on Friday, Sept. 1.

Previously, Abbak led Fantasy Life, a free app giving the sports community a competitive advantage with advice, reports and the fastest breaking news alerts in the industry. He also co-founded and led New York-based Paired Media.

He has previously co-founded TekPub, which allows developers to learn from high-quality screencasts. He has written books for O'Reilly, Wrox, Microsoft Press, and he acts as a startup advisor and investor.

Visit their website: https://zoee.com/

Archie was featured in our latest edition of 'The Download'. Read here: https://lnkd.in/gHN-iBHb

Make sure to subscribe to our twice-a-week newsletter to keep up to date with all things Triangle tech!

Baileys launched the company alongside her husband Nick back in 2019. Prior to BEL, she worked full-time at Raleigh-based software unicorn Pendo where she was ultimately the Director of Growth.

Read our Bake Eat Love feature story from 2022: https://grepbeat.com/2022/11/17/ralei...

Based in the Triangle, Offline is a restaurant subscription service that encourages you to explore your city and try something new. Tune in this Friday and put your questions in the comments.

With nearly two decades of direct investment experience, Gregg has an impressive portfolio of investments in venture capital, private equity, and public markets across multiple sectors. Come join us on the live stream and tap into Gregg's extensive wealth of knowledge.

Get an inside look into the technology that makes it the easy button for pediatricians to keep up with their patients and families, as well as Lucy's incredible journey of building Social Cascade after working at Cary software development company SAS for over a decade.

Stay up-to-date with everything Triangle tech by subscribing to our twice-a-week email newsletter. Click here.

Located in Charlotte, NC, RevTech Labs is geared toward the developer community and provides a place for tech startups to launch. It has three component programs: the Accelerator, the Incubator, and QCFinTech. The company hosts two conferences a year including Venture 135, which is arguably the largest venture event in the southeast. 

Dan began his career working with several corporations until he decided to start his own business (or businesses). Prior to RevTech Labs, he co-founded fintech unicorn Red Ventures, as well as three other startups that made the Inc. 500 list. He also launched an entrepreneurship center called Packard Place in Charlotte. Tune in to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey, RevTech Labs, etc. 

Having recently opened an office in Raleigh, mpro5 is a leader in customized mobile workforce and field service management software solutions. As a fundraising, sales and marketing strategist, Mark has led teams at early-stage B2B companies including Vector Textiles, OpenRange Land, ExLattice and Entigral Systems.

Through their powerful combination of competitive grants and programs, and a network of strategic partners, NC IDEA is committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina. Amy leads the organization's grant programs for entrepreneurs, including SEED ($50K), MICRO ($10K). She also serves as an advisor and coach for startups. Prior to her role, Amy worked at The Nature Conservancy.

The husband-and-wife duo launched Durham startup Built Story, which operates as a marketplace for self-guided tours. Earlier this year, the company was one of 50 Latino-founded startups selected by Google for the company's Google For Startups Latino Founders Fund.

Holly Spring startup Givefinity offers a volunteer tracking mobile app. The app makes it easy for anyone to give back, gain experience, and be the change in their community. Prior to launching Givefinity alongside her husband, Amy worked as a special event coordinator for JDRF International. 

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Duke I&E serves students across Duke, connecting them to courses, co-curricular programs, mentoring, resources, community, and intellectual leadership. Additionally, Jamies teaches at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and she co-founded Impact Engine, an investment firm that specializes in growing companies that help improve education, health, economic empowerment, and the environment.

With over 35 years of experience creating and building software technology companies, David has become one of the Triangle's most active angel investors. He is a serial entrepreneur, writer, advisor, and early-stage fund manager. His work includes coaching and mentoring startup founders, plus managing a free accelerator with the Town of Cary. David also founded and runs Cofounders Capital, a successful early-stage seed fund for startups.

Raleigh Founded is a missioned-power co-working space and office suites designed to empower, foster and cultivate companies that produce long-term growth and positive social impact. Members have access to all four of their locations: Gateway, Warehouse, Centennial, and Capital Club. Lauren is also a licensed real estate agent, and she previously worked for IXL Learning as a teacher membership specialist.

Durham-based Stashpad is the developer's notepad, aiming to be the fastest note taking experience ever. With it, users can save their snippets, thoughts, and notes, which are instantly searchable and automatically organized. Prior to launching Stashpad, Cara was a software engineer at Twilio Inc.

The American Underground is a startup hub and community of entrepreneurs, providing content, connection, and a healthy workspace. Tim was previously AU's Director of Growth. He also worked for the Caktus Group.

Haley has been working with the NC State entrepreneurial team for the past seven years. She also teaches courses designed to promote entrepreneurial thinking and heads up the K-12 summer program. Prior to her current position, she was the Director of Experiential Learning at NC State Entrepreneurship. She led the Albright Entrepreneurs Village and the Garage team, supporting student entrepreneurs through the learning community. She also has more than ten years of experience working in higher education, including student programming, instruction, retention, and business consulting

Based in Raleigh, Allstacks is a predictive analytics platform for software organizations. The company is an NC IDEA award recipient and was a part of Techstars Austin 2018. Before Allstacks, Hersh co-founded CertiRx Corporation, which develops and commercializes platform technology for authenticating and verifying high-value products and documents.

Raleigh startup Green Places makes sustainability something every business can achieve by simplifying impact and providing easy tools and solutions from climate experts. Launched in 2021, the startup can calculate a company’s carbon footprint in less than 60 seconds and invests in carbon-negative projects on behalf of the company to offset its carbon emissions.

Prior to Green Places, Alex previously co-founded the Atlanta hospitality-industry software startup Gather Technologies, which was acquired in 2017.

Based in Cary, Cloud Giants is a Salesforce Consulting Partner that helps organizations maximize their investment in the world’s #1 CRM platform. Kelly built a team of problem solvers who guide organizations through the most complex business challenges their own teams are facing. Before Cloud Giants, Kelly worked at Red Hat and Intervolve.

Pendo is a product analytics platform that helps software companies develop products that resonate with customers. Some of the world's leading software companies and digital enterprises—such as Verizon, OpenTable, and LabCorp—use the platform. Before Pendo, Todd worked at Rally Software Development, which he led through its public offering. He also co-founded 6th Sense Software, which was later acquired.

The BlueRecruit platform is the future of skilled trade talent. Job seekers create profiles that highlight their experience, certifications, and licenses. Employers can then execute targeted searches for their individual talent needs. Prior to launching Blue Recruit, Rich worked at Alliance Careers and served in the US Army.

Raleigh's K4Connect is a mission-centered company that integrates the latest advances in technology to serve and empower older adults and those living with disabilities. The company has raised over $25M in venture capital including investors like Intel Capital and Sierra Ventures. Prior, Scott was the co-founder and former CEO of AuthenTec, a leading provider of fingerprint sensors and security solutions. It was acquired by Apple in 2012.

Matt recently launched Plum CoOwnership, a platform to make vacation homeownership more accessible to the average American family. However, he is no stranger to the Triangle tech scene. Matt was an early employee at Durham-based Bronto Software, then the Co-Founder and CEO of predictive marketing startup Windsor Circle, which was acquired by Output Services Group in 2018.

Launched in 1984, CED is a North Carolina non-profit organization that focuses on connecting regional entrepreneurs with resources to launch a successful business.

This episode was recorded live on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021.

This episode was recorded live on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.