The biggest news in the Triangle’s startup economy Tuesday came when The American Underground disclosed the acquisition of Chris Heivly’s Big Top reverse job fair and recruiting platform. The AU’s top exec talks with The Skinny about why AU made the deal.

With the move, The AU expands from offering co-location office space and related services to more events and news focused on talent recruitment through The AU subsidiary ExitEvent.

  • How does adding job fairs and job recruitment add to the mission of American Underground?

The consistent refrain from our scaling teams is that finding good talent is of equal importance to raising capital. Chris was obviously on to something with the reverse pitch format and the technology component to BigTop is particularly intriguing as an efficient way to match talent with opportunities.

We see big things in building a massive database of talented individuals across North Carolina and the Southeast interested in working for some of the best startups.

  • How does this help startups and emerging companies?

Startups need a cost-efficient way to find the best candidates, even candidates that might not be actively seeking a new job. BigTop creates a relaxed format where people curious to explore the world of entrepreneurship are welcomed and encouraged to pursue these opportunities.

  • Will additional staff be hired to run the job fairs or are people being added through Big Top/s own resources?

ExitEvent is going to operate BigTop going forward, with support from the American Underground staff.

ExitEvent has hired an event planner and organizer to assist in growing the frequency of events and our ability to move the programming around North Carolina and beyond.

  • What is Chris Heivly’s role going forward?

Beyond ensuring our team has a steady supply of orange pants, Chris will serve as a strategic advisor to both Laura and I in how BigTop grows in its scope and impact.

We’re excited to continue working in partnership with Chris.

MORE COVERAGE: Chris Heivly talks about the deal and his recent decision to join Techstars as an entrepreneur-in-residence.