Six startups, six industries and endless possibilities for the future.
That was the kind of optimistic energy exuding from a selection of founders at “Founding the Future Of…,” a Moogfest program hosted last Friday by ExitEvent’s editor, Laura Baverman. Their companies couldn’t have been more different, but there was one common ground uniting them—a home base in the Triangle.
Innovators from all over the world have gravitated to this region to make businesses out of their ideas, and the resulting startups are doing as cutting edge of innovation as what happens in Silicon Valley, Boston or in global startup hubs. ExitEvent chose these six founders because they epitomize the trend.
In front of an audience at Moogfest, they shared stories of big dreams, hard work and determination as well as support from local universities, NC IDEA grants, accelerators and more. Most admit they’ve exhausted every opportunity they could find in the region.
And according to Doug Kaufman, CEO of TransLoc, the Silicon Valley investors once begging him to move to California are now investing millions in his Research Triangle Park-based company and asking him to stay put.
Below, learn about these founders’ plans to reshape their industries:
Future of Transit
Jake Stauch began his Neuro+ presentation with a few facts. Twelve percent of all U.S. children have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and 1,620 more kids are diagnosed with ADHD everyday. Stauch recognized this as a problem and saw gaming as a fun way to improve ADHD kids’ attention skills. So along came Neuro+, a dragon-themed computer game that comes with a headset that detects electrical activity in players’ brains. The headset tracks their performance so they can see how they’re improving. The better kids perform in the game, the further they’ll advance through its storyline.
The Windows and Mac desktop application was released to the public last September. And, according to Stauch last week, it’s already proving an impressive increase in focus for ADHD-diagnosed kids.
