Editor’s note: Shannon Cuthrell of ExitEvent provides a preview of the Startup Grind Conference set for Wednesday in Cary.
CARY – At any conference, it’s easy to go through the motions of the experience because you know exactly what to expect—name tags, networking, panels, pitches, clapping, networking again, meanwhile adjusting your seating position to accommodate for uncomfortable blazers/pantsuits/dresses and trying not to drop your stack of business cards.
That’s exactly the kind of robotic experience Mark Bavisotto wants to disassemble and reshape in his own conference, next week’s inaugural Startup Grind Triangle Technology Conference.
Bavisotto, who leads the Triangle chapter of the national Startup Grind, says the conference is designed to be laid back. T-shirts and jeans are not only welcome, they’re encouraged.
“People in their most comfortable state are more likely to open up and be the best human they can be,” he says. “That’s what we are always striving for.”
- More coverage: Read WRAL TechWire’s interview with Bavisotto
The lineup spotlights notable entrepreneurs from local companies like Phononic, Precision Hawk and Automated Insights, and investors from Cofounders Capital, Full Tilt Capital and Good Growth Capital. National reps are sprinkled in as well, from Priceline.com, Sling TV, and others.
Scattered throughout the day will be elevator pitches from Google For Entrepreneurs-featured startups who are competing to win $100,000 worth of Google Cloud Credits.
The competitors are Gastro Girl, a virtual health coaching platform that moved to Wilmington from Virginia, New York’s CentSai, a financial education site geared toward Millennials and Gen X-ers, Cary-based Protopia, a digital networking and advising platform, Raleigh’s Forage.ai, a fast self-checkout tool for retailers, and Greenville, South Carolina-based BandwagonFanClub, a peer-to-peer ticket marketplace for college sports fans.
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Casual Vibe, Actionable Content Are Goals of Triangle’s 1st Startup Grind Conference
