Editor’s note: Joel Bennett is an innovation consultant in the Triad who led the way in organizing the first Tech Slam ‘n Eggs startup event.

WINSTON-SALEM – It is great to see people get excited about startups. It’s even better when you stage a new type of event that showcases startups and a lot of people show up. But even better, is when the people who show up are new to the local startup scene.

The crowd at Tech Slam ‘n Eggs

“Tech Slam’n Eggs was one of the best events we have ever held,” said Peter Marsh, co-founder at Flywheel Coworking in Winston-Salem.

I agree with Peter.

Why?  It was the caliber of the attendees that I was most impressed with and that can be attributed to a some conditions Bobbie Shrivastav (event co-organizer) insisted we have in place:

  • We start at 7:30AM! That is a time of the day that is self-selecting. You can bet that people who attend are serious about the use of their time. No tire kickers!
  • We are focused on live demos, not Powerpoints. That means that the companies have crossed the “great divide” in startup land between having a concept and building a functional product.
  • Finally, it was filled with people I had never met before. Bringing new people into the mix is a critical step in assuring growth and forward motion. But it is the quality of people that makes the greatest difference, such as technology leaders, accredited investors, and successful serial tech entrepreneurs. The quality of the connections is a real-time litmus test.

Having organized and hosted more than 50 startup events in the Triad, the first Tech Slam’n Eggs was definitely one of the top five.

Our goal is to showcase regional Designers, Developers, and Builders of technology-driven startups and help to connect them with technology leaders.

Our assumption is that the Piedmont has some deep pockets of innovative technology and talent the can benefit from the cross pollination by bringing awareness, interest and visibility to data driven | product enabled solutions built in our region.  We are encouraging organizations to seek local solutions, partner with each other to solve problems, and create a thriving tech startup economy in the Triad region.

As we convene our community, we share our successes and focus on and support companies with high growth potential.

The next event is planned for Tuesday March 6, 2018. We are expecting close to 100 people in attendance.

Anyone can attend, but companies who apply to demo must be located within a 50 miles radius of the Triad. The applications for demo companies is online.