DURHAM – Job seekers, companies looking to hire new talent in a tight labor market, and some people just looking for an opportunity to network turned out Monday night for the first Startup Crawl from Big Top. And WRAL TechWire was there to preserve the event in photos.
Tracy Scott of Tracy’s Gourmet, right, chats with Carlo Diy, founder of HaitiHub.
Writer Chantal Allam provided in-depth pre- and post-event coverage of the evening’s action, which took place at Spreedly’s recently renovated offices. These photos capture much of the evening’s mixing action.
In the photo above, Wotter’s Katherine Cooley (left) and Becca Segal pose with Tracy Scott of Tracy’s Gourmet and sample some of her salad dressings from her gourmet food line.
More coverage:
- Profiling the three startups headlining the Startup Crawl
- In a tight labor market, startups have to get creative to hire talent
Formerly known as the Triangle Startup Social, Big Top rebranded the event as part of its new mission to build connections between regional talent and local growing startups.
The event still takes place on the third Monday of each month, but will now be hosted at startup offices around the Triangle and will have a theme.
Spreedlys updated headquarters served as host site for the Startup Crawl.
Founders from three rising startups – Tracy’s Gourmet, Beard and Lady and Wotter – will be there, all of whom have recently participated in Startup Stampede, the South’s product incubator funded from an NC IDEA grant.
The Startup Crawl is an opportunity for startup teams to make connections, share their stories and learn from other companies along the way—and to get an under-the-hood look at some cool spaces you may not have seen before, noted WRAL TechWire’s Shannon Cuthrell.
Beard and Lady’s Lacey Hendrix, left, talks about her grooming products with Crawl Startup attendees Hillary Norman and Jordan Lacenski.
With high-tech job openings on the uptake around the Triangle, the race to secure top talent is real.
Just ask Erik Rhoten, Hyperspace Ventures’s vice president of Business Development, who talked with Chantal at the event.
“It’s tough, especially with a startup. If you’ve got a really good developer, they’re going to get offered a salary at Apple or Google, and that salary is going to be $150,000. To pay that is a challenge,” he said.
Spreedly’s Daniel Wideman, Nathaniel Talbott, Brianne Villano, Peter Mollins, Dana Calder, Eliot Cohen, Nellie Vail play hosts for Big Top’s inaugural Big Top Startup Crawl.
Some were actively looking to hire. Others were just there to network and sip some free brew from sponsors, Bull Durham Beer. But clearly all saw the value in mingling with local talent and talking up their company’s ethos in a bid to attract prospective employees when the time was right, Chantal noted.
As for future Startup Crawls, WRAL TechWire will be there.
