RALEIGH — Eight local startups travel next week as a delegation to San Francisco to represent North Carolina and the Southeast at the Startup Grind Global Conference — an effort coordinated and funded through the Startup Grind Triad region directors and Flywheel Foundation.
As the Old North State rises in the ranks as a startup hub, participants say this conference provides an opportunity to raise the region’s profile, and access global investment networks.
“Investments can go a lot further in local startups because of the incredible economic and cost-of-living benefits in our region and state,” said Brian Onorio, founder of Raleigh-based Proposa and one of the eight members of the North Carolina delegation, in a statement. “There’s incredible talent here, and I look forward to representing North Carolina to help attract more people here to start a business, partner with amazing talent, or to hunt for their next investment opportunity.”
Brian Onorio
Flywheel, a co-working space developer, is organizing and funding the trip for the second year.
“It allows North Carolina companies to move up the trophic level of the startup ecosystem and access wider networks, larger investment funds, and a larger talent pool,” said Flywheel Program Director Adrian Smith. “Perhaps more important, it focuses eyes on what’s happening in North Carolina. We have a full-stack startup community that can compete for investment dollars and for talent. We’re going to San Francisco so we can tell that story.”
Flywheel designs and builds co-working innovation spaces in order to accelerate home-grown economic development. Their suite of programming includes New Ventures Accelerator, with applications open now, and a variety of Startup Grind events, including Fireside Chats, Tech Slams, and Evolve Workshops for growth stage companies.
Proposa is an online platform that drives revenue through digital proposals and sales documents while providing deep insights into prospect behavior. The platform was developed in Raleigh and has steadily acquired new customers nationwide. “Our validation and traction has been exciting,” said Onorio. “We hear from more and more customers about just how much of an impact Proposa has made to their sales process and win rates.”
