RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – With regular updates to keep content fresh, WRAL TechWire’s Triangle Startup Guide offers a timely resource package for anyone looking to start or grow a business in the Triangle area.

Today, we’re back with a fresh resource for local entrepreneurs. The latest update comes to the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section of the guide, which lists dozens of podcasts, blogs, video series, reports and other miscellaneous resources produced both by and for entrepreneurs across the Triangle area.

We added a link to last week’s “podcast marathon,” an eight-hour event held in the Earfluence podcast studio in Durham’s American Underground. (Note: Capitol Broadcasting Company, parent of WRAL TechWire, owns American Underground)

As TechWire reporter Chantal Allam put it in a piece last week, the marathon featured a “who’s who” of the Triangle’s entrepreneurial scene. The eight-hour event hosted a series of interviews with prominent guests in the Triangle, including several local startup leaders like Donald Thompson of Walk West, Jason Caplain of Bull City Venture Partners, Johnny Hackett Jr. of Black Dollar Corp. and Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood.

‘Podcast marathon’ featuring who’s who of Triangle startup scene launches Earfluence’s new studio

You can watch the full event here and read more TechWire coverage here.

Other recent additions to the Triangle Startup Guide

Every week, we update the guide with new resources for local entrepreneurs for our exclusive Triangle Startup Guide. If we missed something, please feel free to suggest it for inclusion. You can email me directly or use this contact form.

In case you missed it, check out all the updates we made in 2021. And here’s a review of the additions from recent weeks:

  • In the VC and angel funding section of the guide, we added Front Porch Venture Partners, a local venture capital firm founded by graduates of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. As Hypepotamus recently reported, Front Porch Venture Partners follows a “hybrid” model, investing in both early-stage startups and other VC funds. The group’s inaugural fund invested in 14 venture funds and 13 startups. Its fund partners include many of the region’s top startup investors, such as Idea Fund Partners, Hatteras Venture Partners and Cofounders Capital.
  • In the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section, we added a link to the latest “State of the Region” address delivered by Tom Snyder, executive director of Raleigh-based RIoT. The annual address lays out the progress, opportunities and threats facing the Triangle over the course of the year. This year’s edition, delivered at Raleigh Founded last week, focuses on changes in the labor force, supply chain struggles and inflation, domestic and foreign affairs, and the growth in entrepreneurship.
  • In the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section, we added the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s 2021 Innovators Report. The organization’s annual report provides an overview of North Carolina’s innovation economy, including the latest data on startup funding, deal flow and exits. The 2021 edition reported a record $4.6 billion raised by 222 companies across 250 separate funding events—a 35% increase from 2020’s total. Technology investments accounted for 69% of the year’s deals, while life sciences claimed 24%.
  • In the “Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section of the guide, we added Folla Capital, an organization that helps startups and small businesses raise capital through regulation crowdfunding. Though Folla Capital is based in Wilmington, entrepreneurs in the Triangle and elsewhere can use its online platform to organize, launch and manage their crowdfunding campaign and investor relations. Folla Capital primarily focuses on raising capital for minority-, woman- and veteran-owned businesses.

More recent additions

  • We added E3 Durham to the “Accelerators and Mentorship Programs” section of the guide. Launching this month, E3 Durham is a new program that aims to provide mentorship, capital resources, workshops and networking for entrepreneurs in under-served communities across the Durham area. National nonprofit Forward Cities, which has a local chapter in Durham, first announced the E3 Durham program in late-2021. With support from a Small Business Administration grant and partnerships with the City of Durham and Durham County, E3 Durham will start with an outreach-focused community navigator pilot program, where designated “navigators” will connect with local entrepreneurs through community events.
  • In the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section, we added the newly released Innovation Road Trip series from Capitol B Creative Studios (a division of WRAL TechWire’s parent company, Capitol Broadcasting). The six-episode video series profiles the people, organizations, companies and programs that contribute to the state’s ever-growing innovation and entrepreneurship community. Season one tells the stories of CRISPR gene-editing researchers, UNC Chapel Hill’s Innovate Carolina, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Beaufort-based Jarrett Bay Boatworks, CBRE Raleigh and Gig East in Wilson.

Innovation Road Trip

  • In the ” Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section, we updated the listing for NC State University’s eGames pitch competition, adding new information about the program’s scope. eGames, which first launched in 2009, divides student pitches into a “think” category (idea-stage ventures) and a “do” category (startups that already have a product and customers). Judges evaluate the startups’ market feasibility, design, prototype and other aspects. Every year, the program grants about $100,000 to the winning companies. This year’s eGames is on April 18.