Caitlin Grimes

United Way of the Greater Triangle, an organization that pools donations from corporations and their employees to fund local nonprofits, is taking a new approach to serve its mission while also supporting minority-led startups and fueling the entrepreneurial spirit in the Triangle.  On May 20th United Way holds the first Idea Generation(Next), a competition for female entrepreneurs and those of color to pitch ideas to improve health and human services in the organization’s four-county territory. An application deadline to pitch is approaching at midnight tonight. Apply here. Idea Generation(Next) is one of the ways the nonprofit is changing its business model...

Duke University is known for its MBA, law and general undergraduate education, UNC-Chapel Hill for its business, medical and journalism schools, NC State for engineering, design and analytics, and NC Central for being one of the nation’s prominent historically black colleges. The LiNC conference is the first event of its kind to bring students from all four institutions and various disciplines together to explore entrepreneurship and opportunities to collaborate.  On April 16th, a conference planned by students and for students will take place at The Frontier at Research Triangle Park. The event will give students the opportunity to meet mentors in the entrepreneurial community, to...

Walk into Blue Ghost Brewing Company and you’ll see a painting of an oak tree with 10 lights above it. They represent the family and friends who invested in the newest nano brewery in Western North Carolina.  Though partners Erik Weber and Zach Horn entertained outside investors in their new business, they ultimately secured enough money to start the brewery via an email campaign to family and friends.  Blue Ghost has a different goal than many of the craft breweries in North Carolina. Its focus, evident in that prominently positioned tree, is more on family than mass distribution of its beers. The...

There were laughs, tears, standing ovations and many a motivational quote during a series of lightning talks Saturday, on what was deemed by Raleigh City Council to be the official “TEDx Raleigh Day”. More than 700 people attended the event either live at the newly renovated Nash Hall or at a livestream location, and the audience was diverse, with both families and those like myself who braved the event alone. Our expectations were high, as many of us had attended previous TEDx events or watched talks online, but the day didn’t disappoint. One attendee told me she wasn’t just...

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama may be getting all the hype for this year’s South by Southwest, but a group of startups from the Triangle area hope to get some buzz as well. The following companies are participating in the festival, and in a variety of ways—from pitching during contests to serving on panels to promoting events and causes.  All of their efforts combined will help show the world that the Triangle is hotbed of innovation and creativity.  Here’s who to keep an eye on during the festival, which kicks off tomorrow in Austin:  Neuro+  Over 470...

Startups looking to grow internationally have a new resource in the Triangle, a conference centered around all of the hurdles they will have to jump in order to be successful globally.  May it be raising funding, figuring out how to get paid in the local currency, or learning how to protect intellectual property, this event, organized by students at Campbell University College of Law, is aimed to help.  The impetus for the event is law student Freddy Iwan, who also studied law in his home country of Argentina and plans to practice business law both locally and internationally. He’s...

The bad news is that TEDx Raleigh sold out in minutes when ticket sales began last Friday. The good news is that the entrepreneurial community is well represented in the mix of 13 local speakers and performers who will present March 19.  The theme for the event is “wonderlust”—organizers hope to inspire a new state of curiosity and awe in its attendees, in addition to letting speakers share “ideas worth spreading”. Kevin Snyder, a curator for the event, says attendees should “want to learn together.”  The selection process for the speakers was intense, with its 250 applications temporarily crashing the TEDxRaleigh...

The digital textile printers at Spoonflower, tea-brewing equipment at Mati Energy and Practichem’s Internet-connected scientific instruments will be front and center in a new series of videos meant to showcase the Triangle’s entrepreneurial community to the nation.    These three Triangle companies, along with Bee Downtown and Envested, are the winners of an Innovate Raleigh contest called “Makers & Doers.” Throughout the month of January, local startups pitched their businesses through video submissions in order to win one of five professionally-produced short films created by Raleigh digital agency Centerline Digital.  The winners were chosen from dozens of submissions and announced at...