Ellie Gamache

The stakes were high for 18 Triangle startups at the 1776 Challenge Cup Durham last Wednesday. The American Underground joined organizers in 50 cities around the world in hosting the preliminary round of the pitch competition aimed at identifying the most promising startups in highly-regulated industries like transportation, education, health, energy and sustainability.  Only three of the local pitching companies were selected to advance to the regional competition in NYC, where they’ll have a chance to advance to the world competition in DC next May. There, they’ll pitch for the chance to win $1 million in prizes along with...

I spent the last few days at Chattanooga Startup Week, exploring the burgeoning startup community. Startup leaders from across the country came to attend the week’s festivities, which included Angel Summit US, a national conference on startup investing, and key speakers like marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck and Startup Weekend founder Andrew Hyde.  Having spent the past few years as a community organizer for the Triangle startup community, I was fascinated to observe the Chattanooga startup scene in its similarities, nuances and distinctly unique characteristics. Gary Vaynerchuck aptly urged listeners in his Kickoff session, “Be self aware, and be yourself.” Chattanooga...

As one of Durham’s many young and eligible bachelorettes, I am well-versed in the numerous online dating sites that exist to help people find whatever they’re looking for.    If you’re a single farmer looking for that special someone with whom to share your waking moments milking goats, you can sign up for FarmersOnly.com (Because “city folk just don’t get it”). Perhaps you’re looking for the perfect leather-clad motorcycle hunk to bring home to Mom; you can find it on BikerKiss.com (“Two wheels, two hearts, one road!”).  If it exists, you can find it on the Internet. But even if it doesn’t exist, you...