Jim Roberts | WRAL TechWire
Jim Roberts

Jim Roberts


Posts by Jim Roberts


Hustling in comfort at the beach delivers fast results for fintech startup nCino

Posted by | Nov 13, 2017

Just last week, nCino was recognized by Deloitte as the fastest growing company in North Carolina and number 189 among the 500 fastest growing tech companies in America. This fintech banking software company is not in Raleigh, Durham or Charlotte, but at the beach in Wilmington. nCino has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the Top 100 most promising companies in America – the only company on this list from North Carolina. Between parent company Live Oak Bank and spinout nCino, they have hired over 300 UNC Wilmington graduates. They are consistently listed as the Best Place...

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Bunker Labs RDU musters growing support for veteran entrepreneurs

Posted by | Oct 2, 2017

Editor’s note: Jim Roberts is the Community Development Director at Bunker Labs RDU , the founder of Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Manager of the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE). Jim has been a connector and a resource for startups in North Carolina for the last 17 years. He also is a frequent contributor to WRAL TechWire. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – After generous donations and grants from JP Morgan Chase & Co., MetLife, Wege Foundation and Grant Thornton Accounting, Bunker Labsin North Carolina has taken serious steps towards sustainability in our second year. The sold...

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Jim Roberts: It’s time to salute NC vets as entrepreneurs

Posted by | Jun 28, 2017

Editor’s note: Jim Roberts is the Community Development Director at Bunker Labs RDU, the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE). Jim has been a connector and a resource for startups in North Carolina for the last 17 years. He also is a frequent contributor to WRAL TechWire. And a RABID Chicago Cubs fan. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – One of the best stories in the history of entrepreneurship is when Fred Smith was given a C on his term paper by his Yale University Professor on the idea of FedEx. Did you know...

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Jim Roberts: Startups swarm life science forum for investor insights

Posted by | Jun 7, 2017

Editor’s note: Jim Roberts does business development for Durham based PreClinical Pathfinders in addition to his roles at Bunker Labs RDU , the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEWilm) and the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE). Jim has been a connector and a resource for startups in North Carolina for the last 17 years. He also is a frequent contributor to WRAL TechWire. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – I have always heard how hard it is for Life Sciences startups to raise early stage seed capital, so to hear insights from six investors made for a great event at...

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Despite all of the tech, data and buzzwords, H2H is how business is done

Posted by | Nov 22, 2016

Editor’s note; Jim R. Roberts is a professional connector who has started several entrepreneur support organizations in North Carolina. He is currently the founder of the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE) in Wilmington. He wrote this post about the Internet Summit for Startup Southerner and is reprinted with permission. (Also: Read his recap of day one.) RALEIGH, N.C. – After shaking off the late night reggae rhythms of the Wailers and the slow traffic that happens when 64 new people are added by move or by birth every day to Raleigh/Wake...

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Making Internet Summit conference more social IRL (in real life)

Posted by | Nov 17, 2016

Editor’s note; Jim R. Roberts is a professional connector who has started several entrepreneur support organizations in North Carolina. He is currently the founder of the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE) in Wilmington. He wrote this post for Startup Southerner and is reprinted with permission. RALEIGH, N.C. – As the Internet Summit event kicked off on Wednesday in Raleigh, the two live DJs made the audience of tech geeks ALMOST want to get up and dance. If they played the new Duo Lipa song, Blow Your Mind, I may have convinced others...

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When the Wilmington startup scene was changed by an immigrant, a newcomer and optimism

Posted by | Oct 11, 2016

Editor’s note: A sea change is taking place in Wilmington where a thriving, growing startup community is changing the city into more than a vacation and real estate hub. Well-known entrepreneur and investor Paul Sing brought his “Results Junkies Tech Tour” to Wilmington last week, another sign of the change taking place, as veteran entrepreneur support exec Jim Roberts reports.  WILMINGTON, N.C. – Paul Singh was the original keynote speaker at the 2013 Paradoxos Conference for tech and startups in Durham, the host of an event when Wilmington won a award/grant for top 50 accelerators in the nation at...

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Guest opinion: Entrepreneurship needs to play bigger role in economic development

Posted by | Sep 13, 2016

For the last five years of this cycle, we have all heard the excitement (and some hype) about startups, especially this week as CED hosts the largest venture capital conference in the South right here in Raleigh/ Durham, North Carolina. Every city now has a coworking space, incubator or accelerator, even the most conservative laggard cities at this point. But how do we do a better job of evolving the common coworking space or incubator from just WiFi, coffee, four walls and the unused , guilt ridden ping pong table to something that has an economic impact on our cities that creates jobs that retain the best and brightest? I read an article last week posted on LinkedIn that economic development / job creation is the number one issue facing cities today. The goal of every incubator should be to grow the startups so they have to graduate and move out of the facility to make room for new...

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