Rise of the Rest Durham entrepreneur competition
The crowd gets challenged to support our teams, and to make connections with each other to help Durham's startup ecosystem thrive.
The event was held at the historic Carolina Theater in awesome, entrepreneurial, downtown Durham. (click/tap for larger views)
Full house with folks up in the balcony as well... And lots of tech out and tweeting. The event was free & an amazing peek at what Durham companies are creating.
the talk
Steve Case (AOL co-founder & influential tech investor) joked that he wasn't sure why he was needed in Durham, as we've had the last two national Google Demo Days winners from the Bull City.
the hip hop... what?
Hip hop @ a business event? Yep, that's very Durham.
front and center watching it all unfold
The performance even had a demo of building tracks & how it relates to growing a business.
the pitch
The eight companies had 4 minutes each to make their case, then 4 minutes for judges' questions. Here Tom & Jenny's presents their kid-yummy (and dentist-friendly!) candy. Many of the startups, like Tom & Jenny's, are already seeing real success in the market
The Judges questions were savvy, and not overly pointed.
the winners
It's Archive Social for the Win.
And back to work... after some networking.
• Some bling that Windsor Circle & Mati Energy brought home from their Demo Days win. • The view heading home from the event.
