millennial magazine - special portal issue

PORTAL Special Issue 2014Official Magazine of the Charlotte Research Institute

PORTAL

industry-university

partnership

welcome to

contents

Official Magazine of the Charlotte Research Institute

Editorial Director Chip Yensan, [email protected] & Editorial Assistants Karen Ford, [email protected] Fulton, [email protected] Vickers, [email protected]/Design SPARK Publications, [email protected]

Photography Cress Photography, www.cressphotography.comPeter Bretlinger, www.peterbrentlinger.com

Copyright 2014 Charlotte Research Institute at UNC Charlotte is the portal for business-university partnerships. UNC Charlotte’s research capabilities represent a vital economic development tool for business attraction and is a geographically distinct part of UNC Charlotte located on the University’s Charlotte Research Institute Campus.

PORTAL Special Issue 2014

PORTAL Special Issue 2014Official Magazine of the Charlotte Research Institute

PORTAL

industry-university

partnership

welcome to

This Special Issue of Millennial celebrates the opening of UNC Charlotte’s new Partnership, Outreach, and Research to Accelerate Learning (PORTAL) building. With nearly 100,000sf of business incubator, accelerator, and corporate innovation office and support space ready for lease, the PORTAL Industry-University Partnership facility represents a substantial commitment to research, business development, and job growth in the Charlotte region.

on the cover

Editorial Staff

3 Grand Opening4 PORTAL Floor by Floor5 PORTAL Café6 Ventureprise Overview7 Ventureprise Programs8 49er Foundry Student Incubator9 Spotlight On C5 Insight10 Code for America14 Charlotte Venture Challenge Overview17 Regional Economic Overview18 Charlotte Venture Launch19 Contacts

Peter Brentlinger

Aaron Cress

3 Grand Opening4 PORTAL Floor by Floor5 PORTAL Café6 Ventureprise Overview7 Ventureprise Programs8 49er Foundry Student Incubator9 Spotlight On C5 Insight10 Code for America14 Charlotte Venture Challenge Overview17 Regional Economic Overview18 Charlotte Venture Launch19 Contacts

Photography by Wade Bruton

Members of the community gather

in the 4-story atrium to dedicate the new

PORTAL building.

Chancellor Philip Dubois offers

PORTAL building dedication remarks.It's Official! Cutting the Ribbon (from L to R): Board of Trustees Chair Karen

Popp, Chancellor Philip Dubois, Inventor and Entrepreneur Louis Foreman, Vice Chancellor Bob Wilhelm, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory

Celebrating PORTAL (from L to R): Bob Wilhelm, Louis Foreman, Governor Pat McCrory, Chancellor Philip Dubois, and Karen Popp.

Charlotte Research Institute PORTAL Champions (from L to R): Barry Burks, Gail Keene, Jim Currie, Bob Wilhelm, and Chip Yensan

Edifice PORTAL Project Team Members (from L to R): Bud McKinney, Scott Alger, Mark Novasad, Kyle Hanrahan, Jen Evans (UNCC), Lisa Gerard, Chip Yensan (UNCC), John Hajney, and Eric Laster.

millennialPORTAL 2014 3

PORTALFLOOR-BY-FLOOR

PORTAL is tangible evidence of UNC Charlotte’s commitment to serving the innovation economy of the Charlotte Region, the State of North Carolina, and beyond. Involving no state dollars in its construction,

PORTAL - Partnership, Outreach, and Research To Accelerate Learning – is an industry-university partnership facility that was designed to facilitate idea

and knowledge exchange between entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, faculty, and students on a daily basis. PORTAL’s contemporary interior design, 4-story atrium, and open circulation combine to create a workplace milieu that supports collective pioneering and shared pathways to business success and job creation.

The first floor PORTAL main entrance is framed by two large high bay areas of roughly 2,700 and 2,900 square feet, each ready for custom build-out and individualized tenant occupancy requirements. Nearby on the same floor are a conference room, mail delivery center, and facilities designed for classified research.

On the second and third floors PORTAL is home to Ventureprise, Inc., providing incubation and acceleration support resources and services for early stage innovation-based enterprises in 25,000 square feet of flexible office space. Located just across the hall from the second floor Ventureprise administrative office suite, the 49er Foundry Student Incubator is a program which offers students the unique opportunity for hands-on guidance in their ventures. The UNC Charlotte Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), also located on

the second floor, supports the commercialization of university research and intellectual property and works closely with faculty, students, and staff to help bring

new technology and innovation to market. And this summer we will add a PORTAL café, complete with an outdoor eating patio, for the building and our colleagues and

Jim Currie

Photos by Peter Bretlinger

4 PORTAL 2014millennial

A new dining location will open on campus in fall 2014. Located inside the PORTAL building, this new dining spot will be operated by Chartwells

the company which runs the UNC Charlotte Dining Services program. While the name has yet to be selected, Dining Services has already named a chef who has begun molding a menu to fit the unique campus

environment that is the Charlotte Research Institute (CRI) campus. Dining Services knew that this location needed the perfect chef

to match the desired culinary vision and Chef Chandra Hoffman was selected from the Dining Services executive culinarian team to operate the café and develop a unique menu. Chef Chandra’s culinary experience is unlike any other on campus. When asked about her background in the culinary field, Chef Chandra said:

“I started in food service over 30 years ago working at Inns in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. During this time, I found a passion for cooking from the earth as local farmers would barter their produce at the back door and our menus would change daily based on fresh options of the day. You learn to respect the farmer and develop a certain attitude when you are cooking ‘fresh from the fields.’ I received my culinary arts degree from Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island and began an “artistic” phase of my career. Before joining the UNC Charlotte Dining Services team, I worked in country clubs; owned an Inn in the VA Mountains with my husband; cooked in the Bank of America executive dining room; and mentored future culinarians at Johnson and Wales- Charlotte. Some of my proudest moments in the kitchen include: a spread in Gourmet magazine; being a guest chef at the James Beard Society; received a Golden Pin award at Westfield Yearly while employed for their business; created a wedding cake for Bill Cosby’s daughter; was part of the wedding reception team for Alan Greenspan and now serving as an honorary member of the Compass corporate ‘Farm to Fork’ team. I look forward to my next adventure with UNC Charlotte Dining Services as we open a new dining location unlike any other on campus.”

Chef Chandra and UNC Charlotte Dining Services Executive Chef, Jason Shillinglaw, have been working side by side this semester developing the menu. Their vision is to create a menu full of fresh variety to cover your breakfast, lunch, beverage and snack needs. The kitchen set-up will allow them to offer a changing menu with a daily feature from the EVO grill. The EVO grill will be the first of its type on campus and is “recognized for delivering the natural flavors of food, cooking versatility, and distinct design.” (evoamerica.com) The menu will offer fresh baked goods made on-site, gourmet sandwiches, and “function” beverages, including smoothies.

The PORTAL dining option is set to open with the start of the fall 2014 semester. Stay updated on campus dining using the Dine on Campus website at www.dineoncampus.com/unccharlotte and through social media platforms including Facebook at UNC Charlotte Dining Services.

Featuring Menu Variety and Chef Experience

Questions about campus dining can be directed to Lindsay DePrey, Dining Services Marketing Director at [email protected] or 704-687-0693.

neighbors within the Charlotte Research Institute sector of campus.

With almost 20,000 square feet of exceptional office licensing space, the fourth floor provides several flexible office suite options to PORTAL-based corporate partners and innovators. Several fourth floor offices are configured in a move-in ready condition with mounted glass office partitions and contemporary office furnishings already in place. Others are ready to be configured and furnished to the custom needs of the partner tenant.

A variety of first and fourth floor tenants–including private businesses, industry consortia, government agencies, corporate innovators, and public private partnerships will actively engage with the University in a capacity that brings leverage to the partnership through involvement with students and/or faculty, and access to the highly specialized and unique facilities and programs of UNC Charlotte.

PORTAL is clearly about the private office spaces that it provides to its partner tenants…and so much more. It is about bringing vision, talent and energy together, making connections between them, and expanding upon them. PORTAL tenants share daily access to three conference rooms, a large presentation space, and an available board room, all with the technology one would expect in such a facility. In addition, the building’s large central atrium and informal gathering spaces add to the abundant meeting and convening space for PORTAL clients as well as the UNC Charlotte community and outside partners.

This is the new PORTAL for UNC Charlotte.

Chef Chandra Hoffman

PORTAL 2014 millennial5

Ventureprise, Inc., located in the PORTAL building, is the region’s non-profit venture development organization. Ventureprise™, a

university-private sector partnership formerly known as the Ben Craig Center, has supported Charlotte’s entrepreneurs since 1986.

The organization collaborates with others to strengthen the regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. It provides entrepreneurial support for UNC Charlotte’s faculty and students. And, innovation-based entrepreneurs benefit from expert guidance available to clients of the Ventureprise accelerator at PORTAL.

The Ventureprise mission is grounded in the reality that innovation—in technology, business models, or business processes—is the critical component for economic competitiveness. Innovation is a word whose meaning has been diminished through broad use; Ventureprise agrees with the late Peter Drucker that it is “change that creates a new dimension of performance.”

Innovation creates value for customers, wealth for entrepreneurs, and a productive economy for society. The Ventureprise team is focused on assisting inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs accomplish these outcomes.

The new PORTAL building provides the perfect venue for this work. The contemporary design supports transformational collaborations between entrepreneurial, corporate, and academic resources.

At PORTAL, Ventureprise works with innovation-driven enterprises from start-up through their early growth stage (revenue of less than $5 million). It is the one Charlotte location that offers a state-of-the-

art facility, intellectual property expertise, University resource access, and proven business advisory services.

Beyond PORTAL, Ventureprise initiatives are designed to find the most promising talent and ideas, make connections, and help launch customer-focused ventures. The Charlotte Venture Challenge is the most visible and oldest of these initiatives. Newer efforts include Pitch Day, Charlotte Venture Launch, Innovation Connection, and the 49er Foundry student business incubator.

As a non-profit, Ventureprise is focused on serving the community. Its work is made possible by

long-term, substantial financial support from UNC Charlotte. The strategic direction is guided by a 14-person board of directors that represents community stakeholders

including entrepreneurs, investors, economic development, government, and higher education.

The Charlotte region is rapidly developing a stronger entrepreneurial sector. New organizations have emerged to serve social entrepreneurs and specialized industry sectors. The private sector now offers a Center

City entrepreneurial hub and more angel investors are emerging.

Ventureprise has adapted by refining its focus to support the innovation-driven enterprises that have the greatest

impact on the region’s economic performance. The outstanding PORTAL environment will enable new collaborations and an excellent venue for high growth ventures. As the University’s long-time partner for entrepreneurial initiatives, Ventureprise looks forward to powerful results from this new combination of people and place.

VENTUREPRISE OVERVIEW

Ventureprise collaborates with others to strengthen the regional innovation and

entrepreneurship ecosystem.

VENTUREPRISE OVERVIEW


Ventureprise initiatives complement the innovation services it offers. By connecting entrepreneurs, corporations and academic leaders, Ventureprise creates networking opportunities that facilitate the innovative thinking needed to accelerate business growth and commercial success.

Charlotte Venture Challenge (CVC)The Charlotte Venture Challenge is a business

competition for early-stage, high potential companies. The competition has a history of showcasing the Southeast’s most successful early-stage companies. CVC has been the launch point for hundreds of companies and has awarded a quarter of a million dollars in prizes.

Charlotte Venture LaunchEarly customer discovery is the foundation for

identifying scalable and profitable business models. Ventureprise guides founders through the customer discovery process modeled on proven best practices such as the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps. Create your compelling business model – vetting out opportunity assessments and finding the best and ready customers – with the help of Ventureprise. Charlotte Venture Launch is a multi-week, high-intensity, focused effort for innovators and inventors to determine if an idea is worth pursuing.

Innovation ConnectionThe Innovation Connection is a keystone program

of Ventureprise that gathers constituents interested in specific technology and industry topics. Aimed at promoting open idea exchange between innovation-based entrepreneurs, corporate innovators and thought leading academics, there is no other forum like it in the region. Innovation Connection participants are invited based on their interest and expertise relative to each program’s topic. Current topics emphasize Charlotte regional clusters and UNC Charlotte research expertise.

Student IncubatorThe Student Business Incubator, 49er Foundry, assists

UNC Charlotte junior, senior, and graduate students in completing a business opportunity assessment. The assessment determines if the idea is worth pursuing and identifies activities required to move toward a successful business. The Student Business Incubator

offers shared, furnished workspace for multiple student ventures. Companies have access to services including wireless Internet, conference rooms and office equipment. The space supports business-oriented social interaction and networking.

VENTUREPRISE PROGRAMS

VENTUREPRISE PROGRAMS

Ventureprise creates networking opportunities that facilitate the innovative thinking needed to accelerate business growth and commercial success.To learn more about Ventureprise programs, please contact Marilyn Carpenter by phone at 704-687-8058 or email, [email protected].


The 49er Foundry Student Incubator located on the 2nd floor of the PORTAL building

has already showcased some exciting student - led companies during the grand opening of the facility. The Foundry will be the home of a select group of UNC Charlotte student entrepreneurs. It provides business advisory services, connections, and a learning community that support the launch of successful student-founded ventures.

The 49er Foundry is a part of the Ventureprise eco-system that provides incubation and acceleration services to innovation

driven enterprises. The Foundry provides students with an intensive hands-on program designed to launch and scale ventures. The program is open to junior, senior and graduate students in good standing as well as UNC Charlotte graduates within 12 months of their graduation date. If selected into the program students are provided with services that include:

Shared furnished office space including work area, private meeting space, conference room access, mailing address, wireless internet, copier, and fax.

Customer Discovery, Business Model Canvas and Opportunity Assessment guidance.

Learning community programs featuring expert resources and Ventureprise entrepreneurs.

Business advisory services including:

Connections to regional business resources; Business building assistance including business plan and marketing plan guidance, accounting and financial systems design, and financial strategy; Coaching through our structured business development process and through informal interaction.

Milestone Achievement: Monthly progress and counseling sessions with formal assessment every six months. Continued participation in the program contingent upon milestone achievement.

Participation in the program begins with the submission of an application followed by a face-to-face interview. If selected into the program, students are provided free space during the launch phase of the business followed by below market rent once a business model has been found for the first 18 months.

Since being launched as a pilot program in January 2012 at the Ben Craig Center, the Student Incubator has served 15 student companies. Three student companies were featured during Governor McCrory's PORTAL Grand Opening business roundtable: Minds Mesh, Noire Naturals, and Tapity are all currently generating revenue and have graduated from the incubator.

MindsMesh – Minds Mesh is an education technology start-up founded by Chad Stachowicz. The company focuses on enhancing mobile technology and collaborative learning within education institutions and has raised a round of angel investment.

NoireNaturals – Noire Naturals is an all-natural hair-care products company founded by Ashleigh Thornton. Ashleigh and her company have been featured in Seventeen Magazine and she was the winner of the undergraduate student category in the 2013 Charlotte Venture Challenge.

Tapity – Tapity is an Apple Design Award winning company that Jeremy Olson co-founded with his father and brother, during his sophomore year at UNC Charlotte. Together they have built some of the most popular tools on the App Store.

Launches 49

er fou

ndry

The Foundry will be the home of a select group of UNC Charlotte student entrepreneurs.

To learn more about 49er Foundry, contact Devin Collins at [email protected] or by phone, 704-250-5753.


Founded in 2002, C5 Insight is a regional leader and trusted partner in the ever-

evolving business practices of enterprise collaboration and relationship management. Their team is comprised of 25 business consultants, technical architects, and solution experts who address the subtle issues and common challenges many organizations face as technology expands and pressure to keep up increases. Managing Partners Geoff Ables and Curtis Hughes, who joined their firms to create C5 Insight, have set a goal to maintain a moderate growth trajectory over the next 10 years, with an average growth rate of 25% year-over-year.

C5 Insight emerged as a technology consulting and implementation firm, and now focuses on proven business practices and methodologies. “We recognize that while technology can deliver tremendous value, our people and collective knowledge are our greatest assets,” said Hughes. “As user adoption continues to be a frustration for business leaders, companies look to their partners and consultants for guidance on how to get more out of their investments. C5 Insight is much more than a ‘technology firm.’ We believe strongly in providing thought leadership for both our clients and colleagues. The goal we have for our entire company is to add value to every interaction that we have.”

By challenging how people collaborate and helping develop stronger connections - both internally and externally - the resulting impact is continuous improvement of organizational performance, more engaged clients and prospects, and work place satisfaction. “We empower people

to work together better, creating more productive business relationships, inspiring more loyalty inside and outside of their organizations,” said Ables when asked of the company’s brand promise. “We look beyond initial implementation and also forecast ways to ensure technology and business practices keep up with demands and changes, with ongoing coaching to guarantee sustained value,” he concluded.

It is this notion of ongoing support that sets C5 Insight apart from other consulting businesses. Many firms offer custom solutions and optimized platforms without taking the time to really get to know their clients. Once deployed, they are rarely seen or heard from again, unless something fails to function and additional, often costly, repairs to the system are needed. By understanding the full scope of needs and gaining insight into the value end users are hoping to extract, C5 Insight consultants are adept at both integration and continuing education. Their clients receive a detailed business process analysis and scope of work up front, to avoid surprise costs, and unnecessary frustrations.

As for the culture of the business, the team prides themselves on being a different kind of corporate. “We enjoy what we do, and we hope that it shows,” said Marketing Director Alison Kendrick. “Our management team truly understands that happiness in the workplace matters, and has a direct impact on the quality of work. We are laser-focused on delivering excellence to our clients – every proposal, every project, every time. But we’re also a group that

genuinely likes being around one another, and we show that through team lunches, planned outings, and acts of service and kindness all around the office.” Hughes labeled this as “A deliberate focus on others and not on ourselves. If we seek first to serve rather than to be served, the rest will follow.”

C5 Insight currently resides in the newly built Partnership and Outreach Research To Accelerate Learning (PORTAL) Building on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus. PORTAL also serves as home to Ventureprise, the University’s entrepreneurial resource, connecting the university to developing businesses while offering strategic and analytical resources to their partners in a state of the art facility.

About C5 InsightC5 Insight is a team of

strategists and consultants that help organizations work together better. By utilizing a number of proven practices and solutions, we challenge how people work together both inside and outside of their business. The resulting impact is continuous improvement of organizational value, more engaged clients and prospects, and workplace satisfaction.

Launches C5 INSIGHT

Learn more about C5 Insight by visiting their web site at www.c5insight.com, by email at [email protected], or call them at 704-895-2500.


AMERICACODEfor


Light My Fire Photography

Engage citizens to learn what is important?

Create and nurture an innovation-driven ecosystem within a city to break-through on ideas for what could be?

Introduce entrepreneurial risk into city government?

Rally together diverse citizens - coders, engineers, designers, urban planners, graphic designers, teachers, bankers, government employees, students … the list is long … to provide a groundswell of talent and know-how to get big things done?

Code for America initiatives encompass all this. What’s more, Code for America has proof from their past engagement with tier 1 cities and sister cities to Charlotte for improving government services, enhancing city living, and now with a seemingly increasing focus on engaging civic entrepreneurs, as the way to do both.

What is Code for America?

Code for America –CFA - was founded in 2009 by Jennifer Pahlka as a 501(c) 3 to “change how we (as citizens) participate in government to: connect citizens and governments to design better services; encourage low-risk settings for innovation; support a competitive civic tech marketplace.”

Code for America has technology giants as board members, including a Google executive, successful entrepreneur and author Eric Reis, Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media, and John Lilly, former CEO of Mozilla, among others.

There are unique terms used by the greater CFA cities/communities that define certain aspects of their operation. To fully understand a city engagement team from Code for America the City of Charlotte has committed to for 2014, it helps to know these definitions.

Fellows: The Fellowship is CFA’s best

known program and it is the channel through which CFA engages with cities. The Fellowship is a one year residency for people of various ages and stages in their careers to lead/be part of a city’s engagement with CFA. Every year, thirty Fellows

are hired to move out in teams of three into ten cities to lead the CFA initiative. After a period of discovery, input from citizens is used to select a project that will solve a city problem, improve city services, or enhance the livability of the city for residents - possibly all three in one project.

Charlotte’s three Fellows are Danny, Tiffany and Andrew. Both Danny and Tiffany were well into their careers when they decided to apply for the Fellowship, while Andrew is one of the few in the entire Fellowship who is a recent college graduate.

The Charlotte Fellows describe the application process to become a CFA Fellow as “rigorous and

What can a city do to improve government and delivery of government services for its citizens and ultimately drive a culture that will consistently enhance the livability of the city?


lengthy.” They began the process in September 2013 and were selected in January 2014. The Fellowship residency for 2014 attracted 700 applicants.

When asked how they viewed their selection in such a competitive heat, 30 out of 700 applicants, the Fellows agree that the CFA selection team is looking for authentic social entrepreneurs. “Does the candidate care about playing a role towards more open government?”

The Fellows moved to San Francisco, the CFA headquarters, for the residency year, and they get paid a stipend, enough to live on. Training occurred in January and our three Fellows arrived in Charlotte in February to begin their Charlotte discovery process. They have returned to San Francisco and will be back and forth to Charlotte, coast to coast, throughout this year.

The Brigade This is us, folks. Actually, the

Brigade is made up of the citizens who join the CFA initiative to give

their input and volunteer their time and talent to their city’s CFA initiative.

The Charlotte Brigade is the fastest growing Brigade at 159 members, and is still growing. So, what does this Brigade distinction say about Charlotte, NC and our citizens?

One aspect might be that the Charlotte discovery process (equivalent of the Lean Startup – Customer Discovery) led by the Brigade in February is focused

on capturing citizen perspectives and these perspectives are ideally featured in the project that is selected to move forward. Being heard and seeing ideas become reality is tremendously rewarding.

Another aspect that may weigh prominent is that in many of us, especially those who have worked most of our careers as an employee of a large company, there is a frustrated entrepreneur just waiting to be expressed. Civic entrepreneurship and the path that CFA brings to citizen and government engagement is an appealing way to test the

entrepreneurship waters. One aspect that may just be

unique to the Charlotte Brigade is our civic leadership and burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem that has been convening for some years now to make big things happen. This ecosystem is now a large, ready group of talented and inspired people – ready to speak out and offer ideas, ready to volunteer time and talent, and ready to make a difference in the city of Charlotte. Jim Van Fleet, well known in the entrepreneur community and a renowned coder, is the leader for Charlotte's Brigade. Jim has the network to get the word out to the very diverse groups of citizens that the Brigade desires to attract, and to actually get the engagement and commitment needed.

The City of Charlotte“Our engagement with Code for America provides a unique opportunity to directly support and quickly demonstrate Charlotte’s emerging strategy for citizen engagement.”

—CIO Jeffrey Stovall, City of Charlotte

Code for America doesn’t engage with cities, they engage with city government leaders to get a city initiative approved, funded and moving. More often than not, it takes a Champion within city government to drive the change that is needed, and Charlotte’s City Champion is Twyla McDermott. Twyla McDermott’s title line indicates “innovation and technology,” – she works in the Office of the CIO.

As Twyla recounts the journey of bringing CFA to Charlotte, it’s no surprise the journey was met with starts and stops and at one point was in jeopardy of being funded.

As the City of Charlotte lead and Champion for CFA initiative, McDermott led the Fellows in February on their discovery process

Twyla McDermott with the City of Charlotte, Office of the CIO.


which included over 60 meetings (30+ different departments at the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 17 neighborhood associations, 8 citizen interviews, 7 nonprofits, and more).

The Fellows left Charlotte at the end of February with a host of project ideas that emerged as a result of these meetings, and are now refining ideas under three areas: neighborhoods, planning, and transparency.

“There is no replacement for government stepping out of their offices and listening to citizens for how to improve city services,” commented McDermott during an interview last week for this article. “We (citizens) don’t have a voice for what gets built. When a project hits the planning department, how do I find this out?” she continued.

Twyla McDermott’s exuberance over the “gush of interest” from

citizens and the growing Brigade does not overpower her sense of how this needs to go this year. “We need a small success.” McDermott’s idea is that the small success will serve to instill the culture of open government and citizen engagement as the way to operate. And, then, make room for the breakthrough, the innovation, the spark that creates something entirely new!

“Across America, government employees are accelerating city innovation by sharing their best ideas, collaborating with local civic hackers, and enlisting elite technologists for a year of service.”

—Code for America

To learn more about Code for America Charlotte and how citizens are finding the power to help their cities: http://www.codeforamerica.org/geeks/

If you have interest in learning more about civic startups, Code for America has information to help: http://www.codeforamerica.org/about/startups/

“There is no replacement for government stepping out of their offices and listening to citizens for how to improve city services.”

feature


T he Charlotte Venture Challenge (CVC) has become the Southeast’s premiere startup competition attracting over 300 early-stage high growth companies in the past three years. The multi-stage competition connects startups with investors and large potential corporate customers. The 13th annual competition will take

place in UNC Charlotte's new PORTAL Industry-University Partnership building on May 1st, 2014. The 2014 Charlotte Venture Competition has attracted 101 startup applicants located in North Carolina, South

Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and Washington, DC. Student applicants were eligible if they were enrolled in accredited universities, colleges, and community colleges in the same geographical area. We define eligible early-stage startups as:

Less than $350,000 investment not including sweat equity Less than $350,000 cumulative revenue excluding research grants

The competition is divided into the following six categories:New Energy and High Tech – Description: Advanced,

clean and sustainable energy, and other high tech companies including materials sciences, aerospace, etc.

IT and Informatics – Description: Computer software, information systems, computer hardware, SAAS, Web applications and informatics.

Health IT & Biotechnology – Description: Health IT, biomedical technologies, life systems technologies, biotechnology, biomedical devices and other similar fields.

Consumer Products and Services – Description: Innovative consumer products and services including inventions, unique retail models, specialty consumer services and other similar companies.

Graduate Student Ventures – Description: Graduate student startups or university spin-outs from Southeast based universities.

Undergraduate Student Ventures – Description: Undergraduate student startups from Southeast based universities, colleges, and community colleges.

2014

The 2013 Charlotte Venture Challenge Grand Finale presentations.


The Charlotte Venture Challenge Competition ProcessThe competition is designed to filter the startups in

order to identify innovative ideas and technologies with viable business models. As startups advance through the various filters they are provided acceleration resources including workshops and mentorship. The acceleration resources are designed to inform, educate, and connect entrepreneurs through interactive experiences. Each year activities are broadcast live via webinar as part of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s regional exchange group which allowed entrepreneurs all over the Southeast to participate.

The competition filtering process is conducted in a couple of rounds with emphasis on identifying the most exciting and compelling new startups. The filters include the following groups of people, investors and corporations.

CVC Entrepreneur Alumni Filter – All of the applications are initially filtered by CVC alumni winners and industry experts who select startups to move forward from each of the six categories of competition.

Mentor Filter – Those startups selected to move forward are then reviewed by the CVC ambassador and mentor community. Over 50 individuals volunteer their time to work with the companies. This community of volunteers is made up of entrepreneurs, lawyers, and various business executives.

Investor Filter – The finalist are filtered by the southeast investment community. Past investor groups include Grotech Ventures, Idea Fund Partners, Noro-Moseley Partners, Sunbridge Partners, T2VC, Hatteras Venture Partners, 8 Rivers Capital, Upstate Carolina Angel Network, IMAF West, Blue Ridge Angel Network, NJ Angels, 460 Angels, Wilmington Angel Network, IMAF Charlotte, Charlotte Angel Fund, IMAF Cape Fear, Virginia Angel Network, Angel Capital Group, Piedmont Angel Network, Family offices group and many others.

Corporate (Fortune 500) Filter – The finalists are filtered by the corporate experts in customer

discovery. Past corporate participants include corporate tech scouts, innovation executives, and venture development executives at Lowes Inc., Electrolux Inc., Wells Fargo Inc., Belk Inc., Duke Energy Inc., MasterCard Inc., Husqvarna Inc., Ingersoll Rand Inc., SPX Inc., Bank of America Inc., Microsoft Inc., Flextronics Inc., Midrex Inc., Areva Inc., Carolina Healthcare Systems, and many others.

2013 Charlotte Venture Challenge category winners receive their checks! Over $75,000 in prize money was awarded at the finals.

UNC Charlotte spinout Sustainable Ethanol Technologies makes their final presentation.


Past Winners of the Competition Winners by Year

2002 (The Original Five Competitors) AnalyticiaUS MetrologyMidvalveOpSourcePhotonex

2003Non-Student Track – InsituTec

2004Non-Student Track – Sure Foods Inc. (FKA Shore Shedders)

2005Non-Student Track – Ometric

2006 Non-Student Track – SoyMeds

2007Student Track – Accunetix Non-Student Track – Kiyatec, LLC

2008Retail / Service Track – iRealtyManager.com Advanced Manufacturing Track – Filigree Nanotech, Inc. Biotech Track – GOPS Group IT Track – Wisteme Student Track – Virtual Officer

2009IT / SaaS Track – BalayaBiotech Pharma Track – Countervail CorporationBiotech Device Track – HepatoSys, Inc.Service / Retail Track – TrackLok Corporation Student Track – Entogenetics

2010Life Sciences Track – TactileMED, Inc.Green Tech / Energy Track – BioRxnInformation Technology / SaaS Track – Stash GamesService / Retail Track – All Sports EnduranceStudent Track – nKind Rewards Network

2011Non-Student Track – MailVUStudent Track – SolarMax renamed Amergy Systems

2012New Energy and High Tech category winner – InfoSense, Inc (Charlotte, NC)

IT and Informatics category winner – Deal Cloud (Charlotte, NC)

Consumer Products and Services category winner – Mobile Potential (Asheville, NC)

Life Science and Biotech category winner – Qualiber, Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC)

Social Enterprise category winner – Bamboo Apparel (High Point, NC)

Student category winner – Instruct Health (Queens University)

Grand Prize Winner – CanDiag, Inc. (Charlotte, NC)

2013New Energy and High Tech category winner – Bio-Adhesive Alliance (Greensboro, NC)

IT and Informatics category winner – Robocent, Inc. (Norfolk, VA)

Consumer Products and Services category winner – Greenbug, Inc. (Beaufort, SC)

Life Science and Biotech category winner – WeRx.org (Charlotte, NC)

Graduate Student category winner – ProVaso, Inc. (University of Virginia)

Undergraduate Student category winner – NoireNaturals, LLC (UNC Charlotte)

Corporate Strategic Partnership winner – Sustainable Ethanol Technologies (Charlotte, NC)

Grand Prize Winner – Bio-Adhesive Alliance (Greensboro, NC)


Attracting Innovation Driven Enterprises from throughout the Southeast

Regional Economic Overview

The Charlotte Venture Challenge (CVC) has a 13 year history of showcasing some of the Southeast region’s most innovative early-stage startups. Many of these companies have grown

into thriving businesses in the Carolinas driving our region’s economic development.

Since 2012, over 300 early-stage startup companies have entered the competition. Applicants have come from the Carolinas, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.

The competition attracts early-stage companies from throughout North Carolina, driving new company formation. The competition works to accelerate the creation of a strong regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in “Charlotte USA.” In the past two years, CVC attracted competitors from 25 counties and 27 cities in North Carolina. In 2014, half of all participants (51%) were located in Charlotte, USA.

Economic Development in North Carolina

North Carolina City Participation 2011-2014Charlotte Durham Cornelius Waxhaw ClaytonBelmont Chapel Hill High Point Mooresville ApexAndrews Asheville Boone Cleveland AsheboroConcord Denver East Bend Gastonia ConoverHenderson Hickory Kernersville Locust HarrisburgMarshall Marvin Matthews Mount Holly LincolntonRaleigh Sanford Wake Forest Winston-Salem MisenheimerDavidson Huntersville Trinity BurlingtonElon Cary Indian Trail Greensboro

Regional University Technology Commercialization

The competition is designed to help commercialize technologies throughout the southeast region. We attract innovative technologies from a number of top universities and colleges. Since 2012, the CVC has included competitors from 35 universities, the largest proportion of which came from UNC Charlotte. University of North Carolina at CharlotteDuke UniversityUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillEmory UniversityWingate University University of VirginiaJohns Hopkins University The University of MemphisUniversity of South CarolinaClemson UniversityAppalachian State UniversityChristian Brother UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityQueens University of CharlotteThe University of MemphisUniversity of South CarolinaUniversity of TennesseeVanderbilt UniversityWake Forest UniversityJames Madison UniversityAsheville-Buncombe Technical CollegeVirginia Intermont CollegeWestern Carolina UniversityHigh Point UniversityThe College of William & MaryUniversity of Tennessee at KnoxvilleVirginia TechEast Carolina UniversityVance-Granville Community CollegeJohnson C. Smith UniversityDavidson CollegeNorth Carolina A&T State UniversityElon UniversityOld Dominion UniversityBelmont Abbey CollegeLenoir Rhyne UniversityMorehouse CollegePfeiffer UniversityAgnes Scott CollegeCentral Piedmont Community College

2014 Charlotte Venture Challenge Entrants by CategoryNew Energy and High Tech 13%IT and Informatics 23%Health IT and Biotechnology 11%Consumer Products and Services 20%Graduate Student Ventures 12%Undergraduate Student Ventures 21%


Early customer discovery is the foundation for identifying scalable and profitable

business models. Beginning in March 2014, five teams made up of at least two entrepreneurs started the Charlotte Venture Launch program. Each of the teams came into the program with a business idea and will spend six weeks interviewing potential customers to test and validate their business models. The five teams were made up of community entrepreneurs, UNC Charlotte faculty, and PhD students.

“Customer Discovery will enable participants to discover high growth business models before expending substantial time and money to start a company” says Devin Collins, Teaching Team member at Ventureprise.

Charlotte Venture Launch is a Ventureprise initiative available to community and university entrepreneurs. Its purpose is to help entrepreneurs discover scalable business models before spending needless time and money in the traditional venture startup process. Fashioned after the famed NSF I-Corps program, teams commit to a six-week intensive program that focuses on the customer discovery process. Through a combination of learning workshops, high impact presentations, numerous customer interviews and guided mentoring, entrepreneurs and innovators will:

Learn and actively engage in this critical Customer Discovery process using the Business Model Canvas. Collaborate with other participating teams, the teaching team, and members of the Charlotte startup community.

Establish valuable connections with potential customers, investors, mentors, and other entrepreneurs through the program workshops, presentations, customer visits, and office hours. Emerge with an executable business model or no-go decision.

“Customer discovery is essential to transferring innovation ideas/technology to commercialization,” says Chief Science Officer, CetoTech Inc. Luna Lu, participant in NSF 2012 I-Corps program. “This program helped us understand the entire ecosystem of our product including potential market and customer needs. The knowledge we gained is vital to CetoTech’s recent success of NSF SBIR Phase I funding and Fall 2013 NC IDEA finalists.”

Participants experience a unique startup culture

Charlotte Venture Launch is designed to get right the most critical phase of a startup – the opportunity assessment - through customer discovery.

Successful participants and teams are agile. They don’t show up to defend and prove out their business model; they participate so they will emerge with a business model that works and provides the best opportunity to accelerate their venture and be successful. Successful participants are willing to scrap everything and begin again when the customer discovery process fails to prove out the business model.

Participants stay agile through this intense process, willing

to consistently question their business model until they become a company ready to launch.

Charlotte Venture Launch is best described as a boot-camp for startups and is designed to challenge participants at every turn. The teaching team delivers direct dialogue, direct feedback, all designed to accelerate this process. The teaching team is experienced, and they realize how difficult this initial phase of a startup is to move an idea forward.

“Truly understanding a customer’s needs and processes is perhaps the most critical aspect to the successful launch of a new venture and, unfortunately, an area where many technologists and entrepreneurs fall short. I can foresee Charlotte Venture Launch providing great value to teams that think they have a great technology or idea, but need to validate whether and how it fits with customers.” says Idea Fund Partners' John Cambier.

Want to participate? Individuals are not accepted

to participate in the program. We want teams of 2-4 people working together. The reason we require teams is that participants can expect to spend 15 hours a week outside the classroom interviewing customers.

CHARLOTTE VENTURE LAUNCH

CHARLOTTE VENTURE LAUNCH

If you are interested in participating in Customer Discovery email [email protected], or call 704-250-5753.


Dr. Bob WilhelmVice Chancellor

Research & Economic DevelopmentCharlotte Research Institute Executive Director

(704) [email protected]

Chip YensanAssociate Director

Charlotte Research InstituteResearch & Economic Development


Jim CurrieAssociate Director for PORTAL

Research & Economic Development(704) 687-7573

[email protected]

James HathawayResearch Communications

Research & Economic Development (704) 687-5743

[email protected]

Karen FordEvents Manager

Charlotte Research Institute(704) 687-5598

[email protected]

Julie M. FultonInterim Executive Assistant

to the Vice ChancellorResearch & Economic Development

Charlotte Research Institute(704) 687-8428

[email protected]

Robyne R. VickersTechnical Specialist

Charlotte Research InstituteResearch & Economic Development


CHARLOTTE RESEARCH INSTITUTE CAMPUS

P. Gail KeeneBusiness Officer & Manager CRI Campus Business Office


[email protected]

Lolita GonzalesAssistant Business ManagerCRI Campus Business Office


[email protected]

Pearl BrownBusiness Office Specialist

CRI Campus Business OfficeResearch & Economic Development


VENTUREPRISEPaul Wetenhall

Executive Director / PresidentVentureprise, Inc.(704) 687-8057

[email protected]

Marilyn CarpenterDirector, Venture Development

Ventureprise, Inc.(704) 687-8058

[email protected]

Carolyn SmithClient Services

Ventureprise, Inc.(704) 687-0900

[email protected]

CRI AT NCRCDevin Collins

Assistant Director, Entrepreneurship and Business DevelopmentCharlotte Research Institute


[email protected]

Clare Cook FaggartProgram Manager

Life Sciences ConferenceCharlotte Research Institute


[email protected]


EXPERIENCE AN ENTIRE RESEARCH CAMPUS AT

YOUR DOORSTEP.

There is only one workspace in the region that provides your business a brand new state-of-the-art office building with the added perks of North Carolina’s urban research University. Open since February 2014, the PORTAL building features 4 stories of innovation and business development office space wrapped around a core atrium and multiple convening spaces. Your PORTAL office will give you immediate access to UNC Charlotte’s merited faculty, students and campus resources every day. Visit cri.uncc.edu to reserve your space today and discover how PORTAL can power up your business.

POWERED BY

Manwell BynumPresident and CEO,Connectivity Concepts, LLC

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