DURHAM – Local investors and entrepreneurs, get ready. Big Top is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Big Top

It was only last June that The American Underground, which is owned by WRALTechWire parent Capitol Broadcasting, acquired the local startup. Since then, it has repositioned itself from a fledgling tech jobs platform to a “recruiting and career management community” – more than doubling in size to about 10,000 registered members – in less than a year.

Given the software company’s recent move to reboot its brand, some predict that number could climb even higher.

“The sky is the limit,” said Molly Demarest, who has spearheaded Big Top’s transformation. “The Triangle is consistently on the top of the list of fastest growing tech hubs in the country.”

However, providing the infrastructure to harness that growth is the key to sustained success, she stressed.

“Our team has spent hours meeting with members of the startup community to better understand what the community desired in the next phase of regional growth,” she said. “There are highly skilled people that already live here, or are looking to move to the region, and yet we [kept] hearing that it has become increasingly more difficult to figure out how and where to plug in.”

That is where Big Top comes in. The company resolved to make it their new mission to simplify startup growth and become the missing link, supporting online and in-person connections for the local startup community to stay competitive.

“When we think about potential challenges, we look at how other startup communities across the nation are expanding – and many of them face the challenge of outgrowing the infrastructure needed for building regional connections. Big Top solves that problem for the Triangle by facilitating those necessary connections to prevent silos and inaccessibility,” said Demarest.

Startup Crawl

To that end, the company has rolled out a series of changes as part of its relaunch last month. Among them: debuting a new software platform that helps deliver relevant opportunities directly to people within the network; and revamping its event series, which aims to connect regional and national talent with local growing startups.

Next Monday, it all kicks off with the first Big Top Startup Crawl, formerly known as the Triangle Startup Social. The event still takes place on the third Monday of each month, but will now be hosted at startup offices and will have a theme. This time around, it will be held at Spreedly’s newly renovated office at 733 Foster Street in downtown Durham.

The event’s goal is two-fold: to allow startups to make connections, and to give emerging talent the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at other startup environments.

“Years ago, the startup community consisted of a few larger companies and a handful of co-working spaces. The landscape looks very different today, and we’re excited to showcase the future of the Triangle startup community,” said Demarest.

In addition, Big Top Bash, a Triangle-wide celebration of the startup community, will be held two to three times a year.

Meanwhile, on the software front, the new platform is designed to deliver tailored opportunities to people’s inboxes. It also offers a customizable company page that provides startups with a framework to better tell their story and gain exposure.

Startups booming

Among those already taking advantage is Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly. Back in late 2011, he helped found the company that provides cloud-based software infrastructure for payments out of Durham.

“Back then, there were really only five or six startups and you could name them all; Windsor Circle, Spreedly, Adzerk, ArchiveSocial, Automated Insights and Shoeboxed. It was a really small community. Now there are so many startups I’ve completely lost count,” he said, adding: “Funding is still a challenge, but it’s completely different to what things looked like back [then].

With business booming, his company is aggressively hiring and wants to take advantage of Big Top’s talent pool. When asked to host the first social, he jumped at the chance.

“We selfishly want to lift our local profile to help with our own hiring needs,” he said. But he also wants to give back.

“Spreedly was not exactly a linear route to success. In 2012, I drew inspiration from interacting with other startups that were further along than we were,” he said. “[We’re] now in the fast-growth stage and we have a lot [to share] about how we are fueling that growth. If that can help another local company to get to our stage and beyond, that is just great news for the region.”