RALEIGH – Mark Bavisotto likens growing your own company to climbing a mountain, and he should know. This is his third time starting up a company.
With his latest venture, however, he’s turned the tables a bit, making it his business to provide other entrepreneurs with the tools to reach their own goals.
Enter Startup Summit – a one-day conference featuring leading keynote speakers and master classes from top entrepreneurs, innovators and executives.
Mark Bavisotto has big plans for future Startup Summits.
“Sometimes startups are so heavily bound in their business and focused on their product that they don’t take enough time to focus on other things,” explained Bavisotto, who moved to the Triangle from New York three years ago.
“We saw a gap in the market, and felt it was important for startups to come here to learn [practical strategies] from the experts.”
On Tuesday, around 250 people heeded the call, packing into NC State University’s Hunt Library second floor Duke Energy Hall for the inaugural event.
An impressive lineup of speakers presented throughout the day – including Savvy Growth founder Grace Ueng and Teamworks’ sales leader Larry Long Jr. – tackling everything from growth marketing and sales strategies, to building a winning culture.
The event culminated with a Startup Summit Shark Tank, with three local startups making pitches to a panel of venture capitalists. In the end, Zogo Finance, which is building a mobile banking app between parents and teens, came away with $300,000 in backing.
Getting experts’ perspectives
With co-working spaces like American Underground and HQ Raleigh, it’s no secret that many are pushing for the Triangle to become the “Silicon Valley of the South.” But some seasoned entrepreneurs at the Startup Summit offered a more nuanced perspective.
Walk West CEO Don Thompson, who gave a keynote address on creating a diverse and inclusive work culture, has been on the scene since 1996.
Photo shoot: Names, faces in the big crowd at Startup Summit
“I’d say in the last 10 years, it’s hyper-accelerated,” Thompson said on the region’s push to become a hotbed of tech and startup activity.
For the most part, it’s been “smart change,” he added, fostering inclusivity and mentorship. He pointed to this year’s breakout success story, Durham’s black-led startup SpokeHub, which raised $2 million in seed funds, mostly from African-American investors.
“I’m so proud of those guys,” said Thompson, who serves on the firm’s advisory board. “They took a dream and a concept and promoted it within the African-American community. … What it says about our economic environment is that we’re all for the dream chasers, and anybody that wants to, can make it.”
CoFounders Capital’s David Gardner
But in other ways, he added, the region still got some ways to go.
Specifically, he referred to the relationship between local businesses with the area’s universities and government. “Now everybody is still in a few silos. It makes it hard for us to really connect. I see the attempts, but that’s where I see where we have a lot of work to do.”
David Gardner, Cofounders Capital’s managing partner, came to the area in the early 80s. He’s also seen the area transform, especially from the investment side of things.
“We’ve had some of our large venture funds such as InterSouth and Aurora shut down over the last couple of years. It has left a bit of a gap here,” he said during a break, shortly after his keynote address in which he made the case for why local corporations need to be involved in early-stage local innovation. InterSouth stopped making new investments in 2017.
“Now there have been a lot of angel groups that have stepped up like RTP Capital and TAP (Triangle Angel Partners). The issue with most of the angel groups is that they don’t tend to lead rounds. They would rather see a professional venture fund write the term sheet, and then they will come in. We need more venture real funds, which is a full-time job.”
Finding inspiration
Ellen Gowdy was among Startup Summit’s attendees. She founded her own company, Curious, a little more than a year ago, helping tech startups build teams from scratch.
Ellen Gowdy makes connections at Startup Summit
“This provides a lot of access to investment opportunities,” said the 31-year-old who also serves as Teamworks’ director of recruiting.
“The panels that they’ve put together here are very knowledgeable,” she added. “I heard a couple of people run out after sessions, calling their partners who aren’t here telling them, “Oh, this is what I’ve found out what I should do about my business.”
But perhaps more to the point: “This is a small town. It’s important to be at these things getting to know people,” she said.
Startup Summit’s founder Bavisotto, who is also a partner at Successive Technologies and runs the local chapter of Startup Grind powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, said he is planning to expand his new venture beyond the conference in other ways in the coming years. He noted: “Our goal is to do master classes down and videos down the road.”
