DAVIDSON — More than 200 Davidson College students, Davidson College faculty and staff, local entrepreneurs, Flywheel Coworking members, and many community members from the Lake Norman region, just north of Charlotte, last week celebrated the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Davidson College, or The Hurt Hub@Davidson.

“We celebrated a remarkable first year for The Hurt Hub@Davidson,” said Julie Goff, General Manager, “including the partners, people, and community that made it all possible.”

The 23,000 square foot building, is a renovated finishing mill in the Davidson Cotton Mill complex, that required minimal structural changes and received major interior design updates to become what Goff describes as a state-of-the-art innovation facility.  The Hurt Hub@Davidson sits just two blocks from the heart of Davidson College’s campus, steps from downtown Davidson, and within Davidson’s central business district.

Hurt Hub will include a beverage bar.

The Hurt Hub@Davidson aims to connect students to intellectual capital, education, mentoring, workspace, project help, networking, and early-stage capital, said Goff.  “We want to find, support, and develop students and motivated individuals in our area who have great ideas, who could change the world.”

One of the facility’s original tenants shared major news during the event.  Rocus Networks, one of the anchor tenants in the building, announced that the company has been acquired by Chickasaw Nation Industries (CNI), and will operate under a subsidiary company, Corvid Technologies, LLC.  Rocus Networks will move out of The Hurt Hub@Davidson and thus becomes the facility’s first “graduation,” said Goff.

Startup Showcase Features Innovative Ideas, Bold Entrepreneurs

“When you work out of the Hurt Hub, you surround yourself with like-minded people and endless resources,” said Katie Hotze, founder and CEO of Grocery Shopii, a software application for grocery retailers that expedites the online grocery shopping process.

Hotze was one of twenty founders or founding teams that participated in the startup showcase at The Hurt Hub@Davidson, interacting with mentors, investors, students, and community members.  Hotze recently signed on to work out of the facility as she launches her bootstrapped company.

“Due to the speed of our growth, I selected the Hurt Hub to gain access to the Gig-Hub program with Davidson College.  The ability to dial up support quickly is essential to meeting the demands of our high-growth company.”

The result?  The company, started by a digital marketer who struggled with the never-ending dilemma of “what’s for dinner?”, is actively helping grocers drastically reduce high cart abandonment and low brick-to-click conversion by merging meal planning and online grocery shopping for their consumers.

“Heading into 2020, Grocery Shopii’s continued growth will be dependent on factors like flexible office space, professional resources, and really strong coffee,” said Hotze.  “All of which we find right in Davidson at the Hurt Hub.”

Charlotte-based FinTech company HoneyFi participated in the showcase as well, demonstrating their financial platform and app that makes it easier for couples to manage money.

“We will help them set money aside for financial shocks, save for the things that matter, communicate effectively about money and become financially secure,” said Ramy Serageldin, co-founder and CEO.  “In turn, we hope to reduce the stressful effect of money on relationships and help couples lead happier lives together.”

Vishion, headed by founder and CEO Samantha Smith, who developed the idea for the startup’s color search engine while sitting in a bar in Davidson, found herself two years later pitching her company to investors, on the day of the application launched, at the startup showcase at The Hurt Hub@Davidson.

The app, available for iOS devices, helps interior designers and new homeowners identify and match more than 3,600 colors in their color library.

“On our app, you can save your colors and designs, like mood boards,” said Smith.  The color search engine enables users to search and explore by entering a color value, Sherwin-Williams paint, or Pantone color standards to initiate a color search.  The startup works with brands to identify the colors of their products so design projects get accurate results, and the company is paid by retailers every time someone clicks on a product in the application.

“This area is an ideal place for our company because of our proximity to furniture and home good creators,” said Smith, who is currently hiring a software engineer to expand the features of the app to include a mechanism to share color boards.  “It’s easy to find brands that appeal to design lovers in the Carolinas.”

Putting Students at the Center of The Hurt Hub@Davidson

“When we designed this space two years ago, we hoped to facilitate relationships, connections and organic growth,” said Goff.  “In our first year, we have seen all of those things come to fruition.”

The Hurt Hub@Davidson experienced a four-fold growth in their community, said Goff, expanding from just under 40 members in July 2018 to 154 professionals and entrepreneurs, representing 82 companies.

“We are deepening the resources and support that we are able to offer,” said Goff.  “Making sure we capitalize our strong momentum and establish ourselves as the place to serve and develop great entrepreneurial talent.”

“Students are at the center of our entrepreneurial programming,” said Goff, “and will continue to participate in classes, workshops, mentoring, boot camps and hackathons.”  More than 100 students participated in entrepreneurial programming organized by Davidson College, including 3 Day Startup, Failure Fund, Davidson College Venture Fund, and additional mentoring opportunities including the newly launched Mentoring Program, a collaborative effort between Davidson College and LaunchLKN, said Goff.

Students are also participating in Gig-Hub, said Goff, an exchange that matches Davidson College undergraduates with startups to complete short-term projects from five to 40 hours.  According to Goff, 139 students have completed 76 projects for 54 local, national, and international clients.

Goff and her team are looking forward, as well.

“We hope to do more in the way of early-stage investor education this year,” said Goff, “helping to activate investment potential in our Lake Norman area that might currently be on the sidelines.”

By inviting investors into the community, and leveraging the assistance of angel investors already living and working in the region, said Goff, “we hope to bring new investors into our community – who could provide a critical partnership for young companies just getting off the ground.”

Davidson College’s new entrepreneurial ‘Hurt Hub’ lands plenty of clients even before it opens