NC JOBS Act supporters seemed pretty confident that intrastate crowdfunding would become state law this year, but that was before the spring legislative session began. An email circulating the entrepreneurial community over the weekend may make you question whether that's really feasible considering all the other statewide decisions being made. But it may also prompt you to act.
The team, led by angel investor Mark Easley, is asking entrepreneurs and other crowdfunding enthusiasts to write and call their Senators immediately, in hopes bill H680 can hit the floor before the short session wraps up this month.
Here's the plea for help and instructions on how to get involved:
We Need Your Help with H680, the North Carolina JOBS Act, which Enables Investment Crowdfunding in North Carolina
Dear friends and supporters of the North Carolina small business and startup communities: --Read On
The Turing Test, as defined by British mathematician Alan Turing in 1950, portends that if a computer can fool enough humans into thinking that it itself is human, it can be considered to have the same level of intelligence as a human.
Then, as the dystopian among us would have you believe, they take over.
I had four thoughts on the subject:
1) Bullshit. That's just a chatbot.
As soon as the claim was made, it was challenged. Experts called into question everything from the low number of judges it convinced (10 out of 30) to the fact that the test was undertaken with stipulations on what kind of human this was supposed to be -- specifically, a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy who spoke English as a second language.
I mean, come on, then do the test in Ukrainian.
But the most obvious detraction is that Eugene is just a chatbot.
Human conversation is not a tennis match. It has stops and starts, it has people talking over one another, it builds on the ideas from the other participant. This chatbot, like all chatbots before it, immediately fell into a generation-old chatbot routine: --Read On
Startup accelerators aren't new, but ThinkHouse gives new meaning to “entrepreneurial environment.” The inaugural living-learning-company building program hosted eight entrepreneurs in a renovated house in Boylan Heights since last December. Yesterday, we recapped the experience and talked to the ThinkHouse founders about the future of the program.
Today, we highlight the five promising businesses either born or further developed during an intensive six-months of ThinkHouse residence. The fellows pitched their businesses at a Demo Day at HQ Raleigh last night, and ExitEvent sat in to get their take on a first-of-its-kind experience in the Triangle.
So here you go, the stories behind five startups we'll be watching in weeks and months to follow. --Read On
Remember the expression, “It's better to try and fail than never try at all,”? As it turns out, the expression is probably true if you're an entrepreneur; the economy benefits more from your ventures' failure than if you never start your venture.
By now you've probably read the report, or at least read an article citing it. The report has been so widely circulated and commented on that the authors released a follow-up paper two weeks ago in response to all the theories and debates it inspired. If you haven't read the report, Figure 1, reproduced above, sums it up nicely; business dynamism has been declining for the past 30 years and is declining in all sectors, all states, and in all but a handful of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) including North Carolina and all of its MSAs. --Read On
Eight 20-something men in a house may not sound like the most productive of work environments.
But the founders of ThinkHouse say at least five new Triangle-area startups are growing and thriving thanks to the last six months those men spent living and working together in a renovated house in Boylan Heights.
Though the vision for ThinkHouse is much bigger than a house in Raleigh—at least 40 houses in cities around the world and new plans for TeachHouses and HealthHouses—founders Christopher Gergen, Jason Widen, Brooks Bell and Jesse Lipson used the inaugural group as an experiment. Will a group of aspiring entrepreneurs learn quicker and build better companies if they experience every aspect of the startup life in close quarters together? And will they plant roots in Raleigh (or any other ThinkHouse city) as a result? --Read On
Content provided to ExitEvent by partner WRAL TechWire.
By Rick Smith, Editor of WRAL TechWire
A new initiative approved by the Raleigh City Council this week calls for a variety of incentives—from funding to grants and more—in its attempt to lure and to grow startup businesses.
A key point of emphasis is on new ventures related to technology - for good reasons, says James Sauls, who heads up economic development efforts for the City of Raleigh.
"Technology is a sweet spot for us as we have the talent, companies and university infrastructure to support it," Sauls tells WRAL TechWire in an exclusive interview.
The City will be backing the program with cash in the form of grants and other funds with a first-year allotment of $100,000.
"[A] grants program is one of several programs that are being considered," Sauls said. "The City has committed $100,000 for the 2015 budget year."
Guidelines for how grants and other funding will be provided are still to be determined, Sauls explained. --Read On
I won't lie. Ten years out of college, I'm pretty freaking envious of the new digs, new technology and new features on so many college campuses these days. My only positive memory of my college dorm's basement was the free ice cream during exam week.
At N.C. State's new Innovation Hall at Wolf Ridge Apartments on Centennial Campus, smart and eager young people can quite literally start businesses and build products in theirs. At their disposal are MakerBots and laser cutters, iPads and smart whiteboards and they can fix up meals in state-of-the-art kitchens while they work. Breaks can be taken on a sand volleyball court on the quad. Experienced entrepreneurs and mentors will roam the halls providing advice and assistance. --Read On
Say you've got $3 million or more in revenue, you've raised a seed round and the pace of growth at your startup is accelerating. You may have few places in turn in the Triangle for growth-stage funds, but one that might not be on your radar is River Cities Capital.
With a $200 million fund closed in May—its fifth in 20 years—and two local partners, the Midwest-based fund shouldn't be so easy to overlook. River Cities was an early investor in Cary-based SciQuest, which it helped to take public in 2010, and holds stakes in two Raleigh tech companies, cloud-based marketing software startup KnowledgeTree and local television media app-maker StepLeader Digital (A spin-out of ExitEvent parent company Capitol Broadcasting). The StepLeader investment happened in 2013—one of the first four investments made out of fund five, its largest to date (Fund IV was $120 million).
River Cities now has the largest local fund actively making investments in growth-stage companies in the Triangle.
Raleigh partner Rik Vandevenne says the firm is strongly considering another Triangle-area tech investment, and that the pool of potential software and medical technology startups in town seems to be growing. It's a far cry from 2008-2012, when the software industry was dismal and venture-backed startups weren't raising funds—valuations were too low. --Read On
So....we hear about a lot of jobs here at ExitEvent. And since we're not in the market for new ones, we figured we'd share them with our readers.
To submit a job for the weekly roundup, email [email protected]. To apply, contact the companies and entities listed. And forward to all your friends you hope will work at startups!
Oh, and watch this video for some tips before you interview...
Entrepreneur:I'm working on a new startup that will revolutionize everything.
What's my product? Well, I told you—it's revolutionary. It literally revolutionizes everything.
What does it do? I can't tell you. If I told people the details they might steal the idea. Groundbreaking concepts like this don't come around that often.
So… anyway... I'm looking for some assistance. I need someone to help me staff my company and was told you know a lot of qualified people. I was hoping you could do me a favor and connect me with those people, pro bono.
What? Qualified candidates won't even talk to me until they know what the business actually does?
In that case, I'm going to need you to sign this non-disclosure agreement. I know I'm asking you to do this for free, but if you're going to know my game changing idea, I need you to be legally liable to me.
I think my idea is worth millions, so if you or a partner of yours ever build anything remotely close to it, I'll drop a frivolous lawsuit on you before you can say unconscionability. I also realize having you sign a NDA would require you to ask every potential candidate you speak with to also sign a NDA, making this an absolutely untenable situation, but I refuse to waver.
When was I ever required to sign a NDA for just a job interview? Well, that doesn't matter. Those companies weren't revolutionary.
So the Internet collectively lost its mind last week on the story that machines had finally caught up to us cagey humans, and that 
Startup accelerators aren't new, but ThinkHouse gives new meaning to “entrepreneurial environment.” The inaugural living-learning-company building program hosted eight entrepreneurs in a renovated house in Boylan Heights since last December. 
Remember the expression, “It's better to try and fail than never try at all,”? As it turns out, the expression is probably true if you're an entrepreneur; the economy benefits more from your ventures' failure than if you never start your venture. 
Eight 20-something men in a house may not sound like the most productive of work environments.
Content provided to ExitEvent by partner WRAL TechWire.
Say you've got $3 million or more in revenue, you've raised a seed round and the pace of growth at your startup is accelerating. You may have few places in turn in the Triangle for growth-stage funds, but one that might not be on your radar is 
So....we hear about a lot of jobs here at ExitEvent. And since we're not in the market for new ones, we figured we'd share them with our readers.
Consider this scenario.