DURHAM – Organizers of next week’s Raleigh-Durham Startup Week expect hundreds of participants to learn from dozens of entrepreneurs and investors throughout the four-day event starting on Tuesday, April 19.
And, organizers have released the programming lineup, highlighting four primary themes and an entire morning allocated to investor “office hours,” in a statement shared with WRAL TechWire.
In addition to those four themes—startup 101, legal and finance, design and development, and emerging technologies—the event will feature a keynote session at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, held in-person at the Carolina Theatre.
That session includes Cindy Eckert of Sprout Pharmaceuticals and The Pink Ceiling, David Hall of Revolution Partners, and Scot Wingo of Spiffy and the Triangle Tweener Fund.
“Our startup community has experienced significant growth over the past 10+ years,” said Chris Heivly, the co-chairman of the Raleigh-Durham Startup Week, in a statement.
WRAL TechWire’s Jason Parker interviewed Heivly for a 2013 series that took a look at Durham’s entrepreneurial economy. At the time, Heivly was the managing director at the Triangle Startup Factory. At that time, he noted a glaring need for the future of the region: access to additional angel investment, including, importantly, from non-tech people.”
“I don’t worry about venture capital money, because that’ll come with great companies,” he told Parker at the time. A decade later, Heivly is still highlighting the region’s strength, and, why he is bullish on the area: collaboration.
“Our region’s secret is our willingness to connect and support each other,” Heivly wrote this week in a statement about next week’s event. “This first event exemplifies that core characteristic and we look forward to expanding this event to Raleigh next year.”
WRAL TechWire featured the event in the recently updated Triangle Startup Guide.
Schedule of events
Sessions will be held in downtown Durham, including at venues like CloudFactory, TeamWorks, and the American Underground. (Editor’s Note: The American Underground is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, the parent of WRAL TechWire.)
“The well-rounded schedule represents the talent and potential of our entrepreneurial ecosystem,” a statement from the organizers reads.
Session titles include:
- Move Fast, Learn Stuff
- Building Dev Teams within Startups
- Building Diversity Into Your Startup
- Why Us?
- Brand-Building for Early-Stage Companies
- I Did Shark Tank and 99 Other Challenges I Want To Share With You
- IoT
- The Biggest Mistakes I’ve Ever Seen Entrepreneurs Make on Term Sheets
- Navigating Supply Chain Complexity
“RDSW is a celebration of the unique diversity found in our region’s culture and tech business community,” said Archie O’Connor, co-chairman of the event in a statement. “These companies have seen tremendous success and are a barometer of the unique talent residing in our region. They demonstrate how our community comes together to foster growth opportunities for individuals and organizations of all sizes.”
Registration is free for all, and is now available online. There is also a separate registration for the keynote sessions on Wednesday, April 20, which can be found online.
