As a co-founder to one of the companies (ruzuku) that went through the Triangle Startup Factory, I can't recommend the program enough.<p>Chris and Dave are amazing. They have lots of experience working with startups and they are well connected to the local and national startup scene.<p>They connected us with a couple of amazing mentors that saw some of the potential that Abe and I had missed and helped us realize that fairly quickly. We've now got a new business model and are kicking ass and taking names. :) And even though the program has ended, our mentors are still involved.<p>Pitch Day was great. They spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks really helping us refine our pitch -- ended up with a couple of solid pitches. One more of a story meant to generate excitement and another rooted more in the market and financials -- all the details that an investor would be looking for.<p>Not sure how many people showed up, but there had to have been 200 or more people -- at least, that's what it felt like up on the stage giving our pitch. We're now busy following up with potential investors and executing our new business plan. Crazy, hectic times. And we get to squat at the American Tobacco Campus in the TSF digs at least until the new class arrives.<p>Their application for the Fall class is tomorrow. You don't have to be located in the Triangle to get in -- at least one of the companies (Berst) was from Chicago and I know several of us had people living and working from other places in the country.<p>Happy to answer any questions about the program for those considering applying. Also willing to give any advice on how to get in.
As a founder of one of the companies in this first batch of Triangle Startup Factory, I would highly recommend the program to startups across the country. This is a startup accelerator grounded in core lean principles, and it provides exactly the level of resources (including significant funding and a great mentor base) critical for an early stage company.<p>Durham (North Carolina) is not just an incredible area to live from a quality of life standpoint, but it also a true center of entrepreneurial activity. Startup Stampede, Smoffice, ExitEvent, LaunchBox Digital (back in 2010), and Triangle Startup Factory (TSF) are just a few examples of the entrepreneurial sparks flying in this place.<p>Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about TSF. I am happy to help!
We (Fogbeam Labs)[1] didn't get in last time, but we'll be applying again this fall. One thing that I like about TSF is that they do actually give you some feedback on <i>why</i> they didn't pick a given applicant.<p>In our case, the two reasons they cited were "market too small," and "lack of expertise in this domain (by TSF)". Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about them feeling they don't have sufficient expertise in enterprise knowledge management and collaboration software, but the market size thing was obviously just a communication breakdown on our part, since the market for this stuff is farking huge. This time, our application will focus a lot more on the current market opportunity, and hopefully we'll be accepted.<p>And ultimately we're not even limiting ourselves to <i>just</i> "knowledge management and collaboration." That's just where we're starting. The goal is to provide quality Open Source solutions up and down the stack, that A. don't suck (like most enterprise software), B. have excellent UX, C. are well integrated (with each other and with external systems), and D. use cutting edge technology to address the highest-value customer problems.<p>Once we ship our first couple of products, and get that initial toe-hold / purchase point and are able to start accelerating, we are going to shake things up in the enterprise.<p>[1]: Fogbeam Labs, the up-and-coming Open Source collaboration / knowledge-management company. <a href="http://www.fogbeam.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.fogbeam.com</a> Go there now and sign up for our newsletter. It's not necessary for you to spend the rest of your day thinking about how cool Fogbeam Labs are, and how much you want to email all your friends and tell them about us too. But if you can remember a time when you were really excited about a company like Fogbeam Labs, then think back to those feelings and how that made you feel, and do the right thing.
Durham, NC and the Triangle in general are fast becoming a great startup hub. It's definitely a great place to live and the proximity to the universities provides a large talent pool for startup founders to draw from.<p><a href="http://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/</a>
I can't speak from experience at other accelerators but the connections we made and mentoring we received was incredible; our TSF advisors are still engaged every week. And the significant funding lets you do the market testing you really need to prep for a data-driven go-to-market strategy.
great accelerator. smart guys.. connected and one on one mentorship.<p>And you get almost 2.5x the cash compared to others. gotta love being able to survive on stuff other than ramen.