Asheville Citizen-Times’ new reporter Caitlin Byrd who covers innovators, entrepreneurs and startups sat down with Josh Dorfman, Director of Entrepreneurship Development at Venture Asheville, to talk about the organization’s goals and progress. Here are some highlights:
Dorfman said Venture Asheville’s goal is to “plug in the gaps where we see there are needs that are not being met in the ecosystem.” The plan focuses on five different areas: capital, talent, entrepreneurs, building connections and sharing success stories.
“It’s hard for these companies to get the capital they need to scale, and to grow,” Josh Dorfman told members of the Asheville Hub Alliance last week. “There are startups here that are fundable and exciting. If they got that capital, we feel like they would be able to use it well and grow. In the short-term, we felt like [Asheville Angels] would really help us start to deliver with the teams, the startups and the entrepreneurs that are already here today.”
In addition… Dorfman said trust needs to be built within Asheville’s startup culture in terms of finding mentors as well as making people comfortable talking about themselves and their company.
Read the full article in the Citizen-Times.
Photo credit: William Woody, Citizen-Times
