“What’s Next?” …that’s the question brewing locally after Popular Mechanics ranked Asheville the #2 Best Startup City in America last week. Caitlin Byrd of the Citizen-Times kicked off the conversation this past weekend in an article that captured perspectives from startup founders and leaders at Venture Asheville, Asheville Angels, Accelerating Appalachia, and Mountain BizWorks.
Here are some highlights from the feature story:
Though the editors at Popular Mechanics magazine did not mention Pitch for Pitchers when they named Asheville the second-best startup city in America last week, the event is a testament to the city’s growing entrepreneurial energy that’s not just for breweries.
As the director of entrepreneurship for the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, Josh Dorfman is just one of the people trying to figure out how to move Asheville’s startup community forward, as well as what may be holding it back.
What Josh Dorfman said he found was a need to connect area startups with the capital and talent they required to succeed, as well as find a way to foster dialogue and connections between new and existing entrepreneurs. “We know that it’s important and highly strategic to continue to make more capital available to local startups. That may over time become an area where we increasingly focus because bringing capital into the startup community not only enables startups to move faster, but to hire the talent they need to grow,” he said.
That’s why the Asheville Angels took flight in August as a member-based investor group focused on funding young, innovative companies in the Asheville area. The group just recently made its first investment. They chose local. Plum Print, an Asheville-based startup company that transforms children’s artwork into original coffee table books, recently secured $1 million during their first seed round of funding. Asheville Angels decided to invest more than $100,000.
Patrick Fitzsimmons, the executive director at Mountain Bizworks, said he’s seen no slowdown in Asheville’s entrepreneurial spirit. “Building your own job in Asheville is not only encouraged, but in some ways it’s almost required. We get a lot of people who come in here with business ideas. Some need development and some are really viable, but the important thing is we have no shortage of people who have ideas about how to build a business and how to build a job,” he said.
For Accelerating Appalachia, the world’s first nature-based business incubator, capital is like lifeblood for the businesses they work with each year. Accelerating Appalachia selects 12 businesses, which are in such sectors as sustainable food, farming, clean energy, forest production, craft brewing and distilling, natural fibers, green building and integrative medicine, into its incubator program annually. Those businesses then participate in a 12-week program.
Last year, the 10 business that participated in the first cohort created 35 jobs and retained 50 existing jobs. In addition, more than 106 farm acres and 12 new farmers were added to supply chains. As the local program begins its second year, its founder, Sara Day Evans, said the effort’s greatest need going forward will be securing access to capital.
Paul Hedgecock, the president and founder at E-Commerce Business Solutions, said he sees a gap when it comes to finding talent. Citing a lack of a large technology institute, he said that as the city continues to attract outside talent to stay here, he would like to see them pass on their knowledge to pave the way for helping Asheville become a stronger place for technology innovation.
“I would like to see UNCA expand its computer science program. There is a compelling argument for the marriage of tech and liberal arts, and that kind of dual focus. I think Asheville is kind of the perfect city to do that,” said Patrick Conant, co-founder of local web development startup company PRC Applications, and co-captain of Code for Asheville.
Dorfman, who said he would like to one day see Venture Asheville do more in terms of mentorship going forward, points to networking and pitch events like 1 Million Cups and Pitch for Pitchers as first steps to becoming an attractive city to attract tech talent and help the talent that already exists in the region.
“We want to build the mechanisms for people to find each other and connect with each other. That’s the role that we feel we can play, but startup communities really thrive to the extent that they are being led by entrepreneurs and getting involved,” he said. “The more entrepreneurs that can take ownership, the better. We’re trying to build the groundwork for next generation of entrepreneurs.”
“The accolade does represent the entrepreneurial efforts that have been underway in Asheville for a long time,” Dorfman added. “What’s said often about startups is that it takes a really long time to become an overnight success.”
Read the full Citizen-Times article.
