Editor's Note: The following responses from StartupBus North American Director Colleen Wong have been edited for length and Inno style. The discussion revolved around the mobile bootcamp and pitch competition StartupBus's Charlotte stop.
Charlotte Inno: For those who are totally unfamiliar, what is StartupBus? Colleen Wong: StartupBus is a 5-day tech entrepreneurship bootcamp and competition on wheels. Equal parts hackathon, road trip and global alumni network, StartupBus is an annual competition designed to empower the tech community challenging top-tier talent to hop on a bus and conceive, build and launch a startup in 72 hours.
CI: Why was this created? Who does it serve? Wong: The mission of StartupBus is to empower people to disrupt the status quo and create a better life for us all. The 2019 mission is to bridge the tech entrepreneurship divide, not only in terms of talents between technologies and humanities, but also geographically between the silicon cities and the rest of America.
CI: How long is the StartupBus in Charlotte? Wong: StartupBus will be stopping in Charlotte at Advent Coworking from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Thursday, July 25. Check out our Eventbrite page with more details.
"We do what we do because we truly think this competition can inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and bring social awareness and impact to the future of the tech industry."
CI: What can participants expect from the bus’s Charlotte stop? When will it be back in CLT? Wong: Two buses hailing entrepreneurs, technologists and designers from Ohio and New York will converge for an ultimate pitch battle. They've been working on startups built from scratch while on the road for two days before their arrival in Charlotte. Teams will pitch to a panel of judges before they continue racing onto their final stretch to victory in New Orleans for the finals competition and Entrepreneurs Summit! Judges include Juan Garzón, general manager of Charlotte Inno; Barrett Pack, VP of Client Development at Dualboot Partners; Igor Gorlatov, founder of Charlotte Fractional CMOs and lead organizer at 1 Million Cups; and Olga Ryzhikova, technical consultant with RMCSoft, LLC.
CI: How does the organization chose which cities to visit? Wong: Every route is unique. Conductors, all of whom are alumni, are free to design their routes to include a mix of innovation hubs, historic sites, fun stops and pitch battles against other buses.
CI: Anything else I’m not asking or thinking about that I should be? Wong: There are seven StartupBuses that launched ... Wednesday, July 24, from New York, N.Y.; Akron, Ohio; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; Harlem, N.Y. (Advancing Black Entrepreneurs), Washington, D.C.; and Mexico City.
Over the past ten years, StartupBus has bridged the tech entrepreneurship divide across geographies (80+ metropolitan areas in the US, 150+ tech communities connected), genders (~40 percent women), race (~60 percent people of color, much higher than tech industry levels), and cross-disciplinary skill sets (50 percent developers, 25 percent designers, 25 percent sales/marketing).
July 24 to 28 are the dates of this year’s competition. New Orleans is our destination for the pitch finals and Entrepreneurship Summit
A diverse panel of speakers and judges include prominent investors and directors from Kapor Capital, Change Catalyst, Backstage Capital and Pantegrion Capital.
[More than] $2.8 Billion [has been] raised by startups created by alumni including Instacart, Major League Hacking, Bridgefy and Segment with major investments and acquisitions by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Mark Cuban, Microsoft, Facebook, NY Times and more.
[There have been more than] 1,800 jobs created across America, not only in Silicon Valley, but also Economic Opportunity Zones such as Tampa, Fla.; Akron, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Detroit, Mich.; and many more.
Technologies in the past have included blending bleeding edge technologies with maximum social impact with blockchain, AR/VR, AI, micro-satellites and more.
Our competition is run entirely by volunteers, and it's a labor of love. We do what we do because we truly think this competition can inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and bring social awareness and impact to the future of the tech industry.
