If you want to talk innovation and entrepreneurship in Davidson, The Hurt Hub@Davidson is the space in town to do it. The 23,000-square-foot downtown facility is a place where "campus and community collide" on such matters, and the building plays host to a coworking spot, classrooms and more.
To celebrate The Hurt Hub@Davidson's first year, its leadership organized a birthday bash. If you weren't able to attend, worry not. Charlotte Inno spoke with the entity's general manager, Julie Goff, who explained the Hurt Hub's mission, it's accomplishments in its first year and what happened at its most recent soiree.
Charlotte Inno: So, what was everyone doing at the Hurt Hub last week? Julie Goff: Last Thursday, we celebrated a remarkable first year for The Hurt Hub@Davidson — including the partners, people and community that made it all possible. When we designed this space two years ago, we hoped to facilitate relationships, connections and organic growth — and in our first year, we’ve seen all of those things come to fruition. It was important to stop, look around and recognize how far we’ve come in just 12 months. We hosted 230 attendees — including Davidson students, faculty and staff, local entrepreneurs, Flywheel Coworking members and our broader Lake Norman community. We celebrated our first year of Startup Grind Davidson, featuring 25 local startups. And we were proud to celebrate our first “graduation” as Rocus Networks joins Corvid Technologies.
CI: How exactly did the birthday bash go down? Goff: We celebrated with burgers, NoDa Brewing Company beer, and live music from the Mike Strauss Band. Celebratory remarks were shared by the three partners: myself; Peter Marsh, co-founder of Flywheel Coworking; and Mark McDowell, co-founder of LaunchLKN, followed by Pete Seeber, the founder and CEO of Rocus Networks, who described how the fast-paced growth his company has seen over the past two years is directly connected to the community, network and environment he found at The Hurt Hub.
CI: What were some of the first-year highlights that you cheered? Goff: Since opening our doors in July 2018, we’ve experienced nearly four times the growth in our entrepreneur/professional community. Today, we serve 154 professionals and entrepreneurs (representing 82 companies), including our Flywheel Coworking community and our two anchor companies, Rocus Networks and Quoin, Inc.
We have served more than 100 students via our entrepreneurial programming — including 3 Day Startup, Failure Fund, Venture Fund pitch competition, entrepreneurship curriculum, mentoring, etc. We completed nine student-faculty projects with industry collaborators including Ernst & Young (Innovation Wavespace team, based here in Charlotte), Calyptix, SensorRx, Summit Coffee, Rocus Networks, Primero (in a partnership with UNICEF led by Quoin) and others. We launched Gig-Hub, our exchange that matches Davidson students with startups and companies on short-term projects (5-40 hours).
Since January, we’ve engaged 139 students, served 54 clients (local, national and international) and completed 76 projects (shameless plug: we're now accepting project requests for Fall 2019!). And we launched our formal Mentoring Program, a collaborative effort between Davidson College and LaunchLKN, with more than 40 volunteer mentors from Lake Norman/Davidson area, serving student and local entrepreneurs.
CI: What’s next? Goff: Our second year is all about building upon the tremendous momentum of our first year. It is still our mission to be THE place that serves and cultivates great entrepreneurial talent. We want to find, support and develop students and motivated individuals in our area who have great ideas, who could change the world. We do that by connecting them with necessary ingredients that come together at The Hurt Hub@Davidson: intellectual capital, education, mentoring, workspace, project help, networking and early-stage capital.
CI: How can readers stay abreast of Hurt Hub@Davidson news? Goff: Sign up for our biweekly newsletter, The Hubbub, and check out our full event calendar for upcoming events!
Editor's Note: Responses have been edited for length and Charlotte Inno style.
