The Virginia Museum of History and Culture early this week focused on the present as Activation Capital hosted the first UpRiver Summit, a two-day event for the entrepreneurial community. The summit, designed using data from Richmond entrepreneurs to inform programming, brought in 26 speakers who provided tips and tools for navigating the startup journey.
"The energy in the room was contagious," said Lori Jennings, founder of Jennings ProSearch. “By the end of the two days, we felt like a community and were all discussing how we could keep the momentum going through Slack or other collaboration tools.”
Day one kicked off with panelists discussing what makes the Richmond area so attractive for business growth.
“When I was considering coming back, I visited family, and I just saw so much change,” said Cabell Rosanelli, Lyft's local marketing manager. “The momentum that exists in the city today just drew me back in.”
Avepoint COO Brian Brown said costs were important to growing his software development company in Richmond, “but it was primarily the people, the education and the standard of living.”
Later on Tuesday, Art Espey led a financial modeling workshop and another panel focused on raising money with debt in the capital stack. The first day concluded with Richmond Inno’s 25 under 25 Happy Hour, showcasing some of the city's most talented young entrepreneurs.
Day two kicked off with a panel of representatives from Health Warrior, O’My Dairy Free Gelato and SSUPP Foods, who all concluded that Richmond is a prime test market for food products. On Wednesday afternoon, CarLotz co-founder Aaron Montgomery spoke with leadership from fast-growing local startups Quartr, The Loom Culture Map, AnswersNow and RoundTrip about raising money, which all four are currently doing.
The event turned toward business reputation as Danny Robinson, chief client officer with The Martin Agency, told the crowd to know your enemies when determining the essence of your brand.
UpRiver concluded with Venture Forum RVA’s rvAwesome Founder Celebration, awarding five companies in the categories of: student company (DuraSafe), maker (Light the Night), high growth (EdConnective), main street (Wine and Beer Supply) and micro (Starz Program). The celebration also added a Founder of the Year award, given to Starz Program, a children’s fitness enrichment program.
“We received so much positive feedback from founders about UpRiver and the content being relatable to their needs," Carrie Roth, president and CEO of Activation Capital, said in a statement. "These two days provided a great opportunity to celebrate and build upon our region’s entrepreneurial culture. We can’t wait for DownRiver in April and hope even more of our amazing RVA founders will be there to take part.”
