Flywheel’s Startup Expo, an annual celebration of the area’s startup community, has merged with ConvergeSouth to create a conference designed to showcase the Triad’s entrepreneurs, connect them with investors and deliver educational programming.
The two-day event will be held Sept. 8-9 in downtown Winston-Salem at the 500 West 5th building and include educational sessions, a keynote speech and exhibitions by startups, investment firms, entrepreneurial support organizations and university entrepreneurship programs.
"Merging the two conferences into one two-day event enabled us to offer what many start-ups and entrepreneurs were missing – educational tracts that would help them learn from industry leaders in key business growth areas as well as the opportunity to meet not only other professionals and entrepreneurs, but get them in front of investors and key decision makers that can take their company's to the next level,” said Kristen Daukas, founder of Say Anything Media and co-founder of ConvergeSouth.
The first day of the conference will feature more than 20 educational sessions on digital platforms. Hosted by local and national experts, these sessions will focus on accelerating the success of early-stage businesses through use of digital tools, design and marketing.
“We’ve organized our programing into five themes,” said Sue Polinsky, co-organizer and ConvergeSouth co-founder. “Expect to learn how to grow your online reach, discover emerging digital tools and what you should be doing next, explore ways to automate certain processes, get insights into the business of business and finally enhance what you offer to be competitive.”
The second day of the conference will feature the Startup Expo, which initially was launched by Flywheel in 2016. As of August 24, over 60 companies have signed up to exhibit where they will have the opportunity to demo their product or service and connect with venture capital firms and angel investors.
Companies that have signed up to exhibit include inStryde, Fluree, Minerva Lithium, Plakous Therapeutics, smoodi and Wellnecity.
“This is one of the largest gatherings of startups in the Southeast,” said Peter Marsh, a partner with Flywheel and founding director of the Flywheel Foundation. “For investors, it’s an efficient way to meet and evaluate emerging scalable startups that need capital as a growth accelerant.”
The afternoon of the second day will feature a keynote speaker as well as a lightning round of pitches from companies on the demo floor and investor pitches by pre-selected startups.
The conference is produced by the Flywheel Foundation in partnership with Winston Starts, the Center for Creative Economy, Launch Greensboro, the Launch Place of Danville, Virginia, Venture Winston Grants, NC IDEA and Greater Winston-Salem, Inc.
