Introduction
What's a region to do when it seems you're always in the shadows of larger, faster-growing metros across the U.S.? And how do you respond when you're bounded on the east by the national powerhouse Research Triangle and on the west by the financial behemoth of Charlotte?
Though home to 1.7 million people, the Triad has long battled the lack of notoriety and visibility of larger metros. The region has seen many of its most visible companies leave or be swallowed up in recent decades, landing in metros with more robust talent pools, more amenties and larger airports. Though the Triad's 13 colleges and universities attract thousands of students every year, keeping them here is a struggle. Need venture capital to grow your company? Prepare to travel to make your pitch, because you won't find a VC hotbed here.
So how do you get out of the shadows? You find ways to shine. Triad business leaders are building the case that their cities are best places in the country to start and grow businesses, citing lower costs, less traffic, more affordable housing and greater quality of life. They're cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that coaches, mentors and nurtures startup and emergent companies. And they're tackling the venture capital gap head on, by building and deploying local funds, including those targeting minority-owned businesses.
Proodos, in a single reveals, such strategies are bearing fruit. Having relocated from Atlanta to Winston-Salem, the founding brothers laud the local ecosystem. They also recently landed an undisclosed investment from First Launch Capital Fund of Greensboro.
Story
Josh and Akhil Pendalwar have found a lot to like about the Triad since relocating here from Atlanta after graduating from the University of Georgia. As they, together with Josh’s wife Maggie, launched project management technology Proodos here in 2019, they found the entrepreneurial support system here critically important.
“We came here and immediately fell in love with the ecosystem,” Josh said. “There are a lot of community leaders here that are willing to put in time and give a lot in terms of their business experience, advice, guidance and mentorship.”
Being one of a handful of SaaS (software as a system) tech companies in the emerging startup ecosystem here made it easier for them to build a network of mentors in the Triad. They specifically credit law firm Womble Bond Dickinson and Steve Lineberger of Winston Starts as integral parts of their growth. And the lower costs of the Triad in relation to Atlanta were an added benefit, Josh said,
Proodos helps clients stay on budget and complete projects on time by looking at what project management teams do well. It uses artificial intelligence to create a more efficient process.
“We provide analytics that help project managers on a day-to-day basis,” Josh said.
The brothers have also developed Firefeed, a social media app that helps businesses better understand their customers’ needs and wants, gathering more consumer data as the method in which people shop continues to evolve.
Prior to their startups, Josh was an actuary and Akhil was in IT. They developed their apps in their free time and with no outside capital.
“We’re full stack developers,” Akhil said. “For our platform, we coded the entire thing ourselves, so we didn’t really need the capital for software development, which made it a little bit easier for us to shift gears to a new city.”
However, now the company is seeking to expand through capital funding, recently receiving an investment from First Launch Capital Fund of Greensboro in February.
They have five clients and are targeting more enterprise-level companies, those with more than 1,000 employees and revenues of $100 million to $7 billion.
“Enterprises are our focus for this year,” Josh said.
In some ways, Josh and Akhil said they've stood out here, in ways they might not in the Triangle and Charlotte, where venture capital — and competition for it — is more abundant.
“I can almost say it was more of an opportunity because we’re in the software space, which is a little bit different than the typical companies here,” Josh said.
“And I guess that made us a little bit more attractive to investors looking to put money in that space.”
Proodos Fast Facts
What it does: Project management software, analytics
Employees: Three
Founded: January 2019
Location: Winston-Salem
Outlook: Acquire one to two enterprise companies as clients by the end of the year and grow to 10 to 20 employees over the next three to five years
