The inaugural Raleigh-Durham Startup Week is almost here.
The free event, which takes place in Durham April 19 through 22, includes a slew of panels, such as “How to Transition From College Life to Startup Life.” And it also includes a morning full of investor office hours.
The man spearheading the effort, Chris Heivly (Techstars, The Startup Factory), said it’s a “celebration” of the region’s startup scene. It’s a long time coming, as it was originally planned for 2020 before being suspended amid the pandemic.
“It was important to do it in person,” Heivly said.
Heivly promises it will be worth the wait. The event, powered by Techstars, will have four main themes: Startup 101, Legal/Finance, Design & Development, and Emerging Technologies. It features dozens of speakers, including Scot Wingo (Spiffy, ChannelAdvisor) and Cindy Eckert (The Pink Ceiling, Sprout Pharma).
If Scott Kelly, director of entrepreneurship at Campbell University, has his way, students will be a part of the event in a big way. He issued an open letter last week asking other university entrepreneurship programs to push their students to participate – and to excuse them from class for the event.
“Students sometimes feel pressure to follow the traditional system of studying long hours in hopes of landing that dream job,” he wrote. “However, we’ve definitely seen students who participate in off-campus meetups, conferences, and competitions experience higher quality/quantity job opportunities and a shorter path to discovering their ultimate calling.”