Marketing 101
Frank Pollock is back with another edition of his Marketing 101 series. This time he features Stephanie Ross, the Director of Marketing at Durham’s Teamworks, which provides a collaboration platform for college and professional sports teams and leagues. (Who can forget our ode to its new HQ?) Stephanie originally studied to be an engineer but soon discovered that her natural desire to problem-solve could be applied to marketing as well. The Q&A is chock-full of marketing tips culled from the front lines of one of the hottest startups in the Triangle. You can read it here.
Crucible Moments
As a recent transplant to the Triangle hoping to make an impact in my new community, I have been inspired by the example of Jesica Averhart, the current Executive Director of Leadership Triangle and the former Director of Corporate Partnerships for Capitol Broadcasting in the American Tobacco Historic District. Jes moved to the Triangle 14 years ago from Ohio with a young son and in the middle of both a divorce and a career change—the perfect storm for self-doubt, as she puts it. Yet she got through her “crucible moment” and now seeks to help others with theirs. Read Suzanne’s full GrepBeat profile on Jes here.
Green Wheels
One argument made by the scooter lobby (which we’ve generally been aboard) is that they’re a very environmentally friendly way to get around town. Now an NC State study says it’s more like friendly-ish. The scooters really are signficantly greener than cars, just as one would expect. But particularly when you count the environmental impacts of making the scooters and (especially) the process of vans driving around to pick them up for recharging, taking a high-ridership bus route is actually better for the environment, as is biking and walking (natch). And while 34% of those who use scooters said they otherwise would have driven—thus, a clear green victory—49% say they would have biked or walked.
This story has been picked up nationally, and WRAL TechWire has the study’s full abstract here.
Green Devil$?
Duke is forming a new university-wide Office of Research that will be led by Larry Carin, a Duke engineering professor and one of the world’s leading experts on machine learning and AI. The role includes overseeing technology transfer, i.e. turning discoveries in the lab into cold, hard cash. Startup followers will also recognize Larry as one of the founders and the Chief Scientist of RTP's Infinia ML, where he somehow coexists with Tar Heel diehard/CEO Robbie Allen. Fun fact: did you know that in 2017, Duke ranked eighth among all U.S. universities in research expenditures at more than $1.1B? Too bad they couldn’t figure out how to keep sneakers from exploding.
New Digs
Fresh off a $3.4M capital raise, Chapel Hill’s Terra Dotta is moving into a new space in the East 34 complex. The startup provides software to manage study abroad and higher education travel programs. The new office has an open layout, because of course it does.
Rewriting History
TechWire has a nice story today on Rewriting The Code, the nonprofit run by former Duke basketball player and entrepreneur Sue Harnett that connects college-age women with mentors and internships in the tech field. We consider the profile a great companion piece to our own story on Sue and the program from earlier this year. Read both! (Though especially ours.)
Goodbye, For Now
One more reason to attend tonight’s GrepBeat Happy Hour: you can congratulate our Suzanne Blake on a great job this summer, as her internship ends tomorrow. Sad face. But don’t despair too much since she’ll be returning to GrepBeat this fall, splitting her time with the Daily Tar Heel and whatever else it is that college students do these days. Instead, save your sympathy for me, who will be without a writing staff for 3-4 long weeks until the fall interns (including Suzanne) start sometime after Labor Day. Am I going to have to start writing stories for grepbeat.com myself?! Heaven forbid!
Under Construction
If you were planning to attend HQ Raleigh’s “Block Party” at its new Gateway Plaza location this Saturday, time to change those plans. It turns out that the construction isn’t quite complete, so the event has been rescheduled for Oct. 5. Still on: tonight’s GrepBeat Happy Hour!
Extra Bit
Wilmington-based ChorezApp, which is a way for parents to get kids to do their chores, was featured in a bit on The Daily Show. Let’s just say Trevor Noah is quite opposed to the whole concept of chores.
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