Are Wilmington entrepreneurs looking in the wrong places for venture capital? Validate your startup at CED, DigSouth and with NC IDEA

BIG BIG BIG NEWS
We have a new TITLE level Annual Sponsor - PENFED 
PenFed Foundation’s Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program (VEIP)
Scott Davis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-davis-b1592695/
Welcome to the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington Mr. Davis !!! And thank you !!!


HOW Can Wilmington startups attract more Venture Capital?

So there was a BIG article last Friday in the Wilmington Business Journal about the LACK of angel investor and venture capital in Wilmington. There have been THREE similar articles about the local innovation ecosystem since November
https://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/entrepreneurs/2023/01/06/wilmingtons_slim_local_capital_market/24017
https://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/more_news/2022/10/21/bringing_jobs_to_life/23772
https://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/technology/2022/12/16/tech_trends_in_the_new_year/23969

As I made clear in the last newsletter, venture capital is a meritocracy. It is earned.
A mayor of a city can not waive a magic wand because he / she WANTS more investor capital to write checks.

The government/ public sector RARELY wants to be accountable for picking the winners or the political kickback of telling entrepreneurs NO. The Launch Place of Danville, VA is the rare exception when they created a fund after selling the publicly owned hospital. The Launch Place also invests in North Carolina and has spoken at our events before.

(Although this new program announced this week is VERY interesting. A matching fund once you find investors)
 https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-launch-30-million-pre-seed-and-seed-matching-fund-program

The private sector high net worth individuals have the right to pick, choose and invest in the best deals that they like.
Yes, I admit and have been vocal that Wilmington investors, as is typical in the conservative South, are VERY conservative for early stage investors. No, you can't raise investor capital on a napkin sized business plan. And yes, you may need to develop the product and be post revenue with sales before an investor will write a check. And yes, Southern investors prefer experienced serial entrepreneurs over first time founders. 

We had this GREAT event on what investors REALLY want to see from entrepreneurs. Here is the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yuy8lCMZTA

I have heard time and time again from local investors that the Wilmington entrepreneurs are not prepared for capital.
So we have events to address the knowledge gaps about capital, business plans and sales.
Video of three local investor groups - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWmHubO7ATA

Once again, there is NOT a lack of capital available to Wilmington entrepreneurs.
NEW alone has had 95 investors speak at our events and yes some have written checks like Cofounders Capital and Jurassic Capital and several angel investor deals.
Who else can say that in Wilmington ?

It is VERY rare that a city the size of Wilmington would have three separate Angel Investor Networks.
But it is VERY typical of Wilmington that the three do not cooperate.


One way to get on the radar of local and regional investors is to participate in regional investor conferences.

The best venture capital event in the SOUTH is right here in North Carolina with our friends at CED.
The deadline to apply for the CED Venture Connect conference is this Friday
1,000 people attend including 100 investors 
https://cednc.org/venture-connect/

Another TOP FIVE investor conference in the SOUTH is the DigSouth Summit in lovely Charleston SC.
Apply for the Wild Pitch competition here
Wilmington had four companies on stage last year and we held an after hours party at the WHALE Bar in Charleston
https://digsouth.com/2022/11/15/apply-to-pitch-at-dig-south-tech-summit-call-experts-wins-award-ev-myths-debunked-myrtle-beachs-permits-wins-50k-prize/


And BEFORE those conferences, here is the deadline to apply for the NC IDEA grants

NC IDEA is coming to Wilmington for tour to increase applications for the $50,000 SEED grant and $10,000 MICRO grant 
January 26th 
https://www.simpletix.com/e/nc-idea-spring-2023-grants-information-ses-tickets-121321
(Thanks to NC IDEA. I serve as a core reviewer for the grants.)


SEVEN WAYS Wilmington could attract more capital

In this LinkedIn post and the comments, I list SEVEN additional things Wilmington needs to do or could to improve the capital situation.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7017569625882181632/

on this list is the Triangle Twener List
they just announced their new investments
https://wraltechwire.com/2023/01/11/triangle-tweener-fund-fuels-startups-with-56-investments-nearly-3m-in-deals/


EVENTS

1 Million Cups Wilmington 
Every Wednesday morning at 9 am 
UNCW CIE
https://www.1millioncups.com/s/account/0014W00002AqQgGQAV/wilmington-nc

JANUARY 26 - Noon
NC IDEA statewide tour comes to Wilmington 
https://ncidea.org/spring-2023/

SPONSORS-