How are you going to spend tomorrow, your first Friday Nooner-less Friday of 2023? As for me, I'm going to order lunch from Toast a little earlier. As for you, I humbly suggest catching up on any episodes you might have missed in video or podcast form. We'll be back on Sept. 1!
Rocking Out
If live concerts are your jam, then Alex Lepp has the startup for you. Her Holly Springs-based Bid The Beat will enable concert-goers to compete for artists to come to their city by pledging to buy tickets, which they’ll be charged for only if the event comes to pass. Alex’s goal is to make tickets cheaper for fans, and for concerts to be more profitable for concert venues and artists. Bid The Beat is one of the startups participating in the current cohort of the RIoT Accelerator Program (RAP).
Pendo made local headlines this week when it laid off 12% of its global workforce, numbering about 100 employees—including 42 in its Raleigh HQ. This comes on the heels of an earlier round of layoffs last September that affected about 5% of its global workforce. Even after the cuts Pendo is still almost twice as large as it was before the pandemic, but its massive surge of hiring in 2020 and 2021 left it vulnerable when broader tailwinds like rising interest rates and a more challenging financing environment in both the private and public markets turned against it. Here’s more on the news from TechWire, TBJ and the N&O.
The TBJ story also mentioned something I had not known: that Morrisville-based cybersecurity unicorn JupiterOne has also laid off some staff, impacting eight local fulltime employees.
You may recall that JupiterOne CEO Erkang Zheng was the morning keynote speaker at this year’s Grep-a-palooza 2, while Pendo CEO Todd Olson filled that same slot at last year’s inaugural Grep-a-palooza. It’s a good reminder that even the most up-and-to-the-right “rocket ship” startup is vulnerable to macro trends. Here’s hoping that the impacted employees find something good very soon.
Welcome Addition
One (very) legitimate criticism of the VC industry nationwide—and in the Triangle—is that it’s dominated by men, especially white men. So it’s definitely newsworthy that Durham-based IDEA Fund Partners has added Zakiya Alta Lee, a Black woman, as a new senior associate. Triangle Inno ran a feature on Zakiya yesterday, and we’re pretty confident in saying she’s the only former NBA dancer-turned Duke MBA-turned VC investor currently striding the globe.
Hair Hustle
Today’s TBJ has an interesting feature on Devonte Reese and her haircare startup, GoldiLocsNC. While her day job is as a procurement analyst for the City of Durham, Devonte first began making her own haircare products for herself about five years ago, concerned by the dangerous chemicals found in many hair products aimed at the Black community. Soon she began to make batches for friends and family, and then the pandemic gave her extra time to jump start the business. It’s especially intriguing (to me anyway) that she runs her company—including mixing and bottling the product—out of an office at American Underground.
New Dean
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School has named Mary Margaret Frank as its new dean, effective Aug. 15. She has three degrees from UNC and is currently the senior associate dean for faculty development at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. You can read more about her on UNC’s site or on TBJ.
NC TECH
If you couldn’t make it to NC TECH’s State of Technology event on Tuesday, you can catch up with this recap from TechWire. One thing to note: applications for the annual NC TECH Awards open today and will remain open for one month, through July 15. The annual Awards gala will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Raleigh Convention Center.
Build Great Software
Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Dualboot is a software and business development company. Their clients include tech and non-tech founders as well as Fortune 500 companies, so they can start small or scale fast depending on what you need. Every client is assigned a U.S.-based Product Director with years of experience bringing products to market, and they can manage the entire development process. They focus on how the software fits into your company to drive revenue and build the business. At Dualboot, they don’t just write your software—they help you grow your business. Intrigued? Email them here.
Real talk: doing our best to serve you costs money. Businesses and organizations that would like to support our efforts should see our sponsorship opportunities here.
