Today I’m newslettering live from CED’s Venture Connect in Raleigh, where the GrepBeat team is doing its thing.
As a reminder, if you’re in Raleigh for the conference—and per my eyes many of you are—we’re also hosting an after party at the Flying Saucer from 6-8pm (sponsored by Fourscore Law and Big Pixel). Details here.
The world has many problems. (See? News.) Two of them are that university students can have a hard time finding work with fair pay that fits into their schedules, and that families can find it difficult to find personal coaches and instructors that match their kids’ interests. Wilmington startup Roshi is taking on both problems with one swing.
Co-founded by UNCW alums Nico Mancuso and Austin Bates, Roshi provides a platform where university students with proven skill in sports, music, languages, arts, and/or education can list their own rates for private lessons. Parents can then book lessons that align with their kids’ interests and work out specifics.
No confetti just yet, but we can still offer kudos to Skillmaker.ai and its founder, Robin Cowie, for being named among the semi-finalists for NC IDEA’s spring SEED grant cycle. Skillmaker.ai was the only Wilmington-area startup selected.
Next up will be further proposals by the 18 semi-finalists and presentations from the eventual finalists; recipients of the $50K SEED grants will be announced in mid-May. Send Robin good vibes (and wish him well as he pitches at Venture Connect this week as well!).
Sticking with NC IDEA-related updates, their #Ecosysteming podcast is back this week with another episodethat will be of interest to Wilmington listeners. This time around, host Thom Ruhe spoke to Prospera USA Vice President (and, of course, one of GrepBeat’s inaugural “Rising Stars”)José Alvarez.
Within a broader discussion on support for (and the impact of) immigrant entrepreneurs throughout North Carolina, José offered a few words reflecting on his initial forays into the Wilmington market. (Of note, Thom characterized José and NEW Founder Jim Roberts as being “like fraternity brothers,” which Thom finds joyful).
BulgaReeser
As I remind you all now and then, not all blurb headers work. At any rate, shout-out to OpiAID Founder and CEO David Reeser for being chosen as a keynote speaker for the 2025 Green Transition Forum in Sofia, Bulgaria this coming June. (Last time we talked to you about David, he was bound for Alaska; calm down, David. But also great stuff.)
Per his own post on LinkedIn, David will be “sharing insights on how emerging technology can accelerate sustainability, improve decision-making, and create lasting environmental impact.”
Reheated Soup Pt.II
Last week I noted that while our In The Soup show is in its (brief) offseason, we’ve packaged together some bundles of past episodes that are particularly useful to listen to during conference season.
On this week’s part-two edition of In The Soup—Reheated, you’ll hear conversations about demystifying VC (with Doug Kauffman of Belongly and Kevin Mosley of Jurassic Capital; how to explain a complex business (with Jason Gillikin of Earfluence and David Delaney Mayer of Elemmir; and tips and tricks for effective networking (with Lucy Kosturo of Social Cascade and Austin Armstrong of Syllaby.
Finally, since as I write this we're only about half way through day one of pitches at Venture Connect, I'll offer one last reminder that there are some useful resources to keep on hand if you're watching said pitches.
Our own "cheat sheet" links to stories we've written about 30+ startups presenting this week and the interactive directory within CED's online agenda contains brief overviews on all of them. (In the coming weeks, you can also expect to see more of Venture Connect's pitching startups featured at GrepBeat.)
Extra Bit
Wilmington founders! Three startups from the area have already submitted applications for our "GrepTank" pitch competition at this summer's Grep-a-Palooza. Don't let them have all the fun. Apply here.
