Startup Stampede 2.0

One of Durham's many well-ingrained brand values is entrepreneurialism.  It is not surprising then, that Durham has achieved national recognition as a place for new businesses start-ups. 

A variety of incubators and accelerators have cropped up in Durham to help those nascent companies get going...Launchbox, Joystick Labs, Bull City Forward and American Underground, to name a few. 

Then in April, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Durham Inc. hosted the "Bull City Start Up Stampede" where 15 entrepreneurs were selected through a competitive process to come to Durham for 60 days to work on their business idea. 

The offer came with free office space, wi-fi, a community of peers to work with and a chance to learn from some of the most successful start-up founders in Durham.  The event worked so well, a second Stampede is in the planning stages for September of 2011. 

This time around the community has a chance to engage and actually pick one of the companies that get to participate. For a minimum support commitment, contributors get to vote on the 20 finalists. The top vote-getter gets an automatic invitation into the fall Stampede. It’s a very "Durham" way involve the entire community in supporting future entrepreneurial success stories and attracting top talent to the Bull City.

As a matter of fact, the company helping the stampede garner additional support is Ripple, a local Durham start-up that markets itself as a "A better way to fund and support entrepreneurs."   What's really cool about that is Ripple just happens to be one of the 15 companies chosen to participate in the first stampede, proving indeed, that what goes around comes around.

 Click here to participate in the effort.