Jess Jur: Right to Start kicked off their North Carolina Starters Coalition with an event focused on “Making Entrepreneurial Opportunity a Civic Priority”. I was honored to sit down for a fireside chat with Thom Ruhe (NC IDEA) and Jess Anderson (Mayor, Town of Chapel Hill, NC). I must have been dreaming!

📻My main messages, as both citizen AND team member in the North Carolina Department of Commerce:
1) find a common message that helps drive policy decisions
2) embrace the support for rural entrepreneurship as part of the entrepreneurial culture of NC (only 1% of VC funds go to rural startups)

Why is this important?
– The local multiplier (i.e. amount of $ returned to the community) for small businesses is 45%. Big box stores: 14%. (Thanks Dr. Sarah Glova! for that fun fact; source American Independent Business Alliance)

– Innovate Carolina, in 2024, showed UNC-affiliated startups are supporting >12K jobs, generated $19.2B in annual revenue – with 96%! of the revenue coming from startups that have HQs in the state; Supporting this ecosystem, especially in the realm of Technology Based Economic Development is critical!

Here is some good info:
💡Right to Start aims to generate grassroots organizing, policy engagement, and lifting the voices of entrepreneurs through storytelling. Today’s event was a first hand look at how this looks, and it was quite impressive. Check them out!

💡The North Carolina Starters Coalition as a statewide, cross-sector alliance that mobilizes entrepreneurs, support organizations, and civic leaders to identify and remove systemic barriers to entrepreneurship, thereby laying the groundwork for long-term policy advocacy, public awareness, and civic engagement.

Thanks to Paula Pingel, Catherine Read for putting on a great event and helping lead these efforts for NC. It is amazing any time I can hear Janet Cowell (City of Raleigh Municipal Government), Dr. Sarah Glova, and Jay Chaudhuri all talk in the same morning!

Also wonderful to see friends and make new ones! Barry Ryan, Colin Kiser, John Hardin, Jim Roberts, Venus Liles, Ed Holloway, Tom Snyder, John Holden, Kelly Snyder, Rachael Meleney Newberry, Q. Nicole Vanderhorst