The Friday Nooner

The Friday Nooner  (sponsored by Triangle-based dev shop  Big Pixel ) returned with its regular crew in their customary spots today, though a few things were a little different. One change was easy to spot: Joe was tuning in from his iPad rather than his computer, so he had a totally different camera angle. Meanwhile Pete was wearing a red GrepBeat T-shirt per usual, but this wasn’t one of “his” b...

Pete is in Ann Arbor, Michigan for an annual trip with his college buddies, but the  Friday Nooner  show (sponsored by  Big Pixel ) must go on. Pete, Joe and Jackie welcomed guest Daisy Magnus-Aryitey, the Co-Executive Director of Durham-based nonprofit  Code The Dream , which offers free coding classes to students from under-represented background and also operates as a dev shop. Daisy’s first co...

Fresh off last night’s “Startups To Watch” event, Team GrepBeat welcomed guest Robert McKenzie to this week’s  Friday Nooner , sponsored by Big Pixel. McKenzie is the Co-Founder of Triangle-based  Rankin McKenzie , which provides financial and accounting services including fractional CFOs and Controllers. Not coincidentally, Rankin McKenzie was one of our “Startups To Watch” sponsors. [Read all ab...

Trevor Ferree , co-founder and CEO of  TSV Analytics joined us this Friday. It's a social media analytics startup that focuses on optimizing social media for brands by incorporating social listening and content automation. TSV has participated in numerous local accelerator/grant programs, including RIoT Accelerator Programs, NC State Andrews Launch Accelerator and NC IDEA MICRO grant.  This episod...

The  Friday Nooner  came out firing in its first episode back from a summer hiatus—which just so happened to be the 100th episode in  Friday Nooner  history. The crew rang in the century mark in style with guest David Baxter, the “Chief Pixel” at Triangle-based dev shop  Big Pixel , which is the show’s sponsor for the next 10 episodes. Pete, Joe and Jackie were a little worried about potential rus...

GrepBeat welcomed DeShawn Brown, the Founder and CEO of Raleigh-based  Coworks , as the final  Friday Nooner  guest before heading on a well-deserved (says us) summer hiatus. DeShawn recounted some “glory days” as an undergrad at NC State as it spun up its entrepreneurship program, and later spun things forward by explaining how the ongoing shift toward hybrid work environments presents a major op...

Our guest on Friday is local serial entrepreneur  🐧 Scot Wingo , who created  ChannelAdvisor ,  Stingray Software  and  AuctionRover.com . He currently runs  Spiffy , an on-demand car-care startup where trained technicians come to you. It is available in close to 50 markets. He also runs the  Triangle Tweener Fund , which focuses on early-stage tech startups in the Triangle area..

Tina Tang, co-founder and CEO of Bristles joined us this week on the Friday Nooner. Bristles is a Durham startup that offers a mobile app for DIY home and upcycling projects. As a systems engineer, Tina has graduate-level training in machine learning and computer vision from the University of Virginia. Additionally, she led Accenture's software delivery lifecycle and developed client-facing softwa...

This Friday we chatted with  Yasin Abbak , Co-Founder & CEO of  GroupUps  (which is a continuation of his other company, The Convoy, which is a marketplace for SMBs). GroupUps helps dentists save more via group purchasing of equipment.  Previously, Abbak led Fantasy Life, a free app giving the sports community a competitive advantage with advice, reports and the fastest breaking news alerts in...

Jon Birdsong , a partner at  Atlanta Ventures , joined us on this week's Friday Nooner. Atlanta Ventures serves SaaS entrepreneurs in the Southeast through investment, education and community. Prior to his role, he served as CEO of the performance management platform WideAngle. Jon also has experience in marketing and leading company growth.

Joining us this week was  James Avery ,  Kevel 's founder and CEO. Kevel provides the infrastructure and APIs to quickly create custom ad platforms for sponsored listings, internal, native, and more.  He has previously co-founded TekPub, which allows developers to learn from high-quality screencasts. He has written books for O'Reilly, Wrox, Microsoft Press, and he acts as a startup advisor and inv...

We were excited to welcome  Carolina Angel Network  Executive Director  Ted Zoller on this week's Friday Nooner. Carolina Angel Network (CAN) brings together UNC's entrepreneurial community and alumni network to drive early-stage startups. Plus, he is a practicing entrepreneur and an award-winning university business professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler. 

Join us for an exciting episode with the inspiring  Nichole Lowe , founder of  Zoee , an all-in-one virtual coaching platform uniquely designed by coaches for coaches. Nichole shared her journey starting Zoee and her passion for helping coaches run a thriving business. If you're interested in life coaching, or entrepreneurship, or just want to hear from an inspiring female founder, you won't want...

The GrepBeat crew chats with digital technology and media innovator  Archie O'Connor  this Friday. He serves as Managing Partner at Zazmic Ventures, was a co-founder of The Scalene Group, publisher and board member for Unsaid Magazine and is an advisor and mentor to various boards and startups. He also co-founded  Raleigh-Durham Startup Week , a free, three-day networking event geared toward local...

This Friday we welcomed  Sophia Lopez , Founder & COO of  Kaleido , a leading company in the blockchain space based right in Raleigh. Sophia began working with blockchain in 2015 helping shape the community and developing new commercial approaches for the enterprise market. She has held various leadership positions at IBM and completed the Impact Center Women's Executive Leadership Fellow Prog...

This Friday we welcomed  Katie Gailes . So far, Gailes estimates she has trained, coached, or counseled over 2,000 small business owners and entrepreneurs. From 2015 to 2022, she was the Director of Entrepreneurship initiatives at Wake Technical Community College. This is where she co-founded the LaunchMyCity Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Model with Matthew Kane. The program has gained traction local...

This Friday, we welcomed Jim Kitchen, entrepreneurship professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and Blue Origin astronaut. During his undergrad years at UNC, he founded two startups. He has traveled the world, visiting all 193 UN-recognized countries. Founder of Launch Chapel Hill and 1789 incubators, he is passionate about transforming Chapel Hill into a place where students and citizens can start businesses...

Vasant Kamath, a partner at Tech Square Ventures, joined us on this week's episode of the Friday Nooner. Tech Square Ventures is a renowned early-stage venture capital firm based out of Atlanta, Georgia. At the firm, Vasant has helped lead investment deals in several local startups, including Bee Downtown, Employ Us and Pryon. Tune in for an insightful discussion with Vasant as we delve into the w...

This Friday we chatted with  Ryan Perlowin  from Jemison Alexander! The Chapel Hill VC firm—which is named after his two children's middle names—focuses on exclusively investing in early-stage companies with at least one female-identifying founder. Since its launch in Q3 2023, the firm has already made investments in four companies: Aunt Flow, Piction Health, Gabbi and Reside Health. Hear more abo...

This week Kristen Baileys, co-founder and CEO of Raleigh-based Bake Eat Love, on the Friday Nooner. It's a subscription skit that teaches you how to bake a different gourmet dessert each month. Each box includes non-perishable pre-measured ingredients, a recipe card, online how-to videos, necessary baking tools, and even email support. Aside from its subscription boxes, BEL offers B2B services, in...

Get ready to hear from  David Shaner , Co-Founder and CEO of  Offline , on the Friday Nooner! David has an incredible story. He graduated from NCSU with a degree in chemical engineering and turned down a job offer to pursue his passion: a company that used tech for good and measured success when it created moments that brought people together in the physical world. Based in the Triangle, Offline i...

This Friday,  Justin Wright-Eakes  sat down LIVE with the GrepBeat crew. He is a venture capital investor at  Oval Park Capital , a Raleigh-based firm that invests in early-stage companies in underserved markets in the United States. Justin brings a wealth of industry experience to the table, including corporate & investment banking, mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, and distressed de...

Gregg Bordes, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Front Porch Venture Partners, appeared on this week's Friday Nooner. He'll share how his firm helps accredited investors secure diversified exposure to the Southeast's top venture capital firms and startups. With nearly two decades of direct investment experience, Gregg has an impressive portfolio of investments in venture capital, private equity, a...

Lucy Kosturko, co-founder of Raleigh startup Social Cascade, joined us for an episode of the Friday Nooner (Feb. 3). Get an inside look into the technology that makes it the easy button for pediatricians to keep up with their patients and families, as well as Lucy's incredible journey of building Social Cascade after working at Cary software development company SAS for over a decade. Stay up-to-da...

RevTech Labs  Co-Founder & Managing Director  Dan Roselli  chatted live with GrepBeat. Located in Charlotte, NC, RevTech Labs is geared toward the developer community and provides a place for tech startups to launch. It has three component programs: the Accelerator, the Incubator, and QCFinTech. The company hosts two conferences a year including Venture 135, which is arguably the largest ventu...