Flywheel announces New Venture Challenge 2016

"Flywheel announced today the launch of the New Ventures Challenge 2016, a business idea competition that will award up to eight startup business teams the opportunity for an average of $50,000 in seed funding. 

The selected teams will enter the New Ventures Accelerator at Flywheel to develop their ideas into investable business models. The accelerator will run from June through August, followed by a two month residency at Flywheel.

“The innovation economy is built on a thousand ideas for company start-ups”, according to Eric Tomlinson, Chief Innovation Officer of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and President of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. 

“The New Ventures Challenge is a further important step by Flywheel to develop fledgling companies using its entrepreneur training skills and applying seed-stage investments by local investors,” he continues. “Such approaches have great synergy with the broad based sets of research, technology and educational programs growing and thriving in the Innovation Quarter.”

The business challenge statement is broad and will consider any ideas in the categories of Business or Consumer Software Development and Applications, IT and Informatics, High Technology, and Device Innovation.

Of particular interest are software and hardware ideas that intersect with the Triad’s regional vertical domains like healthcare, biotech, aerospace, logistics, arts, and many others. More information is available at newventuresnc.com.

“This is an exciting time for Flywheel and the local community”, according to Peter Marsh, a cofounder of Flywheel.  “The sponsor of this challenge is New Ventures 2016 LLC, a group of local investors who are applying investment capital to seed the creation of technology and device startups.”

 “We are especially grateful to the Wake Forest Community Law and Business Clinic for their ongoing advice in how to structure the investment club and the challenge,” says Peter.

“Most of the new jobs created in the US economy come from startups, and it takes the commitment of local successful entrepreneurs investing in startups to make it happen,” adds Brad Bennett, a partner in Flywheel and principal at Wildfire.

Flywheel will provide workspace for selected challenge teams during the finalists briefing and final pitch weekend, and organize resources and mentors to help each team develop their concepts and commercialization plans.

The challenge is being administered by the Flywheel Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote a startup ecosystem and tech sill development in the Triad, with a specific focus on gender, racial and economic diversity.

Full details on the challenge, the sponsor and the administrator are available at http://www.newventuresnc.com/ ."

- A Press Release

Winston-Salem Named a Startup Grind City

"Winston-Salem has been named a Startup Grind city, joining a global network of cities working to fuel innovation, economic growth and prosperity at the local level. . Flywheel, a coworking innovation space in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, applied on behalf of Winston-Salem and will be hosting Startup Grind events for the city and region beginning mid-May.  

Founded in 2010, Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. In more than 150 cities and 65 countries around the world, chapters host monthly Startup Grind events where local founders, innovators, educators and investors share their own success stories.

“The selection process is very rigorous,” said Peter Marsh, cofounder of Flywheel. “We had to prove the vibrancy of our startup ecosystem and that we could execute compelling events with successful entrepreneurs on a regular basis.” The ratio of cities accepted versus total applications is around one in ten. Marsh will be a co-director of Startup Grind Winston-Salem, along with Flywheel Community Manager Jennifer Berg.

Startup Grind is also a major initiative of Google for Entrepreneurs, extending the network of relationships even deeper into the global tech community.

“Just as important as the events is the fact that Startup Grind has an unbelievable communication network through their project management platform,” Marsh said. “Now we can connect Flywheel members with the highest level of angel and venture firms, successful founders and domain experts.”

Startup Grind founder and CEO Derek Andersen said Google For Entrepreneurs will help Startup Grind expand internationally by providing access to distribution, Google technology and financial support.

“In the future, you will not need to be in Silicon Valley to be taken seriously as a tech startup,” Andersen said. “I just see so many places with such a high caliber of entrepreneurs.” Andersen said the monthly “fireside chat” interviews with local entrepreneurs are Startup Grind’s specialty. “We’re world-class at that one thing.”

Startup Grind is a perfect fit for Flywheel’s mission and vision for entrepreneurship in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. “Very few for-profit coworking operators have a direct link to a multimillion-dollar commercialization enterprise right outside their door in the form of Wake Forest Innovations,” said Brad Bennett, another Flywheel cofounder. “This just expands the opportunities to connect.”

The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is one of the fastest growing urban-based research parks in the United States, with a master plan for as much as 6 million square feet of world-class office, laboratory and mixed-used space over its 145 developable acres. 
The first Startup Grind event is scheduled for mid-May. Events will be posted each month on the Flywheel website.

About Flywheel

Flywheel is a coworking space located in the heart of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem. Since May 2014, the space has served as the community’s center of innovation and 24/7 workspace for people to come together to work on the fly, learn and share knowledge. Flywheel is the center of gravity in Winston-Salem and in the overall triad ecosystem for supporting startup companies and entrepreneurs. Its four core offerings provide the fuel that accelerates the success of business startups: technology workshops; How to Start a Startup series; Idea Tap Series that gives entrepreneurs  access to an idea pitch process; and knowledge and networking-based events. Flywheel offers flexible short and long-term membership plans for open and enclosed spaces. Three locally owned companies have partnered together to bring Flywheel to the community: Workplace Strategies; Wildfire, LLC; and Storr Office Environments. To learn more about Flywheel, visit www.flywheelcoworking.com."

- A Press Release