What does a seven foot tall frog on an electric motorcycle, beer pouring robot, market full of founders and the 10 most exciting startups in the Greenville area have in common?
They all helped make the third annual #StartupGVL Night at the Greenville Drive a success!
Fans of baseball and entrepreneurs alike turned up for the third annual #StartupGVL Night at the Greenville Drive on Aug. 31. The night kicked off with the Village Launch Market in District 356, featuring a variety of minority & women-owned start-up business exhibits, live music, food trucks, inflatables and games. Just before heading in to see the Drive take on the Brooklyn Cyclones, NEXT Executive Director Eric Weissman announced the 10 most exciting startups in the region. Those companies were:
BOYD Cycling
Kiyatec Inc.
ScopeStack
skillsgapp
Stark RFID
Sync.MD
TrebleHook
WAVS Custom
Inside the stadium, fans were treated to interactive exhibits from Milliken & Company, as well as booths presented by the entrepreneur support organizations and resources around Fluor Field’s concourse.
Shannon Lavrin, Manager of the City of Greenville, threw out the first pitch and the Greenville Drive took the field against the Brooklyn Cyclones.
While the game unfolded on the field, examples of startups played out elsewhere in the stadium. In the AFL Champions Club, an electric motorcycle from Greenville based startup Real Motors was on display. Even Reedy, the Drive’s froggy mascot, had to check out this one-of-a-kind bike! Meanwhile, in the Front Porch area for season ticket holders, Greyson Dawkins served up the refreshing beverages with the help of his automated robot, Walter.
There’s something special about walking into GROK and immediately spotting familiar faces.
Not just one or two, but dozens. Founders, operators, creatives, technologists. People from the StartupGVL community who are all building, questioning, experimenting, and showing up.
Ian Thompson built Miracle Hummus with a simple goal in mind: to create something real that he could one day pass down to his family. With a background in mechanical engineering and a long-standing drive for entrepreneurship, Ian stepped away from the traditional career path to build a business rooted in ownership, health, and legacy.
Every startup has a pitch. But not every pitch is actually working.
Too often, founders are walking around with a deck or a one liner that explains what they do, but does not land, connect, or clearly communicate the value of what they are building. That is the gap NextGEN’s brand new Fix My Pitch program is designed to address.