“Where am I, again?“ That was the feeling you got after walking into what appeared to be, at least on the outside, a standard office building in Henrico County’s West End.
Once you stepped in, though, that’s when things turned West Coast-y: a slide in the lobby, and beer taps not too far from that at the downstairs bar and café area. Geeks in shirts emblazoned with their company’s logos and words like “Carlotz” and “SynkMonkey” mingled and palmed their Androids and iPhones. Scattered among them were familiar faces from the region’s interactive community, as well as the nation’s top former kidney doctor-turned-Apple gossip king, Arnold Kim.
Also in attendance were representatives from tech webzine TechCrunch, at a meetup they held at the new Snagajob headquarters to learn what the startups and entrepreneurs of the Richmond area were busy melding together.
TechCrunch is “a kingmaker in the startup industry,” said Adam Roussos, who drove down for the April 11 event from D.C. to get some face-time with the technology journal. He and business partner Jason Aden are launching an iPhone app this summer called FoodRun. They were even coding the app, which lets users review individual menu items, during the car ride down.
John Biggs, East Coast Editor of TechCrunch, said he was looking for packets of entrepreneurs in the South close to D.C. and had heard good things about Virginia. TechCrunch visited Norfolk before arriving in Richmond on that day in April. He described the state capital as having its “startup machine” built, but “it just hasn’t pushed the button.”
That’s probably true. But we’re getting there.
In the crowd were the guys from LucyPhone.com (set up calls with toll-free numbers and never wait on hold again, for the web and mobile devices); an as-yet-unnamed Richmond startup that’s building a “social network for educators,” its two founders Bill Knost and Wil Lee say; and the growing success that is CarLotz, among other companies.
Will Boland, a partner at CarLotz (cars on consignment), said he and his team weren’t there to try and get press on TechCrunch, but simply to mingle and meet others. “We love learning from as many people as we can,” said Boland, who, along with business partners Michael Bor and Aaron Montgomery have gotten their fair share of coverage recently in the likes of the New York Times, Fox Business and Fast Company. “There’s a burgeoning entrepreneurial community in Richmond, and we’d like to be a part of that.”
Well put. Although, when pressed, he smiled and joked that some ink on TechCrunch “certainly wouldn’t hurt.”
Article from Issue #15