Empowering bold ideas, courageous individuals, and our community through innovation and entrepreneurship.
What you'll read:
1. Idea Test Lab Recap: Women in Tech
2. Idea Test Lab: Bluetech/Climate-tech Cohort
3. Seahawks GIVE
4. Startup EQ
5. WITX
6. Tenant Spotlight: Fact or Fiction
7. Incubator Offices
8. Soar High, Soar Far, Soar Together
9. Student Success at the CIE
10. Upcoming Events - Register Today!
11. CIE in the News
12. Parting Thought
Reading Time: 5 minutes
1. Idea Test Lab Recap
After a 4 week program, the Women in Tech / Female Founder Cohort shared their presentations at Idea Test Lab Demo Day! These amazing entrepreneurs came a long way in just 4 weeks, tailoring and refining their business ideas.
Special thanks to Suzie Koonce and Wells Fargo for sponsoring this event. We also appreciate the valuable feedback given by judges, Becky Micklos, Lauren Munton, and Mallorie Moore.
Congratulations to our winners, Melissa Batchelor (1st), Jessica Kovar (2nd), and Laavanya Rachakonda (3rd)!
WILMA Magazine wrote an incredible article about our Women in Tech cohort - Incubating Ideas - WILMA magazine and CIE Program Manager, Lydia Thomas, recently wrote about a pre-accelerator programs, and highlights this cohort - Info-Junkie - WilmingtonBiz
We are so excited to see all of these women founders succeed! Be on the lookout for our next cohort: BlueTech / ClimateTech!
Photography by: Terah Hoobler - WILMA Magazine
2. Idea Test Lab -
Bluetech/Climate-tech Cohort
We are thrilled to announce our Bluetech / Climate-Tech Idea Test Lab Cohort!
These entrepreneurs will go through 4 weeks of programming before presenting their companies at Demo Day on June 5th 2:00-5:00pm!
3. Seahawks GIVE
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those who generously supported the CIE through Seahawks GIVE. Your contributions, big or small, play a vital role in fueling our mission to foster growth in the entrepreneurial community. Reflecting on our past achievements, we are excited about the future opportunities that lie ahead. Our success is a testament to the incredible support from our community, sponsors, dedicated staff, and passionate volunteers!
4. Startup EQ
Thank you to all of our participants in the winter Startup EQ cohort! This cohort, which was held in partnership with Channel powered by Live Oak Bank and Go-od Consulting, was an extremely fun six weeks and we are so proud of the participants for all their hard work. We wish them the best of luck going forward and hope they know they can always come by the CIE for anything they need!
Startup EQ is a program of Go-od Consulting that was initially piloted in April 2022 with funding from NC IDEA, in partnership with Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Thomas Hub at UNC Pembroke.
5. WITX
The UNCW CIE was proud to be a part of the 18th annual Wilmington Information Technology eXchange (WITX) event in April! UNCW students, faculty, staff and Wilmington-area IT professionals came together to share skills, perspectives and opportunities. We enjoyed networking with local business professionals and meeting new students that were interested in our mission to support high-tech startups.
6. Tenant Spotlight: Fact or Fiction
This month, we are highlighting Heather Kreidler for our tenant spotlight! Heather's company, Fact or Fiction, assists with fact-checking and citation verification to help ensure that the prospective text is accurate and authoritative. She believes that "A proficient fact checker extends their search beyond the author's references to seek additional corroboration for the facts and arguments" and that "this process of uncovering reliable sources is like a treasure hunt and is one of the most fulfilling aspects of my work." She is a big help to our campus intellectual community, and we are thrilled to have her as a tenant!
7. Incubator Offices
⬆️This could be you⬆️
CIE has offices available!
Why choose an office at CIE?
- Dedicated to Innovators’ Success: We’re more than just a space; we’re your partners in growth. Our mentoring programs, workshops, and networking events are tailored to propel your entrepreneurial success.
- Quiet and Work-Friendly Offices: Silence is golden for productivity. Our offices are designed to minimize background noise, ensuring a serene environment for focused work.
- 24/7 Access: Entrepreneurs thrive on flexibility. Our coworking space provides round-the-clock access, allowing you to work whenever inspiration strikes.
- Free Conference Room Reservations: Need a professional setting for meetings? Our conference rooms are at your disposal, free of charge, for collaborative sessions and client presentations.
- Free Parking: Forget the hassle of hunting for parking spots. Our convenient location offers free parking just steps away from your workspace.
Interested in renting an office at CIE?
Clink the link below for more information,
or contact us at CIE@UNCW.EDU to schedule a tour!
8. Soar High, Soar Far, Soar Together!
One of our dedicated marketing interns, Drew Baacke, is graduating this month from the UNCW Cameron School of Business with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Finance! After graduation he will be joining the TJX Companies as a financial analyst!
Drew has been part of the CIE team for multiple semesters. His consistent work ethic and willingness to volunteer have been truly inspiring. Thank you, Drew!
Our CIE Media Team also has members graduating this May. Hayden Rains and Preston Hewett are graduating with Bachelors Degrees in Film/Cinema/Video Studies!
We are grateful for their contributions and wish them nothing but success in all their future endeavors! Thank you Preston and Hayden!
9. Student Success at the CIE
This month we had lots of student visitors at the CIE!!
- ECU Students attended our 1 Million Cups program
- A busload of high school students visited from Carteret County for a design thinking challenge with Entrepreneurship Lecturer Jamie Stalfort
- UNCW students visited twice for Associate Professor Lance Cumming’s District C presentations
- Entrepreneurship Lecturer Jay Schach’s students presented their final presentations in our event space
10. Upcoming Events - Register Today!
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Every Wednesday at 9:00 AM, entrepreneurs and the community gather to hear from one to two entrepreneurs and provide them with feedback or connections to help them with their business. If you are an entrepreneur and have been in business for less than 5 years, please visit the website and apply to present.
NOTE: We will NOT be having 1 Million Cups on Wednesday, May 22nd due to the Coastal Entrepreneurship Awards.
Coastal Entrepreneur Awards
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 | 7:30 AM - 10:00 AM | UNCW Warwick Center
The Coastal Entrepreneur Awards are a joint effort between the UNCW CIE and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, recognizing up-and-coming ventures in our region as well as established companies that keep innovating.
Attend to celebrate their successes and hear the top winner be announced!
NC BIOTECH Venture Challenge: Southeastern Pitch Finals & Biotech Showcase
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
At the UNCW Clock Tower Lounge and Lumina Theater
Join us to celebrate the Southeastern Pitch Finals of the NC BIOTECH Venture Challenge for Biotech Pioneers in Southeastern North Carolina.
Powered by: NC Biotechnology Center, sponsored by UNCW and UNCW CIE
Cost: $30, registration required
Idea Test Lab Blue Tech Cohort Demo Day
Wednesday, June 5th | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM | UNCW CIE
This 4-week program is an early-stage entrepreneurship course to enable founders to determine if there is business value in an idea. Each of the four sessions focused on different entrepreneurial design topics such as value proposition, identifying the customer's problem, competition, and market analysis.
Demo Day culminates the end of the cohort with a showcase of the companies and founders. Each company will have a chance to present and receive feedback and Q&A from the judges. $10,000 will be awarded to the top 3 startups!
11. CIE in the News
CIE continues to be a hub for aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators in Wilmington.
UNCW Blue Economy Index Goes Live on Bloomberg
An increasing amount of investors and economists are starting to use and understand the importance of The UNCW Blue Economy Index and its impact on sustainability with our oceans. Most recently, The UNCW Blue Economy Index has gained the attention of Bloomberg, which now has the index listed on its terminals.
Read more about the success of the Blue Economy here:
UNCW Blue Economy Index goes live on Bloomberg | WilmingtonBiz
The Wang Lab’s Innovative Research Leading to More Accessible Medicine
DuraVax Inc. has been awarded a National Science Foundation Phase One Small Business Technology Transfer grant in the amount of $274,991. The DuraVax team consists of Dr. Ying Wang, associate professor of chemistry, chemistry major Carson Jackson ’25, and graduate student Harrison Wooten ’24.
DuraVax grew from Dr. Wang’s biochemistry lab at UNCW and is based around mRNA formulation technology for vaccines that need to travel to rural America and tropical countries that don't have the infrastructure for cold storage.
The team has been working with our CIE Mentors to gain guidance and insights during this process! Congratulations!
Read more about this amazing project here:
So, You Have an Idea for an Amazing, Life-Changing Company... Now What?
Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs don’t wake up one day with a lightbulb, game changing idea. Maybe a few do, but more often than not, aspiring entrepreneurs have multiple ideas, refinement, validation, and lots of brainstorming before finally landing on a viable idea.
Entrepreneur support organizations, such as UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, have programs to support founders in this position. Pre-accelerator programs are designed to assist early-stage founders in taking their ideas from vision to creation and implementation.
Incubating Ideas
The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is giving women who are starting or wanting to start a technology business a helping hand.
Through CIE’s new Idea Test Lab, a cohort of 11 women (nine individuals and one team) are learning how to turn their ideas into viable and successful businesses.
The cohort program, funded by Wells Fargo, was created to increase diversity among startup founders, explains CIE’s director Heather McWhorter.
Women are underrepresented, and needed, in technology as well as in leadership positions; and often they don’t receive funding for their businesses, she adds.
Read more here: Incubating Ideas
CIE Mentors: Springboarding Founder Success
“As a young entrepreneur I was having a hard time finding an accountable and wise mentor in business. The CIE mentorship program was that 4x. I was really only looking for one mentor, but I was able to gain 4, all with different experiences in my field. They were great listeners, had candor, and were able to provide real life examples to back up statements.
I recommend the CIE Mentorship program to every entrepreneur at any level of business. You don’t know what you don’t know, and it truly is worth it to have a springboard to chat about business, and focus on growth.”
-- Jack Fleming, Founder and Owner, Socialry Marketing and Scourz, and UNCW 2019 Bachelor’s in Marketing and Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations
Learn more about how the CIE Mentor Program can help your business here: CIE Mentors: Springboarding Founder Success
Info Junkie: Lydia Thomas
Thomas is interested in the blue economy, or companies that derive their revenue from the oceans in a sustainable manner. Newsletters she uses include Ocean Exchange, SeaAhead and TMA Bluetech.
Leland Conference Weighs Future of Local Life Science Industry
The Leland Life Science and Medical Technology Summit captured industry the thoughts of local leader. CIE Director, Heather McWhorter, attended the conference and heard various local companies speak about workforce development challenges and the trends propelling their companies forward.
Read more about the conference here: Leland Conference Weighs Future of Local Life Science Industry
12. Parting Thought
"Success is the sum of small efforts,
repeated day-in and day-out."
- Robert Collier, American Author