Ten teams of Charlottesville entrepreneurs competed on Wednesday for funding and opportunities to grow their businesses as part of the seventh annual Crowdfunded Pitch Night at the Tom Tom Founders Festival. Each contestant had three minutes to present their business idea. The crowd then bought votes for their favorite contestants, and the pool of money […]
Tag: Tom Tom Founders Festival
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Venture capitalist shares strategy for growing global startup scene at Tom Tom summit
At the Paramount Theater on Friday, outspoken venture capitalist Dave McClure shared insights on investing in startups and challenged the University of Virginia to invest $1 million each year in businesses started by its students. McClure’s lecture was part of the Founders Summit at the Tom Tom Founders Festival. McClure is a founding partner at […]
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Tom Tom Founders Festival announces Hometown Summit conference for small cities
The Tom Tom Founders Festival will expand its offerings this spring to include a gathering of officials and community leaders from around the country to celebrate small and medium-sized cities as centers of innovation. The Hometown Summit will explore how talent, placemaking, innovation and leadership mesh to help small cities thrive in the growing innovation-based […]
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In Roanoke, success driven by collaboration provides lessons for Charlottesville
In the next four months, downtown Roanoke will be home to a technology business accelerator, built in a renovated historic building with a $600,000 state grant. Called RAMP, or Regional Acceleration and Mentoring Program, the initiative is designed to give young, growing companies a boost to become medium-sized growing companies. The center will be administered […]
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UVa students win Velocity Tour pitch competition
A pair of University of Virginia-trained biomedical engineers won a $25,000 grant from Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s office Friday at a pitch competition that kicked of the Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Tomtoberfest fall block party. Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel run AgroSpheres LLC and have developed a chemical that degrades pesticides and, they hope, will give […]
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Entrepreneurs preach passion, flexibility at Tom Tom Founders Summit
A skateboarder, a fashion designer, two CEOs and a record executive brought a common denominator Friday to the Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Founders Summit: They all had pursued businesses based on their passions. Rodney Mullen turned his preternatural talent on a skateboard, the consequent rabid fan base and a math and engineering degree into World […]
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At Tom Tom festival, McAuliffe signs law protecting youth entrepreneurs
Gov. Terry McAuliffe used the Paramount Theater stage Thursday to sign into a law a bill designed to protect the intellectual property rights of student entrepreneurs. McAuliffe signed the bill as the marquee moment of the Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Youth Summit, an all-day event for area high-schoolers. House Bill 1230 requires the boards of […]
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Fifth Tom Tom pitch night sees youngest-ever winners
The youngest-ever entrants to the Tom Tom Founders Festival’s Crowd-funded Pitch Night took home the event’s top honor Wednesday night. Clara Duffy and Leela Ghaemmaghami, juniors at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, started Seniors Connect to help older people use and understand technology. They also are writing an app called Doctor’s Orders to help seniors remember which […]
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Tech, creativity keys to area’s future, forum participants say
A brewer, an educator, a computer programmer, a film festival director and a lawyer and politician painted a picture of an arts-infused, tech-driven city Monday when asked to envision Charlottesville in 2025. Speaking at the Future Forum, the opening event of the Tom Tom Founders Festival, local leaders spoke about the importance of attracting technology […]
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Tom Tom fest to celebrate local food with special restaurant week
For Harrison Keevil, who co-owns Brookville Restaurant with his wife, Jennifer, running a restaurant is as much about local agriculture as it is about food. The Keevils, who opened Brookville in 2010 after a stint together at the Clifton Inn, produce a menu stuffed with local meat and produce. Next week, for the third April […]
