A Startup Guide to RVA

by: Larkin Garbee  (last updated 4/10/15)

Build.  Measure.  Learn.  Lighthouse Labs is an accelerator program that give you $20k and 15 weeks to prove your idea.  If you have a solid group of founders, an excellent technology enabled startup that can scale, and the passion to push your business idea a little further, you might be one of the lucky companies that gets to take your startup to the next level.  _ 

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No Talk.  All Action.  Launch a startup in 54 hours.  Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Come share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.  Whether you are a designer, developer, or entrepreneur, you will walk away from Startup Weekend with a whole new outlook on customer validation and business formation.  

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Is your business idea a little too far along for Startup Weekend or not quite ready for an accelerator?  Startup NEXT is designed to be that space between "idea on  a napkin stage" and investor ready pitch.  This night time program takes you through 5 sessions and is designed to help prepare you for that investor conversation or accelerator application.  

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804RVA Tech Meetup is a monthly meetup for Richmond technology companies.  This is a casual meetup where tech companies share their journies of success and failure -- whether they just launched their site,successfully exited, or closed up shop.  The goal of this meetup is to learn through other's mistakes and failures and give helpful feedback.  

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The ie Trilogy is a series of events designed to support RVA’s budding entrepreneurs and find the Richmond region’s next best start-ups. Bring your ideas, get some advice, talk to some potential partners, be inspired, get equipped and ultimately apply to compete in a Start-Up Competition in April 2013.

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Campus Founders breaks down the boundaries that isolate student-operated entrepreneur clubs, promotes cross-institutional collaboration and aims to help develop your startup passions.  They host meetups in various cities across the state to help boost the student entrepreneurial activity.  

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The 804RVA meetup group is great for technical meetups.  We host Wordpress Wednesdays, RVA Data Hackers, Virginia Innovators Network, Ruby on Rails, Game Jams, Cofounder Dating events, pitch events, StartRVA events and more.  (though only a few of our meetups charge for their events, its free to be on our meetup group to be notified about the events)

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If you are VCU alumnus and have an idea, concept, and/or technology for a business venture, check out  the 2013 VCU Venture Creation Competition Pitch Slam! This event will be held the evening of Thursday, April 25. Participants will have an opportunity to present their venture ideas and compete for cash prizes that can be used to further venture efforts.

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The Venture Forum's mission is to promote and enchance the success of entrepreneurs, emerging businesses, and the growth of entrepreneurship in central Virginia.  The Venture Forum hosts luncheons and venture out events (these are typically paid events)

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The Startup America Partnership supports a national network of startup communities dedicated to advancing the success of American startups. Hundreds of passionate founders, entrepreneurial leaders, investors, mentors and executives, (Startup Champions), are working together to strengthen their local communities and help young companies grow.

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Startup Concierge is a select group of mentors willing to host open office hours, commit to training and focus on propelling startup dreams into viable businesses.  We are working hard to create a path of learning with our mentors for those willing to risk entrepreneurship and change the world! 

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