tekMendations: Uber issues

Lindt Chocoloate and Uber have been innocently inserted into a fatal hostage situation by an ISIS terrorist in Sydney Australia — but only Uber was found capitalizing upon it. The situation left three dead and many others fleeing for their lives, turning to their Uber apps to escape the area of violence.

Uber has had other negative press recently for questionable behavior of a driver in Washington D.C. But this time it was not the nature of the ride that was in question: it was the action of the app itself. Desperate customers naturally increased the demand for Uber rides during the emergency, and Uber responded to that demand by quadrupling fare prices. Taking advantage of helpless people in need. 

Uber did try to make up for this extreme error by refunding passengers and providing free rides. When a company fails to rise to the occasion AND backstabs its users, it is hard to save face with that current customer base. Uber's action broke the trust, the essential element of a strong customer relationship; not just a faulty product or rude service employee that could be remedied by discounts or free product. Hopefully Uber has learned to take the high road, and reap the benefits that would have overshadowed the profit: being a beacon of customer care, safety and dependability without question for the sake of their customers. 

By: Alex May, tekMountain Team Member

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tekMendations: weekly recommended knowledge from the Mountain

Inventor Kodjo Afate Gnikou, of the West African town of Togo, asks: “why is Africa always lagging behind when it comes to technology?” Yet his invention, the W.Afate 3-D printer, answers quite loudly that they no longer are.

Gnikou has disrupted the 3-D printing industry with his model constructed from e-waste bones revived from a junkyard in the city of Lomé . He has done so through the WoeLab hackerspace and his crowdfunding campaign, and for only $100. Not only is he recycling useless digital trash otherwise left to soil the landscape and harm inhabitants, but he is doing so to potentially relocate said waste to Mars and produce tools to colonize it (fitting, considering the successful launch of the Orion December 5th ).

Africa is increasingly showing promise of entrepreneurial spirit, and this revolutionary creation fully embodies that spirit. The W.Afate will propel Africa bravely into the international technology market and bring 3-D printing to the masses while cleaning up after them. 

By: Alex May, tekMountain Team Member

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We are expanding!

tekMountain is located on the third floor of CastleBranch's new building. However for the past 6 months only one side has been occupied. Each week of operations has brought in new members and quickly filled the existing space. Now as we look toward the future we will soon be opening an additional 10,000sqft of office space for new members. Aside from all the perks you get like Forged Strength + Conditioning gym classes, access to our on site brewery and food truck (Vittles), mentorship, Internet access, free printing, access to a variety of workshops, there are many great reasons to join tekMountain. Here, are some of our favorites.

BETTER PRODUCTIVITY 
Working in your living room or at Starbucks by yourself (or crammed in your garage with the rest of your team) is not inspiring, comfortable, or suitable in creating optimal productivity. More than likely these spaces don't have enough space for everyone to work and lack the appropriate IT infrastructure you need. Working from home allows for endless distractions like honey due lists, children/pet seeking attention, and your lazy boy and TV taunting you. tekMountian is a place that makes you feel good and enables you to do your best work.

NETWORKING TO BUILD A COMMUNITY 
The opportunity to network with other startups and other entrepreneurs throughout the day or at one of the many events we host weekly – everything from breakfast panels, happy hours (in the brewery), pitch competitions, guest speakers, and DevOps/IT meetups! We don't take just anyone of the street, everyone has to apply to join tekMountain. We aim to gather innovative people and businesses with a high caliber of potential. 

EVENTS 
Classes and events happen all the time, whether they are hosted by tekMountain staff or our members. panel events, allow entrepreneurs to meet industry leader and learn about trends related to various topics. Pitch competitions give aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to gain exposure, and industry specific Meetups allow for collaboration.

BE INSPIRED, BE INNOVATIVE 
Being creative is tough when your surroundings are static and uninspiring. We believe in innovation and inspiration. tekMountain staff constantly work to add more tools and resources for members. Helping encourage interaction and collaboration we are always looking for creative ways to inspire our members. 

Want to learn more? Email us at info@tekMountain.com                                                                 

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King of the Mountain

Welcome to the underbelly of ping-pong where fortunes are won and lost. I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get my point.

Daniel Wilson of Quintify Database Solutions and Ian Western of SayItSocial ping-ponged like no man has ponged before in the first ever tekMountain ping-pong competition!  For the trophy and title of “King of the Mountain!”

In an all out, best of 3 grudge match, the score was neck and neck during each bout. Smashes increased near the end as the focus and intensity from each player grew. After 45 minutes of pong Ian Western pulled through to victory earning the tile King of the Mountain. 

Beef Cakes: Men of Business

tekMountain Member Forged Strength + Conditioning was featured in Wrightville Beach Magazines November article about the Men of Business.

Brian Parke, Razz, and TJ Welsh (not picuted) are co-owners of Forged Strength + Conditioning a premier personal training boutique with specialized classes offered throughout the day such as, yoga, pilates, ForgedFit, barre, and kids yoga. With classes at their CastleBranch location being offered to, CastleBranch employees, tekMountain members and the greater Wilmington community.

ForgedCB features one of two indoor corporate turf fields in the country. Forged is redefining the corporate wellness landscape with their various classes; ask any member of Castlebranch, tekMountain, or the Wilmington community that has attended class. . 

                                                                                          #TodayWillBeDifferent

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TED Talk Tuesday

“ Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.” ― Simon Sinek , Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Here at tekMountain we are always looking for a great reason to gather innovative minds in our of our impressive spaces.

Yesterday, with that mission in mind we hosted one of our Director's personal favorite Ted talks by Simon Sinek, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. At 12pm sharp team members began to trickle into our Reef Room, lunch in hand, ready to be entertained by one of Simon's most powerful talks. With the lights dimmed, projector running and every seat (bean bag) in the house taken, I realized that a new ritual was born- “TED Talk Tuesday.” 

By: Doug Carroll, tekMountain Team Member

How Connected Investors Got Connected

Connected Investors is one of tekMountain’s first member companies, and has undergone its own shape-shifting while the Mountain was being carved. CEO Ross Hamilton and team perfected their platform after a volatile series of peaks and slumps familiar to all startups. I was privileged to sit down with Ross to produce the first installment of the Connected Investors tier.

Connected Investors 3.0 is an online community of real estate professionals involved in buying, selling, and flipping properties. The open source platform is a geographically-based marketplace of off-market investment properties. Users can follow locations and friend people, while customizing their experience through the “Ci App Market,” and can develop applications for the platform themselves using the available API. Thus, users are exposed to a rich array of services created by and for them, and are spared the overwhelming bombardment of “convoluting” features. The platform has four levels exclusive to variously accredited users, so “high net-worth people are assured to connect with others of the same caliber.” Ross says this system eliminates “tire-kickers and city-slickers” to ensure a legitimate business arena.

Ci is supported by the “perfect generational mix” of “old school IBM” technology pros and “simplistic Apple” innovators, all with experience in real estate. However, the company was not always so fortunate. Ross explained how they had to “either fold completely or double down” when the housing market crashed in 2007. He sought advice from top technology executives and all agreed: Connected Investors was at “the crosshairs of the two biggest industries in the world: real estate and social media,” but needed a stronger team to persist.

With the help of funding from existing members and other sources, Ross built the team he needed. He called his old friend and mentor, Bill Brinkley, who became the hire that saved Connected Investors. Bill initiated a huge turnaround, and encouraged Ross to part with his tech team. Justin Arlett was hired next and specialized in leveraging digital marketing in his previous real estate ventures. As his team assembled, Ross accepted that although he had been “every ‘O’,” as CEO his job was to “build the organization, not the business; the organization builds the business.”

After gaining traction to conquer the market slump, Ross’ “worst fears were confirmed”: his new tech team quickly realized the old code would not be able to handle the growth, and the entire site had to be rebuilt for the ground up" without their 180,000 dependent members noticing. Marty Coyne was brought on as CTO to oversee the development during the tumultuous reconstruction; this time built from mobile phones, using well-documented innovations, and with ten years of data on what people wanted.

Ci, in effect, “went all in” Wednesday October 22nd, 2014 with the launch of Ci 3.0. Not only did those 180,000 users not stir during the renovation, but they loved what they got,“it was everything they had always wanted.” Through conversing with Ross, I learned the inspiring, ground-up history of Connected Investors, and of promise of its future. This is merely its introduction.

By: Alex May, tekMountain Team Member

Meet Jeff May, The “tekMinded” Brewer Behind tekMountain Brewing

Nothing satisfies quite like a beer at the end of a productive day. Here at tekMountain, our entrepreneurs are fortunate enough to have a company brewery on site. The beers on tap change weekly, and are always kept chilled ready to refresh.

If you've had the chance to indulge at the Mountain, then you can thank Jeff May, the wizard behind the brew magic. Of course Jeff isn't actually a wizard; he's an electrical engineer by trade, and a brew master by choice. Nor is the brewing process magic, the process is actually science, which Jeff has mastered as a hobbyist home brewer over the past 15 years. But beer brewing isn't all fun and games, the entire process of brewing requires meticulous sterilization, cleaning and maintenance of equipment. Jeff is “tekMinded”, and his attention to detail is reflected in his beer art.

“Cleaning cleaning, clean clean clean, working in a brewery is a cleaning job, you just happen to make some beer while you’re there”, Jeff informs me. 

Any unintentional impurities could spoil the batch of sweet beer nectar before it ripens. Regular tap water contains varying amounts of impurities and additives that affect the flavor, and can also alter the brew as it ferments. Different styles of beer from around world are largely dependent upon the water profile of their origin. Jeff recognizes this dilemma, 

“I don't even risk it here...I take all the water that comes in and it goes through a five stage reverse osmosis filter system and I collect 25 gallons at a time in that cistern... and so that's pure water that is stripped of everything, there is nothing in that water. I've even got a water test kit and it comes up zeros across the board. Then I build it up from scratch, so whatever type of beer I'm making, I will add different salts to the beer and I'll add calcium and carbonate and magnesium and all those things to create a custom water profile. Because different beers, especially from different parts of the world require different mineral content.”

By mimicking tap water profiles of areas that his various beer styles originated, Jeff is able is to produce beers that hold true to the flavor of the style origin. Throughout the brewing process Jeff leaves nothing to chance, including his ingredients. Jeff purchases the ingredients for his brews primarily at Wilmington Homebrew.

“Every opportunity I have to either buy ingredients or equipment, I try to buy it from local people first… There’s very few things that I’ve had to buy online. Upper management here is all about supporting local and I’m glad they’re like that. So I buy the grain and the yeast and all that kind of stuff, I go down and get it every week. That way I know it’s fresh.”

So when you try our own beers here at tekMountain Brewing, you can be sure that you are tasting the finest quality product that Brew master Jeff can produce (which says a lot). If are curious about brewing, Jeff invites everyone to check for upcoming events on the chalk wall in the Brewery or on his Facebook page 'tekMountainBrewing'. 

By: Kyle Swain, tekMountain Team Member

Full Belly Project Charity Ping Pong Tournament

Here at tekMountain we are fortunate enough to have an amazing break room with ten ping pong tables, ski ball, our very own brewery and even a gourmet food truck (Vittles). What a perfect venue for a charity Ping Pong Tournament!

On Thursday evening, some of Wilmington's finest table tennis players descended on tekMountain for an evening of great food, good company and friendly competition. With roughly fifty players and spectators, just over $500 was raised through ticket sales for an amazing cause, The Full Belly Project (FBP) which addresses the critical issue of poverty eradication with simple agricultural technologies. Their role is to develop and distribute agricultural devices to essentially help people help themselves. Equipment, such as the Universal Nut Sheller and the Solar Water Pump, are designed so they can be locally manufactured, operated and repaired, using readily available materials and labor. The overarching goal of Full Belly is to create self-efficacy in developing economies.

Many existing programs treat people as recipients of aid and despite the best of intentions, reinforce dependency. Full Belly wants to empower people, to not only meet their basic needs, but to allow them to take the next step by creating and selling their product to generate income. Their technology can be found in 41 countries and counting with some of our most recent work taking place right in our own backyard. As an employee of tekMountain, and a volunteer at this event, I could not be more proud to do my part to help a local charity with a global reach. tekMountain donated the venue, food and beverages, allowing nearly every dollar of proceeds from ticket sales to be donated to FBP. These funds in large part are going to bring FBP's venerable Universal Nut Sheller to Zambia next month. The sheller will benefit Zasaka, ( http://www.zasaka.com/ ) a social entrepreneurial organization based in Chipata, Zambia. This memorable evening wouldn't have been possible without the guidance of Daniel Ling, Executive Director of the FBP, Mary Brannock, and her amazing crew of volunteers. For more info please see the FBP's website: http://www.thefullbellyproject.org/Home.aspx  

By: Doug Carroll, tekMountain Team Member

Thank you, Wilmington Business Development

Wilmington Business Development has spent 6 decades spot lighting Wilmington NC as a great place to live, work, and play. Designed to assist and make company’s expansion/relocation efforts seamless. WBD serves the Greater Wilmington, North Carolina region, New Hanover and Pender Counties, and the City of Wilmington.

The distinct personalities of our city and the quality of the region’s down-home hospitality draw people here from across the nation. Wilmington, long known for its quiet beaches and busy port, has been discovered in recent years by business and industry, retirees, families, and Hollywood. It is easy to see why tekMountain calls Wilmington NC home.

The historic port city of Wilmington affords all the unique opportunity to enjoy an exciting area rich in shopping, dining, culture and the arts, while being only minutes away from white sandy beaches. The Greater Wilmington Region is home to more than 260,000 people. Miles of unspoiled beaches, a majestic downtown riverfront and all that coastal living has to offer are within your grasp. 

10x10

10 filmmakers spend one week with 10 entrepreneurs...see what happens. Cucalorus has teamed up with tekMountain to bring filmmakers and entrepreneurial businesses together to make a video in less than a week.

All participating filmmakers and entrepreneurs attended the 10x10 kickoff at tekMountain last night where they met for the first time and started to plan their video production. There is no telling what these creative pairs will come up with, perhaps a fun little music video to give their brand a boost or a mini-docu about their business, or personal piece about themselves, the possibilities are endless. All teams will complete a short video, less than 5 minutes, to air on Sunday, November 16th at TheathreNow on the closing day of the 20th annual Cucalorus Film Festival.

The program is intended to introduce young creatives to emerging businesses and to showcase the growing community of entrepreneurs working in the Cape Fear Region. 10x10 mastermind Norwood Cheek will spend the week interviewing local leaders from the business community to create a mini-doc about the tech scene in Wilmington. This project is made possible by a partnership between Cucalorus, TekMountain, and UNCW's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

Participating Film Makers:                                  
Jonathan Richey, MHproductions, Jacob Joyner, Corey Branch, Ally Gold, Khang Mai, Bengal Rouge Films, Royal Court Cinema, John Palmer, Rocco Taldin Productions

Participating Entrepreneurs/Businesses: 
North Carolina Black Film Festival, Upcycle Brands, Edge of Urge, Indigru Technologies, Elsewhere is Alive in the kitchen, Water Play USA, EasyVote, Pawn-O-Gram, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, tekMountain

The Eye of tekMountain

It is easy enough to tour our HQ or peruse our website and gather that our culture is pretty extraordinary. However, what's more meaningful are the chronicles that illustrate it through personal insight. How we do business is equally important as what we do.

My first anecdote emphasizes the open-mindedness and transparency of the people that shape the tekMountain culture. I am a marketing and psychology student at UNC Wilmington, and was last May frisking the fine dining scene of the greater Wrightsville Beach area for a summer job. Brasserie du Soleil, an authentic French cafe, seemed fitting since I retained a sliver of the language and an appreciation for the cuisine from studying abroad. I suppose I was a bit of a spectacle walking in; oblivious that I was entering through the back door (only realizing after, of course), and arguably overdressed in business attire. Nevertheless, I pressed on towards the front. After employing my limited French vocabulary to ironically sell myself to the American manager, he informed me that they were not hiring. On to the next one, I pivoted back towards that back door to escape the awkwardness, but was stopped. Two men enjoying lunch by the door asked if I was hired, and if I went to school. I responded, and with that they invited me to sit down,. They assured me not to worry; I would leave with an internship. I had no idea what was going on, but felt I must rise to the occasion.

One of those men was Brett Martin, resident entrepreneur of the UNCW Cameron School of Business and founder of tekMountain. We discussed my studies and experience in depth, as well as our commonality of French travels. I eagerly absorbed every moment of this serendipitous interview, and later toured the headquarters. I could only begin to conceive the magnitude of opportunity that was being extending to me. 

This story is evidence of the eye that tekMountain executives have for conducting business. They focus on building relationships, bound by the constraints of predetermined business objectives, but by investment of time and interest in people. It is through digging deeper and giving chances where it’s not obvious that possibilities are discovered. This ideology exudes a humble essence that has established an air of accessibility. Executive offices are adjacent to members, positioning them as some of the most valuable neighbors a startup could have. Their “garage doors” are always open for entrepreneurs to chat and learn from their expertise. President Joe Finley personally meets with each and every new employee after they're hired just to get to know them. Brett invites people of the community into the space just to talk and to explore future possibilities; whether or not there’s an initially obvious common ground. And our new HQ is open to the public to share our realm. Unrealized potential cannot be thoroughly exhausted through a set schedule. Follow an inkling instead of a rubric. People are more than their resumes, and life is more than a calendar of appointments. 

By: Alex May, tekMountain Team Member

And the Winner of the Top Tech Exec in NC is ...

Brett Martin, is the peoples choice!

This distinguished and highly acclaimed statewide award is an acknowledgment of Brett's strong leadership as he has created tekMountain, and his continued dedication to growing the technology culture in Wilmington, North Carolina.

This award is presented by the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) whose mission is to make NC number one in technology and make technology number one in NC. NCTA has over 700 member companies, organizations and institutions representing over 100,000 NC based employees. 

DevOps/IT Meetup

The first meeting of the Wilmington DevOps/IT Meetup was a success! We had about 20 people of all different tech backgrounds attend and talk shop over some drinks and appetizers (thanks Vittles!).

The group included programmers, system admins, security analysts, embedded systems engineers, managers of software dev, an IT professor from UNCW, and an investor. To kick off the meet-up I gave a quick overview on “What is DevOps?” and we discussed ideas for presentation topics for future meetups. It was agreed that we wanted to hear talks of a more technical nature, e.g. programming languages, frameworks, stacks, as well as high-level discussions on methodologies, e.g. agile and scrum, best practices, and business.

The collective skills and knowledge of the group is way too long to list here, but suffice to say we’ll have plenty to learn from one another going forward. The next Meetup will be Thursday December 4th @ 6pm. See http://www.meetup.com/Wilmington-DevOps-and-IT/ for more details and signup!     

By: Jason Ashby, tekMountain Member

Mountain Women

It is well established that the gender equation is unbalanced in the technology field. Here’s the breakdown of female presence: only 3% of technology startup CEOs, 13% of venture-funded startup co-founders, and 4% of venture capital partners are women. Google stands tall with a whopping 17% female staff. While that is significantly more diverse than the aforementioned numbers, it is still quite sad... and quite strange.

A movement is upon us, however. On September 4^th, 2014 President Obama appointed Megan Smith, the first woman to be the United States Chief Technology Officer. Entrepreneurs nationally are also taking responsibility for closing the gap and driving change through investment in applications and efforts to cultivate interest in technology in girls at a young age. The concern is propelled by research in 2013 that showed a mere 0.4% of girls entering college expressed curiosity in a computer science degree, and only 14% of CIS graduates were women. Software applications such as Scratch and efforts like App Camp for Girls and Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program are aiming to grasp girls’ inquisitiveness and attention.

Our CEO at tekMountain, Brett Martin, has organically surrounded himself with motivated “rock star” women within his inner circle from the conception of CastleBranch, tekMountain’s parent company. Fifty percent of CastleBranch’s executive team is female: CFO Lauren Henderson, CIO Kelli Davis, Senior VP Business Development Nancy Lane, VP Client Solutions Michelle Kiesecker, and VP Operations Sharon Dibona. They work seamlessly with their equally important male counterparts to operate one of the top background screening and compliance tracking companies in the nation. Martin was recently named the North Carolina Technology Association Tech Exec of the Year for his work both in business and in technology, positioning him as a visible role model in the industry.

Now that tekMountain is established and executing our mission to foster new technologies, the same diversity has carried over. Our team is also fifty percent female. Director, Audrey Speicher, is the one responsible for developing tekMountain from the drawing board, facilitating everything from the HQ’s design to all outreach and internal member relations, and everything else that a brand new corporate accelerator could possibly require or desire. Amanda Sipes and I have worked closely with Audrey, Brett, and the executive staff as well, exemplifying their accessibility.

Diversity is also reflected within our member companies SayItSocial and Quintify. Even more distinguished is the fact that Hannah Wilson of Quintify is 18 years old and in the process of creating her own business plan here on the Mountain.

Earlier I mentioned that it’s sad and strange how female representation is so low within the technology industry. A poignant example of this curious paradigm is the fact that even the most well-versed people of technology don’t know that the first computer programmers were women. It started with Ada Lovelace in 1815 and was continued by Jean Jennings Bartik and Grace Hopper in the mid 1900’s. Hardware was for boys and software was for girls, yet somewhere it fell by the wayside. tekMountain and CastleBranch are positioned to help permanently shift that pendulum back, and will have fun while we do it. We are girls here, after all.

By: Alex May, tekMountain Team Member

Innovation Concept Pitch Competition

Our team hosted, what we hope to be the first of many Innovation Concept Pitch Competitions on UNCW's campus this week during their annual entrepreneurship week.

Our goal was to establish a presence on campus so students learned who tekMountain is, and that we can be a resource for them. We had 6 students present their innovative concepts to a panel of three judges. Mike Rhoades from the Wilmington Investor Network, George Taylor from Nextglass, and Derric Becker from tekMountain. First place prize was $500 cash and six-month membership at Elite Innovations, which runs a "MakerSpace" here in downtown Wilmington.

Students pitched concepts ranging across all industries, from green sustainability, innovative technology for smokers, to those who need a little help staying fit. The event winner was Elisabeth O'Quinn with "Workout Buddy", her innovative idea of aiding other in finding a workout partner via social media. Although she came to the pitch event with just and idea she has the potential to become a future member of Wilmington newest accelerator, tekMountain. We look forward to meeting more innovators at our next annual Innovation Concept Pitch Competition.