by Robbie Allen

At StatSheet we like to recognize the people and organizations that have been instrumental in the company's development. Perhaps no other organization has been more helpful to us than NCIDEA (http://www.ncidea.org) and IDEA Fund Partners (http://www.ideafundpartners.com). We want to publicly thank them for their support by christening today "NCIDEA / IDEA Fund Day" at StatSheet!  In a show of the impact they've had, several other startups will be blogging and tweeting today about how NCIDEA and IDEA Fund helped them.  You can follow along on twitter by searching for #NCIDEA.

So how did they help us?

NCIDEA gives entrepreneurs free money

NCIDEA has a grant program that offers up to $50,000 to 5-7 promising young startups twice a year. NCIDEA is one of the big benefits to starting a company in North Carolina. It's similar in nature to a YCombinator or Techstars, except the money NCIDEA gives out doesn't require you to give up any equity in return.  That's right, it's free money.  That's why I tell every entrepreneur I meet to apply.  Zero downside and $50,000 in potential upside.  StatSheet won a grant on the second try and it funded our third year of operations.

IDEA Fund is the most active seed stage VC in the Southeast

The same people that run NCIDEA also run IDEA Fund Partners. It's a great system. They evaluate promising new ideas with the NCIDEA program where they start to build a relationship with the team.  As the company progresses, they keep in touch and if the company attempts to raise institutional capital and it's a fit, IDEA Fund may invest. That's the way it worked for StatSheet. IDEA Fund was the second largest investor in our seed round that we raised last summer.

I want to personally thank the NCIDEA Team: Lister, Dave, John, and Andrea for their continued support and help through the roller coaster ride that is growing a startup.  Everything from letting me use their office and conference room for a year to the grant and ultimately the follow-on investments.  They've been there every step of the way.

Robbie

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