NC IDEA Ecosystem Summit Celebrates 20 Years Of “This Thing Of Ours”

The 2025 NC IDEA Ecosystem Summit took place on Monday and Tuesday as one of the highlights of a statewide spattering of events tied into Global Entrepreneurship Week. This year’s summit doubled as a celebration of 20 years of the NC IDEA Foundation’s “#ecosysteming” work.

The two-day event served up a packed agenda showcasing founders, funders, supporters, combinations thereof, and one former presidential candidate. By and large, the collection of speakers and panelists managed to do an excellent job of simultaneously celebrating entrepreneurial progress and successes and speaking to the support that’s still needed to fuel statewide growth.

Here’s a look back at the speakers, topics, insights, and images from the summit:

DAY 1

Kickoff and Global Entrepreneurship Week Welcome

The event was kicked off by NC IDEA board member Jerry Edmonds, who described the summit as being about “the people and ideas building the future of innovation” in North Carolina. He also introduced the de facto title of the 2025 summit—”This Thing of Ours”—before introducing NC IDEA President and CEO Thom Ruhe (who, he was sure to note, “does Thom Ruhe things.”)

Ruhe took the stage, first to thank the NC IDEA board and team and acknowledge the 20-year celebration and then to dive into some of the data and meaning behind what the foundation has accomplished.

“Giving money away is not as easy as people think, if you care about the result,” he said, while noting that since 2005 the foundation has supported 650+ companies with 489 grants totaling over $13.7 million. (As to that “result,” NC IDEA estimated the impact of those supported companies to included $1.4 billion in funding raised, over 5,050 jobs created, and 44 acquisitions.)

Ruhe also spoke to the fact that “more diverse economies are more resilient.” To that point, 66% of companies the foundation has funded since 2005 were underserved.

Finally, Ruhe also introduced what would become an unofficial theme of the summit: F-words. His own was “founders,” but as the conference unfolded, many of the subsequent speakers and panelists saw fit to chip in with their own chosen F-words.

Following Ruhe’s welcome and introduction, Global Entrepreneurship Network Founder and President Jonathan Ortmons offered a few words about the purpose and impact of Global Entrepreneurship Week around the world. Perhaps his most interesting insight was that entrepreneurs are “the new diplomats,” demonstrating an invaluable drive to build and create while governments show increasingly little inclination to do so proactively or ability to do so effectively.

Ortmons also introduced the theme of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week: “Together we build.”

One Nelson Mandela quote later (“It seems impossible until it isn’t”) it was time for a few words from sponsor Wells Fargo and then on to the first panel.

PANEL: Mayoral Perspectives on Innovation and Quality of Life

(Featuring Tom Snyder (moderator), Executive Director of RIoT; Mayor Pro Tem Stormie Forte, City of Raleigh; Mayor Leonardo Williams, City of Durham) 

This panel focused specifically on innovation, ambition, and diversity in Durham and Raleigh alike. It wound up serving in a way as a microcosm of what the conference would become, in that the panel both celebrated existing progress and stressed the need for more.

Key insights:

• Leonardo Williams: “We have to design cities around that new behavior [of work becoming flexible and people relying on a hybrid of offices, homes, and third places].”

PANEL: Breaking Down Barriers to Entrepreneurship

(Featuring Catherine Read (moderator), Senior Director of Field & Campaign Strategy, Right to Start; Jason Grill, Chief Government Affairs Officer, Right to Start; Jennifer McDonald, Director of Activism, The Institute for Justice’s Cities Work Initiative; Representative Dante Pittman, NC General Assembly)

Addressing barriers to entrepreneurship in different parts of North Carolina, this group focused largely on the need for support at the city and state levels, as well as the necessity of active workforce development. There were specific calls for someone to be in charge of entrepreneurship statewide, for cities to cut fees and red tape that inhibit new businesses, and for expanding job creation in more remote regions.

Key insights:

• Dante Pittman recalled Governor Jim Hunt’s emphasis on “growing the pie, not just slicing it up.”

LUNCH PANEL: The Bold Path Forward For North Carolina Entrepreneurs

(Featuring Britney McCoy (moderator), Program Lead, Bold Path Fellowship, ECMC Group; J.W. Carpenter, President, Prosper; Carl Webb, Co-Founder, Provident1898) 

This was a panel that spoke in conjunction with the Bold Path Fellowship mission, which is essentially to help individuals from under-served backgrounds who have earned “a degree or credential” pursue entrepreneurship.

Key insights:

• J.W. Carpenter: “All of these entrepreneurs you’re investing in? 20 years later they’re you and they’re investing in someone younger.”

PANEL: Innovation Models for Statewide Growth

(Featuring Michelle Bolas (moderator), Executive Vice President & Chief Innovation Officer, NC Innovation; Conaway Haskins, VP, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, VA Innovation Partnership Corporation; Troy LeMaile-Stovall, CEO, TEDCO; Mitch Smith, Senior Investment Manager, South Carolina Research Authority / SC Launch)

This was a more impact-oriented panel during which the moderator, Michelle Bolas, effectively invited each panelist to discuss their background and how their position contributes to entrepreneurial growth in their respective state or region.

Key insights:

• In so many words, Mitch Smith suggested that getting even 5% of companies to accelerate faster than average can boost the entire ecosystem.

FIRESIDE CHAT with Andrew Yang (CEO, Noble Mobile)

(Moderator: Thom Ruhe, President & CEO, NC IDEA Foundation) 

After a brief introduction by Lister Delgado (Managing Partner, IDEA Fund Partners), Thom Ruhe welcomed serial entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang—explaining that the two of them had previously collaborated on an initiative aimed at getting young people into entrepreneurship.

The first stage of the conversation concerned Yang’s various public endeavors, including his run for president and his latest venture, dubbed Noble Mobile. Regarding the former, Yang stressed that he never expected to win, but wanted to raise the alarm regarding “the most dramatic transformation of our economy and labor force in our lifetimes.” As for the latter, he aims to take on price-gouging mobile data providers by offering $50/month unlimited data with up to $20 back for using under a certain threshold.

Moving into big-picture entrepreneurial discussion, Ruhe prompted Yang with the question of how we can use entrepreneurship to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out. Yang’s response revolved around the fact that while entrepreneurism helps people feel more optimistic, too many people are outside of or removed from it. The challenge, then, is making more people feel like they’re on the inside—and by extension building the kind of bottom-up, middle-out economy being discussed.

Yang added that from his perspective the Triangle is “top tier,” and a place where “abundance” is winning. However, he also stressed that “this room” (referring to the crowd at and nature of the summit) is “not a thing in most of the country.”

Key insights:

• Thom Ruhe: “One of the reasons entrepreneurship works is that entrepreneurs do not suspend critical thinking… they don’t care about [politics], just what will work and how.”
• Andrew Yang: “When you invest in an entrepreneur’s development, sometimes you’re [ultimately] investing in their next startup. And that’s totally awesome.”
• Andrew Yang: “I just want shit to work.”

PANEL: Entrepreneurs in Residence Accelerating Startup Success

(Featuring Rachael Newberry (moderator), Program Director, RIoT; Jay Mixter, Director of Mentoring, HATCHwnc; Charles W. Pemble IV, PhD, Founder, Tetran LLC; Leah Townsend, Founder in Residence, Center for Entrepreneurial Development)

This session offered a comprehensive back-and-forth between moderator Rachael Newberry and three panelists with direct experience in entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) roles. In a discussion full of useful information for anyone on either side of an EIR-startup relationship, they covered how panelists view the role of an EIR, how these relationships can be uniquely beneficial, and the challenges of setting expectations and matching.

Key insights:

• Rachael Newberry: “The distinction for me is that mentors and advisors certainly can be instrumental but have more of a fly-in, fly-out mentality; EIRs are distinguished because they’re embedded… having folks that have that operational experience that can be embedded and sit on the same side of the table… I think that’s where EIRs can be extremely powerful”
• Leah Townsend: “I’m not there to run their business for them… I’m there to help them execute against the challenges they’re facing.”
• Jay Mixter (on how to help startups use EIRs as resources): “Asking good questions is worth more than providing good answers.”
• Charles W. Pemble IV, PhD (on matching): “It comes down to an assessment of the team, and the team’s ability to execute. Is the appetite there? That’s fundamental to being successful as an entrepreneur.”

PANEL: Where Are They Now?

(Featuring John Austin (moderator), Entrepreneur in Residence, NC IDEA Foundation; Eric Boggs, Founder and CEO, RevBoss; Lauren McCullough, Co-Founder and CEO, Tromml; Ryan O’Donnell, Co-Founder and CEO, Sunlight)

At this point, the Day 1 program transitioned toward a focus on past-and-present recipients of the NC IDEA Foundation’s startup support grants. As many readers are undoubtedly aware, NC IDEA awards these grants across both spring and fall cycles. MICRO grants ($10,000) are meant for “young companies looking to validate and advance their idea,” while SEED grants ($50,000) are for early-stage startups aiming to scale faster.

Leading up to announcements of the fall 2025 MICRO and SEED recipients, a panel of past winners took the stage. They discussed the stages they were at when they received their grants, what they’ve accomplished since then (lots of jokes about hair loss here), and what advice they might pass along to the founders joining their ranks.

This was a warm and effective way to convey the value of these grants beyond their headline dollar amounts.

After the discussion, Amy Bastian (VP of Grants and Programs, NC IDEA Foundation) took the stage first to recognize the fall MICRO grant recipients (announced prior to the summit) and then reveal the following six startups as the cycle’s SEED awardees:

• Cervu Health (Cary)
• Citrus Oncology (Cary)
• CivicReach (Raleigh)
• Path Intelligence (Charlotte)
• QoreInsights (Waxhaw)
• Theralinq (Raleigh)

Appropriately echoing the “Where Are They Now?” panel, Thom Ruhe noted in a press release that 50% of these new SEED recipients were past MICRO winners.

Day 1 Closing Remarks

The first day of summit programming was wrapped up by North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. She conveyed enthusiastic support for entrepreneurial development on behalf of her office and position—and revealed that her “F-word” (continuing with the theme many speakers had run with following Ruhe’s opening remarks) was “flourish.”

“You truly are the backbone of North Carolina’s vibrant economy,” she said to attendees before happily sending them off to the reception and resource fair concluding the first day.

DAY 2 

The second day of the 2025 Ecosystem Summit began with welcoming remarks from NC IDEA Foundation Board Chair Spencer Disher, as attendees took their places and enjoyed breakfast (of note, this event’s audience was well taken care of from a culinary perspective).

Disher then gave way to a representative from Wells Fargo, who in turn ushered in the first speaker session of the day:

Rural Entrepreneur Spotlight

(Featuring Amy Dunlap, Founder and CEO, STEMZ, Inc.)

True to the name of the session, Amy Dunlap was on the stage as an example of what investment in a rural founder can bring about. A former recipient of both an NC IDEA MICRO grant and NC IDEA Rural Impact grant, Dunlap sought out to improve supply chains for flower farmers with her startup, STEMZ.

“We’re really trying so hard to give farms a viable way to make a living,” she said. “[For] a lot of these flower farmers, it’s their second job, and it shouldn’t be like that.”

This year, farms that have worked with STEMZ have seen a 37.5% increase in total revenue compared to 2024.

PANEL: Eastern NC is Open for Opportunity

(Featuring: Brandy Bynum Dawson (moderator), Senior Director of Rural Prosperity & Investment, MDC; Shemekka Ebony, Founder & CEO, Black Girl Magic Market; Bridget Phifer, Founder & Program Lead, Living Better Life, LLC; Carlos M. Zepeda, Senior Small Business Consultant, Prospera)

At this point in the Day 2 program, Brandy Bynum delivered the conference’s first on-stage 6-7 reference (which if you’re reading this in the future and are unfamiliar with, I can only characterize as an inexplicable-but-explosive late-2025 cultural meme, and which if you are still aware of I can only assume turned out to be the world’s first AI-engineered psy-op serving some as-yet-unknown nefarious purpose and ultimately inspiring a regrettable straight-to-Netflix tech thriller probably starring Mark Wahlberg).

More to the point, Bynum gave a kind of overview of the eastern North Carolina entrepreneurial landscape and spirit, praising the grit and connected nature of the region. She then guided the panel—comprised of members of NC IDEA’s Rural Community of Practice members—through a multi-faceted discussion revolving primarily around the region’s challenges and resilience, as well as what’s needed to accelerate growth.

Ebony, Phifer, and Zepeda each added perspectives tied to their respective projects and experiences in rural and often underserved communities.

Key insights:

• Bridget Phifer: “Systemic issues, when you see them up close and personal… it’s different.”

Partner Spotlight: Greensboro Steelhouse + Gig East

(Featuring Lisa Hazlett, President, The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship; Emily Wells, Greenlight Community & Engagement Manager, City of Wilson)

During this partner spotlight interlude, Lisa Hazlett and Emily Wells spoke to some of the community benefits of Greensboro Steelhouse and Gig East projects, respectively.

Hazlett characterized the Steelhouse as “a space where all neighborhoods can come together and collectively solve the challenges that have [plagued them] for over 50 years.”

Wells, meanwhile, recounted innovators in the City of Wilson and surrounding area recognizing that fiber optic companies “weren’t interested in building” for rural communities in the early 2000s. She discussed their initiatives to build for themselves, and then offered some words on the Gig East Summit.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS (concurrent) 

PANEL: Building North Carolina’s Innovation Clusters

(Featuring Heather McWhorter (moderator), Director, UNCW CIE; Krista Covey, CEO & President, First Flight Venture Center; Molly Hemstreet, Co-Executive Director for The Industrial Commons & Deputy CEO of the NSF Textile Innovation Engine of NC)

This breakout panel took on a tone at once optimistic and urgent, conveying that North Carolina’s “innovation clusters” are primed for further success if managed with energy and vision. Collectively, they covered the need for our innovation to uplift entire communities, the importance of capitalizing on existing innovation momentum, and the benefits of building purposefully with an eye toward the future.

McWhorter also provided a unique coastal perspective, discussing the UNC-Wilmington “blue economy” index (which is now published at Bloomberg and performing better than the S&P 500).

Key insights:

• Molly Hemstreet: “Any innovation we do needs to drive wealth into communities.”
• Krista Covey: “We have all the assets and talent here—we just need to build on the momentum we started.”
• Heather McWhorter: “We’re looking towards the future with the way we’re purposefully building our ecosystems. I know everyone’s worried about AI, but I do think our leadership will guide us through.”

WORKSHOP: From Barriers to Breakthroughs: How Entrepreneurs Can Advocate for Their Needs

(Featuring Paula Pingel, Co-Founder, Crelucin Business Coaching & Consulting; Vania Ramos Ponce, PhD, Entrepreneurial Advocate, Right to Start)

Designed as a “workshop-style” breakout, this session was designed to give entrepreneurs the strategies and insights they need to amplify their own voices, engage successfully with policymakers, and advocate for themselves and their communities.

Among the most direct practical advice offered was for entrepreneurs to create “mini advocacy plans” focused on goal, target audience, message, first action step, and partners needed.

WORKSHOP: Creating and Sustaining Collaboration for Economic Growth in Rural Communities

(Featuring Isaac Blount, Community Liaison, Redirection CDC; Rinnie Orr, Associate Director & Co-Founder, WEBB Squared; Stephanie Terry, Executive Director & Co-Founder, WEBB Squared; Maui Vang, Vice Chair, Hatch AVL) 

This “discussion workshop” session was not designed exclusively for attendees from rural areas, but did revolve around how identifying needs and required resources supports entrepreneur-led economic growth in such areas.

Key insights:

• Maui Vang: “I had to get off the mountain a lot to come to Raleigh and Charlotte, I had to stitch my resources together. What I noticed during that journey was that access to even things like a social network was limited in rural communities. The probability of success is lower without the lack of peer groups. I was able to get off the mountain, but many in the surrounding area do not have that privilege.”

PANEL: Regional Coalitions to Expand Entrepreneurial Growth

(Featuring W. Michael Buckovich (moderator), Founder & Executive Director, VisionToVenture; Christine Laucher, Strategic Partnership Manager, Mountain BizWorks; Anjanette Miller, CEO, Echo; Stan Parker, General Partner, WSPR Fund)

This was another panel that focused on the importance of collaboration between regions within North Carolina. For this session, though, there was less focus on general resource allocation and more emphasis on addressing specific barriers to entrepreneurial growth through strategic coalition building.

Key insights:

• Christine Laucher: “When we see gaps [in growth journey and access to capital] we think to ourselves: who is best to fill this gap?” 

(Lunch) Program Spotlight: LEAF

(Featuring Jana Bradley, Senior Library Assistant, Durham County Library; Carol Anne Hankinson, Director of Library Sciences, Roanoke-Chowan Community College; Kyle Hearns, Adult Services Librarian, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library)

As attendees reconvened in the main room for lunch, three fellows from NC IDEA’s recently formed LEAF program (that’s Libraries for Entrepreneurial Advancement Fellowship) had the opportunity to speak. The LEAF program is designed to turn libraries into hubs that are more specifically useful to entrepreneurs by empowering librarians and providing resources.

PANEL: Entrepreneurship for the Defense Sector

(Featuring Jesse S. Jur, PhD (moderator), Deputy Director: NC Office of Science, Technology, & Innovation, NC Department of Commerce; Rob Creighton, Founder & CEO, Windlift; Jarrett Lane, Co-Founder, NC Critical Technologies Alliance; Keith Wheeler, Executive Director, Office of National Security & Industry Initiatives, ECU; David Whitmire, PhD, Director of Federal Programs, Lead Senior Commercial Advisor, Wireless Research Center)

These panelists touched on everything from entrepreneurial struggles in rural areas to recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities in defense. They covered specific developments (such as NC-based Vulcan Elements and its ongoing mission to develop rare earth magnets for EVs and defense), their own journeys (such as Rob Creighton’s partial pivot to defense applications for Windlift’s technology), and—for a somewhat bleaker stretch—the growing urgency to compete with China in drone development.

Key insights:

• David Whitmire (on why defense shouldn’t be looked at as a distinct vertical): “If you are in healthcare, there’s a buyer in DoD for what you are building.”
• Rob Creighton (on why there is urgency to develop drones for defense): “The cost of bad actors doing bad things has come down so much.”

FEATURED SPEAKER: Joe Colopy on “Bootstrapping Bronto: The Art of Scaling Your Startup Without Venture Capital“

For this session, Joe Colopy—our very own GrepBeat Godfather—was under the spotlight to share insights on his founder journey and everything since, largely through lens of his recently published book, “Bootstrapping Bronto.”

He spoke of Bronto, which was sold to NetSuite for $200M, as his “15-year overnight success story,” and discussed some of the struggles and benefits alike of—well, “scaling your startup without venture capital.”

I won’t spoil the book here, but Colopy also offered his thoughts on building entrepreneurial ecosystems, stressed that while he wrote a story, it is not the story, and, of course, discussed the ongoing mission to lift up founders and early-stage startups through GrepBeat.

Key insights:

• (On attracting top-of-the-funnel talent in addition to building from within) “When we build ecosystems we have to think in terms of multiple layers.”
• “I think most businesses could be bootstrapped at a certain level.”
• (On GrepBeat’s coverage of early-stage founders) “Some little stamp of approval—like, ‘keep going’—means something.”

PANEL: Building Regional Capital Across North Carolina

(Featuring Anna Tharrington (moderator), Managing Partner, Hutchison PLLC; Jeffrey Kaplan, CEO, Optimist Ventures, Director of Venture Asheville; Stan Parker, General Partner, WSPR Fund; Jim Roberts, Founder, WALE Angel Network; Scot Wingo, General Partner, Tweener Fund) 

This session’s focus was all in the title. The panelists shared the missions, successes, and challenges they’ve engaged with through their respective networks and funds. They offered insights about the importance of immigrants in an innovation economy, assessing startup success within a given region, and, in a sense, the landscape for early-stage startups aiming to raise capital. Kaplan, Parker, and Roberts also used the opportunity to speak to some of the successes of Asheville, Winston-Salem, and Wilmington, respectively.

Fittingly, this final panel of the summit also served up two of the more memorable lines, first when Kaplan dropped the first actual “f-word” of the event (more on that in “key insights”), and second when Roberts amusingly labeled himself the punching bag of the conference (following a run of good-natured ribbing from speakers).

Key insights:

• Jeffrey Kaplan: “Immigrants in this country start new ventures at a rate of two-and-a-half times…. If you are not supporting immigrants in your communities, then you do not give a [actual f-word!] about entrepreneurship.”
• Jim Roberts: “It is a major red flag if your startups aren’t raising money in your city; [investors elsewhere will wonder] what is wrong with this startup if they can’t raise a round in their own city?”

Closing Remarks from Thom Ruhe

Following that last panel, Thom Ruhe addressed attendees to wrap up the conference. He used the time to thank the NC IDEA board and others who supported the summit, as well as to point once again to the foundation’s achievements over the last 20 years.

On innovation and what we’re all doing here—”this thing of ours,” I suppose—Ruhe stressed, “You can’t do this without being fearless, and you can’t be fearless without support.”

He then left us with the summit’s final, all-encompassing F-word—”family”—and a favorite ancient saying:

“Blessed are those who plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.”

Please enjoy more photos from the event in the slideshow below: