Team GrepBeat took over the Durham Convention Center last Thursday, June 4th to host the fifth iteration of the annual one-day conference. And while it’s so standard to say that I’m genuinely surprised WordPress isn’t attempting to just fill it in for me, it was, genuinely, our best one yet.
Grep-a-Palooza 2026 set a new worldwide Grep-a-Palooza attendance record. But more important than the number of people who attended were the look and feel of the conference. The team worked harder than ever before to deliver an event that felt fun, professional, and a little bit different—and we like to think it showed. Here, look, seriously:
(This is the same space from 2025 to 2026)
We also strived this year to center the event more on the founders and startups whose stories we spend the year telling. This was reflected in a full lineup and agenda (which you can still view here) that emphasized lessons from and for founders, our most robust pitch competition to date, and our first-ever “Startup Bazaar.”
Rather than recap the full day that was, however, we want to use this space to show it off. Below you’ll find a ton of great photos (shoutout to our guy Corey Truesdale, who has now handled photography at several GrepBeat events and whom you should all hire for all of your photography needs).
David and Amy Bastian, likely discussing birdsMelissa had excellent pantsSponsor tables were active all dayThe homies Jason and RunbinI am, famously, #1 on Tim’s speed dial, but he also thinks Jenn is okCesar downloaded the GB backdrop from the cloud using two devicesThe Godfather got us goingAndrew Ashur (Lucid Bots) in conversation with Chris HalliganChip Kennedy demos CivicReach in the BazaarOur awesome panel on building a brand that compoundsStartup Bazaar mingling and demosHi MarisaChip Kennedy demos CivicReach in the BazaarOur awesome panel on building a brand that compoundsMeridian Performance Systems in the Startup BazaarMain BallroomWe have marquee letters nowOur volunteers were awesome all dayMore Startup Bazaar minglingWe also do balloon arches now. Or rather, Joe’s daughter Xiomara does.Runbin has had it up to here with people who don’t attend PaloozaThe crowd takes in some pitches, and also table orbsRiya Jain pitches Voice Back (Jenn Summe & Z the VC judging)CN-Seamless in the Startup BazaarThwarting Corey’s attempt at a candid shotSustaera in the Startup BazaarOur awesome panel on fundraising from a founder perspectiveVer Coaching in the Startup BazaarCade Spector pitches GreySun TechnologiesDominic Giacona pitches ReslinkMarcus Wade’s Genesis 1 Technologies was in the BazaarMy peopleDavid Kaszycki pitches Beam Dynamics (Leah Townsend & Jan Davis judging)Jack Fleming taking a photoThom Ruhe (NC IDEA) does Thom Ruhe thingsErkang Zhang (Ariso) in conversation with Allison WoodColton McComas pitches FixxrGreat crowd shot, good stuff CoreyRakesh Khan pitches ARtxAudience Q&A during fireside chatsHi JimAndrew Ashur and Chris HalliganZakiya had the greatest time of all the timesEmil Runge (Launch/KPMG) does Emil Runge thingsThe homies Chris and ChazAbby Phillips and Nikin Shah judge their pitch sessionMore of our awesome volunteersExcellent use of the backdrop, friendsMore crowd shots!Hi CesarPROTECT3D in the Startup BazaarYogi Nishanth pitches Swik AITeam Rozie SynopsisNo doubt posting about the excellence of the conferenceCesar cracks Majela upMore happy sponsor tablesVince Stuntebeck pitches NavAlytixKristina Fahl pitches ShuttlebeePitch Competition finalists: PROTECT3D, Beakpoint, Beam DynamicsKevin Gehsmann of PROTECT3D took home the coveted $4,900-in-literal-$1-bills prizeMargaret McNab was a full-fledged Palooza’ist behind the scenesLucid Bots demos at the Durham Hotel leading into Happy HourHappy Hour happy people2 Happy 2 HourThe Happy and the Hour: Tokyo DriftHappy Hour Happy People IVHi AustinHappy Hour Happy People AgainHappy GodfatherHappy Hour Happy People Pt. 17 or something
There are even more photos to come, and we’d love for you all to keep posting yours on your social networks of choice as well!
David is the Managing Editor at GrepBeat covering Triangle tech startups and entrepreneurs. Before pivoting to journalism, he worked for a London-based digital agency, where he wrote roughly one quarter of the content you see on the internet. Outside of work, David enjoys sports and movies a little too much.
