Andre Fowlkes

Memphis makers got the spotlight last week as city officials announced they’d joined the White House’s “Mayors’ Maker Challenge,” and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton promised more resources to aid the city’s already hot start-up community. Makers make things. They’re inventors, tinkerers, builders, craftsman, and more. Five-In-One Social Club is an example of crafty makers […]

DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS, Tenn. (FOX13) –They’ve relocated from all across the country to work and create right here in Memphis. They are entrepreneurs working to build their businesses from the ground up, and they’ve got 90 days to do it. The company that is helping them is called Start Co., a start-up incubator that works with entrepreneurs to

For the better part of the week, local Memphis tech industry insiders have been posting memories of Dave Barger, founder and CEO of LunaWeb, who died last weekend in a kayak accident on the Wolf River near Shelby Farms Park. Most of the memories came via Twitter under #rememberdave, while some people who knew Barger

Building startups is tough work that requires the engagement of money, mentorship and professional support. Back before there were incubators, accelerators and formal platforms to systematically assist startup companies, there were critical trusted advisers in the community to help guide entrepreneurs as they started up. Those advisers were local bankers, lawyers, marketers, accountants and others

(My Fox Memphis) The next wave of digital technology in Memphis is called the Maker Movement. It’s a challenge the Bluff City is tackling head on. City representatives introduced several local entrepreneurs and makers at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. The Maker Movement is an umbrella term for independent inventors, designers and tinkerers. “We don’t

(Memphis Business Journal) As the cost to attend college continues to increase and getting into college becomes more competitive, a local nonprofit is hoping to help more students from low-income families succeed. And judging by its latest success, they’re off to a good start. The College Initiative, an organization founded by Gabriel Fotsing, an alumnus

(Memphis Business Journal)  With Memphis’ reputation as the logistics capital of the U.S., the city is long overdue for a small business accelerator that focuses on logistics and transportation companies. With that in mind, Start Co. is attempting to fill the void with its first cohort of Sparkgap. Sparkgap is working with three companies in

(Memphis Business Journal) In its second year, Start Co.’s Upstart accelerator has gone international. The accelerator, which focuses on women-owned startups, has attracted companies from New York and one from Hungary. Virag Reti, co-founder and CEO of Weoid, a mobile application that helps travelers find partners to help split the cost of transportation once they arrive to their

(SoftLayer)  BB King. Elvis. Graceland. Jerry Lee Lewis. Beale Street. Cotton. Shipping. Martin Luther King. Civil Rights on the national stage. All of these things come to mind when you think of Memphis, Tennessee. You can now add one more to that list: Startups. Yep. That’s right. Startups. Memphis has a long history of economic success.

(Memphis Business Journal) After three years of running their startup accelerators separately, Start Co. is three weeks into its experiment of running all four simultaneously. The accelerators, Seed Hatchery, Upstart, SparkGap and Sky High, all launched at the beginning of the month. For the next few weeks, MBJ will be looking at each accelerator and its