Beale Street and Bar-B-Que – that’s what people think Memphis BBQ Festival is all about. Throw in 12 early-stage startup companies, investors from across the country, a pitch competition (and a little bit of rain) and you’ve got something vastly different: Start Q.
Growing up here in Memphis, I always saw BBQ Fest as a huge party. Now as a summer intern for Start Co., I got to see that it’s so much more than this. It’s a time where startup founders can work to create valuable business connections while also kicking back and enjoying all that BBQ Fest has to offer.
But even Start Q had its own humble beginnings. In 2011 Seed Hatchery, the first accelerator, sponsored a BBQ team called Born in the QSA.
“We’ve been using the World Championship of BBQ since the first accelerator to gather smart leaders, entrepreneurs and supporters.” CEO Eric Mathews said about the event. “Over time our investment grew to the point where we built our own booth and that continues to grow to this day.”
Start Q has evolved over time to where it’s at today as one of Start Co.’s most important and lively weekends of the year.
On the Thursday morning of BBQ Fest, the startups were able to sit down with venture capitalist investors and other partners such as IBM, FedEx, and ServiceMaster during National Office Hours. There’s nothing better for an entrepreneur than the chance to sit down with potential investors and other partners, pitch their companies, and receive valuable feedback on their businesses.
“I talked to a couple investors and potential partners that wanted to potentially work with my business,” founder and CEO of ServiceBot Joe Shiraz said. “I also learned a lot more about not only the Memphis but also the Tennessee entrepreneurial community, which seems a lot more robust than I would have ever thought.”
After National Office Hours at our office in the heart of downtown, everyone walked down to the river to enjoy some Memphis BBQ. Following lunch, the founders were able to put their elevator pitches to the test in the American Airlines Pitch Competition. The rules? Each startup company had 1 minute to give their business pitch and the judges had the chance to ask 1 clarifying question about their businesses. It was amazing to see how all 12 of the founders have improved their pitch in just 1 week since the first day of the program.
However, there can only be 1 winner (or a first and second in this case). LawnTap, led by CEO Wilkinson Egwu, is a startup company changing the way we take care of our lawns and won first place in the competition. Please Assist Me, led by CEO Stephanie Cummings, is revolutionizing the way we take care of our homes and respectively brought in second place. Both of these winners earned this award because they came out with energy, passion, and clarity of what their business is trying to solve.
The night continued after the pitch competition with a cocktail hour sponsored by Ops Fuel, dinner, and a night on the town in Downtown Memphis.
Multiple people told me that Start Q is their favorite weekend of the year and another investor told me that they will keep coming back as long as they can. Overall, they were all impressed with the quality of the startup companies in the 2018 cohort.
Ultimately, what Start Q is curating is a sense of community – a collaborative, creative ecosystem where our entrepreneurs can improve their businesses and see the best that Memphis has to offer: BBQ and startups.
By: Jonah Baer