Q: What is a Startup Crawl?
A: Have you ever been to a Pub Crawl? Imagine that, all the beer, but with startup companies at every turn.
On September 29, Startup Junkie hosted a Startup Crawl in Fyetteville - aka the Startup City of the South - as a celebration of the local startup, technology, and craft beverage scene in Northwest Arkansas. We took learnings from other great entrepreneurial ecosystems, including attending the Austin Startup Crawl at South by Southwest in 2017, and knew that our market was more than ready for an event of this scale. With awesome partners like the City of Fayetteville and Exchange, the crawl hosted over 1,200 guests, highlighted 50 Arkansas companies, included all 12 craft beer and cider companies in Northwest Arkansas, and showcased 4 local bands.
The crawl kicked off at the Arkansas Research in Technology Park in South Fayetteville, highlighting the incredible technology companies that the park houses, with live music from National Park Radio. At 6pm the energy shifted to the downtown Innovation District where the Pryor Center housed our "Mega Location" with 30 different startups set up on the first floor, and 10 startups within walking distance opening their doors, all paired with craft breweries. Guests checked in, and received their branded Startup Crawl cups which allowed access to sample beer at each stop, and they were on their way!
The inaugural Startup Crawl was the largest event in the entrepreneurial ecosystem that the region has seen to-date. We've already started planning our next one, but don't wait until then to get involved! Startup Junkie hosts weekly entrepreneurship events geared towards networking, education, capital formation, and of course, craft beer. Sign up for our newsletter HERE to stay involved!- Some photos follow.
