10 HotSpots To Help You Launch Into The Hampton Roads StartUp Community!

Recently I had coffee with an entrepreneur who had just moved to Virginia Beach and was looking to get "dialed in" to our local startup community. In an effort to scale our conversation I have included a few useful links below and a few secret places that make it feel like home. Have your own favorite spot or resource to share? I encourage you to leave suggestions in the comments section.

757Angels -If you are looking to raise capital for your Startup - this is the group to know! Started just 2 years ago, 757Angels has 100+ accredited Angel Investors and with over $9 million invested, they have established themselves as one of the fastest growing Angel groups in the country. Monique Adams is the Executive Director and she is currently seeking startup applications for the January 11th batch of startups- Click Here To Apply.

ODU UnWined Events- Marty Kaszubowski is a power networker and knows how to throw a great event with top connections and new locations each month. Follow him on LinkedIn for updates and announcements on when and where. Marty Kaszubowski and Chris Shelton also run ODU's New Innovation Center a co-working space in DownTown Norfolk.

Cure Coffeehouse & Brasserie - Top hacker hangout, great place to mingle with local tech talent and grab a cup of joe while you are in downtown Norfolk. A favorite of the developer community and walking distance from ODU Innovation center to boot! They now have Cure & Co. option to take advantage of this co-working space and coffee combo.

1701 Co-Working Space @ The "ViBe District" - Check out the beautiful 1701 Co-Working Space near the oceanfront with events and inspirational place to collaborate with startups and tech experts - they have their own coffee bar too. Be sure to bring your surfboard and your laptop! As a bonus, you will be across the street from Commune - A farm to table restaurant to get your local organic fix and check out their Instagram - it's foodie heaven...

Daily Grind Coffee Shop in Town Center, everyone needs a place to court serendipity. This central location makes for a prime hotspot to spontaneously meeting your next business connection.

One Million Cups - Wednesday Mornings at 9:00am the Kauffman Foundation sponsors a networking event over coffee for entrepreneurs. Pitch your startup to the local community and mingle with the local players. Connections from the Virginia Beach Economic Department, ODU, Hatch, and investors make up the audience.

Hatch- Zack Miller is the founder of Hatch, an incubator on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk. He is a natural business mentor and connected with everyone in the area. The Hatch location is the site of too many meetup events to list here - from coffee talks to code for Hampton Roads. Zack along with Cheryl Tan are the local celebrities behind Hampton Roads Business Weekly Television Show, shining a spotlight on regional business owners.

Local Meetup.com and the 757devSlack Channel. Tap into our talent pool and get to know our programmers both virtually through our 757devslack channel and in person through meetups and developer events like RevolutionConf (summer) and HRDevFest(fall).

Hampton Roads Community Foundation - For entrepreneurs on their way to making a fortune to donate, HRCF now has an under 40 membership option. It is the place to rub shoulders with local billionaires and established business leaders making a huge impact in our community. Help give back to the local non-profits who seek funding each year and hobnob through some private networking parties too! Join Here.

Young Professionals of Hampton Roads Great place to get to know our intrapreneurs - motivated group of professionals working within our top employers. YPHR is gearing up to host the Holiday Social on December 1st at Young Veterans Brewing Company and also host Table For 10 a private dinner party with a local leader. This month is December 14th event with Cheryl Tan, journalist, news anchor and reporter of Hampton Roads Business Weekly so hurry over and save your spot.

*VB Bonus - Your Local Silicon Valley Connection* If you are creating your own iPhone or Android app you need to drop what you are doing and meet Virginia Beach native Michael Paris! He created Scaphold.io a Backend-As-A-Service powered by a new technology out of Facebook. Scaphold was selected out of thousands of startups from around the world to move out to Silicon Valley to participate in Y Combinator 2017. He and his co-founder Vince Ning can personally assist you in launching your app through their slack channel here. They have a freemium mode on their website and a $25 free credit code "757DEVAPP". The platform makes it possible for your app to be up an running in minutes instead of months. If you are in the app development world - you must check out Scaphold.io.

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Gina Lynch